The Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival is, as the name implies, an annual festival dedicated to the plays of William Shakespeare. It takes place at the beginning of August at Pendley Manor, a hotel in Tring, Hertfordshire.
The first official festival took place in 1949 with a production of King Henry VIII, although there had been less formal presentations in the two preceding years. In 1954, the festival took its current format, when a second production was added.
The credit for the festival's initiation must go to Dorian Williams. Williams was a popular sports commentator for the BBC, especially expert in Show-Jumping. Pendley Manor was his family home (it only became a hotel in later years) and he helped oversee the development of part of the house into an adult education centre. The drama group that met in the centre performed the first, non-official festival in 1947 and Williams himself often acted and directed in the early festivals.
Past productions
Dorian Williams as Bolingbroke in Richard II. Programme Cover from the 2007 FestivalThe Tempest, directed by Stephen Artus at the 2007 Festival
A new company of players is formed each year. Several members return year after year, others only stay for one season. Some are aspiring drama school students, and go on to have successful careers in the industry. These include:
The majority of Productions prior to 2001 were given on what became known as The Glade Stage, a natural raised stage in the grounds of the Manor, west-facing, flanked by two magnificent 100ft high Canadian Firs. Dramatic entrances made on horse back down the glade were common.
The Formal Stage
A second natural raised stage, facing south was used in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1980 and 1981. This stage had a backdrop of Yew hedges, characters would make their entrances and exits through gaps between the hedges.
Rose Garden
In 1989 during the conversion of the Manor House into a Hotel, a production of The Merchant of Venice was presented raised above the Rose Garden, on the south side of the Manor, with the Manor itself as a backdrop.
The Garden Stage and seating stand, 2006
The Williams Stage
In 2001, a swimming pool and leisure centre were added to the Hotel. The electricity that this facility drew from the substation, compromised the power available for the Festival. This compromise, alongside increased demand for the Hotel's wedding facilities located within earshot of the Glade Stage, meant the Festival had to be both downsized in terms of its power requirements, and also relocated away from the wedding facilities. The Garden Stage sits in front of a leafy bank, alongside the Rose Garden, and the seating stand is placed on the tennis courts. Although this smaller, more intimate stage, may lack some of the grandeur of the larger stages, many believe it doesn't lack any of the magic.
Current status
The festival has continued to grow in popularity, maintaining its reputation as one of the most significant amateur Shakespeare festivals in England. The festival saw record attendances in 2004 when it staged A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night, two of the most popular plays in the Shakespeare canon.[citation needed]
This year's productions (August 2015) - The 66th Festival - will be Twelfth Night and Henry V.
The current Artistic Director of the Festival is Sarah Branston. Director of Drama at Reigate Grammar School, she is also an excellent director of Shakespeare; visionary and dramatic. Her productions (Twelfth Night - 1998, Romeo and Juliet - 1999, and since becoming Artistic Director - Henry V - 2001, The Winter's Tale - 2003, A Midsummer Night's Dream - 2004, King Lear - 2006, The Merchant of Venice - 2008, Richard III - 2010, Much Ado About Nothing - 2012 and Hamlet - 2014) are considered by regular festival-goers to be amongst the finest in the history of the event[citation needed]. Her parents, John and Jennie Branston, actually met at a festival over thirty years ago and have been attending ever since. John has directed several productions and both John and Jennie frequently play small, character roles.
Bard on the Beach is Western Canada's largest professional Shakespeare festival. The theatre Festival runs annually from early June through September in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Festival is produced by Bard on the Beach Theatre Society whose mission is to perform, explore and celebrate the works of William Shakespeare. In addition to the annual summer festival, the Society runs a number of year-round theatre education and outreach programs under the umbrella of Bard Education. Bard on the Beach celebrated its 30th anniversary season in 2019.
Brownsea Open Air Theatre is an open-air Shakespearian theatre company based in Poole, Dorset that have performed large theatrical productions since 1964. Annually performing a play from the extensive works of William Shakespeare for three weeks in July and August, the production is set on the National Trust's Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour with boats transporting patrons to the island from Poole Quay.
The Great River Shakespeare Festival (GRSF) is a professional equity theatre company in Winona, Minnesota, a Mississippi River town in the southeastern part of the state. Starting in 2004, it has produced several simultaneous performances each summer, held at the Winona State University Performing Arts Center, with annual audiences of over 10,000. Its 16th season ends August 4, 2019.
Shakespeare Santa Cruz was an annual professional theatre festival in Santa Cruz, California, which ran from 1981 to 2013. After losing the financial support of the University of California, Santa Cruz, the company was relaunched through crowdfunding as Santa Cruz Shakespeare.
Shakespeare by the Sea was a summer outdoor event held at Balmoral Beach in Sydney's northern suburbs, using a band rotunda as a backdrop, that ran in summer for twenty-five seasons, from 1987 to 2011.
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is a professional acting company in association with the University of Colorado at Boulder. It was established in 1958, making it one of the oldest such festivals in the United States, and has roots going back to the early 1900s.
In 1991 the Shakespeare Theatre Company, under Artistic Director Michael Kahn, initiated its annual Free For All performances in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park. Each year the Company performs a show free to the public, usually from a previous season. In 2009 the Free For All was moved indoors to Sidney Harman Hall, one of two theatres operated by the Shakespeare Theatre Company in downtown D.C. This more accessible location allows the Shakespeare Theatre Company to perform rain or shine, offer matinees, maintain the artistic excellence of the production and increase the overall number of Free For All performances.
This page describes the production history of the Stratford Festival
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Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare is a 1907 collection published by E. Nesbit with the intention of entertaining young readers and telling William Shakespeare's plays in a way they could be easily understood. She included a brief Shakespeare biography, a pronunciation guide to some of the more difficult names and a list of famous quotations, arranged by subject.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Tempest
As You Like It
The Winter's Tale
King Lear
Twelfth Night
Much Ado About Nothing
Romeo and Juliet
Pericles
Hamlet
Cymbeline
Macbeth
The Comedy of Errors
The Merchant of Venice
Timon of Athens
Othello
The Taming of the Shrew
Measure for Measure
Two Gentlemen of Verona
All's Well That Ends Well
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