Coordinates: 50°55′08″N4°12′32″W / 50.919°N 4.209°W
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The Plough Arts Centre is a theatre, cinema and art gallery in Torrington, North Devon, England.
A movie theater, cinema, or cinema hall, also known as a picture house or the pictures, is a building that contains an auditorium for viewing films for entertainment. Most, but not all, theaters are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing a ticket. Some movie theaters, however, are operated by non-profit organizations or societies that charge members a membership fee to view films.
Great Torrington is a small market town in the north of Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to the River Torridge below, with the lower-lying parts of the town prone to occasional flooding. Torrington is in the centre of Tarka Country, a landscape captured by Henry Williamson in his novel Tarka the Otter in 1927. Great Torrington has one of the most active volunteering communities in the United Kingdom.
Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the north east, and Dorset to the east. The city of Exeter is the county town. The county includes the districts of East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, and West Devon. Plymouth and Torbay are each geographically part of Devon, but are administered as unitary authorities. Combined as a ceremonial county, Devon's area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million.
The Plough is situated in a former Territorial Army drill hall on Fore Street in the centre of Torrington. The site was previously a 16th-century town house which was turned into a public house, The Plough Inn in 1750, giving the centre its current name. The pub was licensed until 1910 but had fallen into disrepair and was demolished in 1912. The building we see today was completed in 1913. [1]
The Plough was founded in 1975 and opened with a performance by Dame Edith Evans. [1] In 1991 financial problems threatened The Plough with closure: it was saved through a merger with the nearby Beaford Arts which was established in 1966 by the Dartington Hall Trust to promote and support the arts in rural north Devon. [1] [2] Beaford withdrew in 2002, and The Plough is now again independent and hosts theatre, cinema, music, comedy and art exhibitions. [3] The theatre has 132 raked seats but has the capacity to expand to 240 people. [4]
Dame Edith Mary Evans, was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Beaford Arts was established in 1966 by the Dartington Hall Trust as The Beaford Centre to promote and support the arts in rural north Devon - an area of 799 square miles bounded by Dartmoor, Exmoor, and the Atlantic west coast.
Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is a country estate that is the headquarters of the Dartington Hall Trust, a charity specialising in the arts, social justice and sustainability. The estate dates from medieaval times.
In 2014 a 60-year-old 35mm celluloid Westar projector was supplemented with a digital projector and enhancements to technical capabilities at the centre, including a new box office system. The money was raised by public fundraising backed by Alistair McGowan, who is a patron of The Plough. [5] The campaign was also boosted by the $4,500 raised at an event with Michael Portillo. [6]
Alistair Charles McGowan is an English impressionist, comic, actor, singer and writer best known to British audiences for The Big Impression, which was, for four years, one of BBC1's top-rating comedy programmes – winning numerous awards, including a BAFTA in 2003. He has also worked extensively in theatre and appeared in the West End in Art, Cabaret, The Mikado and Little Shop of Horrors. As a television actor, he played the lead role in BBC1's Mayo. He wrote the play Timing and the book A Matter of Life and Death or How to Wean Your Man off Football with former comedy partner Ronni Ancona. He also provided voices for Spitting Image.
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo, is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister of the Conservative Party. He was first elected to the House of Commons in a by-election in 1984. A strong admirer of Margaret Thatcher, and a Eurosceptic, Portillo served as a junior minister under both Thatcher and John Major, before entering the cabinet in 1992. A "darling of the right", he was seen as a likely challenger to Major during the 1995 Conservative leadership election, but stayed loyal. As Defence Secretary, he pressed for a purist Thatcherite course of "clear blue water", separating the policies of the Conservatives from those of the Labour Party.
