![]() The Theatre of Small Convenience | |
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Address | Edith Walk Malvern, Worcestershire United Kingdom |
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Coordinates | 52°06′43″N2°19′47″W / 52.11194°N 2.32972°W |
Owner | Malvern Hills District Council |
Designation | World's smallest commercial theatre |
Type | specialist, puppetry. exhibition space |
Capacity | 12 |
Construction | |
Opened | November 1999 |
Rebuilt | = |
Years active | 18 |
Tenants | |
Warwickshire College Group | |
Website | |
www.wctheatre.co.uk |
The Theatre of Small Convenience was a theatre in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. In 2002 it entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's smallest commercial theatre, seating up to 12 people. [1] It is less than half the size of the previous record holder, the Piccolo Theatre in Hamburg, Germany. [2] [3] The theatre looked like it might close on 25 February 2017 when Dennis Neale retired from the theatre. Warwickshire College Group is currently the tenant of the theatre building (April 2018) and a future programme of events is currently under consideration. The theatre is featured in a recent publication entitled Twenty Theatres You Should See Before You Die by Amber Massie-Blomfield. [4]
The theatre was located in Edith Walk, Great Malvern. Local puppeteer Dennis Neale started work on the theatre in 1997, [2] opening for the first show in November 1999. [5] The theatre's name comes from the building's original purpose – it was converted from a derelict Victorian gentlemen's public convenience. It is trapezoidal in shape, 16 feet (4.9 m) long and from 6 feet (1.8 m) to 10 feet (3.0 m) wide. [2]
The theatre used to regularly host puppetry, professional and amateur actors, drama, poetry, storytelling and opera, and became a regular venue of the Malvern Fringe Festival. In 2005 the theatre was chosen as one of the venues for an international puppetry festival. [6]
Louise Gold is an English puppeteer, actress and singer. Her long career has included puppetry on television and roles in musical theatre in the West End, as well as other television, film and voice roles.
The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit affords a panorama of the Severn Valley, the hills of Herefordshire and the Welsh mountains, parts of thirteen counties, the Bristol Channel, and the cathedrals of Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford.
Malvern is a spa town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is a historic conservation area, which grew dramatically in Victorian times due to the natural mineral water springs in the vicinity, including Malvern Water.
Great Malvern is an area of the civil parish of Malvern, in the Malvern Hills district, in the county of Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern flanks of the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, and is the historic centre of Malvern and includes its town centre.
Puppetry of the Penis is a comedic live performance-art show featuring a series of genital contortions. The show was initially conceived as the title of a highbrow art calendar released by Australian Simon Morley in 1996. The calendar showcased twelve penis "installations". In response to increasing requests for live demonstrations, in 1997 Morley enlisted fellow Australian, David "Friendy" Friend, to devise a performance show consisting of body-based genital comedy.
Worcestershire Beacon, also popularly known as Worcester Beacon, or locally simply as The Beacon, is a hill whose summit at 425 metres (1,394 ft) is the highest point in Worcestershire. It is part of the Malvern Hills which run about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north-south along the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border.
The Miniscule of Sound is a performance given in a small wooden structure described as "The World's Smallest Niteclub". It was devised in Hackney, London, in 1998 as a parody of established superclubs, with the name referring to the Ministry of Sound. This led to representatives from the Ministry of Sound considering legal action, though in following communications an amicable agreement was reached. DJ magazines reported on this incident. It has been defined as a theatre performance piece by the British Council.
Nikki Tilroe was an American actress, dancer and puppeteer. She is best known for her work as the "Mime Lady" on the children's television series Today's Special. She also operated Muppets on the TV show Fraggle Rock and played "Beaver" on Cucumber.
West Malvern is a village and a civil parish on the west side of the north part of the Malvern Hills, on the western edge of Worcestershire, England. It has become effectively a suburb of Malvern and part of an urban area often called The Malverns, locally administered by Malvern Hills District Council and its own parish council. Its altitude up to 250 metres gives West Malvern panoramic views of the Herefordshire countryside to the west. The Church of St James, built in 1840, has an adjacent Church of England primary school. The churchyard includes the grave of Peter Mark Roget, author of Roget's Thesaurus, who died while on holiday in the village. The 2011 Census population of 1,385 was estimated at 1,263 in 2019.
Kev F. Sutherland is a Scottish comedian, caricaturist, and comic strip creator. He has drawn for a variety of publications, including The Beano. He has produced several shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, including The Sitcom Trials and The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre.
The Malvern Fringe Festival was an arts festival which took place in Great Malvern, England. The main events of the Malvern Fringe Festival were the annual Malvern May Day and parade, and the annual three-day festival held in June as a fringe to the Elgar Festival. These were often accompanied by musical and other live events throughout the year.
St. Ann's Well is set on the slopes of the Malvern Hills above Great Malvern. It is a popular site on a path leading up to the Worcestershire Beacon and lies on the final descent of the Worcestershire Way. The spring or well is named after Saint Anne, the maternal grandmother of Christ and the patron saint of many wells. A building that dates back to 1813 houses the well or spring. Malvern water flows freely from an elaborately carved water spout. The building also hosts a cafe. During the early 20th century, the now-defunct Burrows company bottled and sold Malvern Water from this source under the "St Ann's Well" brand.
Dyson Perrins CofE Academy is a co-educational secondary school in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is named after its benefactor Charles William Dyson Perrins, heir to the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce company. It is located near Malvern Link, a northern suburb of the town of Malvern, Worcestershire.
Somerset is a county in the south west of England. It has a varied cultural tradition ranging from the Arthurian legends to The Wurzels, a band specialising in Scrumpy and Western music.
Malvern water is a natural spring water from the Malvern Hills on the border of the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire in England. The Hills consist of very hard granite and limestone rock. Fissures in the rock retain rain water, which slowly permeates through, escaping at the springs. The springs release an average of about 60 litres a minute and the flow has never been known to cease.
Hanley Castle High School is a non-selective mixed secondary school and sixth form centre located in the village of Hanley Castle, 1.4 miles (2.2 km) from the small town of Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire. It was formerly known as Hanley Castle Grammar School, and was probably founded in 1326, making it one of the oldest schools in England.
Malvern Water is a brand of bottled drinking water obtained from a spring in the range of Malvern Hills that marks the border between the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire in England. The water is a natural spring water from the hills that consist of very hard granite rock. Fissures in the rock retain rain water, which slowly permeates through, escaping at the springs. The springs release an average of about 60 litres a minute. The flow rate depends on rainfall and can vary from as little as 36 litres per minute to over 350 litres per minute.
Brighton Hippodrome is an entertainment venue in Brighton, England. It was built in 1897 and closed in 2007.
The Holy Well is set on the slopes of the Malvern Hills above Malvern Wells. The well is believed to be the site of the oldest bottling plant in the world. The Malvern spring water was first bottled on a commercial scale at the well and the building houses a modern commercial bottling plant.
The Festival Theatre, now known as Malvern Theatres, is a theatre complex on Grange Road in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. Malvern Theatres, housed in the Winter Gardens complex in the town centre of Great Malvern, has been a provincial centre for the arts since 1885. The theatre became known for its George Bernard Shaw productions in the 1930s and from 1977 onwards, along with the works of Edward Elgar. Up until 1965, 19 different plays of Shaw were produced at the Malvern Festival Theatre, and six premiered here, including The Apple Cart at the opening Malvern Festival in 1929, Geneva, a Fancied Page of History in Three Acts in August 1938 and In Good King Charles's Golden Days in August 1939.