Mull Little Theatre

Mull Little Theatre began life in a converted cowshed on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. Barrie and Marianne Hesketh turned the old byre into a small playhouse in 1963. They called it the Thursday Theatre and put on shows for guests at their guest house. The tiny venue soon won fame and was listed in Guinness World Records as the world’s smallest professional theatre. In 2006 the original building staged its final performance before a new production centre opened two years later near Tobermory. The theatre presented plays by writers from Chekhov and Shakespeare to Iain Crichton Smith and George Bernard Shaw. Chekhov’s one-act comedies such as The Proposal and The Bear appeared alongside works by Oscar Wilde and J M Barrie. The company also premiered new plays by local writers including Marianne Hesketh’s Mixtymaxty and Barrie Hesketh’s Dear Mr Shaw. Over the years the programme ranged from verse plays to adaptations of European classics. Today the organisation shares a home with An Tobar arts centre in Tobermory. The combined venue runs rehearsals, workshops and public performances throughout the year. Visitors find a modern theatre space alongside galleries, a café and craft workshops. The building sits above the harbour with views across the Sound of Mull to the mainland hills.