Rhoda McGaw Theatre

The Rhoda McGaw Theatre sits inside the Peacock Centre in Woking, Surrey. It is a small, flat-floor playhouse with nine rows of steeply raked seats holding 228 people. The stage stretches 58 feet from wall to wall, with a 36-foot curtain opening and 19 feet of depth behind the main tabs to the cyclorama. The building opened in 1975 as part of a larger leisure complex that also included a concert hall, library, pool and dining rooms. The theatre was named after local councillor Rhoda McGaw, who had campaigned for public funding of amateur drama. For more than forty years the Rhoda has hosted musicals, opera, ballet, talent contests and the annual pantomime and Miss Woking Whirl competition. The Woking Drama Association uses the space for its Woking Drama Festival and the British All Winners Festival when invited by the National Drama Festivals Association. In the late 1980s the theatre faced demolition with the rest of the Centre Halls, but public protest saved it. After four years closed it reopened in 1992 beside the 1,300-seat New Victoria Theatre, both now run by Woking Turnstyle Ltd under a council subsidy. Inside, the intimate auditorium has well-tiered seats and excellent acoustics. The stage lighting and closed-circuit cameras were upgraded in 2002 with £5,000 raised by the WDA and matched by the Ambassador Theatre Group. A £400,000 refurbishment began in 2012 to keep the theatre’s facilities modern. The Rhoda remains a living part of Woking’s cultural life, offering a venue where local groups perform alongside professional shows.