Progress Theatre

Progress Theatre is a small local theatre company in Reading, England. It sits in Mildmay Hall on The Mount, near Reading University. The building was bought in 1964 and now seats ninety-seven people. It is run by volunteers and puts on classic and contemporary plays. Every summer it stages an open-air Shakespeare festival at Reading Abbey ruins. The theatre has a long record of presenting new and challenging work. In 1952 it gave the first English performances of Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan. In 1958 it staged the first English production of Seán O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman. Recent years have seen productions of Sarah Kane’s Blasted and Christmas shows based on Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. Visitors find a regular programme of plays in a small, intimate space. The theatre runs youth groups for ages eight to eighteen, each giving a public show every year. Its summer festival returns to the abbey ruins after restoration work. Past members include Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench and Marianne Faithfull.