Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre stands in Queen Mary’s Gardens inside Regent’s Park, one of London’s Royal Parks. The theatre opened in 1932 and now seats 1,304 people in a fixed amphitheatre-style auditorium built in 1974. Every year an 18-week season attracts more than 140,000 visitors to see plays, musicals, operas and children’s shows. In 2017 it received the London Theatre of the Year award and in 2021 a Highly Commended prize. The stage has hosted stars such as Vivien Leigh, Judi Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch. The theatre began when producer Robert Atkins and critic Sydney Carroll moved a black-and-white Twelfth Night from the New Theatre to a makeshift park venue. During the Second World War it remained one of only two London theatres open throughout the conflict. In 1963 David Conville and David William founded the New Shakespeare Company with Laurence Olivier as an investor. The company later became Regent’s Park Theatre Ltd and launched a digital archive of every production. A visit finds the lawn seating arranged in gentle arcs facing a curved stage backed by mature trees. Family Takeover Day and Live Music Week fill the summer schedule alongside new works like Sherlock Holmes and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS. Children’s re-imagined classics such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Oliver Twist appear in fresh versions. The surrounding gardens offer benches for intervals and wide paths for strolling between acts.