Construction has begun on the Thorington Theatre near Southwold in Suffolk, a new venue that will host live outdoor performances once current lockdown restrictions are relaxed.
Once completed, the wooden amphitheatre will host performances and concerts for audiences of around 350 people. It is also hoped that television programmes such as Sky at Night will also be able to make use of the venue due to its unblocked view of the night sky.
The theatre is being constructed in the crater of an exploded World War Two bomb. The land is owned by Mark and Lindy O’Hare, who will also take on ownership of the completed venue.
Thorington Theatre’s creator Silas Rayner told the East Anglian Daily Times that “it’s an amazing venue. Really, it’s open to anything.”
Thorington Theatre is being built out of locally sourced coppice timber, and the trees that have been used to construct the venue will grow back. The theatre’s owners have explained that this makes the project more environmentally and financially sustainable than would have been possible a few years ago.
It is hoped that some performances will be able to go ahead once the theatre opens, pending any lockdown restrictions. Tickets are already on sale for their first planned production – Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as performed by the children’s theatre group Minnie Mouse.
“We are quietly confident we will be able to do something,” Rayner explained, adding that “I think we will be seeing some shows.”
Words by James Hanton.
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