Crescent Theatre

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The Crescent Theatre is a small, amateur theatre run mostly by volunteers, based in Sheepcote Street, Brindleyplace in Birmingham, England.

It houses one of the oldest theatre companies in the city: The Crescent Theatre Company. The Crescent also plays host to numerous visiting companies every year, both amateur and professional.

The company began, as the Municipal Players, in 1924. The first theatre was a converted building, formerly Baskerville Hall, in the Crescent, Cambridge Street. The first production being Edmund Rostand's "The Romantics" in 1932. The second theatre to be built was opened on Cumberland Street in 1964. It was designed by Graham Winteringham of S. T. Walker and Partners and had a seating capacity of 296. The apron stage and first seven rows of seats were on a revolving platform to turn the interior into an arena theatre. The two storey building was faced with London stock bricks and black-framed windows. Phase Two of the construction would have included a restaurant and a rehearsal stage.[1]

The present theatre was opened in 1998 by Celia Imrie. The theatre it replaced was demolished in the same year. It houses two performance spaces: The Main Auditorium, and The Ron Barber Studio. The Main House seats up to 340, and the Studio up to 120. The building was designed by Terry Farrell and John Chatwin.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Douglas Hickman (1970). Birmingham. Studio Vista Ltd., 77. 

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 52°28′38.27″N, 1°54′55.48″W