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It’s been a busy week for theatre summer season announcements, with the Globe and National Theatre both dropping theirs on Monday (January 22).
Now the most quintessential of all London summer venues has joined the fray, as Timothy Sheader announces his final season at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park before he heads off to run the Donmar Warehouse.
And it’s a classic OAT season, mixing a bit of Shakespeare with a classic musical and some interesting kids’ stuff.
Before the official season gets underway, the theatre will be opening in March for the first time in its entire 92-year-history to play host – daytime only – to ‘Bear Snores On’ (Mar 23-Apr 21), a new kids’ show for ages four-plus, adapted by the actor Cush Jumbo (with Katy Sechiari and Harry Blake) from the popular picture book.
After shutting down again for a bit, the season proper will get underway with a run through Shakespeare’s beloved ‘Twelfth Night’ (May 3-Jun 8), which will play in tandem with a daytime kids’ adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ (17 May-Jun 8).
Next up there will be a new family stage adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic kids novel ‘The Secret Garden’ (Jun 15-Jul 20), and then the season will be capped in the traditional way: with a massive great musical, that being a revival for Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and Joseph Stein’s shtetl-set classic ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ (Jul 27-Sep 21), in a new production directed by Jordan Fein. As ever, though the content at the OAT tends to be quite ‘classic’, expect fresh and even leftfield takes on these familiar shows.
Public booking opens at noon on Thursday February 1.
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