The new Shakespeare North Playhouse has opened in Prescot, just outside Liverpool city centre. It’s designed to be a replica of a theatre from the time of the world-famous playwright. Its interior is fitted with an octagonal shaped oak gallery, and a removable roof.
The design has been met with critical approval, but when the plan was first announced, the reaction wasn’t so positive. Some people dismissed the idea, or simply laughed, assuming that it would never work. There was an initial struggle to ensure enough financial backing.
However, the team behind the project can now be proud that the region has a world-class performing arts venue that will bring thousands more visitors each year, and raise the international profile of the area.
Knowsley Council leader Graham Morgan told the BBC: “When I announced the plan in the council chamber, quite a few people started laughing and said ‘really’? The experts questioned it too. But I think we have proved them all wrong now”.
He continued: “The project was is a great example of the private sector and public sector working together. From our local MP George Howarth going to see the then chancellor George Osborne and getting a tax break, the government giving us some money, the mayor putting in funding and us at the council as well.”
The £38m theatre is designed to evoke the atmosphere of the Royal Cockpit theatre, which once stood during the seventeenth century where 10 Downing Street is now. At first, the wooden theatre staged cockfights, but things took a more cultured turn, and it was thought to have staged Shakespeare’s plays, until it burnt down in the 1670s.
The new 470-seat theatre in Prescot was designed by the architect Nick Helm. The idea has been germinating since the late 1990s, and the site was chosen because it is thought that the country’s first indoor theatre stood there in the sixteenth century. After several setbacks, the scheme won support from a range of celebrity backers.
Local landlord Kurt Wilson told the BBC that he has invested in another pub with accommodation, in anticipation of the extra tourists that are expected to visit the region. He said: “The excitement is amazing. All the businesses are showing their support. We’ve seen celebrities like Jonny Vegas who popped in for a pint.”
He added: “The town is bustling. This is the icing on the cake. Four hundred visitors each night – even if half buy a pint, a glass of wine or some food, that’s all money in Prescot’s local economy.”
There has been extra investment in public transport to the area, to mitigate some residents’ concerns about a lack of parking. While the theatre will stage many Shakespeare plays, it also has contemporary performers, such as the comedian Johnny Vegas, on the bill. There’s also a garden devoted to the late great Liverpudlian comedian Sir Ken Dodd.
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