BRIGHT PROSPECTS FOR OUTDOOR THEATRE SHOWS

The short days of mid February may be cold and wintry at present, but the prospects for the programme of four outdoor plays to be staged at Lytham Hall this summer are already distinctly bright.

Chapterhouse Theatre Company from Lincoln will come to Lytham Hall at the start their nationwide open air tour of Wuthering Heights on Sunday 12 June, followed by Illyria with A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Friday 1 July, Ruddigore on Sunday 10 July and Danny, the Champion of the World on Bank Holiday Sunday 28 August.

Julian Wilde, organiser of the open air season is delighted with the response to the recent announcement of the programme for the summer months of 2016. “Emily Brontë, Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan and Roald Dahl is proving a diverse and appealing line-up and there have already been plenty of enquiries about tickets, particularly for the Roald Dahl family show,” he said.

Pat Booth from Plackitt and Booth’s Booksellers in Lytham’s Clifton Street, one of seven local ticket outlets, confirms that Danny, the Champion of the World, will be a very popular family production. “The young characters created by Roald Dahl in all his books are loved by children, whilst the grotesque adults are equally disliked. Customers are welcoming the move to stage this show on the late August Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon this year and are pleased too that there is no increase in ticket prices.”

Rosie Withers from the Fylde Coast Players is also enthusiastic about next summer’s line-up. “It’s a well thought –out programme from two highly regarded touring companies. I think that Midsummer Night’s Dream – always a favourite with English audiences when performed in the open air on a long summer evening – will be particularly popular. Placing all the plays at weekends is also a smart move”, she said.

Tickets are already on sale on line via the Chapterhouse website www.chapterhouse.org for Wuthering Heights and an announcement about further ticket availability will follow early next month.