This post is about outdoor summer theatre and some of the venues and companies that do it. You could too.
Set on a farm in the Cotswolds, Berrybank Park Amphitheatre is a 500 person summer outdoor venue that just goes to show what kinda fun the good people of Stow-on-the-Wold can get up to.
Entertainment in all its rural splendour is the name of game, theatre included. Needless to say, it's a receiving venue and there's an email address if you want to put a show on. Simples.
Stately homes and gardens up and down the country have open air entertainment areas. There's probably one near you, as well as other public sites where theatre can take place.
Let's take a look at some of the theatre companies that venture into the wilds of Berrybank and check out their modus operandi.
Wise Owl Theatre Co. are scheduled to be putting on the immersive, 'A Blinder of A Mystery'. Complete with 'Peaky' innuendoes, and ahem, amusing puns in the venue's blurb, it's set in Berrybank's bohemian Pavilion, whatever that means. It looks like a fancy big tent. Nice though.
Googling Wise Owl Theatre and you can 'Meet the Team'. You'll find a performing arts trained creative bunch, including an actor-creative director, a puppeteer and physical theatre exponent, a designer and associate choreographer and a two-man management team with legal and business development experience. So, first things first – get organised.
Companies House show accounts are dormant since 2021, possibly shut down over Covid to avoid accountancy hassle etc. but they've also got an Alice in Wonderland on tour at the moment so happily they've come back to life.
Operations like this are basically self-help ventures, run in order to make work for the founders and the freelancers they employ, whilst other jobs come and go. It can help keep your career stay on track whilst negotiating the 'slings and arrow of outrageous fortune' that life as an actor can entail.
You'll have got the idea by now, but let's do one more.
Based in Leamington Spar, Heartbreak Productions have a couple of shows at Berrybank – a children's piece and a Jane Austen adaptation. Austen is a popular choice for outdoor venues, especially where there's a stately pile or its garden as a backdrop.
You can see who Heartbreak's team is: two former university graduates with add-on drama training. Plus there's an office manager, responsible for venues, contracts, accommodation and all things problem-free touring. Ok, you'll need some of that. Along with a couple of marketing people and a book-keeper, that's it. Nice little team.
Check out the website for more info including ideas for venues. A practical bunch, there's a weather warning page. They cancel for, "thunder, lightning, and very high winds". Other than that it's game-on, wellies and all. So, if you'd like to do the same, be prepared.
Outdoor touring is a feasible option for both long term and short term work. For its founders, Heartbreak has been going for 30 years. In that time they've probably employed hundreds freelance actors. The latter could be you, or if you get your own company together, you can have the security of making your own work whenever you want it.
Use the Berrybank website to research other outdoor companies putting on shows there this summer. There will be other similar companies on, and off, the list we're researching, some of them based nearer to you.