As it makes a triumphant return to York at the foot of historic Clifford’s Tower, Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre – the award-winning pop-up Shakespearean theatre – was last week honoured with three awards at the prestigious Visit York Tourism Awards 2019, with producer and CEO of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions and founder of Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, James Cundall MBE receiving the distinguished Tourism Champion award, and the theatre winning in the categories Innovation in Tourism, and Newcomer of the Year.
The York season of Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre will run from Tuesday 25 June – Sunday 1 September 2019, with four new productions: Hamlet, Henry V, The Tempest and Twelfth Night. Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre is also expanding this year to a second site in the UK, in the grounds of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, with a nine week season from 8 July – 7 September, where two companies will be performing the repertoire of plays from the first season in York: Romeo & Juliet, Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth
Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre will be officially opened tomorrow at 11am by the York Town Crier and the High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, along with James Cundall and the cast of Hamlet, who will be performing in the first show of the season that evening. Also joining the ribbon cutting will be Damian Cruden, Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre and Brian Turner, the Yorkshire-born celebrity chef and Sally Tierney, the award-winning Yorkshire Garden Designer.
James Cundall MBE, said “I am personally overwhelmed to be acknowledged for my company’s contribution to the tourism industry in York and to receive two further awards, including innovation, is superb. We have strived hard to bring new ideas to this glorious city for nearly 15 years now, and we are thrilled that so many people enjoyed the theatre last year. We hope to welcome everyone back and encourage those who haven’t yet experienced the event to see a show in this historic setting or just enjoy a drink and some food in our free to enter village.”
The pop-up Shakespearean theatre is constructed using state-of-the-art scaffolding technology, corrugated iron and timber. Inspired by the Rose Theatre of 1587 in London’s Bankside, which was built from timber, with a lath and plaster exterior and thatch roof, Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre houses an audience of 900, with 560 seated in three covered tiers around an open-roofed courtyard with standing room for 340 ‘groundlings’.
