Courtyard Theatre, Theatre venue in Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Courtyard Theatre is a theatre building in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, built around a thrust stage that placed the audience on three sides of the playing area. The auditorium held around 1,000 seats and was designed so that no seat was far from the stage.
The theatre opened in 2006, designed by architect Ian Ritchie as a temporary home for the Royal Shakespeare Company while its main venues were being renovated. It remained in use from 2007 to 2010, ensuring the company never had to stop performing.
The Courtyard Theatre was where the Royal Shakespeare Company staged its productions during a key period away from its main home. Audiences sat close to the thrust stage, giving performances a more direct and immediate feel than in a traditional proscenium house.
The theatre sits in the heart of Stratford-upon-Avon and is easy to reach on foot from the town centre and nearby transport stops. The thrust stage layout means sightlines are good from most seats, with the side sections sitting closest to the action.
The steel frame of the original building was kept after the temporary venue closed and now forms the shell of The Other Place, a studio theatre that opened in 2016. It is one of the few cases where a structure built to be temporary was kept and given a completely new purpose.
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