Watermill Theatre, Theatre in Bagnor, United Kingdom
The Watermill Theatre is a theatre in the village of Speen, near Newbury in West Berkshire, housed inside a converted mill building with white walls and exposed wooden beams. A river runs alongside the structure, and the grounds include a restaurant and an outdoor garden area.
The building dates from 1830 and worked over the years as a corn mill, a fulling mill, and a paper mill before it fell out of use. It was converted into a theatre in the 1960s and has been running productions ever since.
The theatre stages professional shows throughout the year, from Shakespeare to new writing, in a small auditorium where the stage and the seats feel very close together. Visitors often say the setting makes even familiar plays feel like a new experience.
The theatre is in a small village and is easiest to reach by car, with parking available on site. Arriving early gives visitors time to enjoy the restaurant or garden before the show, which makes the visit feel like a full evening out.
Actors are not allowed to use the dressing room toilets during a performance because the pipes run so close to the auditorium that the sound carries through. This rule is a direct consequence of the building's original layout, which was never designed with a theatre in mind.
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