The Mayflower to shut it's doors....

..... for the summer!

"The Mayflower Theatre will be closed for major £1.6 million development to the backstage area during the summer from June to the end of August.

This major development will create a new ?get in? & scene dock facility on the western side of the theatre allowing easier access, ensuring facilities are up to date and can cope with the new demands from touring productions.

The conference and meeting room facilities will still be open during the summer, and the box office will be open as normal.

During the summer, the theatre will be holding a series of master-classes and workshops in local venues. These will be led by theatre professionals including Mark McGann, and Earl Carpenter, further details will be on mayflower.org.uk.

The Theatre re-opens at the end of August for the packed Autumn season including Quadrophenia, High School Musical 2, and the West End production of The Sound of Music with Connie Fisher."

So after Dreamboats and Petticoats finishes on 30th May, we will be shut until 26th August!

This should create great new opportunities and facilities, however, surely a little foolish to do this during the usually busy summer season!

Don't most regional theatre's shut down at some point in the summer, or have i made this up in my mind?

See, in my mind the time to close would be march through to may! And then have a show for children in the summer!

But they've never really done that before so why now? A lot of kids are out of the country on family holidays these days. Most theatres just take in whatever tours are out there.
Sadly, summer variety seasons area thing of the past!
18 weeks in Bournemouth or Blackpool are long gone!

I worked there before it had completed its transition to the wonderful Mayflower thats know today. It was an absolute hell hole and Equity were often brought in about the backstage conditions.

The big summer shows havent been done there for a while, and some of the recent summer shows have struggled. Chitty being the biggest one. The work is on the scene dock part of the theatre which does need some updating to help accomodate modern sets etc. Its been planned for a while, and its just a case of finding a slot to do it in.

Its a case of looking at their diary to see when is the best time. Its not uncommon for the theatre to have gaps in its diary over the summer.

Before panto/xmas show is often hard as they have an annual run of ballet and opera in November which does great business