Bristol Shakespeare Festival

The Bristol Shakespeare Festival is a professional open air theatre festival founded in 2004 and held annually in the parks and green spaces of the city of Bristol. While the principal focus of the festival is on plays by Shakespeare, plays by other dramatists are also presented.

The festival claims to be the largest professional open air Shakespeare festival in the UK.

Productions take place in a range of open air spaces, including: Queen Square, a historic Georgian square in the heart of the city; the grounds of Ashton Court, a Grade 1 listed Elizabethan manor house set in beautiful parkland just over the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge; Bristol Zoo Gardens, the world’s oldest provincial zoo; and Brandon Hill, generally considered to be Bristol’s oldest park, crowned by the stunning Cabot Tower.

Normally opening in late May and running through to August, between seven and ten full professional productions are staged open air around the city by a variety of companies. Running alongside the main programme are subsidiary events which are designed to "inspire, educate, entertain and inform" Bristol’s visitors and residents.

The Festival is run on a voluntary basis and receives no funding. The purpose of the festival is to encourage new audiences to see classical theatre in non-traditional settings, and the festival also encourages ‘green theatre’ – ecologically friendly theatre which uses little electricity and generates little or no waste.

Festival Directors

* 2004 - 2008: Miles Gregory
* 2008 - : Louise Hill

Season history

;2004
* Much Ado About Nothing (Queen Square, British Touring Shakespeare Company)
* Macbeth (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* The Comedy of Errors (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* The Taming of the Shrew (Brandon Hill, Spotlights)

;2005
* The Tempest (Various parks, Citric Acid Productions)
* Hamlet (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Much Ado About Nothing (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Pride and Prejudice, (Bristol Zoo, Illyria)
* A Midsummer Night's Dream, (Queen Square, British Touring Shakespeare Company)
* Charley's Aunt (Queen Square, British Touring Shakespeare Company)
* Macbeth (Ashton Court, The Lord Chamberlain's Men)
* The Comedy of Errors (Bristol Zoo, Illyria)

;2006
* A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Queen Square, The Lord Chamberlain's Men)
* Romeo and Juliet (Queen Square, Heartbreak Productions)
* The Importance of Being Earnest (Queen Square, Heartbreak Productions)
* Macbeth (Bristol Zoo Gardens, Illyria)
* Twelfth Night (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* The Wind in the Willows (Bristol Zoo Gardens, Illyria)

;2007
* Romeo and Juliet (Queen Square, The Lord Chamberlain's Men)
* The Wizard of Oz (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Twelfth Night (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Romeo and Juliet (Queen Square, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre)
* The Merchant of Venice (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Cry Blue Murder! (Queen Square, Heartbreak Productions)
* Much Ado About Nothing (Bristol Zoo Gardens, Illyria)
* Robin Hood (Bristol Zoo Gardens, Illyria)

;2008

* A Midsummer Night's Dream (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Peter Pan (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Charley's Aunt (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Henry V (Ashton Court, Heartbreak Productions)
* Romeo and Juliet (Brandon Hill, Globe Theatre)
* The Merry Wives of Windsor (Bristol Zoo Gardens, Illyria)
* The Winter's Tale (Brandon Hill, Globe Theatre)
* Much Ado About Nothing (Queen Square, The Lord Chamberlain's Men)
* Pinocchio (Bristol Zoo Gardens, Illyria)
* Twelfth Night ( [http://www.bristolbierkeller.co.uk/ Bristol Bierkeller] RoughHouse Theatre)

External links

* [http://www.bristolshakespeare.org.uk Official Website]