TBL, Keswick Celebrates 11th B’day

Theatre by the Lake in Keswick is 11 years old today and has entered its second decade with a typically adventurous Summer Season. All six plays are now in rep and it is possible for keen theatregoers to see all six, ranging from a wild farce to a claustrophobic family drama, within a week. 

The Summer Season runs from May to early November, with 128 performances in the Main House (389 seats) and 116 in the Studio (92 seats).

Each year Ian Forrest, Theatre by the Lake’s Artistic Director, performs a juggling act to find the right kind of play for each auditorium and a collection that can be performed by a small company of actors, each of whom performs in three shows. There are 12 actors in the 2010 Summer Season, although members of the audience often believe there are many more.

“Our actors have mastered the art of shape-shifting as they morph from one character to another,’’ said a Theatre by the Lake spokesman. “We quite often see people studying the programme because they cannot believe that the actor they are seeing is the same one who seemed so different on the same stage a couple of weeks earlier.”

In the Main House TBL currently have Northanger Abbey, What The Butler Saw and Bus Stop. In the Studio – they have Shining City, Silence and The Glass Menagerie.

The TBL Summer Season continues until 5 November.