Our History
In 1964 the National Trust, who had recently become proud owners of Brownsea Island, decided to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare in 1564 with an open air performance of one of his plays. Bournemouth Little Theatre Club was the obvious choice to take this on, and so it was that Joyce and Michael Caton lead an intrepid group of actors onto the island and Brownsea Open Air Theatre was born.
Over 50 years later and we have performed 28 different plays to around 4,000 people annually, and raised over £250k for the National Trust.
Past Productions
| 1964 | - | The Tempest |
| 1965 | - | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 1966 | - | Twelfth Night |
| 1967 | - | As You Like It |
| 1968 | - | The Taming of The Shrew |
| 1969 | - | Romeo and Juliet |
| 1970 | - | The Merchant of Venice |
| 1971 | - | Henry V |
| 1972 | - | Much Ado About Nothing |
| 1973 | - | The Winter's Tale |
| 1974 | - | The Merry Wives of Windsor |
| 1975 | - | Twelfth Night |
| 1976 | - | Macbeth |
| 1977 | - | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 1978 | - | A Man for All Seasons |
| 1979 | - | The Merchant of Venice |
| 1980 | - | The Queen and the Welshman/The Tempest |
| 1981 | - | As You Like It |
| 1982 | - | Love's Labour's Lost |
| 1983 | - | Becket |
| 1984 | - | The Taming of The Shrew |
| 1985 | - | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 1986 | - | Twelfth Night |
| 1987 | - | The Comedy of Errors |
| 1988 | - | The Tempest |
| 1989 | - | The Merry Wives of Windsor |
| 1990 | - | Romeo and Juliet |
| 1991 | - | Much Ado About Nothing |
| 1992 | - | Othello |
| 1993 | - | The Merchant of Venice |
| 1994 | - | The Winter's Tale |
| 1995 | - | Richard III |
| 1996 | - | The Taming of The Shrew |
| 1997 | - | Macbeth |
| 1998 | - | As You Like It |
| 1999 | - | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 2000 | - | The Tempest |
| 2001 | - | Twelfth Night |
| 2002 | - | King Lear |
| 2003 | - | Romeo and Juliet |
| 2004 | - | Merry Wives of Windsor |
| 2005 | - | Measure for Measure |
| 2006 | - | Much Ado About Nothing |
| 2007 | - | All's Well that End's Well |
| 2008 | - | The Merchant of Venice |
| 2009 | - | Hamlet |
| 2010 | - | The Taming of the Shrew |
| 2011 | - | Julius Caesar |
| 2012 | - | Love's Labour's Lost |
| 2013 | - | A Midsummer Night's Dream/Pericles |
| 2014 | - | Henry IV |
| 2015 | - | The Tempest |
| 2016 | - | Two Gentleman of Verona |
| 2017 | - | As You Like It |
| 2018 | - | Titus Andronicus |
| 2019 | - | Richard III |
| 2020 | - | Boat at Home* |
| 2021 | - | Boat at Home - Shakespeare Shorts* |
| 2022 | - | Twelfth Night |
*Due to the Covid pandemic, in 2020 and 2021 BOAT produced work online via our YouTube channel
Great venue and always a wonderful performance
Brownsea Open Air Theatre always put on a great show