This blog has been co-written with the Theatres Trust. The Trust is the national advice and advocacy body for the UK’s theatres supporting all forms of theatres, whether old or new, commercial, subsidised or community-run. They protect theatres and champion the future of live performance by advising and supporting our nation’s theatres to develop best practice in design and management.
What is the oldest theatre is a fascinating, and at times controversial question, the answer to which depends very much on the definition of what a theatre is. While it’s hard to reach one definitive answer, reflecting on the subject reveals the rich variety of theatres in England and gives a good insight into how the performing arts have evolved over the centuries.
Oldest known working theatrical stage: St George’s Guildhall, Kings Lynn, Norfolk
St George’s Guildhall claims to be the only working theatre in the world to have records showing that plays were put on in every century since the 1400s and it is still running in the present day. The earliest documented theatrical performance dates from 1445. Opened in 1406, it was built as a civic and social centre for the town, hosting meetings, feasts, trade and entertainment. Over this illustrious history, it has also had other uses rather than always being a theatre.
During the Elizabethan period, the guildhall was an important stop for touring companies. Records show that Queen Elizabeth I’s players performed there across 10 seasons. Shakespeare’s company was paid to perform in St George’s Guildhall in 1592 to 1593, when London theatres were closed due to the plague. While there is no firm evidence that Shakespeare himself visited King’s Lynn, the guildhall remains one of the strongest surviving links to the wider theatrical world in which he worked. Archaeological evidence from the building has also provided rare insight into the habits and expectations of provincial theatre audiences of the period.
The building is listed Grade I and forms part of King’s Lynn’s exceptional heritage. Like many complex medieval structures, it faces ongoing challenges from age, materials and environmental conditions. Support from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Capital Fund is helping to safeguard the guildhall through essential repair and conservation work, ensuring it can remain in active use.
Renewed public interest in Shakespeare’s world, including film adaptations such as Hamnet, released in 2025, has prompted wider interest in early performance sites. Historic venues such as the guildhall demonstrate that England’s theatrical heritage has always extended beyond London, flourishing in market towns and ports across the country.
Oldest site to have been in continuous use as a theatre: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London
In this category we are looking at sites that have been in continuous use as a theatre, but where the buildings may have been replaced. Architecturally and historically, the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane is one of the most important theatres in the world and is a Grade I listed building. There has been a permanent theatre on this site from 1663 until the present day. No other site in Britain has a longer history of continuous theatre use. The right of ‘the Lane’ to present dramatic entertainments dates from the Royal Patent (still in the possession of the theatre) granted by Charles II to Thomas Killigrew in 1662 with the permanent playhouse opening in 1663. But there have been 4 different buildings on the site since 1663, with the current building dating back to 1812, when it had to be rebuilt entirely following a fire.
Longest continually operating theatre in the same building: Theatre Royal Bristol (Bristol Old Vic) or possibly York Theatre Royal
The theatre we now know as Bristol Old Vic was built between 1764 and 1766 and is widely recognised as not just the longest continually operating theatre in England, but in the whole English-speaking world. It opened on 30 May 1766 with a performance advertised. The theatre didn’t have a Royal License which meant it was technically illegal to host plays there, so that opening performance was advertised as a ‘Concert of Music and a Specimen of Rhetorick’ with a prologue and epilogue by David Garrick to get around that legal technicality. A Royal Patent was granted in 1778. It is listed at Grade I.
York Theatre Royal (listed at Grade II*) however contests Bristol Old Vic’s claim. A theatre was first built on the present site in 1744 over the ruins of St Leonard’s Hospital. The building was then reconstructed and enlarged in 1765, and a royal patent was granted in 1769. The building was often reconstructed but never totally demolished, so that it is now an extraordinary complex of many periods.
Oldest working theatre in its original form: The Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, Yorkshire
While rebuilding projects have made significant changes to both the Bristol Old Vic, York Theatre Royal and Theatre Royal Drury Lane over the years, the interior of the Georgian Theatre Royal remains pretty much as it was designed in 1788 with almost everything from paybox to proscenium doors (the part of the stage in front of the curtain) being authentically Georgian.
Oldest private theatre: The Theatre at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
The theatres above are public venues, which is what most people would think of in terms of theatres, but there are also private theatres to consider – performance spaces built as part of the homes of the wealthy.
The Theatre at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire was built around 1600 to 1601 by Bess of Hardwick, one of the most influential women of Elizabethan England. Bess was renowned for her wealth, ambitious building projects, and her patronage of the arts. Hardwick Hall itself, completed in 1597, was designed as a statement of her status.
Within the great house, Bess incorporated a private theatre, likely intended for the entertainment of her family, visiting nobility, and distinguished guests. Unlike public playhouses, this theatre would have hosted intimate performances, including plays, masques, music and dancing.
Home of UK’s first acting school (Sarah Thorne’s School of Acting): Theatre Royal Margate, Kent
Opening in 1787 Theatre Royal Margate is not quite as old as some other theatres mentioned here and it has been altered more than the Georgian Theatre Royal, having been remodelled in 1874, but it was the home of England’s first acting school, Sarah Thorne’s School of Acting. It is listed Grade II*. The theatre is currently closed and has been on Theatres Trust’s Theatres at Risk Register since 2018, but work is progressing towards restoring and reopening it.
Theatre in oldest converted building: Chesil Theatre, Winchester, Hampshire
Not all theatres start off as theatres. It is quite common for other, often historic, buildings such as churches, town halls and even mills to be converted for theatrical use. Chesil Theatre is housed in the Church of St Peter, which dates back to 1148 and was a place of worship until 1949. Following the intervention of the Winchester Preservation Trust in the early 1960s, the building was made structurally sound and gifted to the Winchester Dramatic Society in 1966, enabling this ancient building to begin a new life as a theatre.
Oldest theatre with a stage rather than an Amphitheatre: The Roman Theatre of St Albans, Hertfordshire.
Located to the west of modern St Albans, the Roman Theatre was constructed around AD 140 as part of the thriving Roman city of Verulamium, one of the most important settlements in Roman Britain.
Unlike the freestanding stone theatres found elsewhere in the Roman Empire, the theatre at Verulamium was built into a natural slope, reflecting a blend of Roman design and local adaptation. The site fell into disuse and was gradually buried and forgotten.
Rediscovered and excavated in the 19th and 20th centuries, the theatre has since been carefully preserved. Today, part of a scheduled monument, it is widely regarded as the oldest theatre in the country still in use, continuing a tradition of performance that stretches back nearly 2,000 years.
Oldest open-air performance space: St Just-in-Penwith’s Plen-an-Gwari, Cornwall
Plen-an-Gwari (or Plain-an-Gwarry) is a traditional open-air performance space unique to Cornwall, with roots stretching back to the medieval period. The Cornish name means ‘playing place’, reflecting its original purpose as a communal site for drama, storytelling and religious celebration. The most famous and oldest surviving example is the 14th century St Just-in-Penwith’s Plen-an-Gwari, which is unusually well preserved and still used for performances today. The site is protected as a scheduled monument.
Oldest outdoor purpose-built theatre: Scarbrough Open Air Theatre, Yorkshire
The local council constructed the vast 6,000-seat Open Air Theatre in Northstead Manor Pleasure Gardens in 1932. Audiences flocking to see the opera ‘Merrie England’ were accommodated on the banks of a small valley, taking advantage of ground contours which created a natural amphitheatre. Then, as now, the stage was set on an island in the middle of a lake with fixed seating for the audience opposite.
A few years ago, I made it my new year’s resolution to go to the theatre at least once a month. It actually developed into more than once a month, and I enjoyed that year so much, I kept up the habit. So I thought this article was very interesting, and I’ve now added a few more venues to my ‘to visit’ list. Thanks!
Interesting piece. But there is at least one purpose-built open-air theatre older than Scarborough, and that is the Greek Theatre at Bradfield College, Berkshire, built in an old chalk quarry in 1888, and still used to stage a Greek tragedy in the original language every three years…