‘bringing Shakespeare to life in an entertaining and exhilarating fashion’ 
Edinburgh Evening News

‘the perfect setting and the perfect performance’
North Devon Journal

‘The perfect evening’ 
Daily Express

‘a touring company which rises to the challenge of staging plays in the open air and succeeds triumphantly’ 
Dorset Echo

'as the bard himself would have liked it'
Shrewsbury Chronicle

'A real summer treat'
bbc.co.uk

'A fairy tale evening'
Dundee Courier

       Chapterhouse Theatre Company is a professional touring production group bringing its wide range of experience to venues across Britain. The Company prides itself on fully accessible, traditional but innovative productions. We now enter our ninth season of productions, with some of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays, on stage at both Theatres and Country Houses throughout Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
       From a first year of performances at some thirty venues, with Romeo and Juliet, the company has established itself as one of the most successful and acclaimed touring company’s in the country. In previous years the company has toured with a variety of shows including Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing together with performances of classic works such as The Mystery Plays and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. What's more, in 2004 the company produced the first West End show ever to tour open-air, ART directed by Nigel Havers.
       Chapterhouse now perform in over 130 different locations around Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland for their garden theatre season, including  many of the most beautiful settings including Chirk Castle, Exbury Gardens and Castle Ward in Ireland.
       Two tours of theatres in 2003 (A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet) and 2005 (Macbeth) were very successful and attracted audiences from both the regular theatre-going public and schools, many of which took part in workshops aimed at expanding pupils understanding of the plays through either text study or acting classes based on the play’s themes.
       In this, our ninth season of productions, Chapterhouse return with shows both traditional and new. Our Shakespeare productions are once again the ever popular family comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream and an all new production of The Tempest, one of my own favourites. We have a new version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a perfect show for a summer evening with its mixture of comedy, absurdity and music. We have two specially written scripts for this years tours. Since 2006 we have been commissioning new writing, giving opportunities to young writers to have their shows produced. For her second year with us Laura Turner, whose version of Jack and the Beanstalk was much enjoyed last year, returns with the magical fairy tale Sleeping Beauty and perhaps our most ambitious play to date, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. 
       So from all of us at Chapterhouse, we welcome you to this exciting year of theatre under the stars.

I started my training for theatre in a round about way at Bishop Grosseteste College in Lincoln where I studied among other things drama and villages. I must be one of the few people in the country who can say he has a degree in villages, but maybe the combination stuck as here I am now producing drama to all intents and purposes in villages. After college I acted and was part of an indie band called 4,000,000 Telephones. The band toured the UK and Europe and we had vinyl releases one of which has had a CD re-release quite recently. To my surprise it got four stars in Record Collector and since November the band has been featured on American radio and played down in London. I have performed in numerous Shakespeare's and played parts in musicals, which I have a quiet love for. One of my favourite experiences was playing Joseph in a college production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat for a young David Pugh who has since gone on to produce Equus on the West End and of course ART with Nigel Havers. That was another high point, this time for Chapterhouse when Nigel directed Art for our own open air production, again through David Pugh. Chapterhouse has provided many highs, our production of The Mystery Plays directed brilliantly by Karen Crow which feature in Michael Woods' In Search of Shakespeare, Karen Crow's wonderful interpretations of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing and many others. My time as a producer has put me in contact with many kind and  lovely people, events organisers without whom we wouldn't exist, audiences who are nearly always fun and actors and directors who keep you on your toes but work so hard in creating the shows. As for what might be next, who knows but next year 2008 we shall meet King Arthur and His Knights, Alice in Wonderland and Prospero in The Tempest,  and I rather hope that is how things shall carry on.

Gill gained a B.Ed Honours Degree in English and Art at Nottingham Trent University. Moving on to work in Primary and Secondary schools for fifteen years Gill taught in a wide range of subjects.
After leaving the teaching profession, she enjoyed a short spell of local radio broadcasting before joining Chapterhouse as Events Co-ordinator, a job which encompasses a wide variety of office activities.
Away from work, Gill enjoys reading, yoga and swimming.

Samantha Ashby – Press and Publicity Officer

After five years with the Company, John is a vital member of the office team. Trained in IT and Administration, he has gained a healthy contempt for computers, and has risen to the position of Senior Dogsbody and Webmonkey.
Hobbies include reading, music, insomnia, wearing hats, PlayStation and following the progress of little known foreign football teams. He has also become a wikipedia junkie in his spare time.

Laura is currently studying for a degree in English Literature at the University of York. She has been interested in both theatre and writing since an early age, and is thrilled to be writing her first professional play. She has much experience of writing for amateur productions and publications. Laura is very excited to be working at Chapterhouse for the first time, and is looking forward to starting work on ‘King Arthur’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ for next year!

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