The Lichfield Garrick is a modern, purpose built theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 in Lichfield

Lichfield

Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...

, a city in Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

The main auditorium seats 480 people and the Studio seats 157 people. The theatre is named after the actor David Garrick

David Garrick

David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...

, who was brought up in Lichfield.

The Garrick's program includes a variety of touring shows as well as its own Rep company productions. It is also used extensively for plays

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 and musicals by local amateur companies. Like most British theatres the Garrick also plays host to an annual Christmas pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

. The current Artistic Director

Artistic director

An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...

 is Adrian Jackson.

History

The new £5.5 million theatre opened in July 2003 replacing the old Arts centre and Civic Hall. The project received over £1.4 million from the European Structural Funds Program. The architect was Alan Short

Alan Short

Alan Short , born in San Francisco, was a third-generation Californian. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He attended local schools in Stockton, California and College of the Pacific and was a graduate of Hastings College of Law. He became Deputy District Attorney of San Joaquin County...

, founder of Short & Associates. As well as adding a fly tower and orchestra pit

Orchestra pit

An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required...

 to the main auditorium, the theatre was remodelled, so that new front of house areas could be built, better backstage access provided and a studio theatre included. It is architecturally notable for its unique natural ventilation system, which is an award-winning eco-friendly design. In 2004 it won the Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice and CIBSE Project of the Year, among others. However, the building received a mixed response from the public, with some people arguing the theatre's design was not in keeping with the character of Lichfield.

The first production, The Recruiting Officer

The Recruiting Officer

The Recruiting Officer is a 1706 play by the Irish writer George Farquhar, which follows the social and sexual exploits of two officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, in the town of Shrewsbury to recruit soldiers...

, was directed by and starred Corin Redgrave

Corin Redgrave

Corin William Redgrave was an English actor and political activist.-Early life:Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...

. George Farquhar

George Farquhar

George Farquhar was an Irish dramatist. He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy, particularly for his plays The Recruiting Officer and The Beaux' Stratagem .-Early life:...

 is said to have written some of the play while staying at the George Hotel in Lichfield. It was also the first play that David Garrick performed in.

Garrick Rep Company

The Garrick Rep Company was formed in 2005 with the aim of providing theatre goers with powerful and exciting performances, produced in-house at the Garrick Theatre. Early productions were presented under the name of RDC Productions.

Year	Play	Cast	Director	Notes
2006	Bouncers	Tom Roberts, Mark Jardine, Simon Naylor, Andrew Dickinson	Alice Bartlett & Simon West
	April in Paris April in Paris "April in Paris" can refer to:*"April in Paris" , a popular standard song written by Vernon Duke and E. Y. Harburg in 1932*April in Paris , a 1952 musical film starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger...	Tom Roberts, Sarah Kirkland	Alice Bartlett
	Frankenstein Frankenstein Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...	Tom Roberts, Sarah Kirkland, Rob Glyn-Jones	Alice Bartlett
2007	Waiting for Godot Waiting for Godot Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...	Mark Jardine, Russell Richardson, Phil Yarrow, Steve Edwin	Alice Bartlett
	Satin 'n' Steel	Tom Roberts, Rebecca Reaney	Alice Bartlett
	Look Back in Anger Look Back in Anger Look Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...	Ben Warwick, Emily Bowker, Giles Faulkner, Lydia Bewley, Robert Austin	Adam Barnard
	A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...	Ben Warwick, Emily Bowker, Giles Faulkner, Lydia Bewley	Adam Barnard
2008	Cold Comfort Farm Cold Comfort Farm Cold Comfort Farm is a comic novel by Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb...	Hannah Jayne Stretton, Edward Elks, Georgina Stamp, Alexander D’Andrea, Robert Pass	Kim Gillespie	In association with The Lichfield Players
	Two	Mark Jardine, Janet Bamford	Alasdair Harvey
	Shirley Valentine Shirley Valentine Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.-Plot:...	Beverley Hills	Alasdair Harvey
	Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Matthew Kelly Matthew Kelly Matthew Kelly is an English television presenter and Olivier-award winning actor. Having been trained as a theatre actor, he first came to public prominence as a television presenter of ITV light entertainment shows such as You Bet! and Stars in Their Eyes... , Tracey Childs Tracey Childs Tracey Childs is an English actress, best known for playing Lynne Howard in the 1980s drama series Howards' Way. More recently, she has appeared in Born and Bred as Linda Cosgrove and as Patty Cornwell in Hollyoaks.... , Mark Farrelly, Louise Kempton	Andrew Hall Andrew Hall (actor) Andrew Hall is an English actor and director.Most recently has been seen in ITV's Coronation Street playing the controversial character of Marc Selby...	Transferred to Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Studios, formerly The Whitehall Theatre until 2004, is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London.... , The West End West End of London The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
2009	Fur Coat and No Knickers	Sam Millard, Mark Grady, Richard Loosemore	Kim Gillespie	In association with The Lichfield Players
	Ladies' Day	Joanna Bacon, Lorraine Cheshire Lorraine Cheshire Lorraine Cheshire is a British actress from Wythenshawe, Manchester.Date of birth: 4 September 1958 -Credits:*Massive 2008*Life on Mars 2007*Tittybangbang 2006*Early Doors 2003*Mrs Meitlemeihr 2002... , Abigail Longstaffe, Sean McKenzie, Liz Simmons	Alasdair Harvey
	The Entertainer The Entertainer (play) The Entertainer is a three act play by John Osborne, first produced in 1957. His first play, Look Back in Anger, had attracted mixed notices but a great deal of publicity. Having depicted an "angry young man" in the earlier play, Osborne wrote, at Laurence Olivier's request,about an angry middle...	John Ashton John Ashton John Ashton may refer to:* John Ashton , American actor* John Ashton , Australian Anglican bishop* John Ashton , British Special Representative for Climate Change... , Gerry Hinks, Lin Blakley, Emily Pennant-Rea, Robert Pass	Andrew Hall Andrew Hall (actor) Andrew Hall is an English actor and director.Most recently has been seen in ITV's Coronation Street playing the controversial character of Marc Selby...
2010	Brassed Off Brassed Off Brassed Off is a 1996 British film written and directed by Mark Herman. The film, a British-American co-production made between Channel Four Films, Miramax Films and Prominent Films, is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure of their pit...	Matthew Stathers, Rachel Matthews, Charlie Buckland, Janet Bamford	Chris Rolls	In association with The Lichfield Players
	The Blue Room	Ty Glaser, Robert Curtis	Alasdair Harvey
	Haunting Julia Haunting Julia Haunting Julia is a 1994 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about Julia Lukin, a nineteen-year-old brilliant musician who committed suicide twelve years earlier, who haunts the three men closest to her, through both the supernatural and in their memories...	Christopher Timothy Christopher Timothy Christopher Timothy is a Welsh actor, television director and writer. Timothy is possibly best known today for his role as James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small; more recently he has starred as Dr. Brendan 'Mac' McGuire in the British television drama Doctors... , Richard O'Callaghan Richard O'Callaghan Richard O'Callaghan is an English film, stage and television character actor.Born on 7 March 1940, he is the son of actors Patricia Hayes and Valentine Brooke whose stage name was Valentine Rooke. As a boy actor he was known as Richard Brooke. He has led a versatile career in film, stage and... , Dominic Hecht	Andrew Hall Andrew Hall (actor) Andrew Hall is an English actor and director.Most recently has been seen in ITV's Coronation Street playing the controversial character of Marc Selby...

Controversy

In June 2009, a public campaign was started against what was called "the misappropriation of council funding at the Garrick." It was claimed "the facility is focused on the arts when its predecessor, the Civic Hall, catered for a wider variety of community events." However, in response to this many Lichfeldians came out in support of the venue.

External links

• Official Website
• Guide to whats on in theatres around the UK