Redgrave Theatre

Set in the beautiful gardens of Grade II listed Brightwells House, the Redgrave was built in the 1970s for the Farnham Repertory Theatre Company when the Castle Theatre (q.v.) was vacated. The house itself provided a restaurant (the Castle Restaurant) and club room, with other offices and dressing rooms above. A single roof was formed from standard Trocoll double-tee bridge beams carried on simple linear walls. Inside, the end stage has a forestage or orchestra pit to accommodate 10 musicians. There is no flytower but the stage was equipped with a permanent revolve. The auditorium is a concrete structure with no decoration, fan shaped in a single rake. The foyer was extended in 1986 but facilities were limited. In all the building serves as an interesting example of combining an existing listed building with new build to provide a cost effective solution. The theatre has had a troubled history and has suffered from neglect since its closure in 1997 and is in a poor state of repair. Various schemes have been developed to re-open the building, but so far none of them has managed to provide a stable future for the theatre, mainly because of ownership issues. The building is currently under threat of demolition as part of a larger redevelopment scheme.