When people think of theatres in Wolverhampton the most well known one would be The Wolverhampton Grand Theatre but there is a second one and that is the Arena Theatre.
This theatre recently celebrated it’s 50th anniversary and is looking toward the future.
After being founded by the first lecturer in drama at the University of Wolverhampton, Philip Tilstone, this theatre outgrew it’s previous premises and moved to it’s current location within the University of Wolverhampton’s buildings in 1999.
On 3rd March there was a birthday celebration with a drinks reception followed by a speech from Artistic Director Neil Reading and then a tenth anniversary performance of Meet Fred from Hijinx Theatre.
Neil spoke about how he got involved with the theatre
“My first dealings with the Arena Theatre were as a performer in the late part of the 20th Century when my father who was a teacher drafted me in to play Macbeth”
“Then various visits over the next 10 years or so and then I’ve been artistic director since 2013.” He went on to add
Writers are normally seen as the heartbeat of theatres, if there’s no writers there are no performances and one such writer connected to the theatre is Matt Beams.
He is one half of the writing team for one of the main productions at the theatre which is Victorian Ghost stories which is usually done around the Christmas period and has been for the last 7 years.
He spoke about how the theatre is part of the community
“I think it’s been doing a job of being an open and welcoming space for those 50 years and my own involvement and relationship with the theatre is nowhere near that long but everything I’ve heard and everything I’ve seen suggests that the great work that’s being done now to build community and embrace community has always been part of the legacy of the venue”
Neil spoke more about what the Arena Theatre is about “We’re about taking the next generation of theatre makers, giving them skills, allowing them to experiment and play, make mistakes and find their voice and going on to bigger and better things away from the arena with our blessing and stamp of approval.”
On Community he said “We’re really about opportunities for all the communities of Wolverhampton, whether that be performers, community groups, people with access needs, we’re really proud of that work and look forward to taking those people on to the next stage of their career”
Going forward what can we expect, Neil explained “more of the same hopefully, we’ll keep programming really exciting work, we’ll keep being a voice for the community, we’ll keep giving people who want to make a career in the performing arts somewhere to be, somewhere to feel at home and really importantly somewhere to take risks and to carve out their creative careers”
The Arena Theatre wants people to know the door is always open and they look forward to welcoming people from across the community and beyond.
