Theatres in Milton Keynes-00-7608

The intention was for Milton Keynes to eventually grow into a city and today's population is on target for reaching 250,000 and beyond. Overall, the project has proved to be a success, however, after the arrival of all the usual urban facilities such as shops, hospital, schools and even the world-famous Open University, a key attribute in the search for city status was to have a fully professional Milton Keynes theatre.

Public Venues

There were already a number of venues for public performances in the MK area, such as the open air National Bowl that seats up to 65,000 people and several small but mostly amateur production theatres on school and university campuses. In addition, there was the The Stables; a well-regarded venue founded by Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, which puts on a wide range of musical events on a professional basis for smaller audiences. For many years this was the closest thing to a Milton Keynes theatre that the promising town had.

Milton Keynes Theatre

Nonetheless, having an MK theatre dedicated to providing various forms of entertainment for larger audiences was pursued with vigour from the very outset of the town being built. Eventually by 1999 and after some 25 years of campaigning, a brand new theatre opened its doors to the public for the first time. Situated in the heart of the town centre and reflecting the modernist aspirations of the centre's award-winning architecture with its own large glass atrium area, it has brought a new dimension to the cultural life of this newly emerging city.

As well as its impressive glass and steel frontage, complete with an external row of rectangular columns, this MK theatre (designed by architects, Blonski-Heard) has some impressive technical features. To allow for smaller productions and to create a more intimate space, the ceiling can be lowered and the seating adjusted, changing the audience capacity from 1400 people down to a more manageable 900. Fortunately, the theatre's acoustic designers (Arup Acoustics) took this changeability into account when designing the various elements affecting sound quality.

Getting to the Theatre

Apart from providing a cultural facility for local people, another advantage of this theatre is that it can be readily accessed by visitors from a number of surrounding places. The West Coast Line train station is only a short bus ride from the theatre. It is within easy walking distance from the main bus station and there is ample parking near the theatre and nightlife district; most of it free after 6pm. London, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Bedford, Northampton, Buckingham and even Leicester are just some of the towns and cities that are within an hour or less of this venue, helping to fill up all those seats throughout the year.

Milton Keynes Theatre Programme

The sheer variety of the Milton Keynes Theatre programme is truly astonishing. In the run up to Christmas 2010 alone, it features popular comedians such as Ross Noble, John Bishop and Jimmy Carr, musicals such as Spamalot and Hairspray, plays such as Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art, Shakespearean offerings like The Merry Wives of Windsor, ballet in the form of Romeo and Juliet and opera's Don Giovanni, to name but a few of the alternatives.

The following year at the Milton Keynes theatre, the programme kicks off with an equally diverse offering ranging from Swan Lake on Ice, Thomas [the Tank Engine] and Friends, acrobats from the Moscow State Circus, Dick Whittington in pantomime and yet more musicals, Shakespeare, opera, drama and comedy. If you're bored in Milton Keynes, then it's because you've neglected to book up in time to see some of this cornucopia of live entertainment, which always has a special impact compared with viewing TV or cinema.