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Theatre Royal, Bath

Image credit: Freia Turland

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Built in 1805, the Theatre Royal, Bath is one of the oldest and most beautiful working Georgian theatres in Britain, the first outside London to be granted a royal patent. Home to an exquisitely-restored main auditorium; the state-of-the-art Ustinov Studio; and the award-winning egg theatre for children and their families, the Theatre Royal presents a diverse programme of drama, comedy, opera and ballet, featuring many of the country's leading actors and performers. When he died in 1965, Somerset Maugham, the distinguished playwright and author, bequeathed his art collection to the, as yet unbuilt, National Theatre. Once completed, the National Theatre was unable to show the paintings sensibly or securely. Some were loaned to the now closed Theatre Museum in Covent Garden but after years of having no suitable home the collection was transferred to Bath in 2010, where it has been shared between the Theatre Royal and the Holburne Museum. On display in the main foyer and public areas of the Theatre Royal, many of the actors depicted in the paintings performed in the city during its eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century heyday, making the theatre a highly appropriate venue for these important works.

Sawclose, Bath, Somerset BA1 1ET England

01225 448844

Before making a visit, check opening hours with the venue

http://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/page/1/Home