Abbey Theatre (England)
Auditorium
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| Address | Pool Bank Street Nuneaton England |
|---|---|
| Owner | Nuneaton Arts Council |
| Type | Receiving house |
| Capacity | 248 |
| Current use | Theatre |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1969 |
| Rebuilt | 2001 |
| Website | |
| abbeytheatre.co.uk | |
The Abbey Theatre is a theatre situated on Pool Bank Street in the Abbey Green quarter of Nuneaton, England.
The venue hosts a wide variety of other performances including visiting opera and ballet companies, touring shows, musicals, pantomime and drama.
The theatre's chief executive is Tony Deeming. It is run as a trust by Nuneaton Arts Council.
With a regular annual attendance of over 30,000, the Abbey Theatre is the busiest theatre in Nuneaton, and the busiest venue for musicals in Warwickshire.
The Nuneaton Arts Council was founded in 1969 by a group of local arts devotees who noted the continuing demise of other venues in Nuneaton. They saw the need to provide a focal point for all aspects of arts, and so what was until then a Territorial Army drill hall was converted into the Abbey Theatre.
On 22 January 2007, a performance of the Pied Piper of Hamelin went up half an hour late after contractors had inadvertently concreted emergency doors shut.
In August 2008, new security fencing was installed at the theatre to help keep anti-social behaviour away from the theatre and encourage more theatergoers to enjoy the diverse range of productions performed at the Abbey Theatre.
In 2008, Masqueraders Theatrical society became another society that had to move from the Bedworth Civic Hall to the Abbey Theatre, due to the costs of hiring the Bedworth venue.
November 2008 saw an entire winter season at the Abbey nearly come to a complete halt because due to the demolition of the old Ritz music hall, which was to become a supermarket, access to the backstage areas of the theatre were lost. Last minute talks only narrowly avoided all shows in that month being cancelled.
August 2012 saw the theatre granted planning permission to install air conditioning in all public areas of the building, improving the customer experience, as previously watching a show at the Abbey was a hot affair.
In June 2014, the theatre took part in the UK Heritage Open Weekend and the public were invited to take a look around the theatre.
In March 2015, the theatre was the venue for what was thought to be the largest ghost hunters convention in the UK. During March 2015 the venue was also used for a Beats project which was featured on BBC Radio One.
The theatre was discussed in the national press in December 2013 as an interview was published with the pantomime dame that features in one of its biggest pantomimes 'Abbey Players'.
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