Royal Theatre (Northampton)
Main entrance
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| Address | 1 Guildhall Road Northampton, Northamptonshire |
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| Coordinates | 52°14′10″N 0°53′37″W / 52.2362°N 0.8936°W |
| Owner | Northampton Theatres Trust |
| Designation | Grade II listed (Royal) |
| Capacity | 583 (Royal) 1,200 (Derngate) 90 (Filmhouse) |
| Current use | In-house productions National touring productions |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1884 (Royal) 1983 (Derngate) 2006 (Royal & Derngate) 2013 (Errol Flynn Filmhouse) |
| Rebuilt | 1887 C J Phipps (fire) 2005 (refurbishment) |
| Architect |
C J Phipps (Royal) Aedas RHWL (Derngate) |
| Website | |
| Royal & Derngate website | |
Errol Flynn Filmhouse is attached to Royal & Derngate
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| Address | Derngate, Northampton, NN1 1UD |
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| Location | Northampton, England, UK |
| Owner | Northampton Theatres Trust |
| Type | Cinema |
| Capacity | 88 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 2013 |
| Opened | 2013 |
| Website | |
| www |
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Royal & Derngate is a theatre complex in the Cultural Quarter of Northampton, England, consisting of the Royal Theatre and the Derngate Theatre. The Royal Theatre, established as a producing house, has a capacity of 583 seats and since 1976 has been designated a Grade II listed building; the Derngate Theatre seats a maximum of 1,200 and is a multi-purpose space in which the auditorium can be configured for a variety of events including theatre, opera, live music, dance, fashion and sports. The Errol Flynn Filmhouse, an independent cinema built to the side of the complex, opened in 2013.
The Royal was built by theatre architect Charles J. Phipps and opened in 1884. Ninety-nine years later in 1983, the Derngate, designed by RHWL, was built to the rear of the Royal. Whilst the two theatres were physically linked, they only formally merged as one combined organisation in 1999, run by the Northampton Theatres Trust. In 2005, both theatres closed for an 18-month £14.5m redevelopment, which saw the merging of both venues into one construction, the building of a creativity centre, and the total refurbishment of the two venues. The complex reopened as Royal & Derngate in October 2006. From its reopening, Laurie Sansom was Artistic Director; under his tenure, The Stage hailed Royal & Derngate as The Regional Theatre of the Year (2010) in its inaugural Stage 100 Awards for "its artistic quality and connections it has with local audiences."James Dacre took over as Artistic Director in 2013. The theare was awarded the UK Theatre Management Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre for its Made in Northampton co-produced work in 2015 and the UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production in 2016. It was shortlisted for the Regional Theatre of the Year Award again in 2016.
In addition to staging and producing entertainment, Royal & Derngate also provide a programme of creative projects in its Underground space, homing its Youth Theatre and giving the local community the chance to get involved in performing, writing and to find out more about what goes on behind the scenes.
The Royal Theatre was the first building of what now exists as the Royal & Derngate complex. The Royal, then called the Theatre Royal and Opera House, was built for John Franklin by Henry Martin and designed by renowned Victorian theatre architect Charles J. Phipps with mural artist Henry Bird. It opened on 5 May 1884 with a production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. On the theatre's opening, The Stage newspaper reported:
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