This summer, Red Rose Chain will once again host Theatre In The Forest, the open-air theatre spectacular in Rendlesham Forest that is now a landmark event in Suffolk's summer calendar.

But before the company established its reputation for making Shakespeare accessible to a modern audience, Theatre In The Forest had to grow from a one-off summer event into the hugely anticipated experience it has now become...

The first production in the forest took place over a single weekend as part of an arts initiative encouraging artists to work in unusual locations. Exploring the wide-ranging theories given for Suffolk’s UFO incident of 1980, UFO BENTWATERS provided a light-hearted answer to the mystery. The production helped to establish Red Rose Chain's approach of working with professional actors alongside a well-trained youth team.

It was a rudimentary set-up, with the cast working as stewards, running the lighting and sound and all achieved with virtually no additional support. But in having the actors at the front-of-house, in character, to greet and assist audience members on arrival, Red Rose Chain set a tone and feeling that has since become one of the unique joys of Theatre In The Forest. It reflected the company’s personable, visible approach, allowing audience members to not only witness, but also to actually take part in the event. Since then, the team has taken the ‘accidents’ that made that first year so special and made them an integral part of the Theatre In The Forest experience. On arrival, as well as being assisted by car parking stewards and front of house staff, you’ll still find the actors out front, in the audience, and the performance having already started for some.

In 2001, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM presented itself as possibly the most perfect match for the forest location. The play, which itself is set in a forest location, marked our second year in Rendlesham, although at this stage plans to continue into the future were still unconfirmed.

Lerner and Loewe’s magical musical CAMELOT, with its woods-based storyline, marked our third year in the forest, and it was after the success of this show that Red Rose Chain decided to commit to a regular summer slot in the forest. Audience numbers were steadily building up, but attendance still needed to grow substantially to make it achievable.

The next three years saw productions of MACBETH, WUTHERING HEIGHTS and UFO: THE MUSICAL, further establishing the company’s creative flexibility. But it was 2006’s remounting of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM which elevated the event to a new level. A shift in the marketing approach and the quality of the show inspired huge word-of-mouth publicity and saw audience figures almost double, reaching 6000 for the first time. Red Rose Chain had, after 6 years, finally created the event which became known as Theatre In The Forest from that year on.

In response to performing his perfect comedy, the following year saw a production of Shakespeare’s HAMLET. Audience figures remained above 6000, and director Joanna Carrick once again showed a creative flair and unique ability to shatter the myth that Shakespeare is just a cultural activity that must be endured rather than enjoyed.

Summer 2008 continued the Shakespeare theme, with ROMEO & JULIET. Around 400 years old, this wildly romantic, tragic and spine-tingling play is perhaps the most famous piece of writing to come out of England. Theatre In The Forest grew this year by more than 25% and received the largest number of new audience members since the project began.

The 2009 production of The Winter’s Tale at Theatre In The Forest marked our fourth consecutive Shakespeare performance in the forest, and it’s a combination that’s hard to beat. Shakespeare's plays were originally performed in front of large audiences in an open air theatre, and without the use of microphones! It's a description which perfectly fits our forest venue.

We were delighted to welcome over 9,000 people to Theatre In The Forest last year, and this number looks set to grow again in 2010. And so, with a decade of experience wowing audiences at Theatre In The Forest, it is Red Rose Chain’s great pleasure to reveal that next summer we will once again be staging Shakespeare’s most famous comedy; A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM! We hope you will join us in the forest, a magical place where anything can happen...