Shakespeare on the Lawn
 Gawsworth
Hall is an ancient manor house dating back to Norman times. Rich in
history, a tour of the Hall becomes a stirring pageant of great events,
intrigue and romance over the centuries. Here lived Mary Fitton, the possible
Dark Lady of Shakespeare's Sonnets. From the Fittons, the Hall has passed
to the Earls of Harrington, thence to the Roper-Richards family, Lords
of the Manor and Patrons of the Living.
In the summer of 1971 Timothy Richards asked the Wilmslow Green Room
Society if they would produce a Shakespeare play in the grounds the hall.
The production was "Twelfth Night", and played to an audience of about
40 people sitting on the grass on the "Camomile Lawn" next to the duck
pond.
In 1976 the production was moved to the garden, where a grass bank
provides a natural terrace. Over the years the season was extended to include
opera, concerts and drama, and the seating was increased by erecting a
covered stand, which also served to keep the audience dry (although the
actors still get wet when it rains). Over 30 years later, the theatre
holds 1200 people and the season lasts eight weeks - but it still opens
with a production of Shakespeare by the Wilmslow Green Room Society.
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