Penlee Park Open Air Theatre – the theatre in the park in the heart of Penzance. A unique outdoor theatre space that has celebrated Cornish, national and international performers since 1948.
In 2016, we became one of Cornwall365’s Cultural Ambassadors and in 2018 Penzance became the first town in the UK to be awarded Plastic Free status by Surfers Against Sewage; as a venue we believe it is important to make a stand against single-use plastic products and have achieved plastic free status by removing all petro-chemical based products and replacing them with plant-based plastic products. We are now also members of The Final Straw Cornwall, you will not find plastic straws offered in our venue! In 2018, we celebrated our 70th Anniversary season. In 2019, we will be exclusively using bamboo-based toilet paper in our conveniences from Who Gives a Crap. It makes absolute sense as we are in the UK’s first plastic-free town!
Set in beautiful sheltered surroundings in Penlee Park, the theatre seats around 300 people. Come and enjoy an afternoon or evening of quality entertainment in the open air this summer from our varied programme.
There is the opportunity to order home-made vegetable pre-show curry, served with naan bread and yoghurt, jacket potato with veggie curry or jacket potato with butter and grated cheese when you book your show tickets with CRBO. Our home-made vegetable curry is both dairy and gluten free. In addition, there is a licensed bar plus a full range of both hot and soft drinks and snacks. Please note: hot food may not be available at all matinee performances.
Pick up a LOYALTY CARD at the box office!
See 3 shows and then see number 4 for FREE! Present your Loyalty Card at the box office, get it stamped and three stamps later – one free show!
We are extremely grateful for both financial and facility support from Penzance Town Council.
Supported by Penzance Town Council, Penlee House and Golowan
Cornish Weather
Our summer productions are Open–Air and are performed outside, uncovered.
Audience members therefore accept that weather, climate, temperature, light conditions, and various other elements which are out of our control, may impact on the performance.
While we make every effort to complete each show, we reserve the right to:
Stop and start the performance as necessary or commence the show up to one hour after the stated time.
Apart from extreme circumstances, we will not cancel a performance before the advertised start time. It can often rain all day, yet clear up just before the performance is due to commence.
We perform in all but the worst of weathers, rain included. However, where such weather is deemed to pose a health and safety risk to the performers or our audience i.e. torrential rain or thunder and lightning strike – we reserve the right to stop the performance. Should the performance be unable to continue, the decision to cancel will be made between the visiting company and the venue manager.
Refunds and Exchanges
Refunds are not given for the cancellation or abandonment of a show as a result of poor weather.