Theatre in the Woods

The West Horsley Place Trust welcomed Grange Park Opera for its first season in the Theatre in the Woods in 2017. The West Horsley Place Trust and Grange Park Opera are separate charities and the West Horsley Place Trust has leased the land for 99 years to Grange Park Opera to build and use the theatre. The West Horsley Place Trust has also granted Grange Park Opera a licence to use the house and gardens for dining during their summer opera season.

The collaboration with Grange Park Opera is an important first step in the West Horsley Place Trust's mission in establishing a home for the performing arts at West Horsley Place. Grange Park Opera's tenancy will also provide a significant financial contribution to the West Horsley Place Trust's care of West Horsley Place and its estate.

The Theatre in the Woods is hidden behind the ancient orchard wall and set in a woodland glade. The cross-gartered red brick drum design echoes the beautiful brickwork of the manor house's south façade as well as the 18th-century garden walls. The theatre auditorium is modelled on La Scala, Milan and seats 750 people. More than 30,000 people visited the Theatre in the Woods during the opera's first two summer seasons.

Upon its final completion, as well as hosting the annual summer opera festival, the Theatre in the Woods will also be used by the West Horsley Place Trust for other artistic and educational purposes and events, providing a wonderful facility for the local community and beyond for years to come.

“I have had two very great surprises in recent years. The first was the unexpected news that I had been left, by a 99-year-old aunt Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, a beautiful house in the Surrey countryside. The other great surprise was provided by Grange Park Opera, who described their proposal to move to West Horsley Place and asked Christina and me if this might be acceptable. It didn’t take us long to say ‘Yes, indeed’. It isn’t every day that you are invited to have an opera house in your garden.” Bamber Gascoigne

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