The Barn Theatre at Smallhythe Place
Step into the theatrical world at Smallhythe Place and experience live performances in the National Trust's only working theatre.
May performances
- The Most Perilous Comedie of Elizabeth I ( 24 & 25 May)
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June performances
- Little Women (5 & 6 June)
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- The Tempest (22 June)
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- Romeo and Juliet (27 June)
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July performances
- Twelfth Night (10 July)
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- Timberlina's Big Bingo Show (11 July)
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- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (18 July)
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- A Midsummer Night's Dream (24 - 27 & 31 July)
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August performances
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (1 & 3 August)
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- The Secret Garden ( 7 August)
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- Twelfth Night (10 August)
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October performances
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (11 October)
- In a new and enthralling one-man stage adaptation of the classic tale of terror, acclaimed actor Jonathan Goodwin plays both Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde | 6:30pm - 7:35pm | £16 (Adults) & £12 (Under 18s)Book here
A brief history of the Barn Theatre
The 17th-century Barn Theatre was the brainchild of Ellen’s daughter, Edy Craig. Throughout her time at Smallhythe, Edy wished to convert the barn into a theatre, but her mother would not allow it. After her mother passed away in 1928, Edy held the venue’s first performance the following year.
The working theatre hosts productions to this day and is a venue for hire for special occasions.
Transforming a barn into a theatre
The timber frame, four-bay structure of the barn suggests it was originally designed to fulfil a multi-functional purpose, incorporating cattle housing as well as crop storage and processing. Later, in the mid-19th century, several changes were made to the building to increase the crop storage area and various lean-tos were added to the outside. Since then, the main structure and features of the barn have changed very little, except for rethatching the roof in 2009.
Our famous patron
At the start of 2020 the National Trust announced Joanna Lumley OBE as the new patron of the Barn Theatre at Smallhythe Place in Kent, the former home of Victorian actress Dame Ellen Terry. Read more about this here.
The history of Smallhythe Place
Discover the history of Smallhythe Place, from a centre for royal ship building to the home of Ellen Terry, one of the most famous Shakespearean actors of the Victorian times.
