Current Status
The festival has continued to grow in popularity, maintaining its reputation as one of the most significant amateur Shakespeare festivals in England. The festival saw record attendances in 2004 when it staged A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night, two of the most popular plays in the Shakespeare canon.
This year's productions (August 2013) - The 64th Festival - will be As You Like It and Love's Labour's Lost.
The current Artistic Director of the Festival is Sarah Branston. Director of Drama at Reigate Grammar School, she is also an excellent director of Shakespeare; visionary and dramatic. Her productions (Twelfth Night - 1998, Romeo and Juliet - 1999, and since becoming Artistic Director - Henry V - 2001, The Winter's Tale - 2003, A Midsummer Night's Dream - 2004, King Lear - 2006, The Merchant of Venice - 2008, Richard III - 2010 and Much Ado About Nothing - 2012) are considered by regular festival-goers to be amongst the finest in the history of the event. Her parents, John and Jennie Branston, actually met at a festival over thirty years ago and have been attending ever since. John has directed several productions and both John and Jennie frequently play small, character roles.
Read more about this topic: Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival
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