Linked to the Theatre Royal Bath and the Ustinov Studio, the egg theatre offers a year-round programme of theatre and performance for children and young people, as well as workshops, training opportunities, work experience placements, curriculum-based projects in schools and community settings, a stage for touring productions, and a youth theatre. The public opening of the theatre takes place on Sunday 23 October with The Big Day In - a free, day of performance, which marks the start of the week-long Wild and Wacky Festival of Theatre for Children. Egg-stra special appeal  | | the egg theatre |
the egg is the culmination of an appeal, chaired by local author and journalist Bel Mooney, to refurbish the Robins Cinema, next to the Theatre Royal. "As soon as I heard about this unique project I wanted to chair the appeal," Bel said. "Raising funds is so difficult these days, but the egg is so exciting. It will benefit young people for many years to come and I was delighted with the generous response from so many people." Incorporating a ground floor café, an egg-shaped auditorium (which seats 124 people), workshops, and a rooftop rehearsal room, the theatre has been based on research carried out in Canada, New York and Northern Europe for good working practice in this sphere of the arts. Youth groups were also set up to advise theatre managers, board members and external professionals. Director of the egg Kate Cross said: "This has been a truly collaborative project spanning five years, and the egg really does reflect the views and needs of children and young people." No fowl plays!  | | Clown is adapted from the book by Quentin Blake |
Through the egg, the Theatre Royal Bath will be able to expand its current work with target groups, including excluded pupils, young carers, disadvantaged children, whilst offering participatory work accessible to wheelchair users and children with other types of physical disability. There will also be an on-going programme of workshops for children and young people, aged from two to 25 years of age, exploring a full range of theatre practice. Forthcoming highlights in the egg's first programme include When the Lights Went Out, a show based on the story of the Hindu Festival of Lights, and The Kurdish Garden, a collaboration between Italy's leading children's theatre company and the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. In December, the Theatre Royal Bath's Young People's Theatre will stage The Witches by Roald Dahl, and the Lyngo Theatre Company will perform Watch the Birdy. | 
