Regent's Park Open Air Theatre applies to increase audience capacity and improve facilities

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is seeking to increase its audience capacity and improve backstage facilities.

The theatre said that the planned additional 80 seats would enable the theatre to increase the number of tickets available at its lowest price of £25 while providing a potential additional box office income of £300,000 per season.

The redevelopment, which will take about three years, aims to complete a major capital project at the theatre that started in 2012 and has already included new dressing rooms, box office facilities and rehearsal studios.

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As well as adding 80 seats at the back of the auditorium, increasing the theatre’s capacity to about 1,330, the theatre’s plans also include the creation of new meeting rooms, offices and storage space.

The proposals also include the reconfiguration of the theatre’s technical gallery and control gallery as well as various other backstage improvements.

A statement from Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre said: “The success of our productions – both here and beyond the Park – has allowed our business to grow, and to further support our ambition, we are looking towards a three-year plan to complete the redevelopment of our infrastructure.

“The work includes new offices to allow growth in the management team, as well as to relocate technical staff from their current temporary accommodation; new facilities to house the lighting and sound teams during performances; and the replacement of our backstage lighting gantries, power conduits and old wiring to support the technical requirements of our productions.”

If planning permission is granted, the theatre aims to begin the work after its 2020 season.