Progress Theatre

Progress Theatre was established in 1946 with the aim of presenting new and challenging work. Its first production was staged in 1947 in Palmer Hall, West Street, Reading. It moved to its present location, The Mildmay Hall, The Mount (near Reading University) in 1951. In 1964, after a fund raising campaign, the freehold of the building was bought. After modernisation, the theatre now seats 97 people. Kenneth Branagh, who was a member of the theatre in the late 1970s, became Progress Theatre patron in 2011.

The theatre has a membership of around 150 people and puts on a regular menu of classic and contemporary theatre. All of these productions are managed by volunteers. The theatre also stages a summer open-air event, predominantly a Shakespeare play, at the historic and newly renovated ruins of Reading Abbey. These productions are managed in partnership with Reading Borough Council. In 2007, the event was expanded to form the Reading Abbey Ruins Open Air Festival. Due to the ongoing restoration of the abbey, in 2011 the event temporarily moved to the gardens of Caversham Court, the site of a Tudor manor house on the banks of the River Thames. However, it returned to Reading Abbey Ruins in…