Keep our reporting free for everyone to read  Upgrade to paid

ON OUR RADAR

Theatre in the Park

Exeter Phoenix hosts an al fresco summer theatre season featuring Shakespeare, spoken-word poetry, puppetry and physical comedy.

Leigh Curtis

Theatre in the Park, the annual al fresco summer theatre season hosted by Exeter Phoenix, returns to Rougemont Gardens from Thursday 31 July.

This year’s season begins with a staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Sun & Moon Theatre.

The South West-based company, which specialises in making Shakespeare accessible to all, is setting the bard’s tale of entangled love in the Roaring Twenties, complete with live music.

The season continues with Splat!, a physical comedy for audiences aged 3 and over that follows two aspiring artists, one dedicated and serious, the other erratic and messy.

A Spork! Summer Special then features spoken-word poetry from Lily Redwood, Ysella Sims and former Bard of Exeter Ceri Baker in performances suitable for audiences aged 12 and over.

The season comes to a close on Thursday 14 August with Professor Slug’s House of Bugs, an interactive family show with puppets, music and information about the world of bugs.

Spork! Summer Special in Rougemont Gardens Spork! Summer Special in Rougemont Gardens

This year’s Theatre in the Park season includes four performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at 7pm on Thursday 31 July, Friday 1 August and Saturday 2 August, and at 2pm on Sunday 3 August.

Tickets cost £15, with £10 concessions and £9 tickets for under-15s. Under-5s go free.

Splat! is at 11.30am and 2pm on Thursday 7 August. Tickets cost £12, with £10 concessions. Under-3s go free.

The Spork! Summer Special takes place at 6pm on Thursday 7 August. Tickets cost £8-£14 or £5 for students and under-15s.

Professor Slug’s House of Bugs is at 2pm on Thursday 14 August. Tickets cost £12, with £10 concessions. Under-3s go free.

Family tickets are available for all performances and donations to Refugee Support Devon and Exeter Foodbank are invited when booking.

Subscribe to The Exeter Digest - Exeter Observer's essential free email newsletter

Your personal information will be processed and stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy

Theatre in the Park runs from Thursday 31 July to Thursday 14 August 2025 in Rougemont Gardens. Visit the Exeter Phoenix website for more information and to book tickets.

Attendees are invited to bring their own refreshments and a chair, blanket or cushion to sit on. In the event of wet weather performances may take place indoors.

Keep our reporting free for everyone to read

Exeter Observer's public interest publishing is paid for by a growing community of readers who each contribute to its running costs.

They enable us to keep our journalism free for thousands of people who might otherwise never know about the things we report.

But it's not enough. We need more paying subscribers to keep our readers informed about what's really going on in Exeter.

127 of the 300 paying subscribers we need have taken the next step and signed up to support the independent journalism our city needs.

Help keep our reporting free for everyone to read by joining them today. We can't do it without you.

Upgrade to paid

More stories
September 2025 permitted replacement scheme west elevation

Council denies data and contrives criteria to dismiss community balance concerns in third King Billy student block approval

Exeter Observer analysis finds more students living in city centre than residents as council bid to include PBSA in housing delivery figures weakens local planning policy – but does not remove it from decision-making altogether.

Exeter College and Petroc campuses map

Exeter College and Petroc merger set to create largest college group in South West

Colleges hold public consultation on creation of new organisation which they say would educate 16,000 students at Exeter and North Devon campuses and employ 2,000 staff with £100 million turnover.

Proposed Clarendon House student block aerial view

Proposals to replace Clarendon House with 297-bed student accommodation complex submitted for approval

Developer Zinc Real Estate arrives at final proposal for up to ten storey Paris Street roundabout redevelopment after nearly two years of informal public consultations and meetings with city councillors and officers.

Nadder Park Road application site location map

Barley Lane greenfield plans place persistent threat to Exeter’s north and north-west hills in spotlight

Council inability to identify sufficient land to meet government housing delivery targets leaves residents with faint hope of local plan policies preventing Nadder Park Road ridgeline development despite 175 public objections to scheme.

Illustrative elevation of proposed student block in Summerland Street, Exeter

Pre-application feedback sought on proposals for six storey Summerland Street student accommodation block

Redevelopment of Unit 1 nightclub and Best Tyre Auto Centre in Verney Street would add 180 beds to 1,575 student bedspaces in immediate area on top of 145 studios in consented but unbuilt Summerland Street “co-living” block.

, updated

Former Bramdean School playing field

McCarthy Stone set to build 36 retirement flats on Heavitree school playing field

Proposals prompting concerns about loss of green space and adverse impact on historic character of conservation area follow redevelopment of former Bramdean School in Homefield Road.