There is no full Chepstow Festival this year,
There is a great programme of open-air theatre in 

Chepstow Castle 

and events at the Drill Hall
Other events which are normally staged as part of the festival will also take place this year


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Theatre in Chepstow Castle Summer 2019


Chepstow Festival presents a feast of outdoor theatre from mid June to mid July in the spectacular surroundings of Chepstow Castle, with seven productions spread over the weeks that promise to satisfy a wide range of appetites and audiences. One of the pleasures of an evening at Theatre in the Castle is enjoying a leisurely picnic with friends and family too so the experience becomes a real feast!


There are two productions especially for young people that are great family shows, enjoyed as much by adults as children. Illyria bring to life a tale from the Arabian Nights, Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, with their usual brilliant staging and skilful effects it's packed with cliff-hangers, larger-than-life characters, laughs galore, and the most magical cave you’ve ever seen! Heartbreak Productions have another adaptation of best selling author David Walliams' books, a tale full of forbidden fun, Gangsta Granny, the grandma with a secret life as international jewel thief.


The works of two great women writers from the 19th century feature this summer. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first published just over 100 years ago and never out of print since, is given the Illyria treatment featuring a fully orchestrated musical score, a cast of professional actor singers, spectacular stage effects, puppetry – and flashes of the wickedly dark humour for which Illyria is justly celebrated. Emily Brontë's classic tale of love and revenge, Wuthering Heights, is adapted by Heartbreak Productions, who invite the audience on a search for the restless spirits of Cathy and Heathcliff amongst the ruins of their home on the moors. By contrast the same company bring an evening of sparkling entertainment, nostalgic music, and delicious one liners with Noël Coward's celebrated 1930 comedy Private Lives.


A programme of outdoor theatre could not be complete without Shakespeare, designed for touring troupes playing beneath the sky over 400 years ago. Heartbreak has updated the tale of star crossed lovers, Romeo & Juliet to a 21st century red-carpet event where the two warring families are notorious celebs amid a social media buzz. Illyria play Shakespeare as close to the original in content and Elizabethan style, performing the text uncut with 5 actors and including live music and song, renowned for their clarity, quality and ingenuity this year they turn to The Tempest, Shakespeare's final play, lyrical thought-provoking and raucously funny.


Illyria complies with the Equity Union's Outdoor Touring Theatre Guidelines and ensures that all its actors are paid a fair living wage and treated with respect and dignity.