ABSTRACT
This chapter describes, then ponders, the processes and thinking behind the creation and development of the Shakespeare North Playhouse. After summarising Shakespeare North’s own history from its inception, as well as the performance and theatre history that underpins the playhouse’s existence, the chapter focuses on conceptual aspects of its design and projected functions. It is particularly concerned with exploring ways in which the paradoxes and antitheses inherent in the Shakespeare North project were given form both architecturally and intellectually. It aims, equally, to suggest how the foundation of the playhouse in a conceptual recognition of what is between its various concerns (with then and now; beauty and functionalism; the local, the national, and the international; drama, performance, education, community pride; and different levels of social entitlement among its stakeholders) produced models for the design of the building itself and the proposed activities it would house. It concludes with an analysis of two productions in Shakespeare North Playhouse’s opening season in relation to the aims of its first makers.
