It's a sin to be dull.

We must all examine our environment, always gaining inspiration from existing natural features; we will then enhance rather than overwhelm our surroundings.

                                                               - Rosemary Verey

Integral to the design of our shows is our audience and in blurring the boundaries between actor and spectator we seek to make the latter a fully engaged member of the world of the play which appears all around them as, conversely, do the technical workings of the piece. The art is to expose the trickery without losing the magic. If achieved the outcome is even more magical in that audiences experience two worlds that co-exist simultaneously and in complete harmony.
(Extracts from the OSC season programme notes 2005)

The OSC has rapidly built an excellent reputation for highly popular and critically acclaimed interpretations of Shakespeare and other classic texts.
In the near future we aim to further establish our reputation as a leader in mid-scale dynamic, yet intimate open air event theatre, by performing to increasingly varied audiences, both nationally and internationally. We are seeking to develop a truly ensemble company whilst evolving all aspects of our highly imaginative, accessible productions and building on our policy of shows driven by the physical, musical, and vocal skills of the actor. We aim to work with directors, designers, composers and actors united in the aim of creating a theatrical world not elevated or separated from the audience, but rather encompassing them. We wish to integrate the talents of other theatrical media including dance, circus, mime and professional musicians. We aim to translate these production values into inspirational indoor spaces as well as regional theatre venues; to extend the open air season by performing internationally and to accomplish our ambition of working with commissioned new work and literary adaptations that complement our existing classical repertoire.

A dramatic increase in audience attendance has highlighted our ability to make productions enjoyed not only by those already acquainted with classical texts but also newcomers and those for whom English is not a first language. Our audience spans a wide age range; children are successfully encouraged to attend by our free and £8 tickets for the under 12's. The quality of our work has also attracted the attention of a number of extremely prestigious historic venues including Kew Gardens in 2005 and Hampton Court Palace in 2006 and Kensington Palace in 2007. These factors give us the confidence to continue de-mystifying what are often perceived as intimidating texts and to further our artistic conception of a particular style of event theatre which our audiences have come to so enjoy.

We also continue to develop our workshop programme which explores the use of drama as a valuable learning and communication tool in both the education and business sectors.