Plymouth, Theatres | Hoe Summer Theatre - Prefabricated Hoe Summer Theatre

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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History

THE PREFABRICATED HOE SUMMER THEATRE

By the early 1960s it had been decided to provide a more substantial structure to replace the Hoe Marquee that had served Plymouth audiences as a Hoe Summer Theatre since 1950 and which could be used during the winter months as well. As a result the 600-seater prefabricated Hoe Summer Theatre was erected on the site of the Marquee.

The front of the prefabricated Hoe Summer Theatre on Plymouth Hoe »

The first production was staged on June 8th 1962.

With the chequered life of the Palace Theatre, which over this period opend and closed a couple of times, the Hoe Summer Theatre became the venue for the local amatuer players as well as the professional summer shows. But it could not accommodate an orchestra so in November 1973 the decision was taken to add such a feature at a cost of £1,700. It was in place by the time the pantomime opend at the end of December but had reduced the seating to 545.

As the 1970s passed the lure of television kept people in their homes, espcially during the winter evenings, and attendances fell. In September 1979 Councillor Tom Jones even wanted the theatre to be turned into a cafe and in May 1981 the first five rows of seats were taken out, reducing the capacity to about 400.

At a Council meeting on January 11th 1982 the decision was taken to close the Hoe Summer Theatre for good. Mr Peter Millington was the manager at that time. A special show called "The Last Night" was presented on Saturday February 13th 1982. Demolition started on May 18th 1982 and took about six weeks.

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