CHESTER is bidding to become the permanent location for a replica of an historic theatre.
Cheshire West and Chester Council hope to make the walled city home to the timber-framed replica ofŠLondon’s Elizabethan Rose Theatre.
The original Rose Theatre was built in Southwark, on the south bank of the Thames, in 1587 and had closed by 1605 – but during that time it staged many works by playwrights including Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Robert Greene.
The replica was constructed for the film Shakespeare in Love, and if the council’s bid is successful, it would also mean the city will become the northern base of the British Shakespeare Company.
ŠDame Judi Dench, who won an Oscar for her performance as Elizabeth I, was gifted the dismantled set with its horseshoe of galleries and open-air stage and wants to see it rebuilt as a working theatre.
ŠCheshire West and Chester Council’s executive member for culture, Cllr Richard Short, said: “The British Shakespeare Company is looking for a northern home for the theatre, and we can think of no better destination than Chester.
“Two thousand years of history, an established tourist centre for visitors from all over the world and some wonderful timber-framed buildings –Šincluding the unique RowsŠ – all makes Chester a perfect setting for what is potentially a world-class cultural attraction. “
ŠCllr Short emphasised that bidding for The Rose Theatre would make no difference to the city’s plans to site its own state-of-the-art theatre on the Little Roodee.”
He said: “We have made it quite clear that we intend to raise the city’s cultural offer to the level of other international centres and this bid is part of that agenda.”
