Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre

The Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre stands at ul. Wojciecha Boguslawskiego 1 in the Old Town of Gdansk, in Poland's Pomeranian region, in the Piaskownia area. It is a contemporary building on the site of a 17th-century Elizabethan-style playhouse, where English touring actors performed in the city when Gdansk was a major trading port with strong links to England. The modern theatre was created to recall that tradition and to give the city a home for Shakespeare productions. The building has a dark brick exterior with a plain, geometric shape, and its most remarkable feature is the stage, which has a retractable roof. When the roof opens, the auditorium is exposed to the sky, which recreates the conditions of an Elizabethan open-air theatre; when it is closed, the hall functions as a conventional modern theatre. Visitors who join a guided tour can see the auditorium, the mechanism and other parts of the building, and the tour lasts about one hour. Tours were listed at about 35 PLN for adults and 30 PLN for reduced tickets, but visitors should confirm times and prices at teatrszekspirowski.pl. The theatre hosts the annual Shakespeare Festival in the summer, which brings companies from several countries to the city and fills the programme with performances and associated events. Evening performances give the fullest experience of the building, and the exterior is attractive when lit after dark. The best photograph of the exterior is taken from the street in front of the entrance, while the interior view from the upper gallery gives the clearest impression of the open stage. Festival weeks are the busiest period, and tickets should be reserved well in advance. Weekday tours tend to be quieter. The theatre is about a 12 minute walk from Gdansk Glowny railway station.