The History of the Rose Theatre ~ March 2025

Frank Whately is a teacher and an award winning writer and director. Previously Head of Drama at Tiffin School, then Head of School Performance and Screen Studies at Kingston University.

Frank began campaigning for a theatre in Kingston in1980 and in 1990 became a founding director of the Kingston Theatre Trust. He helped initiate plans for a theatre based on the Rose Theatre on Bankside dating from 1587.

We heard about the origins of the original Rose Theatre and how the Rose Theatre in Kingston came about after much planning, promoting the idea of a theatre in Kingston, and encouraging funding for the project in a changing political climate.

Kingston's theatre takes it's design from the Rose Theatre in London and the dimensions of Kingston's Rose are almost the same.  

For more about the history and development of the theatre,  go to    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Theatre_Kingston

Or better still ... copies of Frank's book "Rose of Kingston: the making of a theatre" are available for purchase at the Rose Theatre and at Waterstone's for £14.99 and all proceeds go to the Rose Theatre Youth Projects.