Bath's Garden Theatre Festival to return for its third year this Summer

Bath's coolest new open-air festival will return to the gardens of the Holburne Museum from 21 July - 5 August 2023. 

The Garden Theatre Festival is back in Bath for its third triumphant year. Tickets will be on sale from 5pm on Thursday 30 March, with a 10% discount for the first 100 tickets for all shows until Easter Monday (10 April). 

Be immersed in the world of fire-breathing dragons, car chases and convicts, Shakespeare galore, beautiful cabaret, slapstick, laughter, and so much more. Sip a cooling drink under a warm sunset, and relax on your rolled-out blanket, at Bath’s only open-air theatre festival.

Running from 21 July until 5 August, this year's festival will unfold once more in the magical gardens of The Holburne Museum on Bath's iconic Great Pulteney Street, with the garden transformed into a beautiful outdoor theatre seating 400 guests, complete with flags, bunting, festoon and a superb garden bar.

After bringing some of the finest national and West Country comedy, theatre and cabaret performers to delighted audiences in 2022, the Garden Theatre Festival 2023 will include some of the most favoured productions from last year, along with exciting new shows from children's theatre to cabaret and slapstick to Shakepeare, guaranteed to keep the whole family entertained once more.

The Garden Theatre Festival is Bath’s only purpose-built open-air theatre festival, and is an annual event at The Holburne Museum Gardens. What started in 2020 as a single night of theatre during a Covid-19 lockdown eventually became The Garden Theatre Festival, which began in 2021. The festival has grown rapidly since then, becoming a fully functioning annual theatre space. At the Garden Theatre Festival, audience members are invited to bring their own blankets, cushions, camping chairs and packed picnic, grab a drink from the bar, then discover the best outdoor theatre that the UK has to offer.

Audiences can expect two weeks of superb performances from nationally renowned companies in the beautiful, open-air thrust stage space. Returning to the festival this year are fan-favourites The Three Inch Fools, Sarah Louise-Young and Bath’s very own Calf 2 Cow, and there will be exciting shows from Paulus - The Cabaret Geek, Heartbreak Productions, Tethered Wits Theatre Company, and Something Underground Theatre Company.

Premier ticket holders receive even more benefits and can access the Holburne Museum Gardens 30 minutes before the main doors open, as well as being able to enjoy prosecco, or soft drinks, and luxury nibbles included in the ticket price.

The festival brings the best in outdoor entertainment from across the UK, including acts from the local area, right to the heart of Bath. Matthew Emeny, the Festival's Artistic Director, is very excited to welcome everyone back for the Garden Theatre Festival’s third year:

“We return in 2023 with a cracking programme of theatre that we know our audiences will love. This year you as our guests will enter a freshly designed theatre, which is sealed off from the rest of the world, allowing you a truly unique experience. I look forward to welcoming everyone to our beautiful festival again this year - Here’s to a very exciting summer of theatre! See you for another summer of fun in the magical gardens of the Holburne Museum at the Garden Theatre Festival!”