Built in 1884, The Devonshire Park Theatre's a Grade II listed building, which plays host to a wide variety of shows in Eastbourne throughout the year. Being named Devonshire, it shows the strong connections with the long line of Dukes of Devonshires, the seventh of which - William Cavendish - helped design much of the town.
A popular venue for traditional plays, the theatre tends to be good choice for actors as it's an intimate environment to perfom in, as it only holds 936 people, with stalls, the grand circle and the gods to chose from to watch a show.
Recently, tens of thousands of pounds has been spent on renovating the theatre, thanks to the hard fundraising efforts of the Friends of the Devonshire Park. This has resulted in all the seat being re-upholstered.
The theatre is only a short walk from the town centre, where there are many restaurants, making the ideal venue for dinner and a show. Even closer than the town centre, is the seafront, which is home to the Wish Tower (one of the Martello Towers to guard the coast) and the Redoubt Fortress, along with its fully open pier. All the big hotels also line the seafront, the smaller ones being set back and a little closer to the town centre.
The Devonshire Park is the setting for the town's annual pantomime, which for the last few years has been an in-house production. Many of the in-house productions, which are debuted at the Devonshire Park, are taken on to tour the country.
Tickets for the shows at The Devonshire Park, do tend to be cheaper than the larger Congress Theatre around the corner, but the shows aren't as high profile. However, the extras such as icecream, chocolates, sweets and drinks are quite expensive.
A little quirk I like about the venue is they put up clocks showing what time the interval will be along with when the show will finish. They'll also let you know if there won't be an interval and whether you should expect strong language, nudity or smoke. It's very rare you'll find strobe lighting in productions at the Devonshire Park.
Booking tickets for shows is always an easy process with the staff happy to point you to the best viewing seats. The only thing to be wary of, is if you're paying by card, you could be hit with a £1.50 booking charge on top of the ticket prices. read more