Iconic Sherlock Holmes mystery will be the first public performance for Poole’s new Jellicoe Theatre

Curtain rises soon on the South’s new theatre for Performing Arts

Excitement is growing among the Performing Arts staff and students at The Bournemouth & Poole College, site of the new Jellicoe Theatre. The first public production at the new theatre will be a version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Hound of the Baskervilles”, scheduled for mid-September.

The new theatre is part of the remarkable new £11 million teaching complex, built at the North Road site Poole in the last 18 months by construction company Willmott Dixon.

The building is now home to the college’s brilliant Performing Arts programme, but also includes new classrooms and laboratories, dance studios and a music hall. It is a bold new feature on the college’s inspirational learning journey.

The theatre, which can seat 114, incorporates some of the most modern lighting and communications technology available, including one of the largest drop-down interactive screens in the region.

It replaces the much loved old Jellicoe Theatre in Poole’s Constitution Hill, which for more than three decades has echoed to student productions of plays, musicals and dance routines.

The college’s Performing Arts courses were a launch pad for the careers of actress and presenter Amanda Holden and West End actor Earl Carpenter.

The move to the new theatre has been eagerly anticipated by husband and wife team Jo and Rupert Barrington. Jo is Head of Performing Arts at the college and Rupert the Theatre Manager.

Jo Barrington said: “It’s been 18 months in the making, with many visits to dance and theatre spaces to ensure we were able to create the most versatile theatre possible. 

“This result is a fabulous new theatre space which can take us in a new direction and open up vast possibilities.

“People were very sad to see the old space go because it holds such fond memories but the true ethos of ‘The Jellicoe’ is in the hearts of all the Performing Arts staff and students. It will soon flow from us into the new facilities.”

Performing Arts courses at the college cover all aspects of theatre production including on stage work, theatre design, costume and lighting.

If you are interested in theatre as a career click here for information on the Performing Arts Courses.