Bankside’s Rose Theatre to benefit from Shakespeare in Love gala

A replica of the Rose Theatre was built for the filming of the 1998 Oscar-winning movie Shakespeare in Love.

Now the film has been turned into a stage play which opens next month at the Noel Coward Theatre.

The Rose Theatre Trust is to benefit from some of the proceeds of a gala performance to be held on Thursday 24 July.

It is 25 years since the remains of the theatre were discovered on Bankside and now the Rose Theatre Trust is hoping to excavate the remaining portion of the site and create a permanent visitor centre and performance space.

The 1989 archaeological dig was led by Harvey Sheldon who now chairs the trust. He said: "All monies will go to the Rose Theatre Trust to ensure that our 'Rose Revealed' project can be undertaken on the site.

"This project will include the excavation of the as yet un-explored eastern third of the playhouse, the installation of a long term conservation regime to protect the fragile remains and a programme of architecture and design which will return the Elizabethan Rose to the public, both as a cultural monument open and explicable to all and as a place of entertainment, thus becoming a vital component of the newly renovated Bankside of the second Elizabethan age."

North London-based inclusive theatre company Chickenshed will also benefit from the gala night.

The two charities will share a gift of at least £35,000 from the gala performance and, additionally, theatregoers who book tickets for the play until September will be invited to donate £2 per ticket to be shared evenly between the charities.

• www.shakespeareinlove.com