Twice upon a Salisbury Stage: the story of Salisbury Playhouse and its two theatres, 1945-2000

This is the story of Salisbury Playhouse and its two theatres. In 1869 the Primitive Methodists built a new chapel in Fisherton Street which eventually became the Playhouse, and in 1976 a new Playhouse was built in Malthouse Lane. However, this story is not just about worshippers and theatrical people, it is also about soldiers and cinema audiences, of committees and councils, of theatregoers and critics, of fundraisers and builders, of success and failure, of laughter and tears. But above all it is a story of a Salisbury institution that would grow and flourish – from the little theatre in Fisherton Street to the much loved Playhouse that now stands proud in Malthouse Lane. Two buildings, two theatres with a very chequered history, but it is the wonderful characters associated with these buildings that ultimately tell this remarkable story, from its beginning to the end of the 20th century.