About us

The Petersfield Shakespeare Festival is a highly-regarded and popular outdoor theatre festival that takes place in the beautiful grounds of Wylds Christmas Tree Farm, in the heart of the South Downs National Park.

The stunning woodland arena, elegantly tented for the Festival, provides the perfect space for summer evening entertainment. Audience members are encouraged to arrive early and soak up the festival atmosphere prior to the performance.

The Team

It all began back in 2012 when the Head of Drama at Bedales let off some creative steam, by producing Shakespeare in the school grounds at the end of the summer term. Katie Solly and Harriet Benson performed in the early years and Amanda Kerstein, our extraordinary Stage Manager has worked on each and every production since 2012.

Fast forward to 2016 when Lucy Hollis and Clare Glancy took the reins. Both Petersfield Youth Theatre parents, they met whilst working for PSF in 2014, following a near-miss encounter at Chichester Festival Theatre decades earlier, where they both held the same job in consecutive seasons as Deputy Stage Manager. It just so happened that both Chris Hollis and Will Glancy (husbands to be) were also working at Chichester in the late-eighties, along with Spatz Crawford and aforementioned Harriet Benson(wife to be). Richie Parker was Chief Electrician at the Yvonne Arnaud at the time, a theatre which partnered closely with Chichester. The crossing of paths back then turned into the road which eventually led, via many other theatrical and personal aisles and alleyways, to the top of the hill at Wylds Farm.

Nicole Small was on the other side of the pond at this time, working as a costume cutter in Hollywood, but immediately became indispensable to PSF when she returned to her Hampshire roots to work on West End shows.

Geographically split between the  quintessential villages of Sheet and East Meon, our backstage playmakers were joined by front-of -house star turn Rachel Gorvin, from Sheet, and when we lost Will to cancer in 2022, Matt Milward, air traffic control’s greatest set of ears, joined the parade, all the way from East Meon.

“Well met by stage light” you might say….

Between them this group of friends have an impressive array of theatrical credits, and here are a few highlights:

• Nicole made costumes for all the Pirates of the Caribbean films and famously measured Johnny Depp’s inside leg!
• Spatz spent 22 years as Technical Director at Winchester Theatre Royal, and has a plaque dedicated to him backstage – in Crawford Corner.
• Having played ingenus like Chevalier Danceny and Sebastian for the RSC, Chris took on grown-up roles like Bill Austin in Mamma Mia! One day he might give up dangerous sports like cricket – hence the broken thumb.
• Katie founded and ran children’s theatre group Action Drama for 15 years and delighted PSF audiences with her linguistic and balletic skills in Henry V.
• Will’s album with band ‘Two Two’ was chosen as Janice Long’s record of the week on Radio 1 (still available on Spotify!).
• Clare was Stage Manager at the Old Vic during the BAFTA winning glory days of Jonathan Miller’s tenure. 
• Lucy has flitted between stage managing opera, theatre and ballet. Favourite job: highlands and islands Scottish Opera-Go-Round tour, which involved Eugene Onegin and just a few drams of whisky…
• Clare and Spatz were the stage-management team when Charlton Heston starred in A Man for All Seasons in the West End,
• Multi-talented Matt has installed the lighting equipment in the Royal Albert Hall and the sound equipment into Westminster Abbey.
• Harriet’s royal roles include Queen Gertrude in PSF’s production of Hamlet, Countess Mountbatten in Series 4 of The Crown for Netflix, and most recently she featured in Scoop, the TV drama based on that interview with Prince Andrew.
• Will and Richie spent years on the conference circuit, ensuring that World Leaders, Hollywood A listers and Captains of Industry were always both seen and heard.
• Amanda has mentored a new generation of theatre technicians in her  fourteen career in education – particularly through the numerous trips she has organised to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (in her summer holidays)

We hope you enjoy watching our shows as much as we enjoy creating them.

Past Productions

Over the past fourteen years, the festival has seen Shakespeare’s best loved plays brought to life by our professional company in creative and imaginative ways:

2025 A Midsummer Night’s Dream

2024 Romeo and Juliet and PSF Fringe

2023 Twelfth Night

2022 Much Ado About Nothing

2021 A Midsummer Night’s Dream

2020 Monologues & More: An online festival of ten short films inspired by Romeo & Juliet

2019 The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet and Abyss

2018 Henry V and The Taming of the Shrew

2017 As You Like It and Double Will – Shakespeare’s Lost Women and Buried Moon

2016 The Tempest

2014 The Merry Wives of Windsor and Macbeth

2013 A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet

2012 Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night

The Festival is also committed to producing new work inspired by Shakespeare, in order to extend his reach to modern audiences and provide a platform for young playwrights. These have included a contemporary exploration of the Caliban/Miranda story – Buried Moon, 2018’s reworking of The Taming of the Shrew and last  year we garnered new talent with our Shake It Up writing competition which culminated in the Monologues and More online festival.

To view our previous productions in more detail, please visit our Past Shows page.

Our Aims

The Petersfield Shakespeare Festival’s aim is to create innovative and entertaining performances incorporating music, movement and design, in open-air and conventional theatre spaces. We aim to attract diverse audiences from all ages and sectors of the local population and further afield.

Artistic Excellence

We are a dedicated and vigorous ensemble company, staging productions of the highest quality where performers excel and audiences are challenged. We inspire creativity, thought and engagement in company members and audiences alike.

Communication

We endeavour to identify and develop new creative partnerships with other professional arts practitioners and local businesses.

Community

We are a theatre company which draws on local talent and professional skills across the age groups creating a festival that is relevant to contemporary society and that reflects the concerns and hopes of our audiences.
We seek to enhance the cultural landscape of the local area and provide access to the performing arts in an open-air, rural setting in the heart of the South Downs National Park.

Diversity

We are committed to treating everyone with respect, without discrimination and operate a policy of equal opportunity throughout the company.

Education

We provide excellent opportunities for education and training for performing arts professionals (directors, actors, technicians, designers) early in their careers. In partnership with local schools, we introduce students from Key Stage 2 and up to Shakespeare’s world through engagement in performances and workshops.

Financial Responsibility

We present work to the highest standards achievable at the most affordable ticket prices. We aim to maintain and develop our affiliations with local businesses, sponsors, and all other supporters of the festival.

Innovation

We commission new writing inspired by Shakespeare’s works in order to extend his reach to modern audiences and provide a platform for young playwrights.

Respect

We embrace all those who work with us and work hard to ensure that they are welcomed, supported, and challenged to do their best work. We value physical safety and a supportive and productive work environment.