Shaw Festival Theatre ( Niagara-on-the-Lake )

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The Shaw Festival presents plays in three distinctive theatres: the Festival Theatre – The Shaw’s flagship theatre, the historic Court House Theatre where The Shaw first began performing and the Royal George Theatre, modeled after an Edwardian opera house. All theatres are within a short walking distance from each other. The company now works in four theatres. The largest is the Festival Theatre, which at 856 seats is still intimate by most standards. Here is where our grand season opening takes place each May. The Court House Theatre, located where the Shaw Festival began in 1962, has 327 seats in a "thrust" configuration. Each year The Shaw leases the Assembly Room in the historic Court House from the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake and installs a theatre in the space. The Royal George Theatre, which seats 328, was built in 1915 as an intimate vaudeville house and acquired by the Shaw Festival in 1980.

Through the generosity of philanthropist Walter Carsen, its once-shabby auditorium was transformed into a glittering little opera house. The Studio Theatre, which doubles as a rehearsal hall, is located in the newly constructed Donald and Elaine Triggs Production Centre attached to the Festival Theatre. The seating arrangement is flexible, depending on the needs of the particular show appearing in that space, with a maximum capacity of 175 seats.