Welcome to the home page of The Villagers Open Air Shakespeare Group.

'The Villagers are a group of friends who, every summer, accidentally put on a play.'

In 2024, we performed As You Like It

All profits from our productions go to locally supported charities. The figures below are from 2023. The figures for 2024 will appear here shortly.

From the proceeds made at the 17th Century Village, we agreed to distribute the following amounts to local and national charities:- Autism Hampshire - £500; Sophie's Legacy - £500; The Brain Tumour Charity - £500; Dementia UK - £500; Endometriosis UK - £500; Gosport Living History Society (c17th Village)- £500.

The Villagers are based in Gosport in Hampshire, and began life in 1986 with a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Little Woodham ('The 17th Century Village').  Every year since we have put on an open air production of one of Shakespeare's plays, in Little Woodham and - in recent years - elsewhere across Southern England.

Our aim is to enjoy ourselves, and to share some of that enjoyment with our audiences; many of them come back every year, so we must be doing something right!  The quote below was kindly sent to us by a first-time member of our audience who watched Macbeth at the 'Village'...

"My husband and I both loved your production....but our two sons were absolutely gripped by it, especially our 13 year old who had never seen Shakespeare live. It couldn't have been a better introduction!"

As the quote at the top of this page shows, we're not a typical drama group, and these pages should hopefully give you an idea of how the Villagers do things. Whether you're a Shakespeare aficionado, looking for an interesting summer evening event, or just curious, the Villagers, and this website, should have something for you.

Register with our mailing list, criticise the website or suggest additions for it, or even join the Group - get in touch and we'll do our best to welcome you into the Villagers family!