80 Years of Drama

The Southsea Shakespeare Actors is a widely respected award-winning theatre company.

The SSA was formed in 1947 and since then we have produced over two hundred plays, of which about two-thirds have been by William Shakespeare.  We have also performed works by Molière, Jonson, Marlowe, Webster, Wilde, Chekhov, Shaw, Lorca, Miller, Rattigan, Shaffer, Ayckbourn, Orton, Bennett, and Stoppard.

We started at St Peter’s Hall in Southsea under the patronage of Sir Donald Wolfit and under the directorship of the founder K. Edmonds Gateley MBE.

Sir Donald Wolfit

By the 1960s, the SSA had completed the ‘Canon’, becoming the first non-professional company in the world to have performed all of Shakespeare’s plays – a fact recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

The company have performed in a wide range of venues, including The King’s Theatre, The New Theatre Royal, Southsea Castle, Portsmouth Cathedral, The Square Tower, Hayling Island Station Theatre, The Spring in Havant, The Edinburgh Festival, pubs, restaurants and, most recently, Treadgold’s in Portsea.

Now approaching our 80th birthday, we are in spritely form, with a vibrant and strong membership presenting a range of large-scale and small-scale productions across the region.

We pride ourselves on being a warm and welcoming company, aiming to present top quality theatre to the people of Portsmouth and environs for many years to come.

If you have any questions or would like to get in contact with us then please email:
thesouthseashakespeareactors@hotmail.co.uk

The SSA is a registered charity (registration number 1013000)