The Courtyard is now 10 years old and has evolved and developed into a well established and highly regarded, vibrant arts centre serving the whole of Herefordshire and the surrounding region.

Highlights in the professional programme have included visits from The Royal National Theatre, The Generating Company (Ariel Circus from the Millennium Dome), Pam Ayres, Jo Brand, Bob Geldof, Patrick Moore, Susannah York, Clive James, Mark Little, The English Shakespeare Company, Helen Shapiro, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Mid Wales Opera, Opera Della Luna, Ned Sherrin, The English Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra of the Swan, Pegasus Opera, Craig Charles, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Lindisfarne, Katherine Tickell, Kate Rusby, Red Shift Theatre Company, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, The London Community Gospel Choir, Jack Dee, Lee Evans and Theatre Sans Frontieres, to name but a few.

The Courtyard also hosts regular twice-monthly sell-out comedy and monthly folk clubs, hosts exhibitions by local, national and international artists and has developed a wide ranging film programme to add further to it’s role as the principal cultural provider for Herefordshire.

The Courtyard has also established a wide-ranging participatory programme.  Over 400 people per week take part in courses and classes including drama, music, dance, new writing, parent and toddlers’ activities, Tai Chi and French!  Over 300 people are now part of The Courtyard Youth Theatre, attending classes every week and special events during the school holidays.

The Courtyard has also become the home for many of the region’s flourishing amateur companies including the Hereford Amateur Operatic Society, The Hereford Gilbert and Sullivan Society, The Hereford Amateur Pantomime Society, bottleneck theatre company and the Wye Theatre Company, to name but a few, once again offering these companies professional support and allowing wide access to participation in widely varying roles.

New partnerships have also been formed with many other local professional arts organisations including The Music Pool, Exposure (Herefordshire Photography Festival), New Theatre Works, and Alloy (Herefordshire’s Jewellery makers collective) - all based within the building, and externally The Rural Media Company, The Three Choirs Festival, LAMP (Local Art Made Public) and Hereford Concert Society.

Of particular significance has been The Courtyard’s own in-house work - theatre made in Hereford for Hereford.  This work has enabled The Courtyard to promote a completely distinctive programme and enabled the venue to work with many different individuals from both the professional and community fields – actors, directors, designers, musicians – creating a whole host of new work opportunities.

In-house work to date has included totally professional productions of Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party, Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane, Jim Cartwright’s The Rise & Fall of Little Voice, Macbeth and Willy Russell’s Educating Rita.  Community Theatre productions have included a new, specially commissioned adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, and The Beggars Opera.

A particular feature of the in-house programme has been the promotion of music theatre as a specialist part of The Courtyard’s programme.  Our autumn productions have taken a new and fresh approach to classics from the repertoire and have featured mixed professional and community casts.  The shows have met with considerable acclaim and have included Cabaret, a double bill of West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet featuring the same company, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Little Shop of Horrors, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys & Dolls, The Sound of Music and most recently Oliver! under the direction of Nikolai Foster.

Our in-house Christmas shows have been another regional success story. These specially commissioned new shows have included Cinderella, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Jack and The Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid, all with their own special twist that makes them especially relevant to the communities of Herefordshire.

The recent development of The Courtyard’s annual book week has lead to an additional component to the in-house production schedule with a new adaptation of the classic children’s novel The Borrowers being the central point in a busy week of literary based activity. This production also sees the start of The Courtyard touring productions as the show transferred for a Christmas run at The Stables in Wavendon followed by a tour early in 2006.

The Courtyard has also produced, and placed special significance on, new writing in our own productions and co-productions with New Theatre Works that have included, Shading The Crime, You, Me and the Glitterball, The Lizard Lady and Backstage at The Pussycat Club and The Sound of a Hammer, as well as an annual new-writing showcase by participants in our new writers schemes.

These, together with many outstanding Youth Theatre and Youth Dance performances (including 2FaCed Dance Company in association with The Courtyard's annual, and now nationally recognised, break-dancing showcase,) have made up the highly original and dynamic ‘In House’ programme.

One of the building’s strengths has been its ability to promote work aimed at the widest variety of audiences, often on the same evening in two complimentary venues.  Thus on one given evening you could see an audience in the Main House enjoying a groundbreaking production of Medea, whilst a sell out crowd attend the alternative comedy club in the Studio.  In this way The Courtyard has encouraged many people to visit the theatre for the very first time and continues to work on breaking down the common misconception that the arts are elitist.

Diversity has been, and will continue to be, the lifeblood of the venue as it aims to embrace, develop and expand audiences and participants for the future and also to raise expectations of experiencing the arts.  With an increasing number of people visiting The Courtyard annually, the building and its wide programme of events strives to provide something for all tastes.

The building is a major part of the cultural fabric of the county and the region and a true success story of the lottery funding system.