BATS history — since 1985

BATS Theatre was founded in 1985 as a place for the English-speaking community in Stavanger to make theatre together. Four decades later we're still here, still volunteer-run, and still the only English-language community theatre in the region.

The early years

The theatre started small — the kind of operation that fits in someone's living room for read-throughs and borrows a community hall for the actual show. Most of the early productions were panto and light comedy: the format suits a volunteer cast, gives every age a part, and travels well between venues. The annual British-style pantomime that we still run every winter dates from these early years.

Settling in

Through the 1990s and 2000s BATS grew into a recognisable presence in Stavanger's arts calendar, with regular spring and autumn productions added to the panto, and a touring habit that took shows out to suburban venues. Folken, Sola Kulturhus, Tasta Bydelshus, and Byford Skole have all hosted BATS productions across the years — different rooms, the same company.

The 30th and beyond

In September 2015 we marked the 30th jubilee at Folken with a three-act retrospective: greatest hits, live recreations of past productions, and a fashion retrospective through three decades of costume. From 2018 onward the digital archive at /archive keeps the more detailed record — Rumpelstiltskin, 4Play, Rapunzel, Creases, Ivan's Saturday Knight Panto, A Common Mortal, Oxytocin Actually, The Glass Menagerie, Mulch and Snowflakes, The Masked Rider, Meteor Shower, The Six Dancing Princesses, Bone Chiller, Arthur and the Knights of the Round-ish Table, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff among them.

Now

We came through the pandemic without breaking the run — autumn 2021 saw two productions back on stage (A Common Mortal and Oxytocin Actually) — and Room for Improvment, our standing improv troupe, was founded in 2020 to keep the cast working through the dark months. Pop-Up Pub Theatre is currently between coordinators and between venues; the Improvfessionals show schedule is on hiatus while we line up a new home; the three main productions a year continue.

If you have programmes, photos, or stories from earlier BATS years you'd like added to the archive, get in touch.