The outdoor theatre at this school in Berkshire was built in the 1890s out of the headmaster’s passion for Classics. The restoration creates a new sense of arrival, adding improved access and circulation, but also celebrates the theatre’s magical regreening as it fell into disuse, retaining the encroaching trees that now enclose it.

Cantilevered stairs and balcony lead into the theatre from an entrance agora, dropped in over the original chalk cuttings. The overscaled Greek-style skene is replaced by a versatile cedar ‘shed’ with sliding screens and galleries above, allowing the 1,200-seat amphitheatre to be used for a wide range of performances and gatherings.