Opened in 1937, the Wellesley was originally built as a cinema. This was later converted for theatre use with the addition of backstage facilities (dressing rooms, green room and scene dock) and a flying gallery.

The original art-deco interior of the building has been well preserved and the building remains open as a cinema all year round, with films making way for WAA stage performances for two weeks each year (the pantomime in January and musical in May).

Backstage there are 2 dressing rooms, a green room, a scene dock as well as toilet facilities. We also own three portacabins which we use as extra dressing rooms to accommodate larger casts.

There is a large flying gallery above the stage running on a hemp flying system. This allows us to fly in both set and cloths as well as flying lighting and tab tracks.

The stage benefits from a stage extension which was further extended in the late 2000’s giving us much more space on the stage. It also features a trap door just behind the tab line which was dug out for a beanstalk to grow out of for the pantomime ‘Jack & The Beanstalk’ in 2000.