Our History

The Cardiff Open Air Theatre Festival began life in 1983 with our first production, The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare.

Following on from this initial success we added the family show in 1988 swiftly followed by the Musical in 1993 and in 2012 we then added the Light Entertainment category.

Our first home was Dyffryn Gardens where we performed until 1995. In 1996 we moved to the Museum of Welsh Life, St. Fagans and following the start of their recent re-development we found a new home, thanks to the kind assistance of Cardiff Council in 2013, Sophia Gardens.

In 2021 we went on tour, with productions in the beautiful settings of Insole Court, Cardiff, and Tredegar House, Newport.