Brownsea Open Air Theatre

[1] Annually, performing a play from the extensive works of William Shakespeare for three weeks in July and August, the production is set on the National Trust's Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour with boats transporting patrons to the island from Poole Quay.

[1] In 2013 their 50th Season was celebrated with A Midsummer Night's Dream and Pericles, followed in 2014 by Henry IV, part 1 and Henry IV, part 2 (combined into a single production), More recent productions include The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, As You Like It, Titus Andronicus and Richard III.

were part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Open Stages project in 2012, participating in workshops and performing an excerpt from their 2011 production of Julius Caesar.

The Prologue and Epilogue were performed by Eileen Rawlings, a founder member who played Ariel in BOAT's first production, The Tempest, in 1964 In 2024 it was announced[3] that, due to demands made by the National Trust, BOAT would no longer be able to perform on Brownsea Island in their usual format with a raked auditorium, set and full stage lighting.

It was concluded that a reduced scale production on the island would prove uneconomic, so BOAT took the difficult decision to look for an alternative venue on the mainland.