[1] It officially opened on 16 January, 2008 with the play Uncle Vanya written by Anton Chekhov and directed by Sir Peter Hall.

Unlike the original Rose, it makes the Elizabethan design more comfortable by adding a roof and modern seats, rather like the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Rose was a project supported by Peter Hall and broadcaster David Jacobs CBE, who served as chairman of the Kingston Theatre Trust.

The shell of the building was provided to the Trust for free by St George plc as one of the concessions for the construction of Charter Quay, a development on the bank of the Thames.

Some highlights include Love's Labour's Lost, directed by Sir Peter Hall; A Christmas Carol; Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy with Timothy West; Sir Peter Hall's revival of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce with Jane Asher and Nicholas Le Prevost (which later transferred to the West End) in repertoire with Miss Julie; Treasure Island; Judi Dench in Sir Peter Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream; Dumb Show by Joe Penhall; Noël Coward's Hay Fever with Celia Imrie; Three Musketeers; As You Like It; Jane Asher returned for Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest performed in rep with the premiere of Harley Granville-Barker's Farewell to the Theatre; The Snow Queen; Joely Richardson in The Lady from the Sea; Alison Steadman in Michael Frayn's Here; and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.