Brownsea Open Air Theatre Brownsea Open Air Theatre Brownsea Open Air Theatre (commonly abbreviated B.O.A.T) is an open-air Shakespearian theatre company based in Poole, Dorset that have performed large theatrical productions since 1964. 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. Recent productions include "Hamlet", "The Taming Of The Shrew", "Julius Caesar" and "Love's Labour's Lost". In 2013 their 50th Season was celebrated with "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Pericles", followed
Brownsea Castle another device in 1544 to further improve the country's defences, particularly along the south coast. The castle was built on the south-east corner of Brownsea Island between 1545 and 1547 to protect the entrance of the busy Poole Harbour. The island belonged to the Crown, having been confiscated from Cerne Abbey during the Dissolution of the Monasteries a few years before. It was a conservative design, being a one-storey, square blockhouse, reported in 1552 to be across, able to support guns on its roof and sub-divided into three rooms; the blockhouse was originally intended to have been two storeys in