Theatre by the Lake is the only new English Regional Producing Theatre to have been built with National Lottery funding. It opened in August 1999, since when it has produced and presented over 5,000 performances. The Official Opening ceremony was performed by the theatre's President, Dame Judi Dench, and her late husband, Michael Williams, on 14 December 1999.
Theatre by the Lake owes its origins to the "Blue Box Theatre" - the unique touring venue of Century Theatre - which occupied the site of the current building from 1976 until its removal to make way for Theatre by the Lake in 1996. Century Theatre made its debut in 1952 and it first toured to Keswick in 1961, kindling the idea of a permanent theatre in the Lake District. When changes to the Road Traffic Act brought Century Theatre touring to an end, the Blue Box then served as a venue for a Summer Season of professional repertory theatre in Keswick for the next 20 years.
The refurbished Blue Box is now at Snibston Discovery Park in Leicestershire where it serves as a community theatre and as a tribute to an extraordinary touring theatre enterprise which inspired many towns and cities around the country to create permanent theatres during nearly 25 years on the road.