9 Best Performing Arts in The West Country, England

In a converted warehouse on the harbor, the Arnolfini is one of the country's most prestigious contemporary-art venues, known for uncovering innovative yet accessible art. There are galleries, a cinema, a bookshop, and a lively café-bar.

One of the foremost arts centers of the West Country, Dartington Hall lies 2 miles northwest of Totnes. There are concerts, film screenings, and exhibitions. The gardens, free year-round, are the setting for outdoor performances of Shakespeare in summer. There's a café, and you can stay overnight in rooms in the hall.

Tucked away behind the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, off Gandy Strreet, this arts center hosts contemporary exhibitions, as well as films, live music, and comedy. There's a good bar-café, too, with an outdoor terrace.

Held in Pilton (a few miles from the town of Glastonbury), the Glastonbury Festival is England's biggest and perhaps best annual music festival. For five days over the last weekend in June, it hosts hundreds of bands—established and up-and-coming—on five main stages, myriad smaller venues, and some thirty "areas." Tickets are steeply-priced—around £285—and sell out months in advance; they include entertainment, a camping area, and service facilities. The organizers also host open-air concerts on the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, which take place in early August and feature big crowd-pullers (usually of an older vintage).

The open-air Minack Theatre perches high above a beach 3 miles southeast of Land's End and about 6 miles southwest of Penzance. The slope of the cliff forms a natural amphitheater, with bench seats on the terraces and the sea as a magnificent backdrop. Different companies present everything from classic dramas to modern comedies, as well as operas and concerts, on afternoons and evenings between late March and late October. An exhibition center tells the story of the theater's creation. Note that this center is closed afternoons when matinee performances are scheduled.

A range of innovative and traditional productions are staged at this central venue, including plays, comedy, musical revues, and dance performances.

A church built in the 18th century, St. George's now serves as one of the country's leading venues for classical, jazz, and world music, with near-perfect acoustics. Stop by for lunchtime concerts.

Plymouth's Theatre Royal presents ballet, musicals, and plays by some of Britain's best companies.

A contemporary arts center by the harbor, the Watershed also has a movie theater that screens excellent international films.