Building work at Creation Theatre Company's 370-seat outdoor theatre is almost complete, ready for the 25,000 visitors expected over the summer.

Alan Thompson, centre, from Oxford City Council's parks staff, with actors Lydia Fox and Tim Funnell

The construction of the amphitheatre, cafe and toilets in the arboretum at Headington Hill Park, Oxford, marks a new start for the company which had outgrown its summer home at Magdalen College School gardens.

The theatre will be available for other companies, live bands, jazz performers and community groups to use on Sundays. Oxford Brookes is providing car parking for theatre-goers and indoor rehearsal space for the performers.

David Parrish, Creation's producer and artistic director, said: "The new venue is a hidden gem in a city brimming with beautiful parks."

Twelfth Night, directed by Charlotte Conquest, opens on June 6. The Tempest, directed by Zoe Seaton, will run from July 1 to September 13.