Can you guess how old the Watford Palace Theatre is? Here’s a clue, it withstood both world wars.

The theatre, which looks very different today to how it once did, was built in 1908.

Artistic director and chief executive Brigid Larmour said: “This beautiful Edwardian Grade II theatre was built to provide quality entertainment for the residents of Watford and 110 years on this hasn’t changed. Each year we welcome tens of thousands of Watford residents through our doors and we look forward to welcoming thousands more over the coming years.”

Brigid, who was born in north London, studied French at the University of Caen in Normandy, France, before taking a degree in economics and English at King’s College, Cambridge.

In her final year at Cambridge, Brigid directed the Jacobean ‘protofeminist’ comedy The Roaring Girl at the Edinburgh Festival with the Cambridge Mummers. The cast included Annabel Arden, Simon McBurney and Stephen Fry. The production was a hit, with excellent reviews, and attracted the attention of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Brigid joined the RSC in 1982 as their youngest ever assistant director, and the play was brought back into the professional repertoire in an RSC production starring Helen Mirren the following year.

She went on to work across the UK and America in regional theatre and London’s West End, as well as training as a studio director for TV.

She has been with the theatre on Clarendon Road for 12 years and tries to ensure women and people from all ethnic backgrounds are represented.

“I enjoy a theatre which reflects who we are,” she explains. “It’s not rocket science and it’s not meeting quotas, just across the season try and make sure that the stage looks like the town.”

At the heart of the theatre’s mission is that everyone is welcome. They aim to inspire and entertain through inventive, ambitious and inclusive drama, new plays, musicals, dance and family shows; free outdoor festivals; diverse stand-up; and a much-loved traditional pantomime.

They also encourage and support new talent, and seek to celebrate and develop creativity and skill in the community and young people.

As well as its own productions the Watford Palace Theatre works with tiata fahodzi, a theatre company who seek to illuminate the experience of the African diaspora in Britain today, and Rifco, who aim to reflect and celebrates contemporary British Asian experience and culture.

She explains: “I want our stage to look like Watford. You need everybody to feel that they’re welcome and there’s something they can relate to.”

The progression of their work takes this endeavour far beyond Watford. Shows and home grown talent have toured nationally and internationally, been seen on BBC iPlayer, won awards and transferred to the West End.

Upcoming Watford Palace productions

Dishoom! September 12 to 22

Summer 1978, Simon and his friends should be looking forward to leaving school, but the National Front are on the streets, Simon's Bibi is ashamed of him and his Dad spends his life hiding in the pub.

When Simon's cousin Baljit comes to stay, she introduces him to the Bollywood classic, Sholay. Inspired by the film’s dynamic duo, Jai and Veeru, Simon and Baljit find their inner superheroes and set out to change their world forever.

From the producers of Miss Meena & the Masala Queens, The Deranged Marriage and Britain’s Got Bhangra, Rifco Theatre Company and Watford Palace Theatre with Oldham Coliseum Theatre present a new play about friendship and courage.

Much Ado About Nothing, October 4 to 27

Beatrice and Benedick love to hate each other, but their friends suspect them of deeper feelings... War hero Claudio is madly in love with Beatrice’s pretty young cousin, but how well does he really know her?

Set at the height of the Battle of Britain, our affectionate homage to the servicewomen of World War Two is a playful response to the all-male productions of Shakespeare’s own time.

The Witches, November 2 to 4

Hertfordshire County Youth Theatre presents this Roald Dahl classic, adapted by David Wood.

Can you help Watford Palace Theatre identify Watford’s Wanted Witches by drawing what you think a real witch looks like? They need all the help we can get to find the witches before the performance.

Jack and the Beanstalk, December 5 until January 5

A lavish spectacle with live musicians on stage, sets and costumes, song, dance and slapstick, performed by a company of new faces and Palace favourites.