 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We are really pleased to announce the 2024 season so far. It is exciting and challenging, with a mix of genres, new writing and classic pieces, well known and unusual plays.
Please look out for Open Reading and Audition notices coming soon.
STUDIO SLOT : Weds 10th to Saturday 13th January
The Trials by Dawn King (2022)
Genre: Drama , Cast: 12 youth, 2 adults , Director: Alan Fenn
Synopsis: The near future. The climate emergency is gathering pace, and our generation is being judged. The jurors are children. But are they delivering justice – or just taking revenge? Dawn King's searing play was first performed in January 2022. The Trials offers an exciting opportunity for theatre companies to address the climate emergency and intergenerational conflict, as the jury of 12 to 17-year-olds hold the stage alongside two adult defendants.
MAIN HOUSE: Sat 16th to Sat 23rd March
A Dirty Great Love Story by Kate Bonna/Richard Marsh (2012)
Genre: Comedy, Cast: 4, Director: Kelly Davidson
Synopsis: A wry, funny, sweet-natured variation on the archetypal boy-meets-girl story. Nice, nerdy Richard and lately dumped Katie meet when a stag night and hen party collide and end up having a drunken one-night stand. Over the following months, they acquire new partners and, when their respective best friends get hitched, fleetingly meet at a wedding, a christening and a muddy pop festival. Wittily written, at times in rhyme, the pleasure of the piece lies in the language. It premiered in August 2012 as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
MAIN HOUSE: Sat 4th to Sat 11th May
Springboard Festival 2024
A week of one act plays, poetry, music and art, bringing together amateur and professionals in one space, with in house company performances and community/Criterion collaborations alongside external artists, musicians and theatre companies, poetry workshops and art exhibitions.
MAIN HOUSE Sat 22nd to 29th June
The Homecoming by Harold Pinter (1965)
Genre: Classic Drama, Cast: 5 (4M 1W), Director: John Ruscoe
Synopsis: Pinter wrote this two-act play in 1964, and it premiered in 1965. It is one of the playwright’s most unnerving works. Teddy brings his wife, Ruth, home from America for the first time to meet his family in London. The play is essentially one long power struggle between the male family members, with Ruth as the catalyst. The play is rich with meaning, picking at ideas of family, masculinity and the home.
MAIN HOUSE RESCHEDULED Sat 31st August to Sat 7th September
Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan (2015)
Genre: Totally heartwarming, Cast: 1, Director: Anne-marie Greene
Synopsis: When Mum’s in the hospital and Dad says she finds it hard to be happy, there’s not much a seven year old can do…1. Ice cream, 2. Water fights, 3. Staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV. These are the first three items on a list of every brilliant thing in the world worth living for. As the child grows up, so does the list. It takes on a life of its own, a Facebook group is started, other people start adding to it, writing in the margins, making amendments, providing footnotes. The purpose of the list is forgotten and the mother’s depression doesn’t go away. Eventually, as a grown-up, they reach their self-imposed target of one million entries. They call the list ‘Every Brilliant Thing’. Based on true and untrue stories, Every Brilliant Thing is a life-affirming story of how to achieve hope through focusing on the smallest miracles of life.
MAIN HOUSE Sat 19th to Sat 26th October
1984 by Robert Icke/Duncan Macmillan (2013)
Genre: Drama, Cast: 8 (1W 1M, 6 gender non-specific), Director: Steve Brown
Synopsis: A critically acclaimed adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian novel. 1984 follows a group of historians as they discover the diary of Comrade 6079, Winston Smith. In a world where all citizens are closely watched by Big Brother, Winston’s life is jeopardised when he suddenly falls in love and begins to think free thoughts that threaten the scarily controlling government. This is a chilling adaptation of a classic tale, which will leave audiences gripping their seats in fear.
MAIN HOUSE Sat 7th to Sat 14th December
A Christmas Carol : A Fairy Tale by Piers Torday (2019).
Genre: Classic Christmas drama, Cast: 15-30, Director: TBC
Synopsis: A really exciting re-imagining for the 21st century with an original, female-led version. In this reinvention of the timeless classic, Ebenezer has died and his sister Fan has inherited his money-lending business.