We are thrilled to announce the main house productions of 2026. This is going to be a particularly exciting season for us as it will be the first to take place in what will be our transformed bar and foyer space. We think it is an exciting and celebratory season - with a mix of new writing and more classic pieces, well known and unusual plays. As a member of the audience, actors, backstage teams and front of house please do come along, get involved and be part of a wonderful year of theatre.
All details are below and please look out for Open Reading and Audition notices as well as announcements of tickets going on sale for all these productions coming very soon.
January 31st to February 7th: The Who’s ‘Tommy’ by Des McAnuff/Pete Townshend
March 21st to 28th: ‘The Unfriend’ by Steven Moffat
May 9th to 16th: Springboard Festival 2026
June 27th to 4th July: ‘Popcorn’ by Ben Elton
September 26th to 3rd October: ‘Underdog: The Other Other Brontë’ by Sarah Gordon
December 5th to 12th: Shakespeare in Love adapted for the stage by Lee Hall
Play Synopses
Rescheduled Dates Sat 31st January to 7th February
'The Who’s ‘Tommy’ by Des McAnuff and Pete Townshend (1968/1994)
Genre: Rock Musical, Cast 20+, Director: Deb Relton-Elves (Sweeney Todd, 2023; Rumpelstiltskin,2016; Snake in the Grass, 2015, Musical Director: Rob Parish (Sweeney Todd, 2023)
This thoroughly entertaining rock musical with its dramatic score and fascinating storyline, has been thrilling theatre goers for years and is just as relevant today as when it was first produced.
Whilst dealing with some dark themes there are moments of hope and triumph so audiences are uplifted as well as moved. At its heart, the story celebrates family, forgiveness, resilience, and ultimately the extraordinary power of healing.
The story of Tommy is timeless. The artistic vision of our production is a simplicity of set, costumes and props with the use of inspirational projection and lighting to complement and enhance the piece, with an emphasis on the cast to bring the characters to life through the wonderful music.
This production of Tommy exists outside the bounds of a specific time or place.
________________________________________________________________
Sat 21st to 28th March
'The Unfriend' by Steven Moffat (2023)
Genre: Comedy, Cast: 7 (3f 4m), Director: John Ruscoe (The Homecoming, 2024; The Father, 2019; Communicating Doors, 2017)
While on holiday, Peter and Debbie befriend Elsa: a lusty, Trump-loving widow from Denver, USA. She's less than woke but kind of wonderful. They agree to stay in touch – because no one ever really does, do they?When Elsa invites herself to stay a few months later, they decide to look her up online. Too late, they learn the truth about Elsa Jean Krakowski. Deadly danger has just boarded a flight to London! But how do you protect all that you love from mortal peril without seeming, well, a bit impolite? Because guess who's coming... to murder!
Steven Moffat's play The Unfriend takes a hilarious and satirical look at middle-class England's disastrous instinct always to appear nice.Steven Moffat is an award-winning writer whose internationally successful television shows include Doctor Who, Sherlock and Dracula.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Sat 9th to Sat 16th May
Springboard Festival 2026
Now in its 4th year, Springboard provides eight evenings of fabulous and varied entertainment in the form of short one act plays, poetry/spoken word, music, film, literary discussion and visual art. The festival brings together Coventry and Warwickshire amateur and professionals in one space, with in-house Criterion company performances and community/Criterion collaborations alongside external artists, musicians and poets.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sat 27th June to Sat 4th July
'Popcorn' by Ben Elton (1998)
Genre: Comedy Thriller, Cast: 9 (5f 4m), Director: Dean Sheridan (Grace, 2024)
A play adaptation of the best-selling 1996 novel of the same name by well-known comedian and author Ben Elton.
Set in the Beverly Hills home of Oscar winning movie director Bruce Delamitri, Popcorn is a satirical comedy thriller. When notorious killers Wayne and Scout interrupt Bruce's passionate introduction to Brooke Daniels, a model and actress, they want more than an autograph from their cinematic idol. Wayne intends to use Bruce's "art" as justification for murder. Events are disrupted by the arrival of Bruce's soon to be ex wife and spoiled teenage daughter and his producer. However, Wayne means to succeed whatever the cost.
When Popcorn was first written, it was asking, do violent movies create a violent society? Can minds be corrupted by images and ideas presented in films? In the era of social media this has perhaps more potency: do platforms which are often unregulated, cause any damage and desensitise minds?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sat 26th September to 3rd October
'Underdog: The Other Other Brontë' by Sarah Gordon (2024)
Genre: Comedy, Cast 8 (3f, 1m, 4m/f) Director: Anne-marie Greene (Every Brilliant Thing, 2024; Afterlife, 2023; Glorious, 2020)
Synopsis: Charlotte Brontë has a confession about how one sister became an idol, and the other became known as the third sister. You know the one. No, not that one. The other, other one… Anne.
This is not a story about well-behaved women. This is a story about the power of words. It’s about sisters and sisterhood, love and jealousy, support and competition.
Sarah Gordon’s play is an irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Brontë sisters, and the story of the sibling power dynamics that shaped their uneven rise to fame.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Sat 5th-12th December
'Shakespeare in Love' based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Adapted for the stage by Lee Hall (2014)
Genre: Comic Drama, Cast: over 20, Director: Hugh Sorrill (Mary Stuart, 2022)
Synopsis: Based on the Academy Award-winning movie, this enchanting, hilarious, romantic stage play reimagines William Shakespeare's creative process – and explores his inspiration – as he writes Romeo and Juliet.
William Shakespeare hasn't written a hit in years, and theatre owner Henslowe is counting on Shakespeare's promised comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter, to keep his wolfish creditors from the door. At the casting session, Will hears his lines spoken with great feeling by an unknown young actor and his curiosity is fired. Soon he discovers the secret of the talented young actor and rediscovers his muse. As Shakespeare falls in love with an unattainable noblewoman, the farcical comedy transforms into the timeless tragedy that is Romeo and Juliet.