Previous Productions

2023 – The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy (adapted by Beverly Cross)

2022 – David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (adapted by Alistair Cording)

One of Dickens’s most autobiographical stories, beautifully dramatised by Alastair Cording while retaining all the drama and humour of the original book. David Copperfield has a happy childhood until his widowed mother remarries the severe Mr Murdstone. When Mrs Copperfield dies, young David must make his way in London and lodges with Mr Wickfield, a lawyer, and befriends his gentle daughter, Agnes. David becomes infatuated with the sweet Dora Spenlow, but as they discover, it takes more than love to make a marriage last. Along the way we meet many of Dickens’s marvellous creations: the caring Clara Peggotty, the jolly Micawber family, the sinister Uriah Heep, and David’s eccentric aunt, Betsey Trotwood. By the end justice is served, the innocent reprieved, and loving devotion reciprocated and rewarded.

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2019 – The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (adapted by Dave Simpson)

Set at the turn of the 20th Century, this is the story of a prosperous Edwardian family – mother and three children – who are forced to move to rural North England when “Daddy! Oh, my Daddy” is mysteriously taken away on false charges of treason. Exploring themes of family, love and resilience in the face of struggle and hardship, the audience is guided through this heart-warming story by the ever-present Mr Perks, the Station Master

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2018 – Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

“Friendship is constant in all other things,
Save in the office and affairs of love.”

Romantic love – realistic love – sibling rivalry – a plot to usurp a leader & ruin a marriage – all overseen by the famously incompetent Watch. Studded with some of Shakespeare’s most sparkling and witty dialogue, we see justice done, order restored and love triumpant.

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2017 – She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith

‘She Stoops to Conquer’ is a jolly romp that pokes gentle fun at the society of the day (1773). It’s a classic Restoration comedy by Oliver Goldsmith featuring some of the most well-known comic scenes in theatrical history.

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2016 – As You Like It by William Shakespeare

As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s most thoughtful comedies. It contrasts the coldness and cruelty of the court of Duke Ferdinand with the world of nature in the Forest of Arden, to which the has banished his brother, the former Duke. The fugative Duke’s brother, Rosalind, is also exiled from court and with her cousin Celia and the court jester Touchstone, goes to find her father in the forest. There she – and everyone else – finds love and fulfilment.

Among the highlights of hte play are the songs, such as Blow, blow , thou winter wind and It was a lover and his lass, and the philosopher Jaques’ musing about the mystery of Time, All the world’s a stage …

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2015 – The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Described as ‘A trivial play for serious people’, there is absolutely nothing trivial about the enduring success and appeal of this play. First performed on St Valentine’s Day 1895, the play was ap­plauded for its wit by some, and criticised by others for that very triviality, which is so much a part of its charm.

There has been much debate and discussion about covert references to homosexuality and venereal disease, but what is quite overt is Wilde’s apparently making light of the serious subjects of marriage and christening, death and religion, as well as much well-informed satire on the social conventions of the day. It also deals quite blatantly with the question of money – a subject which was rarely discussed in polite society. Indeed money was a force which drove the play from without as well as within, as Wilde was in urgent need of money when he wrote it.

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2014 – Oh! What a Lovely War by Joan Littlewood

It’s 1914 and Europe is on the brink of war. Your country needs you, so enlist today!

Oh What Lovely War, a stirring and satirical musical entertainment about the First World War was first performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 1963. It was an immediate hit, transferring to the West End in June 1963 and opening on Broadway in 1964, receiving four Tony Award nominations including Best Musical.
This production is dedicated to combatants from the four corners of the globe: those who fought and died; those who fought and survived; and all those civilians who ‘kept the home fires burning’ in so many ways during the First World War.

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2014 – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

On a drowsy sunny afternoon a little girl called Alice has a dream. She follows a nervy White Rabbit down a tunnel and is catapulted into an upside down world where nothing is what it seems – all wonder and whimsy. From the insanity of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party to the less familiar, but equally eccentric and quirky, courts of the Red and White Queens, generations have been enchanted by Lewis Carroll’s tales of Alice’s adventures.

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