4 couples, 3 bedrooms, 2 parents, 1 self-assembly kit - what could possibly go wrong? Answer: just about everything!
Private Tommo Peaceful, a young First World War soldier, has been accused of desertion. Imprisoned in a barn in Ypres in 1916, Tommo has time to reflect on his short, but joyful life. A childhood in rural Devon, school days, family life, Molly, his first and only love, and the battles and injustices of war.
A father in prison, a grieving mother, their three young children uprooted from London and living far away in a small village in straightened circumstances - surely this is the subject matter of a gloomy story?
JB Priestley's fascinating first play deals with the consequences for individuals of taking life’s corners recklessly and making foolish choices along life’s journey.
Set in 1940 in the shabby, run-down Costa Verde Hotel The Night of the Iguana is recognised as Tennessee Williams’ last great play.
Don’t miss a rare opportunity to see this Williams’ classic performed by a stellar Next Stage cast headed by Richard Matthews as Shannon.
Focusing on the relationships that help, and those that hinder, David Auburn’s superbly written, 2001 Pulitzer Prize winning, play tackles challenging and personal issues around love, loss and mental health. A beautiful and emotional drama portraying the desperation felt during grief or depression.
Essentially a love story, His Dark Materials revolves around Lyra and Will, two young teenagers from different worlds. The pair join forces and share adventures beyond their wildest imaginings as Lyra strives to find her best friend Roger and Will searches for his lost father.
Essentially a love story, His Dark Materials revolves around Lyra and Will, two young teenagers from different worlds. The pair join forces and share adventures beyond their wildest imaginings as Lyra strives to find her best friend Roger and Will searches for his lost father.
Essentially a love story, His Dark Materials revolves around Lyra and Will, two young teenagers from different worlds. The pair join forces and share adventures beyond their wildest imaginings as Lyra strives to find her best friend Roger and Will searches for his lost father.
Jimmy Porter is angry; angry with life, angry with his friends, angry with his wife and angry with the world. Indulged, talented, intelligent and loved Jimmy is none the less dissatisfied and frustrated. As he lashes out in a kaleidoscopic two hours of theatre audiences are appalled and dazzled in equal measure by his mercurial character.
Democracy provides a fascinating insight into a critical period in the recent past as well as a study of the strengths and weaknesses of human nature.
In September 1939 a boy, William Beech, is evacuated from London. In the tranquil village of Little Weirwold Tom Oakley, a recluse, lives with his dog Sammy. When Tom reluctantly agrees to billet William neither can begin to imagine the monumental consequences that will ensue, changing both their lives forever:
Absent Friends is Ayckbourn at his very best: the hilarious moments on stage are juxtaposed with insightful and heart-wrenching home truths, with the minutiae of suburbia providing the realistic background. A stellar cast, under the direction of Ann Ellison, brings the play to sparkling life, reminding us all of just why Ayckbourn is one of Britain’s greatest living playwrights.
Birdsong is a powerful dramatisation of Sebastian Faulks’s profoundly moving novel. The play charts the tempestuous affair between a British Officer, Stephen Wraysford, and a French woman, Isabelle Azaire.
Birdsong is a powerful dramatisation of Sebastian Faulks’s profoundly moving novel. It charts the tempestuous affair between a British Officer, Stephen Wraysford, and a French woman, Isabelle Azaire.
An insightful and hilarious exploration of what life can be like for a 40-something, suddenly single woman, My Brilliant Divorce is wittily observant, achingly funny and heart-wrenchingly real.
The talented and highly-acclaimed Next Stage Youth Theatre Company excel as they bring this gritty adaptation of Dickens’ least sentimental love story to the stage with a cast of some of his most unforgettable characters.
Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus, set in the late 1960s, has all the ingredients of a classic but surreal farce, spiced with the warmth and humanity of Bennett’s razor-sharp wit.
“I believe that the best plays are about people, and not about things”
So wrote Terence Rattigan and In Praise of Love, his almost unbearably moving story of veiled emotions running deep, demonstrates perfectly the truth of his remark.
Local author John McLay, playwright Tom Morris and illustrator Martin Brown have collaborated with Next Stage Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Ann Ellison in bringing The Dragon’s Dentist to the stage for this World Premiere!
A haunting and mesmerising love story, The River is another compelling piece of theatre brought to us by Jez Butterworth - the playwright of Jerusalem.
Suddenly Last Summer tells the dark story of Catharine Holly, a relation of a prominent New Orleans family, who appears to have gone insane after witnessing her cousin Sebastian’s death under mysterious circumstances.
A hilarious series of inter-related plays, Intimate Exchanges is a superb example of Ayckbourn’s brilliant craftsmanship and ability to intrigue and challenge his audience.
Yes this is an edgy play. Yes it contains strong language. Yes it deals with adult themes. Yes it is uncomfortable and challenging.
And YES everyone should see it.
Blithe Spirit is one of Noël Coward’s most famous comedies, a joyful, brilliantly written and constructed romp around the humour of unintended consequences.
Join us as we take you on a magical flight to Neverland in the company of the three Darling children Wendy, John and Michael and the irrepressible Peter Pan.
A tale of loss, of the over-whelming nature of human genius, of suicide and of the guilt and anger and sorrow it can create in its wake.
The heart-breaking and uplifting tale of a lonely, fragile daughter and her monstrous mother, Mari.
This delightful version of C.S.Lewis’s well-loved tale takes the audience on a magical journey to the land of Narnia, with four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.
In a remote Irish pub, four local men gather for an evening of drinking. But tonight there is a newcomer, a young Dublin woman. The men seek to entertain and impress the young woman with ghost stories. But she caps all their tales with one of her own...
