Theatre News

Southwold’s Summer Theatre Season

Anne Morley-Priestman

The date 1984 has certain resonances, especially in Suffolk from whose River Orwell one Eric Blair took his penname; he spent teenage school holidays in Southwold. 1984 also is the year in which the theatre company Jill Freud and Friends began to mount a summer season of plays in Southwold. Eleven years later the season expanded to include Aldeburgh, some 12 miles or so south. This year’s season begins on 8 July and continues to 11 September.

The opening production is that ever-green potpourri Cowardy Custard which wends its sophisticated way after 20 July to Aldeburgh for performances from 23 to 31 July. A N J Crisp thriller Dangerous Obsession follows from 22 to 31 July in Southwold and 3 to 7 August in Aldeburgh. The mood changes yet again with Holiday Snap by Michael Pertwee and John Chapman (2 to 14 August in Southwold and 17 to 21 August in Aldeburgh).

My Cousin Rachel is one of Daphne du Maurier’s best-known novels and Diana Morgan’s dramatisation will be staged in Aldeburgh from 9 to 14 August before transferring to Southwold from 16 to 28 August. Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party brings the season to its conclusion, also with the initial performances in Aldeburgh (23 to 28 August) and serving up its very last canapé in Southwold on 11 September.

There’s also a lunchtime theatre sequence and Fridays and Saturdays only in Southwold between 16 July and 28 August. Nor are children left on the beach and out in the cold; English summers don’t always favour out-of-doors activities even during school holidays. These matinee performances include puppet companies Nutmeg and Treasure Trove, Chris Smith and even Ian Billings in a stand-up comedy show just for kids. Now, there’s a really brave man!