Theatre News

Key South-East England and East Anglia openings in July

We take a look at some of the major openings in the South-East and Anglia this month

Chichester's Theatre in the Park (sketch: Teresa Hoskyns)
Chichester’s Theatre in the Park (sketch: Teresa Hoskyns)

Opening 1 July
Coward’s 1951 comedy Relative Values is at the Theatre Royal Brighton until 6 July. This is the Theatre Royal, Bath production starring Patricia Hodge, Caroline Quentin and Rory Bremner directed by Trevor Nunn. It can also be seen at Richmond’s Theatre on the Green 8 to 13 July.

Opening 6 July
John Godber’s Teechers is the first production of this year’s summer repertory theatre season at the Little Theatre, Sheringham. It runs until 15 July and returns from 3 to 6 August.

Opening 10 July
JB Priestley’s classic An Inspector Calls begins the Southwold summer theatre season. After the Southwold run which ends on 20 July it transfers to the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh between 25 July and 3 August.

Opening 11 July
Hotbed is Cambridge’s annual new writing festival. Showcases take place at the Arts Theatre and the Cambridge Junction until 14 July. Selected prroductions subsequently tour to the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds (16 to 17 July), the Mercury Theatre, Colchester (18 to 21 July) and then to London’s Soho Theatre (23 to 27 July)

Opening 12 July
The Legend of Moby Dick is staged in the grounds of South Hill Park, Bracknell until 24 July. This is a new version written and directed by Bart Lee and with music by Ron McAllister.

Opening 15 July (Press night 24 July)
Barnum at the Theatre in the Park, Chichester is a revised version by Cameron Macintosh and Mark Bramble of the Cy Coleman musical with Christopher Fitzgerald in the title role and Tamsin Carroll as Chairy. It runs until 31 August.

Opening 17 July
Deathtrap is the classic Ira Levin thriller about an aspiring and a written-out playwright revived as the second production in the summer repertory season at Sheringham’s Little Theatre. It plays until 25 July and again 19 to 24 August.

Opening 18 July
The Latitude Festival at Henham Park, near Southwold. It runs until 21 July.

Opening 19 July
The Hawthorne Theatre, Welwyn Garden City welcomes a new Guy Masterson production of The Odd Couple. It runs until 27 July.

Opening 20 July
Holt Festival. Highlights up to 27 July include Casus’ Knee Deep (20 July) and The Events from the Actors’ Touring Company (26 July), both in the Auden Theatre.

Opening 22 July (Press night 24 July)
John Osborne’s seminal Look Back in Anger is revived by the Reading Rep in the Reading College Performing Arts Studio. Jack Wharrier plays Jimmy Porter with Harriet Hare as his wife, Alison. The run ends on 2 August.

Opening 22 July
The Southwold Summer Theatre season continues with a new production of Eric Chappell’s thriller Dead Reckoning. After 3 August it transfers to the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh for the week 6 to 10 August.

Opening 23 July
The Taming of the Shrew is the summer production by Suffolk’s Red Rose Chain. This year’s new venue, after 13 years in the Rendlesham Forest, is Jimmy (Doherty)’s Farm in Wherstead. Joanna Carrick’s production continues until 25 August.

Opening 25 July (Press night 31 July)
The Witches of Eastwick weave their spells for The Watermill in Newbury. This is a new production directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood of the John Dempsey and Dana P Rowe musical and it runs until 14 September.

Opening 27 July
We Found Love and an Exquisite Set of Porcelain Figurines Aboard the SS Farndale Avenue is a romp concerning the (fictitious) members of the (equally fictitious) Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society. This runs until 2 August 2, and then again from 26 August to 31 August.