From Hornchurch to Australia and Rome via Suffolk

It all takes off with a flight to Australia. Ladies Down Under is the sequel to Ladies’ Day in which the four fish-packers of Amanda Whittington’s first comedy decide to spend their winnings on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. But anticipation is often far sweeter than actuality and pastures new may be sun-drenched but prove no juicier than those wind-swept fields back home. It runs between 27 August and 11 September.

Next off the starting block is the Stephen Sondheim musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Ancient Rome (the musical is based on an amalgam of comedies by Plautus) steps out onto 1962 Broadway as young men chase pretty girls, old men try to keep control of their money-bags and crafty slaves run rings around their masters. Incidentally, this is the first musical for which Sondheim wrote both the music and the lyrics and the production is another tribute to him at the age of 80. Select your sandals and tug on your toga from 24 September until 16 October.

Christopher Bond’s play derived from the Sweeney Todd stories was the basis for another, later Sondheim musical. The Mysterie of Maria Marten and the Murder in the Red Barn has its roots in an actual murder case of the early 19th century, about which much printer’s ink has subsequently been spilled establishing the guilt (or otherwise) of William Corder – not to mention a whole string of barn-storming melodramas. There are songs as well as suspense in Bond’s version which introduces an unusual detective called Lady Augusta Holmes. Draw your own conclusions between 29 October and 20 November.

Last year’s Hornchurch pantomime – – was one of the best shows of its type which I saw, with some neat variations in the familiar story and some spectacular elements in the staging. This year the theatre has settled for Aladdin which so far is a runaway favourite as far as pantomime stories are concerned in the region (it’s odd how, quite independently as far as one can judge, one or two titles seem to dominate each Christmas season). Will the magic lamp shine brightly for the Queen’s Theatre from 4 December until 15 January? Like Abanazor, we have to wait and see what happens.