Original Theatre unveils 20th anniversary season plans including Birdsong transfer and Oscar Wilde play

Suffolk-based theatre company Original Theatre has announced its 20th anniversary season.

The anniversary programme begins in November with the premiere of Original At Last, a documentary detailing the company’s evolution from a local theatre project to a fixture in the UK touring and digital theatre scene. Directed by Tristan McShepherd, Original At Last will be screened at Abbeygate Cinema in Bury St Edmunds, the company’s home base. A Q&A session with the creative team will follow, giving audiences insight into the journey of this independent theatre company.

Bellringers, Daisy Hall’s debut play that recently completed runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Hampstead Theatre, will be available for streaming this month via Original Online, the company’s digital platform.

The season’s live line-up includes Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks’s World War I drama adapted by Rachel Wagstaff. Directed by Original Theatre’s artistic director, Alastair Whatley, the production marks the 30th anniversary of Faulks’s novel and will extend its tour to London with a run at Alexandra Palace Theatre from 27 February to 8 March 2025. Birdsong stars Max Bowden, Charlie Russell, and James Esler.

Another notable production is The Importance of Being Oscar, a play that features passages from Oscar Wilde’s works, offering a perspective on Wilde’s life. Directed by Michael Fentiman, the play had a recent run at Reading Rep Theatre and will now transfer to London. Whatley takes on the lead role, with specific dates and venue information to follow.

Original Theatre will also tour The Croft, a thriller by Ali Milles set in the Scottish Highlands, in May and June. The play, directed by Philip Franks and co-produced with Wiltshire Creative, was originally set to tour in 2020 before being postponed due to the pandemic.

In autumn 2025, Original Theatre will present Murder at Midnight, the latest instalment in Torben Betts’s thriller series. Following the success of Murder in the Dark, this new production will bring Betts’s blend of suspense and unexpected twists to the stage. Further details on this production will be shared as the season progresses.