WHAT'S ON UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE
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1 - 4 May 2025
Drama
Production by:
Garden Suburb Theatre
Garden Suburb Theatre present
An Ideal Husband
by Oscar Wilde
Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears with evidence of a past he would rather hide. Sir Robert has to decide whether to yield to blackmail or risk exposing the origins of his wealth and position.
The themes of this play, which revolve around blackmail and political corruption, are as relevant now as they were when Oscar Wilde wrote the play 130 years ago.
The Behaviours of Posie Marshall
6 - 8 May 2025
Dark Comedy
Production by:
Giggle Riot
The Behaviours Of Posie Marshall
Offie nominated writer Maeve O'Haire brings her one woman show 'The Behaviours of Posie Marshall' to stage, in which twenty-one characters come to life in a dark comedic setting. Posie Marshall leads us through 37 hours of her life, when the police find her in the footwell of a Range Rover.
Posie 'Po' Marshall is a fun loving, slightly anxious, tag along who looks after her family and friends despite them not always reciprocating. Her brother Jason has a chequered past which has given the family a reputation. Follow Posie as she battles with her demons through house parties, uncomfortable conversations, eye opening realisations and a surprise visit to a custody cell.
From the Offie winning Theatre company Giggle Riot
Directed by Danny Beaton
9 - 10 May 2025
Cabaret - Musical Theatre
Production by:
Big And Brave
A new “New Musical” showcase, Before It Hits brings snapshots of six in-development musicals by some of the West End’s best emerging writers to Upstairs At The Gatehouse.
Hosted by standup comedian FARAH SHARP (named ‘One to watch’ in the Funny Women Awards and featured on BBC Radio 4) and created by the team behind Olivier-nominated The Choir of Man, expect to see a variety of exciting new shows at various stages of their development.
The first outing of Before It Hits is set to feature works by established West End writers, creatives and performers, and will include guest performances by Grammy-longlisted songwriter and MT Composer CAROLINE KAY.
11 May 2025
Multimedia Arts Event
Production by:
Rootball
Film, poetry, art, music, and conversation inspired by John Berger.
Join us for 2025’s first instalment of The Shape of a Pocket—a biannual gathering celebrating the work of polymath John Berger: art critic, novelist, poet, and persistent questioner of power.
Taking its cue from Berger’s vision of art as both political and personal, the event draws together filmmakers, playwrights, musicians, poets, and visual artists in a wide-ranging response to the theme Ways of Seeing in War and Peace.
Featuring film excerpts from Amir Amirani’s We Are Many—a documentary on the global protests against the Iraq War—and a preview of his forthcoming project on Tony Blair, the programme also includes new writing from Regarding Shelley, Richard Bradbury’s play about the poet’s surveillance by the British state, which opens at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in May.
Across two acts, expect conversation, performance, and art in many forms. With live music, poetry, short plays, and visual work woven throughout, this is a tapestry of cultural resistance threaded with humour, heart, and humanity.
Programme Includes:
Amir Amirani – Excerpts from We Are Many and Blair Unspun
Richard Bradbury – Excerpt from Regarding Shelley (playing 20–25 May at Upstairs at the Gatehouse)
Sally Davies & Martina Schwarz – Live folk music
Peter Kennard – On Berger’s commitment to figurative art
Poetry readings from Gilles Madan and Kevin Omosele
Anne Aylor – Reading from her novel set during the Spanish Civil War
A reading from writer A. L. Kennedy
Compere and reader Jan Woolf
The event will be accompanied by an exhibition in the Green Room featuring art from Jolie Goodman, Peter Kennard, Jack Brook, Heather Niman, Margot Schiemann, Jan Woolf, Derek Ogbourne, and more to be confirmed.
12 May 2025
Magic
Production by:
Just Like That Productions
Join us, once a season, for an evening of Magic at the Gatehouse presented by an exciting line-up of top magicians. Witness miracles manifest before your eyes in an intimate theatre that puts you at the heart of the magic.
Featuring...
Tom Brace
Florian Brooks
Lee Hathaway
Paul Regan
16 - 17 May 2025
Musical - Workshop
Production by:
Wiltshire & Wells
After a sell-out run at The Phoenix Arts Club, MY NAME IS GEF, a “hilarious, horrifying and thought-provoking” new actor-muso, folk-horror, comedy musical comes to workshop at Upstairs at the Gatehouse for two afternoons only!
1937. Renowned and ridiculed psychoanalyst Dr. Nandor Fodor has one last chance to prove himself to the scientific elites he longs to be accepted by. Sent to the remote Isle of Man, he’s tasked with investigating the paranormal events and spooky phenomena occurring on the Irving family farm, whose daughter claims to be haunted by the hideous and terrifying vision of... a talking mongoose called Gef (pronounced 'Jeff'). What follows is a mystery investigating the supernatural, the human psyche, and what makes us hide our real selves.
Based on the infamous true events, this actor-musician, multi-instrumental, folk musical by Wiltshire & Wells is a fast-paced, hilarious, and unbelievable story, adapted from (arguably) the world’s first viral sensation. A true old wives’ tale exploring the madness, the malignancy, and the mirth caused by one ghostly, muttering mongoose... the question is: how willing are you to BELIEVE?
18 May 2025
Live Music
Production by:
Jeremy Sassoon
Jeremy Sassoon's MOJO 2: The Unsung Heroes
Sunday 18 May 4.00pm
Following the massive success of his show “MOJO”, singer pianist Jeremy Sassoon proudly presents the sequel, ”MOJO 2” covering the music of another 40 iconic Jewish songwriters and artists, focusing largely on the vintage era of the 1960's and '70s.
The musical fare in MOJO 2 encompasses both A-list artists and the 'unsung heroes' and has a more alternative musical edge, featuring jazz and rock legends. Think Stan Getz, Marc Bolan, Marc Knopfler and Mama Cass. He also features some songwriters whose names you might not recognise at first, despite being familiar with all their songs that made such a huge impact in the world of entertainment.
Musical performance aside, Jeremy's characteristic appeal is down to his fantastic rapport with audiences, his entertaining stories, surprising trivial facts and his penchant for sharing details of his own personal experiences.
His recordings and shows have been lauded across the globe, from The Edinburgh Fringe to BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, from Europe's top Jazz Clubs to Viking world cruises.
His band for MOJO 2 has expanded from that for the first show, with a stunning quartet featuring the outstanding talents of Harry Greene (sax and guitar), Flo Moore (bass) and Pat Illingworth (drums).
Be prepared to be spellbound for 90 minutes of great music and fascinating storytelling.
Running Time: 90 minutes
20 - 25 May 2025
Drama
Production by:
Riversmeet
Riversmeet Productions present
Regarding Shelley
by Richard Bradbury
Celebrated today for his groundbreaking romantic poetry and acclaimed intellect, in 1812 Percy Shelley was seen as a dangerous radical by the establishment. Expelled from Oxford for his atheism he then scandalously eloped with Harriet Westbrook and the two of them went to Dublin to campaign for Irish independence.
The play opens with Shelley fleeing Ireland with his young wife, his support for the failed rebellion making him a marked man. Their notoriety has led to constant surveillance by order of the Home Secretary and we meet them in North Devon trying to rebuild their lives and their political ambitions.
27 May 2025 — 8 Jun 2025
Drama
Production by:
The Crooked Billets
Following a successful showcase at Theatre at The Tabard in 2024, The Crooked Billets brings Peter Mottley’s double bill of forgotten gems to Upstairs at The Gatehouse for a special two week run. Written in the 1980s, these thrilling one-handers use Shakespeare’s Henry V as a framework to explore themes of coming-of-age, class, PTSD, and the real human cost of war.
Before Nell is told through the eyes of a boy actor preparing to take the stage as Nell Quickly AKA Madame Pistol in the first ever production of Henry V. It presents a heart-breaking, darkly comic and meticulously researched insight into the hardships and social dynamics of the time.
After Agincourt is a visceral and brutal recounting of the English invasion of France in 1415. Set in The Boar's Head Tavern seven years later, a drunk and bitter Pistol details the campaign of bloody battles in vivid modern vernacular at the same time tearing down the heroic picture of King Henry V we’re so familiar with.
★★★★
“A true tour de force ... Provoking laughter and distinct unease by turns”
“Both plays offer a terrific blend of comedy and drama”
“An inspired double bill of compelling plays”
Mark Aspen (Andrew Lawston)
“[The plays] immerse the audience deeper into the world of Henry V, providing an even richer experience of the Shakespearean classic”
Everything Theatre (Tate Miller)
The Rise and Fall of Margaret Thatcher
10 - 15 Jun 2025
Drama
The Rise and Fall of Margaret Thatcher
By Edmund Green
How Margaret Thatcher first won and then lost the Conservative leadership.
The play begins after the Conservatives’ defeat in the February 1974 election and shows how Mrs Thatcher unexpectedly captured the party leadership from Edward Heath, propelled by her willingness to challenge him when no one else would.
Act Two starts as Mrs Thatcher celebrates 10 years as prime minister and dramatises the sequence of events which led to her downfall the following year.
The play concentrates on the personalities, rivalries and machinations involved in the leadership battles and does not set out to take a pro- or anti-Thatcher stance.
Mrs Thatcher blamed her loss of office on the deceitful treachery of Geoffrey Howe, the irresponsible ambition of Michael Heseltine, tawdry Cabinet disloyalty and contemptible backbench weakness. But was that the whole story?
In Act One we see Mrs Thatcher listening to advice, especially from her wily leadership campaign manager Airey Neave and doing all she could to win MPs’ support. In Act Two she ignores warnings about threats to her leadership and takes MPs for granted, just as Edward Heath had done to his cost and her benefit when she won the leadership.
Was this change in her outlook at least partly to blame for Mrs Thatcher’s downfall or was she justified in feeling so embittered? And when she won the leadership, to what extent did she deserve credit for having the courage to stand and how much was she the beneficiary of good luck?
The Rise and Fall of Margaret Thatcher invites the audience to consider such questions as well as to see parallels with more recent events.
‘I was intrigued by the conversations and exchanges…I found the whole thing most enjoyable’
- Baroness Gillian Shephard
‘Fascinating… Shakespearean… An excellent play’ - Lord Neil Kinnock
‘Much enjoyed’ - Lord Peter Lilley
‘Greatly enjoyed’ - Lord Robin Butler
‘A tremendous achievement’ - Francis Beckett
Directed by Harry Medawar
25 Jun - 20 Jul 2025
Musical
Production by:
Gardner Hodges Entertainment
Featuring over 30 hits from the 1960s, SHOUT! the smash-hit Mod Musical bursts onto the stage with colour, glitz and energy in this all-new production
Journey back to the liberating days of 1960s' London and explore the infectious pop anthems that made household names of stars such as Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Lulu and Shirley Bassey!
Hip swivel-ling hits include YOU'RE MY WORLD, SHOUT, DOWNTOWN, GOLDFINGER, TO SIR WITH LOVE, THOSE WERE THE DAYS, SON OF A PREACHER MAN, THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN, ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU, WISHIN' & HOPIN, DON'T SLEEP IN THE SUBWAY, and YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME, by writers such as Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley, and Tony Hatch & Jackie Trent!
Join us as we track the lives of five women as they come of age in this psychedelic, eye-popping, fun-filled musical comedy, which will make you want to throw your head back and SHOUT!
What is the Soundtrack of your life?
18 Jun - 22 Jun 2025
Musical
Production by:
Gigglemug Theatre
Gigglemug Theatre presents
Scouts! The Musical
Welcome to the annual Scout Games! Scouts from around the world have gathered to compete but when an intruder threatens to sabotage the competition, it is up to Joe and Eliza to put aside their rivalries and use their newfound skills to save the day!
Created in partnership with the Scouts, Gigglemug Theatre (A Jaffa Cake Musical, Timpson: The Musical, RuneSical) return with their smash hit, actor-musician led comedy musical for the whole family.
