WHAT'S ON UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE
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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.
29 Jun 2025
Drama with Music
Production by:
Highgate Festival
Einstein’s Violin offers a unique insight into the inner life of the twentieth century’s most celebrated scientist.
Written by Paul Wingfield and performed by Harry Meacher (Einstein), Leora Cohen (violin), and Paul Wingfield (piano), this play with music transports the audience to Princeton on Monday 11 April 1955 in the final days of Albert Einstein’s life.
As he reflects on his lifelong love affair with his violin, Einstein shares his voyage of discovery as a European Jew, shaped above all by the horrors of the Holocaust. Through music and memory, he grapples with fundamental questions of the morality of war and the existence of God, inviting us into the parallel universe of the great man’s alternative career as a violinist.
29 Jul -3 Aug 2025
Camden Fringe - Musical
Production by:
Costas Hassabis
You will hear her.
A new folk musical retelling of the Ancient Greek myth. This time, Medea’s holding the mic.
Leaving behind the safety of her homeland, Medea places her trust in Jason and his promise of a glittering future together. But is her faith well placed?
With an original folk score, an ensemble of actor-musicians bring new dimension to the story you thought you knew of sacrifice, betrayal, and the cataclysmic power of love.
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Costas Hassabis
Directed by Tara Noonan
Musical Direction and Arrangements by Thomas Arnold
10 Aug 2025
Live Music
Production by:
The Jive Aces
The Jive Aces, renowned for their high-energy swinging music and spectacular live show are back Upstairs at the Gatehouse!
The Jive Aces
Join us for an evening with the UK's No.1 Jive & Swing band! The Jive Aces strive to spread smiles and cheer with their swinging music and classic vintage style from crooning smooth ballads to blasting honking rhythm and blues.
With their hallmark yellow suits and a repertoire that stretches from the timeless tunes of the swing era to the glitz of the Rat Pack with a dash of classic rock & roll, they perform songs in their unique upbeat style by such great artists as Louis Prima, Bobby Darin, Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald as well as a selection of superb original tunes.
