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Harmony
Written by Sam Thorpe-Spinks
20th - 31st May 2025
The year is 2035, and as the waves gently lap the ground floor windows of a block of flats, on the 9th floor, a machine-learning relationship therapy bot intervenes in a couple’s argument in an attempt to save their relationship.
In a world where technology has become fully integrated into even the most intimate parts of our lives; Harmony will ask whether in an uncertain future, with rising sea levels and scorching temperatures, if the uncontrollable advancement of technology will save humanity, or remove humanity from the equation entirely.
'It is October the 31st. There is an amber weather warning. The weather outside will be 33 degrees with a chance of heavy showers in the afternoon. There is a moderate to high risk of flooding. Would you like me to remind you to bring your washing in?'
A brand new play by actor and writer, Sam Thorpe-Spinks.
Directed by Noah Marullo
Funny, sexy and catastrophic, Harmony is a breathless interrogation of a couple, navigating the newly intimate parts of their relationship while the climate catastrophe rages outside their door.
Candy
3rd - 14th June
During a Sydney summer in the 1980's, a beautiful young artist named Candy meets Dan, a charismatic junkie. Their love blossoms quickly, and in their desire to share everything, Candy tries heroin. This marks the beginning of their descent, as heroin becomes a constant and demanding presence in their relationship.
Candy is the stage adaptation of Luke Davies’ novel Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, which was first adapted for the screen in 2006, starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish. This production marks the second run of the stage adaptation after a sold-out run at the Old Red Lion in August 2024.
Witnessing Candy and Dan's love story unfold on stage serves as a powerful tool for audiences to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of addiction.
Clap Trap Theatre in association with York Theatre Royal presents
Switcheroo
A story told twice
22nd & 23rd June 2025
When it comes to scattering their mother’s ashes, three siblings are hit with a bombshell revelation that turns their world upside down
This remarkable play is based on the very simple premise that ‘it’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it’
The first act is a full-blown, larger than life comedy. Then, after the interval, the actors swap characters and it’s repeated as a serious drama.
The difference between the two Acts is astonishing.
How can the same story, performed by the same actors, saying the same words be so different?
There is only one way to find out…
Golden Age Theatre Company Presents
Toxic & Hermione's Dinner
17th - 28th June 2025
Toxic
Written by Ian Dixon Potter
Directed by Phoebe White
A monumental ego and a self seeking ruthlessness have propelled Fletcher to the top of his profession. An 'alpha male' in every sense, Fletcher surrounds himself with flatterers and sycophants who fear and loathe him. Knowing his reputation for preying on young female employees, Caroline keeps her distance but an opportunity to advance her career propels her into Fletcher's lascivious clutches.
REVIEWS (of an earlier version of the play).
“Melanie Thompson's easy articulacy is engaging” “Fertile ground for debate in a way similar to Mamet’s “Oleanna” – where the lines and boundaries of morality are a valid subject for heated argument” “To say more would spoil the interest in this piece. Writing and acting are strong.”
★★★★★ (four and a half Stars) Theatre Monkey
Mrs Roosevelt Flies to London
Written & Performed by Alison Skilbeck
Directed by Lucy Skilbeck
6th - 7th July 2025
In October 1942, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the President, takes a dangerous trip to wartime London, to visit US troops, and see how the British, most importantly the women, are coping.
In her last days, as the Cuban Missile Crisis pushes the world to the brink of final catastrophe, Eleanor relives her journey, from bomb-damaged Buckingham Palace to midnight factories, but also recalls her life, from unhappy child, to unconventional wife, to becoming, in President Truman's words 'First Lady of the World'.
Today, all she stood for is under attack throughout our dangerous world. Her voice of sanity and compassion echoes down more than 80 years as she tours Britain at the height of WWII.
Returning to The White Bear Theatre following her solo show “Alison Skilbeck’s Uncommon Ground” last year, Alison Skilbeck was nominated for a Best Female Performance Offie Award (Off West End Theatre Awards) for her performance as Mrs Roosevelt and granted special permission by the Roosevelt Estate to use Eleanor's writings. Her one-woman show explores the public, and hidden life of one of the most extraordinary women of the 20th century.
“A tour de force.” ***** British Theatre Guide
The White Bear Theatre presents a rare revival of
TO SEE OURSELVES
by E. M. Delafield
1st – 12th July 2025
E. M. Delafield, is now best known for the comic classic The Diary of a Provincial Lady, which has never been out of print since it was first published in 1931. She was also a successful playwright, with productions in the West End, on Broadway and on the radio.
To See Ourselves premiered at The Ambassadors Theatre in London in 1931 and at The Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York in 1935.
Productions were seen around Britain and heard on the radio. Maybe it was because Elizabeth Monica Dashwood had to hide her gender behind initials and a pseudonym; maybe it was because Noël Coward’s Private Lives opened in London at the same time as To See Ourselves; whatever the reason, Delafield’s plays were eclipsed and are now forgotten. Yet, To See Ourselves is a lost theatrical gem, as witty, engaging and thought provoking as anything by Coward, and with a depth of feeling and an engagement with issues of love, relationships, gender and politics that are as pertinent today as they were in the nineteen thirties.
It is also very funny.
JARMAN
Directed by Sarah-Louise Young.
23rd - 26th July 2025
"A mighty spirit is about to reawaken. Yours"
Derek Jarman: film-maker, painter, gardener at Prospect Cottage, activist, writer... his influence remains as strong as it was on the day AIDS killed him in 1994. But his story, one of the most extraordinary lives ever lived, has never been told. Until now.
This vibrant solo play by Mark Farrelly (Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope / Howerd's End) brings Derek back into being for a passionate, daring reminder of the courage it takes to truly live while you're alive. A journey from Dungeness to deepest, brightest Soho and into the heart of one of our most iconoclastic artists.
Jarman’s works include taboo-breaking films like Sebastiane, Jubilee and Caravaggio, pop videos for the Pet Shop Boys (It’s A Sin and Rent), his extraordinary borderless garden in Dungeness, his shocking last paintings, and his unforgettable final film Blue, consisting of a single continuous frame of blue and chronicling what it’s like to lose your sight…but never your artistic vision.
“I hope audiences will feel stirred into living more bravely, stop elaborately murdering time and grasp each precious moment”.
Short interview with London Theatre Scene about “Jarman”. Click to see interview
