Newbury Theatre

Newbury theatre guide

Find out about theatre events coming up in and around Newbury and West Berkshire, reaching out to Oxford, Basingstoke and Reading. This site is updated very frequently - see What's new below.

In the spotlight, week beginning 14th March

The Country Wife at The Kenton Theatre (Tuesday to Saturday).
The Frogs at Arlington Arts Centre (Tuesday to Thursday).
Humble Boy by New Era Theatre Club (Tuesday to Saturday).
Grimm Tales by The Community of Hungerford Theatre Company (Saturday).
Heroes at the Watermill Theatre (to Saturday 20 Mar). Reviews

News and special events

Shop in Waitrose Newbury and support your local groups! When you shop in Waitrose, you get a green token to put in one of three pots to support local causes. In Waitrose Newbury in March, those three are The Community of Hungerford Theatre Company, Compton Players and Kennet Opera. At the end of the month, Waitrose divide £1000 in proportion to the number of tokens given to each group.

Oxfringe is the fringe festival for Oxford, featuring music, literature, comedy and theatre. Oxfringe 2010 runs from 24th March to 11th April. Oxfringe drama productions are included on the BT Studio and OFS Studio pages.

Theale Green Community School are looking for local amateur groups to perform the ten short plays in their Mystery Cycle on the school playing field on 18th April (see the poster on the right). The plays are: Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, The Nativity, The Slaughter of the Innocents, The Wedding at Cana, The Garden of Gethsemane, The Trial, The Crucifixion, The Harrowing of Hell and The Resurrection - a mixture of tragic and humorous tales to choose from. All are short (five pages) and can be learnt or read from the script; the narrative lines can particularly suit being read out. They can be plotted in as few as three rehearsals. A cast of thirty could all play a part but a troupe of four or five could easily manage in multiple roles. You can see more about it at www.rwbarts.com. Theale Green will offer the venue, a choice of script and guidance from their Actor in residence. It is up to you how you perform and stage the story in your own unique style. If your group would like to take part in this exciting community event, contact Nigel Wilson, Drama Department, Theale Green Community School, 0118 930 8552 or

This year's Didcot Drama Festival of One Act Plays takes place from 25th to 29th May at the Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot (www.cornerstone-arts.org).

Kennet Opera's next production is The Elixir of Love by Donizetti, which will be performed at the Newbury Corn Exchange on June 24th to 26th. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings at the Hungerford Rugby Club at 19:30, beginning January 27th. All welcome. Auditions for chorus parts are open to all - anyone interested is welcome to come along for a few rehearsals before auditioning. Auditions for principal parts are initially only open to society members, though others will be considered if the company cannot cast internally. For more information, see the society website: www.kennetopera.co.uk.

What's new

You can get the latest updates via RSS. If you don't know what RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is, this may not be for you (find out more here), but if you're using an RSS reader already, this is the best way to keep up to date with the changes to this site.

Date	Item
13 Mar	New season at Central Studio, Basingstoke.
9 Mar	The plays for the Watermill's Raising Voices from 29th to 31st March are One Plus Infinity, The Road to Port of Barry, Planting David and Nearer to Shakespeare.
7 Mar	Hungerford Young Performers Theatre are presenting Grimm Tales, a compilation of Grimm's fairy tales, at Herongate Leisure Centre on 20th March.
6 Mar	Information about the Oxfringe drama productions.
6 Mar	New season at Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury
6 Mar	New season at BT Studio, Oxford.
6 Mar	When you shop at Waitrose Newbury in March, your green token will go to The Community of Hungerford Theatre Company, Compton Players or Kennet Opera.
4 Mar	Review of The Community of Hungerford Theatre Company's Carousel ("TCHTC continued the tradition of encouraging youngsters... this production never quite took off for me" - NWN).
4 Mar	Review of KATS' Cinderella 2 - After the Ball ("a wonderful night's entertainment... KATS delivered another first class pantomime" - NWN).
3 Mar	Progress Youth Theatre's productions at the end of March are The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and Travesties by Tom Stoppard.
3 Mar	Theale Green Community School are looking for amateur groups to perform one of ten short mystery plays in April.
27 Feb	New season for Sinodun Players, Wallingford.
27 Feb	New season for Abingdon Drama Club.
27 Feb	Domino Players' next production in March is Alan Ayckbourn's Round and Round the Garden.
27 Feb	Faringdon Dramatic Society's June production is Cold Comfort Farm.
27 Feb	Goring Gap Players' next production in March is Map of the Heart.
27 Feb	Hook Players' April production is Alan Ayckbourn's Round and Round the Garden.
27 Feb	New season for KATS in Thatcham.
27 Feb	Kingston Bagpuize Drama Group's April production is The Female of the Species.
25 Feb	Review of Boundary Players' Silhouette ("a very enjoyable evening's entertainment" - NWN).
23 Feb	New Era Theatre Club's March production is Humble Boy at Wash Common, Newbury.
23 Feb	The Old Gaol Theatre Company are producing Prescription for Murder in Abingdon in March.
23 Feb	Overton Dramatic Society's May production is The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery: "Murder at Checkmate Manor".
23 Feb	Purley Players are producing Dish of the Day at the end of April.
23 Feb	Russell Players of Swallowfield's next production in March is The Boy Who Fell Into a Book.
23 Feb	Starmaker are producing Fame in March and Honk! in May.
23 Feb	Studio Theatre Club's next production in May is The Hypochondriac in Abingdon.
23 Feb	WLOS's June production is Guys and Dolls at the Kenton Theatre, Henley.
21 Feb	New season for Shinfield Players.
21 Feb	New season at Woodley Theatre.
20 Feb	New season at the Kenton Theatre, Henley.
20 Feb	H.A.O.D.S's next production in April is The Boyfriend.
20 Feb	Reviews of the Watermill's Heroes ("brilliantly funny... concise, excellent play" - NWN; "very funny and moving tale" - Newbury Theatre).
14 Feb	Review of Silchester Players' Little Red Riding Hood ("a refreshing and highly-original twist to the fairytale" - NWN).

Coming soon

Local playwright Hoffi Munt has written Grimm Tales, a compilation of Grimm's fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, The Frog Prince, Rapunzel and Cinderella told by the brothers Grimm to a princess who won't go to sleep… Hungerford Young Performers Theatre are presenting it at Herongate Leisure Centre on 20th March.

Progress Youth Theatre are presenting two plays between 22nd and 27th March: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and Travesties by Tom Stoppard. The Youth Theatre groups are the Floodlights (young people aged 15 to 17) and Blinders (young people aged 16 to 18). On Saturday 27th, you can see a double bill of both productions.

Domino Players' spring production from 24th to 26th March at Lains Barn, Wantage is Alan Ayckbourn's Round and Round the Garden. In this final part of The Norman Conquests, the six characters are chasing love, sex and a cranky cat, and the frustrated but irrepressible Norman is still valiantly pursuing three different women.

Abingdon Operatic Society's Anything Goes, from 12th to 17th April, has everything you would expect: unforgettable songs, dancing girls, plus a superb comedy script. Set aboard the transatlantic liner SS American, sailing from New York to London, it tells the story of Billy Crocker, who stows away aboard the ship in pursuit of heiress Hope Harcourt.

Theale Green Community School are hosting ten short mystery plays to be performed by local amateur groups on 18th April. Medieval mystery plays originated in the 10th century and were performed largely by the community itself. Here, the head of drama at the school has rewritten ten stories from a modern viewpoint. The school is providing the venue – its playing field!

Compton Players' Spring production is Joe Orton's farce What the Butler Saw from 21st to 24th April. Hailed as a modern comedy every bit as good as Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Orton's play focusses on the antics of Dr. Prentice, a psychiatrist who believes that the best way to interview a girl for a job is to seduce her.

The Sainsbury Singers bring one of the most moving and enchanting love stories to Reading next May. Experience the magical romance of Disney's Academy Award winning feature brought to life in a spectacular stage production for all the family. A selfish prince is changed into a beast by an enchantress. In order to break the spell, he must learn to love... but time is running out.

If you want your group's poster to be on the front page, then email it to the editor:

This site was last updated on 13-Mar-2010.