The Haymarket and The Anvil, Basingstoke

Box office

01256 844244.
Haymarket Theatre, Wote Street, Basingstoke, RG21 7NW.
The Anvil, Churchill Way, Basingstoke, RG21 7QR.
A map is here. A seating plan is here.

Performances are at The Haymarket unless another location is given.

Next

We're Going On A Bear Hunt, 26th to 28th June, daytime at The Haymarket
Adapted from the picture book written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. We're going to the theatre. We're going to see A Bear Hunt. What a beautiful play! We're not scared... We're Going On A Bear Hunt is brought vividly and noisily to life on stage by director Sally Cookson's loving adaptation and Benji Bower's versatile lively score. Look out for the gigantic swishy swashy grass, the splishy splashy river and the thick oozy squelchy mud fight. What a surprise awaits you in the cave on the other side of the dark forest! For children aged 3 and above.

Nobody's Perfect, 7th to 11th July at The Haymarket
By Simon Williams. Shy statistician Leonard Loftus, a frustrated romantic novelist, sends his work to a publishers under a female pseudonym, Myrtle Banbury. But when publisher Harriet Copeland wants to meet her new author, Leonard has a major problem. This classic feel good romantic comedy, starring the ever-popular Damian Williams, has laughs galore, building to a truly hysterical final sequence where hopefully everyone will manage to sort themselves out. But then again, Nobody's Perfect!

He's Much To Blame, 22nd to 26th September at The Haymarket
By Thomas Holcroft. Following the outstanding production of Wives As They Were And Maids As They Are - not just a hit with Haymarket audiences, but chosen by The Guardian's Michael Billington as one of his productions of the year - we present another gem of Georgian comedy. Indecisive Lord Vibrate and his flighty wife encounter roguish Sir George Versatile and earnest Mr Delavel, vying for the hand of their beautiful daughter Jane. Disguises, hidden secrets, incompetent doctors and all sorts of other complications follow in this entertaining and enjoyable play.

Original Sin, 16th to 24th October at The Haymarket
By Steve Hawes. A battle of wits and will, in which the ultimate weapon is desire. At a convent in Venice, in the year 1609, the sharp-witted abbess faces what every abbess dreads - an inspection by the Inquisition. To make things worse, she learns that there is something very real to hide - a young man within the convent walls. Does she betray him, which means he faces certain execution, or conceal him, exposing herself and her sisters to a charge of complicity? Summoning all her powers of intellect and allure, she tries to distract the Inquisitor in a perilous game of cat and mouse in which the stakes could not be higher. In the manner of A Man For All Seasons, this powerful and intelligent new play puts a battle of wits at the forefront of a conflict over power and submission. Threaded through by the music of Monteverdi, this is a richly rewarding drama.

Skellig, 27th to 31st October at The Haymarket
By David Almond. Ten-year-old Michael was looking forward to moving into a new house. But now his baby sister is ill and his parents are frantic. Then Michael wanders into the crumbling garage and sees something lying beneath the spider's webs and flies - is it a man or an animal? Michael confides in his new friend Mina and together they carry the creature Skellig into the light, changing their world forever.

Review of A Christmas Carol

5th December 2008 to 3rd January 2009.

From the Newbury Weekly News.

Mean streets A Christmas Carol, at The Haymarket, Basingstoke, until January 3 Surely the best-loved Christmas story of all time, Dickens' famous tale of Scrooge and the three ghosts was brought to The Haymarket in a lively production adapted and directed by Richard Williams. Michael Roberts was a suitably dour and shrivelled wreck of a man as Scrooge throughout the first half, but you could almost see the actor transform physically, as well as psychologically, as the tale progressed. Faced with the dilemma of how to bring a brilliant and literate text to life on stage, Williams opted for a chorus of Victorian citizens, vagabonds and scruffy children to act as narrators, voicing Dickens' carefully constructed narrative, as the actors played out the action. It worked very well, even if the chorus sometimes got in the way. Andrew Price was a convincing Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's longsuffering clerk, and Philip Benjamin did well as the old fellow's nephew. Jo Castleton took on two roles, Mrs Cratchit and Mrs Fezziwig, and the rest of the parts were divided between the cast, who were all convincing, either as actors or in the brief interludes where less well known carols, arranged by Stephen McNeff, were sung by the chorus of characters. Director Williams was keen to retain most of Dickens' wonderful descriptions and this led him to the actors frequently quoting directly from the novel. If anything was missing it was, I suppose, a Victorian setting and I would like to have seen back-projection for the souls in torment scene, flying around carrying their heavy chains. One or two moveable flats depicting places, and a little more furniture and certainly a four-poster bed for Scrooge would have been welcome, too. Remember where the ghost moves the curtain back to reveal a terrified Scrooge cowering in his bed? Perhaps I ask too much though, in these days of frugal budgets when we are all feeling the draught. As to the direction and the acting, it was first rate throughout and I'm a long-term Scroogeophile. Don't just take my word though - here's what my fellow reviewer had to say: "A Christmas Carol is a super family treat. It's really different from other Christmas pantomimes. I enjoyed this play a lot for its clever way of making the tale come to life. You will be swept away on an adventure with Scrooge as he is haunted by three spirits to try to change his evil ways. A Christmas Carol is a fantastic show and I highly recommend it." I'll leave the final words with Tiny Tim who said "God bless us every one". DEREK ANSELL AND ELLIOTT LELAURE (AGED 10)

Reviews of Aladdin

11th December 2008 to 4th January 2009.

From the Newbury Weekly News.

Comic capers a hit with the kids Colourful Aladdin connects with a young audience Aladdin, at The Anvil, Basingstoke, until January 4 If a colourful traditional panto is what you're after, then Aladdin at The Anvil will certainly please. Director Ian Good and writer Andy Ryan served up an abundance of energy, gags and audience participation on this menu. My eight-year-old daughter Hannah and I had a great time, and she definitely connected with the characters. The familiar face of CBeebies' Pui Fan Lee playing Aladdin helped, as did Home and Away's Ray Meagher, who's dastardly Abanazar was just right for a younger audience. Francesca Leyland gave a good performance as Princess Jasmine and sang delightfully. I was surprised by the inclusion of a few songs from Disney's Aladdin, and would have liked to have seen a more imaginative selection. That said, the mix of songs seemed to please the audience, especially with a High School Musical finale. However, what tickled Hannah's panto taste buds most were the comical characters. Billy Boyle's softer dame Widow Twankey worked well, but the highlight of the show was Noel Brodie's dynamic Wishee Washee. An absolute natural with children, his quick-witted spontaneity often kept the pace going. We enjoyed other great characters too, such as a wonderfully silly Pc Pong, played by Byron Mondahl, and a bouncy slave of the ring played by Emily Alexander, who performed a vibrant Could It Be Magic while Aladdin rode an impressive flying carpet. There were plenty of gags and one of our favourite scenes was in the laundry, where we saw poor Wishee Washee being given the mangle and washing machine treatment to encourage more laughs. This was good family fun, and while it relied on particular cast members for the energy and pace, the end result was much to the enjoyment of young and old. The pacier second act left us all on a high and I am sure there will be a few hoarse throats from the many excited (and deafening) children. DANIEL MASKELL

There is a review in The Stage: "while this production offers all the necessary ingredients for traditional pantomime, there is not quite enough dynamism from the script itself to give the show the real lift that it needs... the cast works hard at what is sometimes a laborious task and the missed creative opportunities for slapstick comedy and fast-moving action leave them plodding along and relying solely on their own abilities" - Julie Watterston.

This is from the Andover Advertiser: "this glittering panto sets out unashamedly to entertain in traditional style, and succeeds brilliantly... a lively, colourful, dazzlingly-costumed extravaganza, which will keep everyone buzzing in the festive season".

For more details

See The Anvil and Haymarket web site at www.theanvil.org.uk.

Reviews of previous productions

See the Archive for these reviews:
The Wizard of Oz (December 2007)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (December 2007)
The Borrowers (December 2006)
Private Lives (July 2006)
Whatever Happened to Bette and Joan? (February 2006)
The Wind in the Willows (December 2005)
The Canterville Ghost (December 2004)
The Playboy of the Western World (September 2004)
Thérèrse Raquin (January 2004)
The Three Musketeers (December 2003)
Mack and Mabel (November 2003)
Tartuffe (October 2003)
April in Paris (September 2003)
Perfect Pitch (June 2003)
The Daughter-in-Law (April 2003)
East (March 2003)
Relatively Speaking (March 2003)
Othello (February 2003)
Alice the Musical (December 2002)
Ghosts (April 2002)
Pickwick The Musical (December 2001)
The Sound of Music (November 2001)