Hexagon - 21 South Street - Concert Hall, Reading |
Box office
0118 960 6060, Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm. Directions to the Hexagon and maps showing the three
locations are
here.
The Hexagon, Queens Walk, Reading RG1 7UA. A seating plan is
here
(big PDF file).
21 South Street, Reading RG1 4QU.
The Concert Hall, Blagrave Street, Reading.
Performances are at the Hexagon unless another venue is given.
Next
Bob the Builder, 5th February, 13:00 and 15:30 at The Hexagon
The world's favourite builder is going on tour! Fixham Theatre has
been closed for 6 months and Bob and Wendy have been called in to
'fix' it up ready for the grand opening by the world famous director
Dickie Oliver! The theatre has to be ready for the opening of his
brand new show... Spud, Scoop, Lofty and Scrambler will also be on
hand to help sunshine valleys favourite builder... but he'll need
your help too! There's a deadline to meet, Can we fix it? Yes we
can! Join us for 90 minutes of fun, song, dance and plenty of
fixing!
Our Country's Good, 6th to 7th February, 13:00
and 19:30 at The Hexagon
Produced by The Original Theatre Company. Australia. 1788. A British
ship arrives with a cargo of soldiers and convicts transported
abroad for their country’s good. As the soldiers struggle to impose
order on the outcasts of the old society, a benevolent governor
seizes on the notion of a play. In the shadow of the gallows and the
gum tree the convicts gather under the direction of 2nd Lieutenant
Ralph Clarke and rehearsals begin for The Recruiting Officer.
Based on real events Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Olivier award winning
modern classic is an inspiring tale of the transforming power of
theatre. See the
Reviews.
The Gruffalo, 26th to 28th February, 10:30,
13:30 and 15:30 at The Hexagon
Join Mouse on an adventurous journey through the deep, dark wood in
Tall Stories’ magical, musical adaptation of the award-winning
picture book by Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson and Axel
Scheffler. Voted the nation’s number one bedtime story by BBC Radio
2 listeners, The Gruffalo has been performed to
well over a million people the world over and has even hit the small
screens in a star-studded TV animation. Meet a wheeler-dealer Fox,
an eccentric old Owl and a maraca-shaking, party mad snake! Mouse
can scare these hungry animals away with tall stories of the
terrifying Gruffalo, but what happens when he comes face to face
with the very creature he imagined...? Songs, laughs and scary fun
for children aged 3+ and their grown-ups.
1 Beach Road, 28th February, 20:00 at South
Street
South Street's award-winning, resident theatre company Redcape
Theatre return with their critically lauded new show 1 Beach
Road. A Tale of friendship, defiance, a shrinking island,
synchronised swimming and trying to turn back the tide.
All the Single Ladies, 29th February, 19:30 at
The Hexagon
A heart-warming and hilarious new comedy starring Leslie Ash and
Brooke Kinsella. The course of true love never did run smooth. Three
women, three stories, three lives and one problem. Lies, deceit, red
faces, regrets, hangovers and revenge! Liz is a woman calls the
shots. Orla has waited so long for Mr Right she hasn’t noticed her
Prince has turned into a frog. Alison is just too young to have been
left on her own. One has been married seven times. One would settle
for being introduced to his friends; the other has just lost the
love of her life. It seems these women have little in common but
when was a woman all that she seems?
Memoirs of a Biscuit Tin, 7th March, 20:00 at
South Street
A topsy turvy tale for grown ups... ‘on a lost lost day, was a lost
lost street. Down the lost lost street was a lost lost house that
seemed to have misplaced it’s owner.’ All is not well at Number 92.
Mrs Benjamin has disappeared, leaving her decaying house to fend for
itself. So in an act of desperation, the house, determined to find
its missing owner set off on a strange and enchanting journey like
no other. This intriguing tale follows the story of a wall, a floor
and a chimney, a forgotten old lady and the memories that lie
within. With an inventive blend of clowning, visual theatre and
puppetry Maison Foo brings to life the imaginative topsy turvy world
lurking behind the door of Number 92. Suitable for ages 12+.
Thoroughly Modern Millie, 22nd to 26th May,
19:30
Based on the 1967 film of the same name, Thoroughly Modern
Millie tells the story of a small-town girl, Millie
Dillmount, who comes to New York City to marry for money instead of
love – a thoroughly modern aim in 1922, when women were just
entering the workforce. Millie soon begins to take delight in the
flapper lifestyle, but problems arise when she checks into a hotel
owned by the leader of a slavery ring in China. A
Sainsbury Singers production.
The Adventures of Wound Man and Shirley, 30th May, 20:00 at South Street
Shirley is a teenage boy with a girl’s name, growing up in suburbia
and feeling like the weirdest kid in the school. Nothing makes much
sense to him, and his heart belongs to a classmate who barely knows
he exists. Wound Man is an unconventional superhero, sprung from the
pages of a medieval medical textbook, with an alarming assortment of
weapons sticking out from every part of his body Wound Man has just
moved into a house on Shirley’s street — and he happens to have a
vacancy for a teenage sidekick... The Adventures of Wound
Man and Shirley is a funny and touching story by Chris
Goode about two unlikely friends and the adventures they share.
Review of Aladdin
10th December 2011 to 8th January 2012.
Review from the Newbury Weekly News.
You can't beat old-fashioned pantoEven if it means putting up with those howling jokes...Aladdin, at The Hexagon, Reading, until January 8 It was all there. The brightly-coloured set, Steve Varnon positively dripping evil as Abanazar and collecting hisses and boos from the first moment on stage. Then there was Kerry Newell as Aladdin, principal boy tunic and wide beaming smile intact, dancing with the junior chorus as the band played a popular song and Anne Charleston as The Empress of China made her appearance. Soon the lights were flashing brightly and we saw Jolyon Dixon in an outrageously-coloured costume as Widow Twankey and Justin Fletcher, taking time out from Children's television, as Wishee Washee, all trooping down the Street of a Thousand Goldfish - yes, really - in old Peking, and starting up with the familiar panto jokes. "Now you finish." "No, me Chinese." Well, they don't improve over the years. And indeed why should they? This is what the children and the big children that bring them along, come to see and enjoy over and over and this very slick, well-paced production had them laughing and calling out and screaming from beginning to end. Everything was over the top, from the sneering, dirty-laughing Abanazar, to the sprightly Genie of the Lamp, Stewart Charlesworth. Arina Li was a glamorous Princess, Emma Quintin played the always-ready-to-help Spirit of the Ring and Cheryl Neal was So-Shi. And believe me, when I say that this was an old-fashioned pantomime and that is meant solely as a compliment. This production had pace, wit, colour, glamour, music and flashing lights in abundance and you can't do much better than that. The writers Iain Lauchlan and Will Brenton got the mix just right, with fast-moving action and plenty of ad libs and jokes, and Steve Boden's direction was effective but unobtrusive; the mark of a well directed show. Choreographer Adrian Edmeads and indeed all of the backstage crew deserve a special, collective pat on the back. Imagine Theatre had a success last year with Sleeping Beauty and it looks as if they have another surefire winner this year. Elsie Beth said: "I liked the bit where Wishee Washee tried to put the bucket of soap over his mum and it ended up on him. I liked Aladdin best but thought the funniest was Aladdin's mum because she wore such funny clothes. It was good fun altogether." Lily, just four, liked the Princess best but she also enjoyed the soap and bucket routine very much. If you haven't taken the little ones to a pantomime yet, you would be very hard pressed to find anything better than this in the region. DEREK ANSELL ASSISTED BY |
For more details
see the Reading Arts web site at www.readingarts.com.