Watermill Theatre

Box office

01635 46044

The Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, Newbury, RG20 8AE. A map is here. A seating plan is here.

Next

Micky Salberg's Crystal Ballroom Dance Band, 1st to 5th April and on tour:
Monday 21st April - Micro Focus, The Lawn, Newbury, Box office: 01635 565515
Tuesday 22nd April - Basildon Village Hall, Box office: 0118 984 1122
Wednesday 23rd April - Brimpton Village Hall, Box office: 0118 971 2850
Friday 25th April - Uffington Memorial Hall, Box office: 01367 820385
Saturday 26th April - Highclere Village Hall, Box office: 01635 254264
Monday 28th April  - Kenton Theatre, Henley on Thames
Tuesday 29th April - The Croft Hall, Hungerford Box office: 01488 684038
Wednesday 30th April - Hampstead Norreys Village Hall
Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th May - Sulhamstead Village Hall
Saturday 10th May - The Lambourn Centre, Lambourn Box office: 01488 73690
By Ade Morris. It’s the early 1950’s and the world is changing fast, the Cold War meets warm hearts as jazz makes way for rock n’ roll in the era where ‘you’ve never had it so good’ was sometimes true, sometimes not. British conscription comes to an end and The Crystal Ballroom Dance Band plays, inspired by their charismatic leader Micky Salberg. But how long will the old music last, and what will the new tunes sound like? A soulful, new musical comedy exploring the moment when an era turns, then twists, on the dance floors of Britain. See the review below.

London Assurance, 9th April to 17th May
By Dion Boucicault. Just what is it about the ravishing heiress Grace Harkaway that attracts the attentions of both the aging, self-deluded dandy Sir Harcourt Courtly and his rakish son Charles? Destined to be married for her money, Grace professes indifference to her fate. Her resolve to remain aloof begins to waiver, however, when Charles arrives at her country estate in the guise of “Augustus Hamilton”. Grace colludes with her cousin, the lusty Lady Gay Spanker, who undertakes to distract her ageing suitor, leaving Grace free to pursue the object of her desire. The course of true love is further complicated by the scheming lawyer Mr Meddle and Charles’ shady friend, Richard Dazzle. This witty and stylish, romantic comedy about misunderstandings and mistaken identity inspired the work of Oscar Wilde and a generation of aesthetes. See the review below.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 21st to 24th May
By Washington Irving. "Can you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you?” In Sleepy Hollow there is a story told again and again, a ghost story – the story of The Headless Horseman who haunts the Hollow. Follow the adventures of the curious Ichabod Crane. Can he stand up to the local bully Brom Bones and win the heart of the beautiful Katrina? Can he find out if the old stories are true… or will he lose his head like everyone else? The Watermill Senior Youth Theatre retells this thrilling, funny and scary legend for anyone who’d like to scream their head off!

Black Comedy, 28th May to 5th July
By Peter Shaffer. It's aspiring artist Brindsley Miller's big night. An opportunity to impress both a renowned, millionaire patron of the arts and his fiancée Carol's formidable, military father! As a result he is inspired to "borrow" his absent neighbour's elegant furniture. The scene is set. But the evening rapidly degenerates into chaos when a fuse blows plunging everyone into darkness. As a series of unexpected guests arrive and Brindsley's past returns to haunt him it becomes clear that, above all else, order must be restored before the lights are. Black Comedy will be preceded by a special comic curtain-raiser.

Boxford Masques Night and Day, 30th July to 3rd August, 7:30 and 2:30 on Saturday
The Boxford Masque for 2008 is again adapted from Charlotte Peake’s magical original stories by award-winning local author Geraldine McCaughrean, and staged in the idyllic natural amphitheatre at the top of Hoar Hill. Bring the whole family, pack a picnic, enjoy the heady high summer, then as darkness falls, be entranced by a story amongst the trees so magical that they seem to whisper in the breeze of times long past, and dreams long dreamt. The Boxford Masques are a unique and fantastical experience, returning again after a two year wait – and not to be missed!

For more details

see the Watermill's web site at www.watermill.org.uk.

Review of Micky Salberg's Crystal Ballroom Dance Band

1st to 5th April 2008 and on tour.

From the Newbury Weekly News.

That's rock and roll Micky Salberg's Crystal Ballroom Dance Band, at The Watermill, Bagnor, from Tuesday, April 1 to Saturday, April 5, then on tour to 28 venues from Sussex to Yorkshire Ade Morris' witty and sparkling new musical comedy is a gem. It is set in the early 1950s - when rock and roll is just beginning to trickle into this country - near Ade's hometown of Leek, just north of Stoke-on-Trent. The Salberg family are living in exile, on a farm under threat of being reclaimed by the bailiffs. With little prospect of making any money from the land they decide to form a ballroom dance band. Charismatic Paul Kissaun beautifully plays Micky Salberg, a philosophising Polish Jewish immigrant who finds solace in the bottle, to drown his problems. He longs for the good times in Krakov where he ran a big band and could buy expensive jam. His feisty daughter, a compelling performance by Pam Jolley, agrees to play in the band if her father will give up the booze. She is an angry, rebellious and tortured woman, who has never really forgiven her father for sending her to England when she was 10 years old, as part of the Kinder-transport programme, during which time her mother died in Poland. Enter the ever confident, guitar-wielding Tommy Bostock, strongly played by Alex Tomkins. He fervently believes that rock and roll is the way forward, but Micky is unconvinced. They manage to get a few gigs and Sam is finally persuaded to sing, on the condition that Micky will play some rock and roll, and so Micky Salberg and the Crystals are born. All is going well until Tommy receives his call-up papers for National Service in Korea and Micky comes up with a devious plan to beat the system, much to Sam's amazement. This multi-layered, bittersweet play is a beautiful Cinderella story that also acts as a metaphor for the treatment of immigrants in this country today. The talented cast created moving and sensitive performances that were a sheer delight to watch. Directed with aplomb, Guy Retallack effectively uses the actor/musician style that has become a hallmark of The Watermill's productions. The show tours to venues throughout Berkshire. Don't miss it. ROBIN STRAPP

Review of London Assurance

9th April to 17th May 2008.

From the Newbury Weekly News.

True love conquers all in 19th century romp Entertainment assured in period comedy at The Watermill London Assurance, at The Watermill, Bagnor, until May 17 Oscar Wilde enjoyed Dion Boucicault's play; a recommendation to those who love the manipulation of words. Future audiences for this stylish comedy, directed by Nikolai Foster, can look forward to a performance that will have them feeling superior, as they pick out the allusions and bon mots which pepper the dialogue. Written when the Irish author was 20, his story of love and expediency among the upper classes of that time - the mid-19th century - was an instant success. The elegantly simple set, against changing elements of stately living and blue skies, forms the setting for 11 characters, foremost among which is Sir Harcourt Courtly (Gerard Murphy) a man fighting old (-ish) age unsuccessfully, with his 'black as a young rook' wig, supported by Mr Cool (Alan McMahon, coolest valet in town). He leaves London to marry pretty young Grace (Clare Corbett). Although the couple have never met, Grace is unconcerned, anxious to save her inheritance by the marriage and seeing love as 'epidemic madness'. When the Toad-like figure of her future husband appears she is aghast, but remains constant until Harcourt's son the feckless Charles (Laurence Mitchell) arrives, masquerading as Augustus Hamilton, accompanied by the gloriously spivvy Richard Dazzle, 'late of the Dirty Buffs', (Ken Bradshaw). A wonderful assortment of characters gather for the houseparty at Oak Hall, hosted by Grace's uncle (Mike Burnside), to play out the comedy including the boisterously magnificent Lady Gay Spanker (Geraldine McNulty) with her diminutive husband Adolphus (Christopher Ryan). Plots and liaisons, real and contrived, are punctuated by ubiquitous solicitor Mark Meddle (Nigel Hastings), anxious to make a bob or two. The devious women hatch then-plans and Lady Gay prepares to elope with Harcourt instructing him to use four horses - "don't let the affair come off shabbily". She cries off by refusing to leave without her dog, which is kept in a hamper. "In a HAMper?" hmmm, strangely familiar... Dolly challenges Harcourt to a duel, which concludes all and finds Harcourt admitting that country life is preferable to city assurance. The audience are as involved as if sitting on a chaise longue in the same room. With a lesser cast the torrent of words could prove tedious, but in these assured hands they sparkle, keeping the audience's attention and providing not so much an elegant sufficiency, more a feast of enjoyment. CAROLINE FRANKLIN

Reviews in the Archive

Great West Road (March 2008)
Merrily We Roll Along (March 2008)
Honk! (November 2007)
Rope (September 2007)
Martin Guerre (July 2007)
Twelfth Night (June 2007)
The Story of a Great Lady (April and September 2007, and on tour)
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (April 2007)
For Services Rendered (March 2007)
Plunder (January 2007)
The Snow Queen (November 2006)
Peter Pan in Scarlet (October 2006)
The Taming of the Shrew (September 2006 and on tour in 2007)
Hot Mikado (July 2006)
Boxford Masques: The Crowning of the Year (July 2006)
Hobson's Choice (May 2006)
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (April 2006)
Tartuffe (February 2006)
The Jungle Book (November 2005)
The Gilded Lilies (October 2005)
Copenhagen (September 2005)
The Garden of Llangoed (September 2005 and September 2006)
Thieves' Carnival (July 2005)
The Shed (July 2005)
Mack and Mabel (May 2005)
The Odyssey (May 2005)
Broken Glass (April 2005)
The Winter's Tale (January 2005)
Arabian Nights (December 2004)
See Newbury Dramatic Society for a review of Whose Life is it Anyway? (November 2004)
Multiplex (November 2004)
Neville's Island (September 2004)
The Comedian (September 2004 and March 2005)
Raising Voices Again (September 2004)
Pinafore Swing (July 2004)
The Venetian Twins (May 2004)
The Gentleman from Olmedo (April 2004)
Mr & Mrs Schultzultz (March 2004 and on tour)
Sweeney Todd (February 2004)
The Emperor and the Nightingale (November 2003)
See Newbury Dramatic Society for a review of An Ideal Husband (November 2003)
A Star Danced (September 2003)
The Fourth Fold (September 2003)
The Last Days of the Empire (July 2003)
Accelerate (July 2003)
Dreams from a Summer House (May 2003)
The Triumph of Love (April 2003)
Gigolo (March 2003)
Raising Voices (March 2003)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (February 2003)
The Firebird (November 2002)
Ten Cents a Dance (September 2002)
Dancing at Lughnasa (July 2002)
Love in a Maze (June 2002)
Fiddler on the Roof (April 2002)
I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls (March 2002 and March 2006)
Only a Matter of Time (February 2002)
Cinderella and the Enchanted Slipper (November 2001)
Piaf (October 2001)
The Merchant of Venice (October 2001)
Witch (September 2001)
The Clandestine Marriage (August 2001)
The Importance of Being Earnest (May 2001)
Gondoliers (March 2001)
Rose Rage (February 2001)
Carmen (July 2000)