Newbury theatre guide
Find out about theatre events coming up in and around
Newbury and West Berkshire, reaching out to Oxford, Basingstoke
and Reading. Follow us on
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Posters of forthcoming productions are here.
In the spotlight
See What's on for a list of everything. |
Good news and bad news
Good news: the Newbury Corn Exchange has received £240,045 as part of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.
Bad news: the Watermill didn't qualify for Recovery Fund money. Because of
the limited seating available under the government's social distancing
rules, the Watermill's income has been very significantly reduced. They have
launched a FULL HOUSE appeal to help them keep running. You can help by
making a donation
here.
A toe in the water
Slowly and tentatively, the theatres are coming back
to life. The Watermill was first with its outdoor productions, and the
Newbury Corn Exchange and Vue cinema are starting to host Encore cinema
showings of live shows. The Corn Exchange has started live theatre in
the auditorium.
Newbury Theatre has joined up with
Penny Post to give
updated theatre information, and it will also appear here. Penny Post is a
great source of local information - if you don't know it already, I can
thoroughly recommend it, particularly now when a lot of us will be stuck at
home.
Audiobook
Mortimer Dramatic Society have released The Snow Goose as an audiobook. For some years they have produces pieces for the hospital radio service at The Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. One of these is a four-part presentation of Paul Galico’s novella. This beautifully poetic story, written in simple lyric prose, tells the story of Philip Rhayader a lonely hunchbacked artist who lives alone in an abandoned lighthouse on the desolate Great Marsh of Essex. One afternoon, a hauntingly beautiful child, Fritha, visits Rhayader, bringing with her an injured snow goose. At first Fritha is scared of Rhayader, with his sinister hump and crooked hand, but he is gentle and kind and Fritha begins to visit regularly. When the snow goose departs for home, Rhayader is left alone again. The following winter, the snow goose and Fritha return to the lighthouse. Time passes and one year Fritha is frightened to discover her feelings for Rhayader. But this is 1940 and Rhayader is setting sail for Dunkirk to help the soldiers trapped on the beaches. Fritha never sees Rhayader again. But the story of the saviour with the snow goose passes from soldier to soldier and into legend…
You can listen to the episodes now on the MDS web site, at www.mortimer-dramatic.org/the-snow-goose-audiobook
Live theatre
At the Watermill
The Watermill's first indoor productions since lockdown are
Bloodshot, Lone Flyer and A Christmas
Carol. Details here.
The Watermill Theatre Outreach department are delighted to announce three
exciting online creative programmes, Onstage,
Offstage and Backstage, giving participants of all
ages the opportunity to develop skills with a range of industry
professionals during a term of sessions. They are suitable for those who
want to learn for fun and those who are interested in a career in the arts.
Workshops will take place via Zoom and run weekly from the end of September
to early December. Each of them has two evening sessions, one for primary
school aged children and their families and the other for young people aged
11 + and adults. More information at
www.watermill.org.uk/
Online theatre
The
Show Must Go Online has weekly readings of the Complete Plays of
Shakespeare (Wednesdays, 19:00) in the
order they were believed to have been written. It uses global casts,
including professionals and amateurs, and you can either watch the plays or
apply to read a part. You can stream previous readings of the plays,
starting with Titus Andronicus.
Coriolanus, 21st October,
with a a completely male, male-identifying, and non-binary cast
The Winter's Tale, 28th October
Cymbeline, 4th November
You can search for reviews of previous productions - there are more than 900 pages of them in the Archive!
| Date | Item |
|---|---|
| 14 Oct | Good news: the Newbury Corn Exchange has received £240,045 as part of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund. Bad news: the Watermill didn't qualify for Recovery Fund money. Because of the limited seating available under the government's social distancing rules, the Watermill's income has been very significantly reduced. They have launched a FULL HOUSE appeal to help them keep running. |
| 11 Oct | Oxford Theatre Guild have two productions in November at the Old Fire Station. Baggage and It's True, It's True, It's True. |
| 11 Oct | The Mill at Sonning are back in business with songs from musicals in Some Enchanted Evening and father and son Simon and Tam Williams taking a look at their great love of theatre in Just Williams. Both at the end of October. Theatre proper gets going next March with Relatively Speaking. And all performances as usual include a meal beforehand. |
| 4 Oct | More theatre productions from Newbury Corn Exchange including the panto Aladdin. |
| 25 Sep | Reviews of the Watermill's Bloodshot ("a remarkable performance... the energy level is amazing" - Newbury Theatre; "a tour-de-force... everything that I’ve missed in the past few theatre-free months" - DailyInfo; "a great physical presence, good comic timing... a compelling one-man performance, fast-paced, humorous" ★★★★★ - PocketSize Theatre; "a compelling narrative from start to finish... socially distanced theatre can still provide a transcendent experience" - Wokingham Today; "an excellent whodunit that keeps you guessing... a highly impressive, versatile performance... a tour de force... highly recommended" - Newbury Weekly News). |
| 20 Sep | Mortimer Dramatic Society have released The Snow Goose as an audiobook in four episodes. |