Romantic Comedy
by Bernard Slade
18 - 27 September 2008
Jason Carmichael is a successful playwright who has lost his writing partner and needs another collaborator. He invites a young writer to New York to meet him - and is surprised to find the writer is a girl, a feisty librarian named Phoebe Craddock. She arrives on the day Jason is marrying Allison but he hires her anyway. Jason and Phoebe work together, fight, laugh, quarrel and find success. But when Phoebe leaves to marry journalist Leo and moves to Paris, Jason's world collapses. Will Phoebe return and rescue him? You bet. Set in New York and spanning a time scale of fourteen years, this delightful comedy fizzes with witty one-liners overlain with charm and, of course, romance.
Terra Nova
by Ted Tally
23 October - 1 November 2008
The tragic story of Captain Scott's last, fateful expedition to the South Pole is drawn from the journals and letters found on his frozen body. With flashbacks to Scott and his wife and significant appearances by Amundsen, Scott's Norwegian rival, the story unfolds with chilling intensity. Refusing the use of sled dogs as unsporting, Scott and his men drag their heavy gear across frozen wasteland - only to find that Amundsen and the Norwegian team had beaten them to their ultimate goal. But it is on the return trek that this riveting play reaches its dramatic climax. This is a story of awesome endurance by men whose names have become synonymous with self-sacrifice and courage in the face of impossible odds.
Little Nell
by Simon Gray
27 November - 6 December 2008
Charles Dickens was not only a wonderfully inventive writer, he was also a master of obfuscation. Few people realised that he kept a mistress, a younger woman who shared his life, unknown to the outside world. Simon Gray's masterly play tells two parallel stories. We see Dickens wooing and winning the young actress Ellen Ternan, setting her up in her own home and sharing a life away from his proper family. At his death, Ellen re-emerges, married to a school teacher by whom she has a son. To uncover the mystery of his mother's past, her son calls on Dickens' son Sir Henry - an eminent lawyer - and the truth unfolds. The play shines an intelligent light on an interlude that has all the fascination of a story by Dickens himself.
Nunsense
by Dan Goggin
8 - 17 January 2009
A most unusual musical. The story begins when the Little Sisters of Hoboken discover that their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, has accidentally poisoned 52 of the sisters. Being in dire need of funds for the burials the sisters decide to raise the money by staging a variety show. Here we meet Reverend Mother Regina, a former circus performer; Sister Mary Hubert, the Mistress of Novices; a streetwise nun from Brooklyn named Sister Robert Anne; Sister Mary Leo, a novice who is a wannabe ballerina; and the delightfully wacky Sister Mary Amnesia, the nun who lost her memory when a crucifix fell on her head. Featuring star turns, tap and ballet dancing, an audience quiz, and comic surprises, this show has become an international phenomenon which should brighten up the cold Caterham post-Christmas calendar.
Under The Stars
by Richard Crane
12 - 21 February 2009
Stella and Regina are understudies for a West End production of a classical tragedy. As the stars on stage are heard emoting over the tannoy, the two understudies vent their frustration. Stella is a 'method' actress, passionate about the magic of the theatre whilst Regina - resigned to knitting and shopping in Sainsbury's - is her cynically practical opposite, displaying an acerbic wit. When their double crossing director brings in a 'known' actress as the cover for one of the stars the two rivals unite in their resentment. This wonderful, acutely observed play with its mixture of pathos and hilarity, offers us an insight into the lives of the would-be stars who are never seen.
Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare
19 - 28 March 2009
In an era when the relative values of republicanism and monarchism are regularly debated, what better play to stage than Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. What a fantastic story - Eastenders eat your heart out! An Emperor ( would be monarch? ) is plotted against by a group of conspiring senators, who cajole his close friend into joining their ranks. Their aim is clear - to assassinate the Emperor - but their motives are less so. Is the act for Rome or for their own purposes? This productionwill be a hard hitting, powerful version of the play, which will be true to Shakespeare but which a contemporary audience will be able to relate to. Remember "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears", "Et tu Brute", and "Beware the Ides of March"? Well this is the play! Don't miss it, and if you've ever thought " I can't do Shakespeare" - stop thinking it now!
Diana of Dobson's
by Cecily Hamilton
23 April - 2 May 2009
Very successful when first performed in London in 1908, this sprightly play introduces us to the overworked and underpaid female assistants at Dobson's Drapery Emporium, whose only alternative to their dead-end jobs is the unlikely prospect of marriage. However, one of the females is a feisty young woman, Diana, who, due to her changing circumstances - she inherits a few hundred pounds - has no intention of accepting the status quo. This delightful Edwardian vignette is both romantic comedy and social criticism. It will delight audiences. After all, there are times when we'd all like to cock a snook at authority - and Diana does just that.
Murder In Mind
by Terence Feely
4 - 13 June 2009
This is a real thriller. Mary, an international art dealer. arrives home to find three strangers in her house. One man, Jack, claims he is her husband. The woman says she is Mary's sister and the other man her cousin. Mary is bewildered, not least because the others know everything about her, down to the smallest personal detail. Her nightmare is compounded by the discovery of a murdered man. Throw in a threat of torture and a missing fortune and the suspense grows ever greater until the final ingenious denouement.
Katherine Howard
by William Nicholson
9 - 18 July 2009
From the author of Shadowlands, this is a strongly crafted work in defence of Henry VIII 's fifth wife. Opening on the wedding night of Henry and his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, it is soon clear that the marriage will not last. To obtain advantage for his family, the Duke of Norfolk plans to install his niece, Katherine, as Henry's fifth wife. Their subsequent courtship, marriage and her fall from grace, leading to her execution after being accused of adultery, are covered in a tender and sympathetic manner underscored by the political intrigues, plots and betrayals of the times and the religious changes taking place in Tudor England. An entertaining and thoughtful play of pure theatrical magic.