Our February 2024 production is The Father written by Florian Zeller

Andre is a man facing persecution from all sides, and he refuses to take it any longer. First some girl steals his favorite watch. Then his daughter Anne tries to take his flat away -- the beautiful flat he’s had for over thirty years. His daughter Elise, the one he actually loves, never comes to visit. And to top it off, strangers keep entering Andre’s flat, telling him that they are his friends and family, telling him that he doesn’t live in his flat anymore. However aged he may be, Andre knows that he is a powerful man, a man of authority, and he will find some way to assert it. After all, he still has all his faculties…. Doesn’t he?

In a darkly humorous and deeply poignant translation by Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller’s The Father is a tragi-comic mystery, emotionally intense look at the world through the eyes of a man experiencing dementia. The play was considered as 'the most acclaimed new play of the last decade' and won the Moliere Award for Best Play in 2014. The play has subsequently been made into an award-winning film starring Anthony Hopkins.

Performances:

Ticket Prices

£13.00, concessions £11.00

Wednesday 7th February. Buy one get one half price (on cheapest ticket)

Bench members and Friends: Free

Our April 2024 production will be Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh

Let’s travel back to the 1970s and a time of cheese and pineapple on sticks, paisley prints, and Dennis Rousseau. This evening, suburban socialite Beverly and her husband Laurence are hosting a drinks party, despite Laurence arriving home late from work. They have invited their new neighbors, married couple Tony and Angela, along with their recently divorced, next door neighbor Susan, who has been banished from her home as her teenage daughter Abigail is throwing her first party. As the drinks flow, tensions rise.

The play was written as a television play for the BBC in 1977 and famously starred Alison Steadman in the main role. Originally developed through lengthy improvisations, Abigail’s Party is a biting satire of British middle-class aspirations in the 1970s.

Performances:

Ticket Prices

£13.00, concessions £11.00

Thursday 18th April. Buy one get one half price (on cheapest ticket)

Bench members and Friends: Free

Our 2023 November production was Love Bites written by Mark Wakeman

Come one, come all, for an adventure at the theatre, as Bench offers you two nights of new work from award-winning playwright Mark Wakeman in a series of one-act plays.

Love Bites is a celebration of love in all its forms, how we try to escape it, pursue it and hold on to it. We can promise you love and laughter, loss and sadness, romance and hope… all in the same evening!

The characters show us how love shapes their lives in a wide range of scenarios and situations - at work, with family, on special occasions and apparently mundane ordinary life - and invite us to share in their triumphs and reflections.

A night of uplifting bite-sized plays about life in all its joy, mundanity and chaos; guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Why not check out our promotional video on YouTube, Trailer for LOVE BITES, November 2023

Our 2023 September production was Duets written by Peter Quilter

Four pairs of characters; Four crucial moments

Jonathan and Wendy are on a blind date and hoping to get it right this time even though they've never got it right before; Barrie is not really interested in women but Janet sees that as no reason to stop trying; Shelley and Bobby have decided to holiday in Spain to finalise their divorce whilst drowning in cocktails; Angela is marrying for the third time to the dismay of her brother Toby and amidst a barrage of bad omens and a dress resembling a parachute.

Duets is a hilarious tribute to the strength and madness of the human heart.