Bench Theatre presents this hilarious adaptation by John Nicholson and Le Navet Bete of the Alexandre Dumas's classic, The Three Musketeers.

Four actors play nearly forty characters in a wonderful mix of jokes, slapstick and swashbuckling. Join D'Artagnan, Porthos, Athos and Aramis as they cross swords with the devious Cardinal Richelieu and the murderous Milady de Winter to save the queen's honour and the country from total war!!!!

A perfect tonic of joy for all the family! There will be wild wigs, dodgy accents and facial hair that defies belief! You may know the story, but you’ve never seen it like this!!!!

So, book your tickets now for a night of laughter.

All for Fun and FUN FOR ALL!!!

Performances:

Ticket Prices

12.00, concessions 10.00

Thursday 7th July. Buy one get one half price (on cheapest ticket)

Bench members and Friends: free

Our September production is Deluge written and directed by Jacquie Penrose.

It's raining. Hard. Very hard, and the Met Office has just raised the warning level to Red. Five mismatched people are sheltering upstairs as they have been advised to do, but they cannot agree about how serious this is. It's just rain, isn't it? Or is it more evidence of the climate crisis? Or isn't all the personal stuff way more important?

Performances:

Ticket Prices

12.00, concessions 10.00

Wednesday 14th September. Buy one get one half price (on cheapest ticket)

Bench members and Friends: free

In April 2022 our production was The Unfortunate written and directed by Ben Tanner. This was due to have been performed in 2020 so we look forward to seeing this production.

London, 1888. In this fast-paced, epic play, journalist Christian Lane, is sent by his unscrupulous editor to report on the latest Jack the Ripper murder. In Whitechapel's poorest streets, he meets Isobel Prater, damned, like so many Victorian women, to live the degenerate life of an 'unfortunate'.

Struck by Isobel's plight, Christian rejects the sensationalism of his newspaper to embark upon a crusade to reform Whitechapel, the darkest corner of the British Empire.

The play contains adult themes. Age restriction 12+

In February 2022 this play Whose to Tell written and directed by Jacquie Penrose was part of a double bill with Freehold called 2x2.

"No one has the right to the secrets of your life. Do they?"

(Premiered at the Barons' Court Theatre, London, October 2021)

In February 2022 this play Freehold written and directed by Roger Goldsmith was part of a double bill with Whose to Tell called 2x2.

Sometimes you knock on the wrong door, but the right person answers it.

This play is set in Portsmouth in July 2018

Performances for both plays

Matinee Saturday 12th February 2:30

We were thrilled that our second production in 2021 was Copenhagen written by Michael Frayn and directed by Jacquie Penrose.

Friendship, loyalty, betrayal - and the moral duty of scientists in times of peace and war. These themes are grippingly explored in Michael Frayn's COPENHAGEN, a play that pivots around the historic meeting between two ground-breaking physicists in occupied Denmark in 1941.

We are very excited that our first production in 2021 was The Bench Presents Again written and directed by members of the Bench.

Bench Theatre is pleased to present a selection of short pieces written for the stage by members of the company.

During the long months of lockdown our need to tell and hear stories has not been diminished, and some of our own members have penned plays to absorb, amuse and move an audience even if the need for social distancing must be incorporated into the action.

This is your chance to enjoy an eclectic evening or two back in the theatre as we return to performance and showcase some of the writing talent as well as the actors among our membership.

As we are now able to dip our toes back into the waters of performance, we are offering two short programmes of pieces:

Plays Set 1

Face the Music by Jacquie Penrose

New Years Day by Lucy Flannery

Issie and Dora by Stephen Mollett

Bad Day At The Office by Lucy Flannery

Montgomery by Roger Goldsmith

Bear Hunt by Lucy Flannery

Being Neighbourly by Jacquie Penrose

The Spy Who Bugged Me by Mark Wakeman