Mercury Autumn Season

The Mercury Theatre Company announces its Autumn Season

Tickets go on general sale from 10am on Monday 2 July

Exciting times lie ahead for the Mercury Theatre with a new leadership team of Daniel Buckroyd (Artistic Director) and Theresa Veith (Executive Director) set to start over the coming weeks and an outstanding autumn season announced, programmed by Mercury Theatre Associate Director, Tony Casement:

With a mix of classic comedy (Arsenic and Old Lace) and hard-hitting drama (Top Girls) in the main house, and two remarkable plays with a truly international element in the studio theatre; Hard Places by Mumbai-based Farhad Sorabjee and White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour, the Mercury Theatre Company are set for an outstanding season. No autumn season would be complete without the Mercury’s annual yuletide treat; this year Jack and the Beanstalk.

The first Company production in the Main House is Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring from Thursday 4 to Saturday 20 October. Tony Casement directs this madcap comedy about two sweet elderly sisters with a unique way of ‘helping’ lonely gentlemen. Full of dark comedy and sinister twists, Arsenic and Old Lace transcends the traditional farce to provide hilarious entertainment, and the perfect vehicle for the hugely talented Company of actors.

Top Girls by Caryl Churchill will be performed from Thursday 1 to Saturday 17 November. Famous for its incredible fantasy dinner party scene, this provocative play about ambition, success and what happens to those who get left behind, is still strikingly relevant today. Gari Jones directs Mercury Theatre Company actors including Amanda Haberland, Clare Humphrey, Nadia Morgan and Shuna Snow in this powerful and sometimes absurdist drama set in Thatcher’s Britain.

No Christmas would be complete without the Mercury’s traditional, annual yuletide treat for the whole family! This year’s panto will be Jack and the Beanstalk performed from Friday 7 December to Saturday 12 January. Brimming with laughter, song, dance and adventure, this fantastic tale of giants, princesses, magic beans and ice cream will leave audiences feeling on top of the world! What separates the Mercury Theatre pantomimes from the rest is that many of the same fine actors you see performing on stage all year round come back to act their socks off in panto! With fantastic story-telling, written and directed by Janice Dunn, and an incredible production team the Mercury panto sells-out year on year. Early booking is advised.

The Mercury Studio Theatre will host two incredible international co-productions this autumn. The Mercury Theatre Company have teamed up with Tinderbox and Rage Productions, Mumbai to present Hard Places by Farhad Sorabjee from Wednesday 5 to Saturday 15 September. Originally developed as part of the Royal Court International Programme this will be its UK premiere. The play asks how families, lives and minds can be divided by the imposition of a border. Drawing on past and present conflicts, it explores how people behave when bonds are tested, secrets uncovered, and communities turned into contested territories that suddenly define who they are and what they live for. Hard Places also offers an opportunity to see new work by young writers from India and the UK which draws on the same themes. Alongside every performance will be a short piece inspired by the impact of physical, political and psychological borders upon the lives of individuals, families and communities.

The Mercury Theatre Company in association with Volcano, Necessary Angel and Wolfgang Hoffmann present Nassim Soleimanpour’s controversial play White Rabbit Red Rabbit from Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27 October. Forbidden to travel from his native Iran, Nassim Soleimanpour has created a play that requires no director, no set and a different actor for each performance, who knows nothing of the production prior to their arrival at the theatre to perform! This is theatre at its most live, exciting and urgent. White Rabbit Red Rabbit will be performed by Tomos James (Tue 23 Oct), Tony Casement (Wed 24 Oct), Tim Treslove (Thu 25 Oct), Emily Woodward (Fri 26 Oct) and Kelly Williams (Sat 27 Oct).

Farm Boy by Michael Morpurgo, the compelling sequel to the award-winning War Horse, takes us forward fifty years to offer a moving account of the changing face of the English countryside and a beautifully crafted reminder that stories really can reach out across the generations. Directed by new Mercury Theatre Artistic Director Daniel Buckroyd, this magical tale of the bonds linking grandfather to grandson, suitable for ages 7 and over, will be performed on Sunday 18 November 4.30pm.

Tickets go on general sale from 10am on Monday 2 July from the Box Office on 01206 573948 and online at www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

Tickets are on sale from Monday 18 June to Mercury Members - Priority Plus, Friends, Champions, Patrons and Corporates. To find out more about joining (from as little as £26 per year / 50p per week) please call 01206 573948 or visit www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

If you book for both Arsenic and Old Lace and Top Girls at the same time you can save 20% with the Mercury Theatre Company Season Ticket. This offer is subject to availability and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount.

Farm Boy production image by Robert Day

David Copperfield

David Copperfield

Thursday 21 June 8.00pm

Cramphorn Theatre

A child born towards the small hours on a Friday night is destined to be unlucky in life

In celebration of the 200^th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, Mad Dogs and Englishmen Theatre Company bring his classic tale of David Copperfield to the Chelmsford Cramphorn Theatre on Thursday 21 June with a twist and a flourish in their new adaptation.

Replete with comic, cruel and repugnant characters, Dickens’ semi-autobiographical novel follows a vulnerable boy on his journey to manhood. It is a story of the struggle against poverty and obscurity: a story of loss, of loneliness, and the betrayal of innocence.

Dickens’ favourite novel is brought to the stage with all its dark comedy by Mad Dogs and Englishmen Theatre Company in this fast-paced and faithful adaptation. Directed by Ann Courtney, the cast of two capture the hilarity and pathos of Dickens’ writing with finesse, depth and ingenious dexterity.

As part of the internationally-celebrated bicentennial year of Dickens’ birth, Mad Dogs & Englishmen’s adaptation of David Copperfield is compulsive theatre.

‘Of all my books, I like this the best… Like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield.’

Charles Dickens (from the Preface to David Copperfield)

Recommended age: 11 years +

 Tickets are £12.00 and concessions £10.00. To book tickets go to www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres or call the Box Office on 01245 606505.

Raining Men

Raining Men

Civic Theatre

When life’s a drag, there’s only one thing you can do…

A new comedy by ‘Hen Party Night’ writer Chris Ponka, ‘Raining Men’ is coming to Chelmsford Civic Theatre on Friday 1 – Saturday 2 June. It’s the story of Phil the bouncer, Doug the DJ, and Colin the barman and a night where The Full Monty meets Priscilla, Queen of the Desert…

Raining Men brings together the outstanding talent and glamour of Michael Cross, Andrew Ryan and Patric Kearns for a hilarious, sparkling, naughty evening, featuring music from the likes of Barbra Streisand, Shirley Bassey and Judy Garland… and with a few surprises for the audience too.

It’s coming up to Halloween and the nightclub in which this inventive trio all work has no act, so the boys decide to put on a little show of their own … and what a show it is!!

But be warned this play is strictly for adults only with strong language and adult content from the start.

“… brilliant rip roaring side-splitting laugh a minute comedy production.
This takes the genre to a whole new level…a night you will long remember for all the delightfully wrong reasons.” Peterborough Evening Telegraph

Recommended age: 11 years+

Not surprisingly, the show is almost sold out !


Tickets are £16.00, concessions and groups £14.00. To book tickets go to www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres 

or call the Box Office on 01245 606505.

Peter Pan

Peter Pan

Enchanting new adaptation by Vicky Ireland

The Queen’s Theatre is thrilled to present Vicky Ireland’s enchanting new adaptation of Peter Pan from 26 May – 16 June.

This specially commissioned reworking of J.M. Barrie’s classic by internationally-acclaimed children’s writer Vicky Ireland MBE is performed by cut to the chase…

Directed by Bob Carlton, it is the first summer family show to be staged by the Theatre in a bid to develop its in-house programme of children’s theatre and also expand its family audience base beyond regular pantomime bookers.

“There doesn’t seem to be enough high-quality live children’s entertainment in our region; so, as a producing theatre serving East London and Essex, we very much wanted to redress the balance by staging a show that many families can enjoy during the summer months,” says Bob Carlton, who is Artistic Director at the Queen’s.

This inspired adaptation features sparkling original melodies and wonderfully humorous lyrics by Steven Markwick – all played live on stage by the multi-talented cut to the chase… company. Starting in leafy Kensington Gardens, the production skilfully encourages young viewers to harness their powers of imagination and take flight on a wondrous epic adventure far beyond London’s starlit sky!

Audiences will enjoy a thrilling journey with Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Wendy, Johnand Michael to Neverland, where they join The Lost Boys in battle against the villainous Captain Hook and his bumbling sidekick Smee.

From a fantasy land of blue lagoons, swashbuckling pirates and tick-tocking crocodiles to mystical mermaids, mischievous pixies and boys who never grow up, this summer family spectacular is bursting with song, laughter, stunning sets and costumes and a generous sprinkling of fairy dust!

Vicky Ireland has an MBE for services to children’s drama and is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts. She has had many children’s plays produced around the world and adapted the work of such celebrated authors as A. A. Milne, Rudyard Kipling and Roald Dahl. She appeared in the children’s TV programmes You and Me,Rainbow and Mr Trimble and was a long-standing presenter on BBC’s Words and Pictures.

Peter Pan stars cut to the chase… company members Matthew James Hinchliffe,Callum Hughes, Simon Jessop, Dylan Kennedy, Sam Kordbacheh, Greg Last,Jonathan Markwood, Natasha Moore, Kate Robson-Stuart and Alison Thea-Skot.

This production is directed by Bob Carlton, with design by Norman Coates, music composition and direction by Steven Markwick, lighting design by Christopher Howcroft, sound design by Alexander Broad and choreography by Hannah Welch.

Peter Pan runs at the Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch, from 26 May – 16 June. Tickets cost from £12 - £21. Customers can also save money with a family ticket. Call the Box Office on 01708 443333 or book online at www.queens-theatre.co.uk

All Shook Up

Springers AODS next show will be ‘All Shook Up’. This is an entertaining and heart-warming  production based on the music of Elvis Presley.

It’s the Midwest in the 1950’s, our hip swivelling ,  guitar playing roustabout (Chad) is released from prison. He heads for the nearest town on his motorbike, leaving a frenzy of excitement in his wake.

Based upon ‘Twelfth Night’ the multiple love triangles then unfold beginning when Chad meets Natalie, the daughter of the local garage owner. A Rock and Roll musical and Jukebox comedy inspired by the hits of Elvis Presley. Suitable for all ages.                                              

This is another fantastic show brought to you by Springers AODS which aims to have everyone singing along to all the very well known Elvis songs!

It is showing at The Civic Theatre from Tuesday 12th – Saturday 16th June (with a Saturday matinee) and tickets can be bought via the box office on 01245 606505 or online at: www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres

Room Service

Little Baddow Drama Group presents

"Room Service"

an informal entertainment with hotels as a theme, devised by Rita Ronn and Michael Gray

including writing by Betjeman, Bryson and the Bennetts [Arnold and Alan], as well as Patrick Leigh Fermor, Gerard Hoffnung, Anita Brookner, Charles Dickens and many more.

Performed by Rita and Michael, with Caroline Ogden, Alli Tibbatts and Ken Rolf.

There'll be finger food, a cash bar, and music from Doublet [Kate Knight and Roy Sach].

All for £8.

The Memorial Hall, North Hill, on Friday April 27 and Saturday April 28, at 7.45

Tickets available from the Box Office - 01245 225509 [6.30 - 9.30 pm]

Crown Imperial

Crown Imperial

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert

Chelmsford Cathedral will be the venue on Saturday 26 May for a special concert to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. 

Under the direction of Oliver Waterer the

Cathedral Choir and Consort, accompanied by the organ with brass and percussion, will perform much of the music sung in Westminster Abbey at the Coronation Service in 1953. The concert is being supported by the Chelmsford Borough Council and M & G Investments.

The evening provides a rare opportunity to hear the music sung during the Coronation Service. It features lavish settings and anthems that span four centuries and will include Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’, ‘I was Glad’ by Hubert Parry and William Walton’s thrilling ‘Coronation Te Deum’.

Conductor, Oliver Waterer said ‘In addition I am delighted to say that we will have the Sub-Dean of Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, the Revd Prebendary William Scott, to commentate on the Programme and give us a fascinating insight into the Coronation Service and its music. This will be a wonderful evening and an exciting way to start celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee’.

The concert starts at 7.30pm and tickets are now on sale at the Civic Theatre Box Office, telephone 01245 606505, or online at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres priced at £20, £15 and £10 each. Concessions are available on the 2nd and 3rd priced tickets.