<img src='' title='Event Category: Theatre' alt='' id='templ_icon_' width='' height='' /> Event Category: Theatre

GEORGE: Eliot in Words and Music with Harriet Walter

Presented by Hambletts

Harriet Walter brings George Eliot to bold and dramatic life.

Harriet Walter tells George Eliot’s story through her great novels, letters, journals, poetry and journalism. In tune with her radicalism, Eliot’s own words are woven with music by contemporary singer-songwriters – from Kate Bush to Florence Welch and PJ Harvey – performed by Eurovision singer-songwriter, SuRie and Orchestra of the Swan.

Harriet Walter celebrates her long, acclaimed association with George Eliot – through film, TV and radio – in a virtuoso performance that gives voice to Eliot, her immortal characters, and the people in her life. The second richest woman of her day (after Queen Victoria), Eliot’s great works – Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede – and clear vision resonate as powerfully today.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter, SuRie performs with Harriet. Internationally renowned for classical, pop and musical theatre, SuRie represented the UK at Eurovision 2018 and won the Offie for Lead Performance in a Musical in 2024 for her portrayal of Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun.

Orchestra of the Swan’s Musical Director, David Le Page captures Eliot’s timeless genius in a dazzling music programme that features contemporary, female singer-songwriters. The Swan’s musicians perform on-stage, alongside SuRie. The script is written and adapted by Deirdre Shields (Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words & Music).

Harriet Walter appears subject to availability

The Play’s The Thing: A One Person Hamlet

Presented by Regeneration Theatre

‘I cannot remember receiving Hamlet with more open ears and more abandon’ Rufus Norris, Artistic Director, Royal National Theatre

Performed in just 90 minutes, come and see Hamlet as you have never seen it before. Standing ovations at preview performances.

One performer – Mark Lockyer, thought by many to be one of the greatest classical actors of his generation – shows us all the characters in a way we’ve never seen them.

The beauty of Shakespeare’s language sings out to us. The motivations of the characters become more clear.

The poignancy of this most dear of Shakespeare’s tales is palpable. You will leave stunned, uplifted and awed.

In support of the National Youth Arts Trust

 

 

 

 

Black is the Color of My Voice

Presented by James Seabright

By Apphia Campbell 

Inspired by the life of Nina Simone, and featuring many of her most iconic songs performed live. 

Apphia Campbell’s acclaimed play follows a successful singer and civil rights activist as she seeks redemption after the untimely death of her father. She reflects on the journey that took her from a young piano prodigy destined for a life in the service of the church, to a renowned jazz vocalist at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. 

The show has toured the UK to standing ovations, played sell-out seasons in Shanghai, New York, Edinburgh and the West End of London and won the Best Theatre Award at Adelaide Fringe 2024.

  

Pride and Prejudice

Presented by Guildford Shakespeare Company

By Jane Austen

“I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” 

When a host of eligible bachelors descend on the small community of Meryton, hearts are set racing, and the tranquil world of the Bennet family is sent into a whirlwind of passions and possibilities. At the centre of all this excitement, the meeting of Lizzie Bennet and Mr Darcy ignites one of the most famous love stories of all time.

Abigail Pickard Price’s ‘fresh and genuinely romantic‘ adaptation sees three actors conjure 17 of Jane Austen’s unforgettable characters to life, in Guildford Shakespeare Company’s ‘sparkling‘ production of this beloved romantic comedy.

James Joyce’s The Dead

Presented by The Fourth Choir and Narrated by Niamh Cusack

Set at a New Year’s party in Dublin in 1907, James Joyce’s masterpiece, The Dead, was hailed by TS Eliot as one of the greatest short stories ever written.  The story tells how a casual overhearing of an Irish folk song triggers memories so powerful that the dividing line between those who have died and those that remain becomes vanishingly thin.

London’s queer classical choir, the “excellent Fourth Choir” (The Observer) explores how unaccompanied singing can add layers of emotion to a powerful story.  The music includes Irish folk songs, an exquisite Tudor Ave Maria, works by contemporary Irish composers, Áine Mallon and Rhona Clarke, and a new arrangement by The Fourth Choir’s Music Director,  Jamie Powe, of Bid Adieu, the only known song for which Joyce wrote both the words and the melody. Plus wintry Christmas music by Joanna Marsh, Sarah MacDonald and Bo Holten.

Conductor Jamie Powe

Image: Night, Trinity Churchyard by Victoria Garland

Martin & Friends – It’s Christmas!

Following the success of their fabulous summer cabaret concerts Martin & Friends are delighted to be invited back to Wilton’s for their first-ever Christmas cabaret!

This joyful cabaret, at turns hilarious and moving, will include pop, jazz, showtunes, comedy songs, classical music – and a generous sprinkling of festive, Christmas songs. Mulled wine will be on sale and every ticket comes with a free mince pie.

There will be performances from Martin Prendergast, Stephanie Dittmer, Elizabeth Hollingshead and Samuel Tracy, with singer-songwriter Anna Byrne making her Martin & Friends debut, as well as the incredible London Gay Men’s Chorus, with more artists to be announced.

From Noël Coward to Elton John and Billy Joel, by way of Victoria Wood and musical theatre – this is cabaret at its most entertaining.

The concert will raise essential funds for the Bisi Alimi Foundation which does such important work advocating for the rights and dignity of LGBT people in Nigeria.

More information about the Bisi Alimi Foundation can be found on their website: www.bisialimifoundation.org

Martin and Friends is a mix of professional and amateur performers, please note that the line-up may change.

Piano generously supplied by Markson Pianos.

Swingles – Together for the Holidays

Presented by The Swingles

Get into the holiday spirit with songs of good cheer brought to you by The Swingles!

The Grammy® winners present a banquet of music to keep out the cold, with folk and jazz-inspired original songs served alongside traditional carols and festive favourites. Evoking icebound worlds, blankets of snow and fireside singalongs, the unmistakable sound of The Swingles has long been associated with Christmas.

The Swingles have been challenging the boundaries of vocal music for over 60 years, earning 5 Grammy® Awards and establishing themselves as one of the world’s most admired vocal groups.

Throughout their history, the group’s signature and instantly-recognisable sound has remained constant and timeless. Their intricate arrangements remain unparalleled, seeking new ways of reimagining jazz, folk, pop and classical music, alongside new original material. Their combination of close-microphone amplification paired with the extraordinary range and dexterity of the group’s seven individual voices to create one seamlessly blended vocal sound, has captured the admiration of composers and collaborators alike, who have embraced the sheer versatility of the group and its genre-crossing possibilities.

Their arrangements tend either to give a little twist to the original or turn it completely on its head. Recent innovations with live-looping technology produce mesmeric (and potentially massive) musical vocal textures.

The Pirates of Penzance

Presented by Regan De Wynter Williams Productions

The Award-winning show makes a welcome return to the UK this autumn.

In this maddest of times let two of Britain’s barmiest storytellers, Gilbert and Sullivan take you on an adventure with their much-loved tale of…The Pirates of Penzance. Acclaimed Director Sasha Regan (Frank’s Closet, The Mikado, HMS Pinafore) has an ability to bring out the inherent humour and fun creating an award-winning, all-male and exquisitely funny new take on the classic.

It makes a welcome return to the UK this Autumn. Pure joy!

Thom Gunn: The Man With Night Sweats

Presented by Dead Poets Live

2024 marks the twentieth anniversary of Thom Gunn’s death. The Man with Night Sweats, to many readers Gunn’s finest and most moving collection, addresses the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and includes some of the most devastating elegies in English poetry. But The Man with Night Sweats is also, very specifically and lovingly, a vivid portrait of city life in San Francisco, the gay community of that time, and the friends and lovers who made up Gunn’s family, and who were taken by the disease.

The show will trace Gunn’s development from the rigorous discipline of his beginnings, through the LSD-loosened free verse of the 60s and early 70s to the humane and personal achievement of The Man with Night Sweats.

Thom Gunn will be played by Rupert Everett.

Rupert Everett is a BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated actor, a director and an author, responsible for the screenplay of The Happy Prince as well as three immortal memoirs, including Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins. His leading roles on screen have included the multi award-winning film My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, Dance With A Stranger, The Happy Prince, Adult Material, My Policeman, Funny Woman and, most recently, Napoleon. His stage roles have included Blithe Spirit and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway, Pygmalion and The Judas Kiss in the West End, Uncle Vanya in the Theatre Royal Bath, Amadeus at Chichester and, most recently, also at the Theatre Royal, A Voyage Round My Father.

Posting Letters to the Moon

Presented by Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams

A romantic, funny and very touching portrait of life during the second World War featuring readings of letters between Oscar-nominated actress Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter) and her explorer and writer husband Peter Fleming (brother of James Bond creator Ian Fleming) posted to India and the Far East during the war working for Military Intelligence.

Not only are the letters highly engaging, but they also provide a fascinating historical insight into that time of true austerity and fearfulness.

‘… simply spellbinding performance…revealing an abundance of love and affection between ordinary people caught in extraordinary times… a theatrical gem’ British Theatre Guide

The letters are read by their daughter Lucy Fleming (Love Sarah, Miranda in The Archers) and her husband Simon Williams (Justin in The Archers, EastEnders, Upstairs Downstairs) and give an insight into a young mother’s life coping during the war and tell of Celia Johnson’s experience of filming with Noel Coward, David Lean and her thoughts while making the classic film Brief Encounter in 1945.

www.postingletterstothemoon.com