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

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

View the programme HERE

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

Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse for England

Joshua Beaumont and Matthew Emeny present The Roxy Dog production

 

It’s the EURO 2020 Final at Wembley and Billy’s gone viral for sticking a flare up his arse!

Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse For England is a blisteringly funny new play that comes to London directly from a sell-out, five-star Edinburgh Festival run. Written and performed by Alex Hill, it asks what it means to belong to a club that you live for.

Billy and his best mate Adam are die-hard football fans. It’s how they spend every weekend, without fail, it’s their escape, their religion and their life. But when they encounter a new group of mates, they start to take their support one step further.

Photo credit: Rah Petherbridge

Age guidance: 18+

The War of the Worlds

Presented by National Youth Theatre

Inspired by H.G. Wells’ sci-fi novel and Orson Welles’ classic radio play, this legendary science fiction thriller is playfully reimagined for our era of Fake News and ‘alternative facts.’ The internet has replaced the radio as the medium through which we make sense of the world. We remain just as susceptible … 

Award-winning theatre company Rhum and Clay devised the Offie-nominated and critically acclaimed The War of The Worlds in 2019 with Olivier Award-nominated Isley Lynn. After selling out a five-week run in London and a four-week run in Edinburgh the show toured the UK and internationally to critical acclaim.

As we approach the 2024 US election and fake news continues to dominate the headlines The War of the Worlds is back in a new production in partnership with the NYT REP Company, featuring 18 of Britain’s most exciting young performers from around the UK. The National Youth Theatre return to Wilton’s Music Hall following previous successful collaborations on Zigger Zagger and Silence.
Originally Commissioned by New Diorama Theatre

Created by Rhum and Clay
And written with Isley Lynn, Most Promising Playwright at the 2023 Evening Standard Awards
Directed by Hamish Macdougall & Julian Spooner
Movement Director: Matt Wells
Starring Britain’s best young talent from the NYT REP Company

Age Guidance: 12+
Content information: Contains some strong language
Everyone is welcome at this performance, and we take a calm approach to movement and noise in the audience.

Photo credits: Jamie Macmillan & Luke Forsythe

 

Släpstick: Schërzo

Presented by Släpstick in association with Something For The Weekend

Chaplin meets Tchaikovsky

Internationally renowned musical clowns Släpstick present Schërzo, classical music as you’ve never experienced it before, fresh from a smash-hit run at Edinburgh Fringe and now at Wilton’s Music Hall!

scherzo [noun] joke, banter

Join Släpstick’s unique brand of mischief where physical theatre, world-class musicians and raucous humour collide.

Masterpieces from Brahms, Schubert, Saint-Saëns, Gershwin, and more, meet comedy heroes such as Victor Borge, Laurel & Hardy, Danny Kaye, and Charlie Chaplin.

Neither bewigged composer nor magnum opus is safe from buffoonery in this clownish concerto. Expect yodeling Schubert in a ventriloquism battle with Beethoven, a speed devil on the double bass and the popular ’21 masterpieces in 1 minute’.

Awarding-winning Släpstick have sold out concert halls from The Netherlands to New Zealand. Now Schërzo lands in London, following a world premiere at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and concerts in Germany and South Korea.

Presented by Släpstick in association with Something For The Weekend

Artwork credit: Corné van der Stelt

Photo credit: Duncan McGlynn