The Real Inspector Hound is a parody of murder mysteries onstage, featuring plays within plays and twists within twists. Critics Moon and Birdboot attend a whodunnit at the theatre. Moon is standing in for a more successful critic, whom they dream of usurping. Birdboot seems more interested in attracting female actors with promises of stardom. However, not all is as it seems, and the two critics are dragged into the action onstage. You’d be a madman to miss the madman!

Contractions is an ink-black comedy about the boundaries between work and play. Emma's been seeing Darren. She thinks she's in love. Her boss thinks she's in breach of contract. The situation needs to be resolved. Contractions is brutally entertaining and ferociously funny whilst also being grotesque and chilling to the bone. Please note the play makes reference to child death, pregnancy and verbal abuse.

A timeless story of forbidden love, temptation and a fight for personal freedom.

The enigmatic Sarah Woodruff gazes out to sea, rumoured to be waiting for the return of the French Lieutenant she nursed back to health. Intrigued and in a quest to discover the truth, the aristocratic Charles Smithson throws himself into dangerous waters and risks everything he has for this mysterious woman.

Like Fowles’ ground-breaking novel and film before it, Mark Healy’s profoundly inventive adaptation of The French Lieutenant’s Woman, plays with convention to create something unexpected, evocative and exciting.

Join us in the village of Dibley for the shock arrival of it’s first female Vicar Geraldine Granger. Watch on as she charms her way into the less than impressed parish council. As time passes the naive lovable Alice and the questionable trouser wearing Hugo get engaged. After what will seem just an interval away you are invited to come and celebrate the wedding of the century. What will Alice's dress look like, what will Letitia Cropley make the cake from and will the groom's father even let it happen? Find out in June 2024.

Louisa May Alcott's 1868 classic and moving 'coming of age' story is accepted as ‘revolutionary' and for many years has been one of the most widely read novels. Cunningham's faithful and exciting adaptation follows the trials and triumphs of the four March sisters,  Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy and their mother, 'Marmee', living in somewhat impoverished circumstances in a small Massachusetts town while their father is away during the Civil War. Loosely based on the lives of the author and her publisher, this adaptation is underpinned by important conversations between Louisa May Alcott, and Thomas Niles Jr.

We’re delighted to announce a brand new co-production Adrian Bunting’s (BOAT’s founder) seminal play Kemble’s Riot, in a co-production with Brighton Open Air Theatre. Kemble’s Riot uproariously dramatizes the 66-night riot in 1809 when, having rebuilt the Covent Garden Theatre after a fire, its manager John Kemble and his sister-star Sarah Siddons put the entry price up by sixpence to pay for it. Kemble’s Riot won the Best Play Award on its debut at Brighton Fringe in 2011 and rave reviews followed from its run at Edinburgh Fringe in 2012.

Queers celebrates a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British gay history, as seen through the eyes of individuals. Poignant and personal, funny, tragic and riotous, these monologues for male and female performers cover major events such as the Wolfenden Report of 1957, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the debate over the age of consent through deeply affecting and personal rites of passage stories. A collaborative evening of performances to remind you how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go. This is a fundraising production to support the BrickByBrick campaign to renovate our theatre.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

In the heat of civil war a mother abandons her son, and the responsibility to rear the child falls upon Grusha, a servant girl. She sacrifices everything in order to respectfully raise the young boy as her own, but when the biological mother returns a debate arises as to who the rightful mother of the boy is. This is a fresh and powerful translation of Brecht's incendiary masterpiece by one of the most respected translators in modern literature.

The Little Tempest

Shakespeare’s classic tale of revenge, love, mischief and forgiveness is brought to life in a riot of colour, music and magic in an adaptation for all the family. When the sorcerer Prospero conjures up a storm to shipwreck his enemies, he sets the scene for an enchanting tale of spells, monsters, revenge and romance.

Once grande dames of Hollywood, by 1962 arch-rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were in danger of becoming has-beens. Then an opportunity came along; to appear together in a new movie called Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. While Joan manages her anxiety by lacing her Pepsi with vodka and signing photographs for her beloved fans, Bette chain smokes and muses on her love life, and her ability to pick a decent script, never a decent man. Behind the bitching and the practical jokes we see each woman's insecurities and regrets, and their rivalry is revealed to be underpinned by grudging respect as they attempt to identify their new roles in life as well as in their careers.

Tony and Greg seem to have love all figured out. They're in a committed relationship, but there has always been room in their relationship for other people to pass through - as long as that's all they're doing! Their only rule is they don't sleep with the same man more than once. But when Robert becomes a fixture in their lives, it will test their relationship as everything they thought they knew about each other is thrown into jeopardy.

Quarantined in his aunt's and uncle's stuffy flat, ten-year-old Tom is restless and bored. Intrigued by a grandfather clock, Tom is startled one night to hear it strike 13! Slipping out of bed he discovers a beautiful 1880s Victorian garden, which before was just a small back yard. In the garden he meets unhappy orphan, Hatty. A special friendship develops between Tom and Hatty as they share fun and adventures together in the magical garden. Philippa Pearce's 1950s classic is brilliantly adapted for the stage by David Wood.

A soirée in the French Alps in 1940 unites celebrated writers Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, and Agatha Christie with a mysterious guest. France is hours away from falling to Germany, antisemitism is sweeping across Europe, and a little war is brewing among these exceptional women as they battle each other, their own personal demons, and the question of what meaningful difference individual actions can make against the tide of war, prejudice, and genocide.
When the world is at war and the risks of speaking out couldn’t be higher - would you stay silent?