Our 2021/2022 Season
We’re thrilled to introduce you to our 2021/2022 season! After a tricky 18 months, the whole team at WT are incredibly excited at the prospect of reopening, first for a season extra in July, September in the Rain, and then a full season beginning in September 2021.
Artistic Director, David Stacey, writes:
Understandably, the recent seasons have been really difficult to plan and deliver. This coming season will be my third attempt! Licence limitations and the pandemic have made planning a tough experience for all involved, so I want to thank the Board for their support and everyone for their patience!
I hope the new season provides the anticipated good range of productions for our patrons, as well as great opportunities and diversity for our members. All shows not yet cast are perfectly adaptable for casts of different experiences and backgrounds, and as part of our commitment to attracting new members from a wider background, I’ve made a request to all directors that every newly-cast play includes at least one new member in the cast. We’re also planning a season extra in November 2021, and our annual Youth Theatre production in February 2022. We’re all looking forward to welcoming back our members and audiences for the new season!
David Stacey – May 2021
The upcoming season features nearly 75 parts, with an almost perfect 50% male / female split. There are five comedies, and three dramas, with three new directors to WT, and half of the scripts are less than ten years old. As well as several opportunities to get involved on stage, there are as many backstage roles to be filled, too; there’s never been a better time to join Wokingham Theatre! WT is committed to being a diverse and open organisation. Auditions are open to anyone, regardless of background or experience, and we particularly welcome those who have been traditionally under-represented in theatre. Keep your eye out on our website for audition notices and chances to get involved, or reach out to us directly!
The full 2021/2022 season is as follows:
Abigail’s Party
by Mike Leigh
8 – 18 September 2021
British suburbanites Laurence and Beverly are entertaining their new neighbors, Angela and Tony as well as Susan, whose teenage daughter, Abigail is having a party to which Susan has been dis-invited. Over drinks and snacks, cliches and fatuous small talk abound.
Directed by Liz George
Anne Boleyn
by Howard Brenton
21 – 30 October 2021
A celebration of a great English heroine, Anne Boleyn dramatises the life and legacy of Henry VIII’s notorious second wife, who helped change the course of the nation’s history. Traditionally seen as either the pawn of an ambitious family manoeuvred into the King’s bed or as a predator manipulating her way to power, Anne – and her ghost – are seen in a very different light in Howard Brenton’s epic play.
Directed by Mavis Froud
Originally Scheduled for the 2019-2020 Season
The Government Inspector
by Nikolai Gogol (adapted by Alastair Beaton)
8 – 18 December 2021
One of the most famous comedies in world theatre, Gogol’s masterpiece depicts a small Russian town, rife with corruption. But when the powers that be learn they’re going to be subject to an undercover government inspection, panic ensues. Mistaking a penniless nobody for the powerful official, they swiftly fall victims to their own stupidity and greed.
Directed by Thomas Joy
Apologia
by Alexi Kaye Campbell
27 January – 5 February 2022
A disastrous family reunion is the occasion for a sharp and perceptive look at what has happened to 60s idealists and their children. Kristin Miller is an eminent and successful art historian. As a young mother she followed her politics and vocation, storming Parisian barricades and moving to Florence. Her birthday should be a time for celebration but, when her two sons deliver their versions of the past, everyone must confront the cost of Kristin‘s commitment to her passions.
Directed by Adrian Tang
Originally Scheduled for the 2019-2020 Season
Hobson’s Choice
by Harold Brighouse
16 – 26 March 2022
The youngest daughters of curmudgeonly bootmaker Hobson are anxious to marry and have eligible suitors who must wait until eldest daughter, practical-minded Maggie is promised in marriage. Maggie, however has other plans which include freedom from her father’s tyranny, a business and husband of her own. Her choice: Hobson’s shy apprentice Will Mossop.
Directed by Emma Merchant
The Father
by Florian Zeller (translated by Christopher Hampton)
28 April – 7 May 2022
Described by many as one of the best plays of the 21st Century, and recently adapted into the Oscar-winning film of the same name, Florian Zeller’s The Father is a tragi-comic mystery, a sobering and realistic family story, and an unsentimental, emotionally intense look at the world through the eyes of a man experiencing dementia, a dramatic illustration of the physical losses which occur along with the mental ones.
Directed by David Stacey
Stones in his Pockets
by Marie Jones
8 – 18 June 2022
A small village in rural Ireland is turned upside down when a major Hollywood film studio descends to make a historical blockbuster on location. As cultures clash, it becomes clear that Tinseltown’s romanticised dream of Ireland is a long, long way from reality. Winning numerous awards including both the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best New Comedy, as well as three Tony nominations on Broadway, Stones in his Pockets ran for four years in the West End and has delighted audiences around the world.
Directed by Fiona Rogers
Originally Scheduled for Summer 2021
Daisy Pulls it Off
by Denise Deegan
13 – 23 July 2022
Daisy Meredith, the new girl, is the first scholarship student to attend the Grangewood School for Girls. The privileged students are determined to make Daisy look bad in the eyes of the administration. The administration has its own problems, financial ones. Daisy wins over her chums and saves the school when she cracks a secret code, finds a treasure and saves the life of her chief nemesis all on the same night!
Directed by Mel Hampshire
If you have any enquiries, please get in touch with our team.
Announcements about ticket sale dates will follow in due course – please keep an eye on our website for up to date information. We’re looking forward to welcoming back our audiences very soon!