PAST PRODCUTIONS
Click on any photo or title for more information about the production.
by John Chapman & Dave Freeman
March 2023
Harriet, a canny divorcee, solves her financial problems by dating two married gentlemen on different days of the week. She orchestrates their comings and goings with elegant artistry until her friend Anne unexpectedly turns up, hotly pursued by her husband (and Harriet's ex-lover), closely followed by two irate wives in search of stray husbands.
by Agatha Christie
October 2022
Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. As the weather turns and the group is cut off from the mainland, the bloodbath begins and one by one they are brutally murdered in accordance with the lines of a sinister nursery rhyme.
by Norman Robbins
October 2018
Not only does Dr. Richard Forth have a hectic work schedule and an awkward friendship with his ex-girlfriend, but his wife, Barbara, is constantly ill. With bad luck spreading almost as quickly as bad news, it seems somebody is out to kill Barbara, and anyone else who gets in their way!
by Ray Cooney
April 2018
Tory Minister Richard Willey is about to embark on a night of passion with the Labour Leader’s typist, Jane Worthington, in room 648 of the Westminster Hotel. Naturally, things don’t run as smoothly as Mr Willey anticipates and their secret liaison is drastically hindered by the discovery of a dead body trapped in the hotel’s only unreliable sash window.
by Margaret Wood
October 2016
On this occasion of a Parochial Church Council meeting temperaments clash over such matters as the redecoration of the church ad what to do about the cherubs. Meredith, builder and decorator considers it 'not a bad afternoon's work', however, with profitable repair bills in prospect, and even possible future happiness with the attractive Miss Jones.
by Alan Ayckbourn
October 2016
Publican Gosforth is running the village fete. Due to a technical mistake, personal news about Milly Carter is publicised over the public-address system. Milly’s fiancé Stewart Stokes becomes aggravated and drowns his sorrows with alcohol. Councillor Mrs Pearce, after a most disorganised greeting, gives an electrifying performance. What starts as a normal day develops into chaos and ends in complete disaster.
by Ray Cooney
April 2016
Set in a hospital, "It Runs in the Family" contains the usual assortment of farcical nuts running in and out of doors mistaking everybody for someone else, as Dr. Mortimore tries to fend off a paternity suit, an ex wife, a punkish daughter and various other lunatics so that he may, at last, deliver the Ponsonby Lecture in an international conference.
by Francis Durbridge
November 2015
Max Telligan, a popular novelist, has returned to his London apartment from a business trip to Munich, much to the surprise of his wife. He is subsequently greeted by a parade of mysterious visitors who seek a calculator, question him about a diary, and more sinisterly, threaten to kill him. Max has, it seems, unwittingly become embroiled in the activities of an international terrorist group!
by Noel Coward
March 2015
Charles Condomine, a successful novelist, needs to learn about the occult for his next novel. Madame Arcati, an eccentric medium, is invited to hold a séance at his house. She inadvertently summons Charles's first wife, Elvira, who has been dead for seven years. A hilarious madness ensues as the ghostly and jealous Elvira makes continued, and increasingly desperate, efforts to disrupt Charles's current marriage to Ruth.
by Paul Reakes
2015 Pantomime
King Cole may be old, but he’s not too old to fall in love and now he’s decided that it’s high time that he should take a wife! The women of the town and royal cook Dotty Dumplin are queueing up to audition for the role of Queen. Meanwhile, King Cole’s evil brother Peski and his wife Pariah are conspiring to unseat him from the throne - with a little help from a magic pool that reverses the ageing process, turning Old King Cole into Young King Cole!
by Bernard Farrell
March 2014
The hilarious tale of the turmoil that ensues in the Ryan household in an upmarket residential area of Dublin’s Southside, when the ever-practical Sheila Ryan decides on a course of action to boost the family’s depleted income. Her husband, Brendan, a middle-aged redundant executive, has been out of work for eighteen months and there is a big household to support, as they strive to keep up appearances.
by Agatha Christie
November 2013
Lady Tressilian invites several guests to her seaside home for two weeks at the end of the summer. Tennis star Nevile Strange, former ward of Lady Tressilian's deceased husband, incurs her displeasure when he proposes (to her mind bizarrely) that both his new wife, Kay, and his former wife, Audrey, come at the same time. Lady Tressilian grudgingly agrees but events soon become sinister when she is brutally murdered in her bed!
by John B Priestley
March 2013
A family is visited by a man calling himself Inspector Goole, who questions the family about the suicide of a young working-class woman, Eva Smith. The family are interrogated and revealed to have been responsible for the young woman's exploitation, abandonment and social ruin, effectively leading to her death.
by John B Keane
October 2012
When Canon Pratt and his two curates, Father Brest and Father Loran, lose their exteemed Ms Bottomly, they must recruit a replacement to carry on with the cooking and cleaning. They select Ms Maureen Kettle, aka Moll. She wraps the Canon around her little finger, feeds him well while starving the curates. When it comes to the question on Moll’s pension, more chaos ensues.
by Francis Durbridge
March 2012
When Glenn Howard, a busy executive, decides to get rid of his wealthy wife Maggie, firstly to enjoy her money, secondly to avoid spending the rest of his life in boring luxury in remote Bermuda, and thirdly to free himself for another woman, he works out a complicated and devious plan to keep himself in the clear.
by J D Robins
October 2010
Ben Seaton is the new rector of Wychcombe Magna and is slowly gaining acceptance with the locals. Then the unthinkable happens - there is a murder at the rectory. Skeletons surface from the village's recent past - the death of a young girl, the involvement of a local man in a bullion robbery - and it becomes apparent that not everyone in the village is who they say they are!
By Marc Camoletti
March 2010
Bernard has a French, a German and an American fiancee, each a beautiful airline hostess with a two day layover in Paris. He keeps "one up, one down and one pending" and has the seventh day to rest. Until airline schedule changes bring all three to Paris and their intended's apartment at the same time!
By Francis Durbridge
November 2009
This exciting thriller concerns Robert and Stella who learn that their son has been kidnapped - not for ransom but in order that they will allow one of the kidnappers safe haven in their house. Two policemen arrive with news that one of the kidnappers has been murdered - but very soon it is obvious that these two, and much else, is not as it seems.
By Alan Ayckbourn
February 2009
They say where there's a will, there's a relative & this comedy thriller exploits all the ingredients of the traditional murder-mystery - a remote country house on a dark and stormy night where a family of failures meet to haggle over a bequest. So far so ordinary, but since this is by one of Britain's leading dramatists, things are never what they seem!
By Francis Durbridge
March 2008
Disposing first of his brother-in-law, Jack enlists the help of his girlfriend in his plan to murder his wife. But his scheme goes horribly wrong and he, not his wife, ends up dead. There are so many possible suspects and motives that the truth eludes us all ... although Cliff seems to be on the right track.
By Alan Ayckbourn
November 2007
A comedy taking place at two dinner parties in two living rooms on a single set. In this suburban trio of married couples, one couple is at the top of the social ladder. One of the other couples is attractive and upcoming, despite the fact that she is an utter slob and he is a complete boor, and the third pair is socially hopeless but earnest.
By Alan Ayckbourn
October 2006
Annie, the Cinderella of the family, lives in the shabby Victorian vicarage type house where the family was brought up. Reg, her brother, and his wife Sarah come to stay for a week end so that she may go away for a "rest". The general idea is that Annie ought to pair off with Tom. But for this week end it is Norman, the raffish assistant librarian husband of Annie's sister Ruth, with whom she planned to go. They were to meet secretly but Norman turns up early. When Annie calls the whole thing off Norman decides to stay on at the house and gets roaring drunk.
By Francis Durbridge
March 2006
Ross is a successful, happily married cardiac consultant - until his wife Fay announces she has fallen in love with the notorious womanizer Julian Kane. Later, Ross's assistant discovers two phials missing of Zarabell Four, a drug potentially lethal to cardiac patients. When Julian dies from a heart attack, all fingers point to Ross.
By Dave Freeman
November 2005
Roland Dickerby runs a health farm with his wife Julia, bought with the proceeds of a hefty insurance payout on the demise of Julia's first husband, Sidney. Life isn't easy for Roland and today Fate has something extra special in store for him: Sidney has decided to resurrect himself and turns up at the farm, just as Vanessa, the wife of Roland's ex-boss from the Kindly Mutual, checks in for a health-giving visit.
By Agatha Christie
October 2004
An announcement in the local paper states the time and place when a murder is to occur in Miss Blacklock's Victorian house. The victim is not one of the house's several occupants, but an unexpected and unknown visitor. What follows is a classic Christie puzzle of mixed motives, concealed identities, a second death and a determined inspector grimly following the case's twists and turns. Fortunately, Miss Marple is on hand to provide the solution – at some risk to herself – in a dramatic final confrontation.
By Will Evans & Arthur Valentine
March 2004
Aubrey has been left the life interest in a fortune which reverts on his death to his cousin George. Since George is thought to have died in Mexico, Aubrey "dies" and then resurrects himself as cousin George, thus eliminating his own vast debts. He is obliged to "die" and take on other identities twice more to avoid complications, until the real George turns up, announcing that the Mexican Government has annexed the fortune.
By John Mortimer
February 2004
A seedy lawyer has been waiting for years to make a grandstand defense. He is assigned to defend an innocuous little man accused of murdering his wife. The man cheerfully admits his guilt; he simply couldn't stand his wife's constant joking and laughing. The trial ends and the verdict is a foregone conclusion. The lawyer begs his client to let him appeal. Ironically the man is reprieved because of the ineptitude of his defense.
By Jeffrey Archer
2003
In the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey Sir David Metcalfe, distinguished QC and Chairman of the Bar Council, is conducting the most important defense of his career - his own. Accused of the willful murder of his terminally ill wife, Sir David finds himself locked in legal combat with his old rival, Sir Anthony Blair Booth QC, prosecuting counsel.
By Hugh Whitmore
April 2002
The Jackson are a nice middle aged English couple. Their best friends are their Canadian neighbors, the Krogers. All is blissful in their world until a detective from Scotland Yard asks to use their house as an observation station to try and foil a Soviet spy ring operating in the area. The Jacksons become more and more put out as Scotland Yard's demands on them increase. They are really put to the test when the detective reveals that the spies are the Krogers and he asks them to help set a trap. Should they betray their friends?
By Margaret Wood
February 2002
On this occasion of a Parochial Church Council meeting temperaments clash over such matters as the redecoration of the church ad what to do about the cherubs. Meredith, builder and decorator considers it 'not a bad afternoon's work', however, with profitable repair bills in prospect, and even possible future happiness with the attractive Miss Jones.
By Agatha Christie
November 2001
Dr. Cristow, the Harley Street lothario, is at the center of the trouble when, assembled in one place, we find his dull but devoted wife Gerda, his mistress and prominent sculptor Henrietta and his former lover and Hollywood film star Veronica. Also visiting are Edward and Midge whose romantic assertions are likewise thrown into the mix. As the list of romantic associations grow so does the list of potential suspects when Cristow is shot dead. Nearly everyone has a motive but only one of them did the deed.
by John Morley
2001 Pantomime
In this colorful and exciting pantomime, Sinbad sets sail for the island of Nirvana in search of the Princess Pearl who was stolen on her wedding day by a wicked Sorcerer. He meets his love and has to overcome evil magic, the cruelty of the Old Man of the Sea and the threat of man eating plants before his quest is over.
By John Chapman
November 1986
Three dodgy bookies, Alf Tubbe, Flash Harry and Fred Phipps, plan to rig a horse race by kidnapping the fancied horse and its French jockey. They stay at a country house hotel near the racecourse, run by Colonel and Mrs Wagstaff, where they conceal the horse Sweet Lavender (and later the jockey) in a hidden cellar.
By Bernard Farrell
March 1986
The hilarious tale of the turmoil that ensues in the Ryan household in an upmarket residential area of Dublin’s Southside, when the ever-practical Sheila Ryan decides on a course of action to boost the family’s depleted income. Her husband, Brendan, a middle-aged redundant executive, has been out of work for eighteen months and there is a big household to support, as they strive to keep up appearances.
by John B Priestly
March 1985
Robert and Freda Caplan are entertaining guests at their country retreat. A chance remark by one of the guests ignites a series of devastating revelations, revealing a hitherto undiscovered tangle of clandestine relationships and dark secrets, the disclosures of which have tragic consequences.
By Noel Coward
Autumn 1980
Charles Condomine, a successful novelist, needs to learn about the occult for his next novel. Madame Arcati, an eccentric medium, is invited to hold a séance at his house. She inadvertently summons Charles's first wife, Elvira, who has been dead for seven years. A hilarious madness ensues as the ghostly and jealous Elvira makes continued, and increasingly desperate, efforts to disrupt Charles's current marriage to Ruth.
By Maurice McLoughlin
1975
In Sybil Walling's absence her children call in the chimney-sweep, whose brushes dislodge not only soot but a body. When Sybil returns she tells them that, just before he died twenty years ago, their father had killed a Soho gangster and had hidden the body in the chimney. The police descend in pursuit of an amorous patient of Sybil's son Henry, which leads to hilarious misunderstandings and surprises.
By William Dinner & William Morum
1975
The day before Edwina Black's funeral, Inspector Martin calls to interview her husband Gregory, her companion Elizabeth and her housekeeper, Ellen. Gregory has long endured the domination of his wealthy wife, but is in love with Elizabeth. It is revealed Edwina died from arsenic. Gregory and Elizabeth quarrel bitterly. However Ellen confesses that Edwina poisoned herself: with vindictive spite she devised a suicide which would serve to incriminate Gregory and Elizabeth and so destroy them.
By Raymond Dyer
1974
A murder mystery farce, featuring a cast of suspicious characters told the story of the passing of wealthy Mr. Barraclough and the arrival of solicitors Blundell and Mickleby at the house to read the will. A clause in the will granting a portion of the inheritance to the servants set the house into turmoil. A murder occured and Blundell and Mickelby found themselves having to piece together the clues to find the culprit.
By Maurice McLoughlin
1973
The play is set in a Mission Station for orphaned children in “an Eastern Country” during the year 1950. A new Communist government has taken over and there has been persecution of Nuns and Priests throughout the province. The Mission has been cut off from the local village and the orphaned children have been removed.
By Will Evans & Arthur Valentine
1971
Aubrey Allington is an inventor with enormous ingenuity at dodging debts; but tradesmen all around are getting wise to his tricks. Just as he is about to resort to the desperate plan of inviting all his creditors to dinner and blowing them up en masse, he and his wife Louise discover to their astonishment that he has inherited a fortune from a distant relative which will enable them to pay off all their debts.
By Louis Dalton
March 1972
Set in rural Ireland the strong-willed Jane Sheridan wants to marry off her daughter Mary to a wealthy and mature farmer, the widower Batt Seery, rather than to the girl’s own choice, the youthful and impulsive Joe Hession. What appears to be a straightforward story of true love struggling to find a way turns out to be nothing of the sort. Things are not what they seem in the Sheridan household.
By John Chapman
1970
Three dodgy bookies, Alf Tubbe, Flash Harry and Fred Phipps, plan to rig a horse race by kidnapping the fancied horse and its French jockey. They stay at a country house hotel near the racecourse, run by Colonel and Mrs Wagstaff, where they conceal the horse Sweet Lavender (and later the jockey) in a hidden cellar.
By John B Keane
March 1970
The action takes place in a small farmhouse on an isolated headland on the south-western seaboard of Ireland, around 1960. Keane's play is about the struggle between the forces of good and evil and the mythical beliefs of 1930’s rural Ireland deals with a man’s ruthless lust for land, which overrides all family loyalties, and can ultimately lead to tragedy.
By John Dighton
November 1969
Set in 1949, confusion reigns when St Swithin's Girls' School is accidentally billeted at Nutbourne College: a boys' school. The two heads, Wetherby Pond and Muriel Whitchurch, try to cope with the ensuing chaos, as the children and staff attempt to live in the newly cramped conditions (it being impossible to share dormitories or other facilities), and seek to prevent the children taking advantage of their new opportunities.
