Coming up at The Priory
With around 7 in house productions produced by Priory members each year, plus countless more external organisations hosting events in our spaces, there’s something for everyone to enjoy at The Priory!
We regularly add to our upcoming list as more gets booked into our calendar, so make sure you check back regularly to secure your tickets before they’re gone!
Arabian Nights
Priory Youth Theatre Directed by Nicky Jessop
This is a simple and delightfully inventive re-telling of the stories from the Arabian Nights.
It is wedding night in the palace of King Shahrayar. By morning, the new Queen Shahrazad is to be put to death like all the young brides before her. But she has one gift that could save her – the gift of storytelling.
With her mischievous imagination, the young Queen spins her dazzling array of tales and characters. On her side are Ali Baba, Es-Sindibad the Sailor and Princess Parizade – adventurers in strange and magical worlds populated by giant beasts, talking birds, devilish ghouls and crafty thieves. But will her silver-tongued stories be enough to enchant her husband and save her life?
Accessibility Information
This show has not yet entered the pre-production stage and therefore accessibility information is not currently available.
This amateur production of “Arabian Nights” is presented by arrangement with Nick Hern Books
Dead Simple
Directed by Karen Shayler
Following the nationwide acclaimed hit stage production of Peter James’ The Perfect Murder, the best-selling work of the No.1 novelist has returned to the stage with the adaptation of his most famous two million selling book and the first book that featured James’ now famous character of Detective Roy Grace - Dead Simple.
Michael Harrison thinks he has it all; great career, good friends and a beautiful fiancée. But when his stag night prank goes horribly wrong, Michael finds himself alone, buried alive and staring death in the face. As time runs out and the terror grows, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace tries to solve his mysterious disappearance, but begins to fear that Michael will never be found in time.
Accessibility Information
This show has not yet entered the pre-production stage and therefore accessibility information is not currently available.
The Stranger
The Stranger is a gripping play by Agatha Christie, adapted from her own short story "Philomel Cottage." The narrative revolves around Enid, who breaks off her long-standing engagement to marry the charming and mysterious Gerald. They move to a secluded country cottage, which initially seems like a romantic escape. However, the story takes a dark turn as secrets unravel, and Enid discovers that Gerald may not be the man she thought he was. The play explores themes of deception, love, and the realization that sometimes the greatest danger can come from those closest to us. It's a psychological thriller that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats, culminating in a dramatic and unexpected climax.
Accessibility Information
This show has not yet entered the pre-production stage and therefore accessibility information is not currently available.
This amateur production of “The Stranger” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk
The Addams Family
The Addams Family musical is a dark comedy that brings the beloved and quirky Addams family to the stage with a delightful twist. In this story, the focus is on Wednesday Addams, now an eighteen-year-old young woman, who has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a boy from a normal, respectable Ohio family. As the rest of the Addams family try hold on to their unique values, Wednesday's new, unconventional romance poses a challenge to the family's traditions. The plot thickens when Wednesday invites the Beinekes to dinner, setting the stage for a fateful and hilarious night where secrets are revealed, relationships are tested, and the Addams family must confront the one thing they've avoided for generations: change.
Accessibility Information
This show has not yet entered the pre-production stage and therefore accessibility information is not currently available.
“The Addams Family” is presented through special arrangement with and all authorised performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW), www.theatricalrights.co.uk
Sleeping Beauty
Once upon a time in a land far away, Princess Aurora is turning 21 but all celebrations have been banned by her wicked Aunt Carabosse, who is determined to stop the princess from taking her rightful place as Queen.
Carabosse tricks her niece into pricking her finger on a spinning wheel needle, cursing her to everlasting sleep.
Can true love survive and Prince Charming break the spell? Who will outwit the evil Enchantress and foil her wicked plans? Join us this Christmas on an unforgettable adventure to find out!
Full of fun, singing and all the action you’d expect from a Priory Panto – we promise to have you buzzing from a fantastic, festive night out.
Sleeping Beauty - Relaxed Performance
The Priory presents a relaxed performance of our Christmas 2024/25 pantomime!
Designed to create a welcoming environment to our customers with sensory needs and other visible and hidden disabilities, we're really excited to welcome you!
Arrangements include:
- No strobe lighting
- No pyrotechnics
- Volume turned down
- House lights remain on throughout the show
- The audience are free to move around and make noise during the show
- An introduction to the show before we begin
- Sensory tour prior to the show
On Golden Pond
Directed by John Evans
A touching, funny and warmly perceptive study of a spirited and lovable elderly couple facing their twilight years. Ethel and Norman Thayer return to their summer home on Golden Pond for the 44th year. He is a retired professor, nearing eighty, with heart palpitations and a failing memory, but still as sharp-tongued, observant and eager for life as ever. Ethel, ten years younger and the perfect foil for Norman, delights in all the small things which have enriched and continue to enrich their life together.
They are visited by their divorced, middle-aged daughter and her dentist fiance, who then go off to Europe, leaving his teenage son behind for the summer. The boy quickly becomes the grandchild the elderly couple have longed for and as Norman revels in taking his ward fishing and thrusting good books at him, he also learns some lessons about modern teenage awareness in return.
Accessibility Information
This show has not yet entered the pre-production stage and therefore accessibility information is not currently available.
This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International on behalf of Josef Weinberger Ltd. www.mtishows.co.uk | www.josef-weinberger.com
Abigail’s Party
Directed by Bev Avis Dakin
It was 1977, the year of skin-tight polyester, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, and Saturday Night Fever. The Sex Pistols were storming up the charts, skateboarding was the latest craze, and Angela Rippon danced with Morecambe & Wise.
In her suburban living room, Beverly prepares for the arrival of her guests. She and husband Laurence will play host to neighbours Angela, Tony, as well as Susan, whose teenage daughter, Abigail is having a party to which Susan has been dis-invited.. As the alcohol flows and the ‘nibbles’ are handed around, Mike Leigh’s ruthless, achingly funny examination of 1970s British life begins…
Accessibility Information
This show has not yet entered the pre-production stage and therefore accessibility information is not currently available.
This amateur production of “Abigail’s Party” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk
Dick Whittington - Relaxed Performance
The Priory presents a relaxed performance of our Christmas 2023 pantomime!
Designed to create a welcoming environment to our customers with sensory needs and other visible and hidden disabilities, we're really excited to welcome you!
Arrangements include:
- No strobe lighting
- No pyrotechnics
- Volume turned down
- House lights remain on throughout the show
- The audience are free to move around and make noise during the show
- An introduction to the show before we begin
- Sensory tour prior to the show (TBC)
Pack up your hanky and join daring Dick Whittington and his trusty cat on their quest for fame and fortune. Their magical rags to riches tale takes us on a journey to London where the streets are (apparently) paved with gold.
The legendary Priory panto returns full of sparkle, excitement and fun. Our hero’s incredible adventure takes him onto the High Seas, into battle with the evil King Rat and see him fall head over heels in love with his boss’s daughter Alice. All the while the magical Bells are singing out his destiny – to become Mayor of London!
Full of fun, singing and lots of action – we promise to have you buzzing from a fantastic, festive night out.
Dick Whittington
Pack up your hanky and join daring Dick Whittington and his trusty cat on their quest for fame and fortune. Their magical rags to riches tale takes us on a journey to London where the streets are (apparently) paved with gold.
The legendary Priory panto returns full of sparkle, excitement and fun. Our hero’s incredible adventure takes him onto the High Seas, into battle with the evil King Rat and see him fall head over heels in love with his boss’s daughter Alice. All the while the magical Bells are singing out his destiny – to become Mayor of London!
Full of fun, singing and lots of action – we promise to have you buzzing from a fantastic, festive night out.
Sheila’s Island
Directed by Stuart Lawson
Bonfire night 2019, Sheila, Denise, Julie, and Fay are Team C in Pennine Mineral Water Ltd.’s annual outward-bound team-building weekend. Somehow, Sheila has been nominated team leader, and, using her cryptic crossword solving skills, has unwittingly stranded her team on an island in the Lake District.
Our intrepid heroines find themselves manufacturing weapons from cable ties and spatulas, and create a rescue flag with plastic plates and a toasting fork.
Questions are asked; truths are told; dirty washing is aired.
Is it possible to build an adequate night shelter with a prom dress and a sleeveless jumper? What is Julie’s husband really up to in Aldi? And why are they on this bloody team building exercise when they could be at a spa?
Curtains
Curtains is a musical send-up set in 1959 Boston, Massachusetts and follows the fallout when Jessica Cranshaw, the supremely untalented star of Robbin' Hood of the Old West is murdered during her opening night curtain call.
It is up to Lt. Frank Cioffi, a police detective who moonlights as a musical theatre fan, to save the show, solve the case, and maybe even find love, without getting killed himself.
Packed with glorious tunes and a witty, charming script filled with delightful characters, Curtains will have you laughing until the last curtain falls!
The original Broadway production garnered 8 nominations at the 2007 Tony Awards.
Waiting for God
Thrown together by circumstance, two spirited residents of Bayview Retirement Village, a stuffy seniors home where stepping out of line is strictly frowned upon, form an alliance and begin to give the home's oppressive management a run for their money
All the favourite characters from the original series are re- imagined, facing the challenges that come with growing old disgracefully in the era of the silver surfer.
This British sitcom aired originally on BBC1 from 1990 to 1994.
And Then There Were None
Ten strangers gather at the mansion on Soldier Island, just off the coast of Devon. They are invited under a variety of pretences: for employment, for a detective case, or just for a good time. Before the party truly gets under way, a recording plays that accuses each guest of murder. Baffled, these strangers realize that they have no idea who their host is, and when the first guest is murdered, they understand that they have been brought to the island by a maniac who intends to dispense his own form of justice.
Who is the killer? And who will survive this gathering and make it off the island? As time goes by, and characters fall away in accordance with the lines of a sinister nursery rhyme, it is clear that the survivors can trust no one.
And Then There Were None is a mystery thriller that set the bar for the “whodunnit” genre.
Blithe Spirit
The fussy and cantankerous novelist Charles Condomine finds himself literally haunted when an eccentric medium – Madame Arcati – inadvertently conjures up the ghost of his first wife, Elvira, at a séance. When she appears, visible only to Charles, and determined to sabotage his current marriage to Ruth, life – and the afterlife – get complicated.
Things go rapidly downhill as a baffled Charles watches his dead wife and his living wife fight over him, but who will win?
Intensely funny, Blithe Spirit combines farce, emotion and wit to great effect.