Theatre Productions for Spring 2010 are as follows for events near you check out the listing page.

All of the productions on this page qualify for the 'A night less ordinary' Free Theatre Ticket Initiative, visit the home page for further information.

Two Friends Productions - 'Pretty Witty Nell'

This sparkling one-woman comedy tells the life of Nell Gwyn, the most popular mistress of Charles II. With the King on his death bed, and creditors knocking on her door, Nell recalls her radiant life. From the gutters of Covent Garden to glittering actress, Nell survived the Plague and Great Fire to become the best-loved character of her day. Admired by Pepys and the muse of Dryden, her life with King Charles lasted for 18 turbulent years. His last words were of her.

Please note change of date for Whorlton Village hall from Fri 12 March to Sunday 28th March.

Spike Theatre - 'Top of the World'

A dramatic fiction based on the true life events of Edmund Hilary’s conquest of Everest. A classic adventure story of man’s desire to be the first. In a race against time to conquer Everest, Hilary & Norgay succeeded where others had tragically failed.

Inspired by the Oscar nominated Documentary - ‘The Conquest of Everest’ - and Sir Edmund Hilary’s personal account - ‘High Adventure’ - Spike will re-examine one of the most famous events of the 20th Century.

Incorporating projected animation, puppetry, and a whole load of snow Spike will spin its own brand of bold visual storytelling using a compendium of physical theatre techniques to create a delightful blend of simplicity and absurdity.

‘Spike bring big ideas into small spaces and do it brilliantly’. BBC Radio

Bad Apple Theatre - 'Back to the Land Girls' with music by Jez Lowe

It’s 1942, and there are some new arrivals in the village. They’re turning heads and breaking hearts as the fine girls of the Women’s Land Army take to the hills.

Buff is a city girl dreaming of being ‘just like Vera Lynn’, Biddy is a country girl who is a hopeless romantic. Join them on a journey of blisters, back-ache and banter as they learn all there is to know about working on the land.

This brand new show is the latest comedy two-hander from Badapple’s resident writer as she celebrates the highs and lows of the wonderful women who helped keep Britain fed during World War II. It’s set against a backdrop of glorious music of the age, as well as new tunes by songwriter Jez Lowe.

These Colours - 'King of the Gypsies'

800 years ago they began to travel. Roaming the earth in search of a home. So begins an incredible story; of survival against the odds, of being hunted to the brink of extinction and of enduring the greatest horrors known to man.

From the ancient fields of India to a scrap of land on the edge of civilisation, King of the Gypsies lifts the latch on a bold, brash and vibrant world. A world that clings to life with a passionate embrace. A world that, despite everything, is still fighting to survive.

Hugh Lupton & Chris Wood - 'On Common Ground'

An evening of stories, songs and music exploring the life and times of JOHN CLARE.

Clare’s story is told within the context of the Enclosures Act which disenfranchised the poor and began the shift of the working class from the countryside to the factories of the Industrial Revolution.

‘ The landscape holds the memory of everyone who has ever trodden it… all we have to do is listen’. In this programme of story, music, poetry and song Chris Wood and Hugh Lupton put their ears to the ground and tell the story of poet John Clare. It is a performance that explores the porous boundaries between language and place, madness and exile, love and loss.

Hugh is a master wordsmith, Chris is the leading folk musician of his generation, together they weave a beguiling magic.

“Sheer wizardry in the guise of utter simplicity…a packed house sat in a thrall of enchantment, no movement, no intrusive sounds… Hugh Lupton is joined by singer/fiddler Chris Wood, whose style is timeless and beguiling, his songs wonderfully evocative.” Eastern Daily Press

New Perspectives - 'Those Magnificent Men'

‘Extra, extra! Read all about it! £10,000 prize for the first ever non-stop transatlantic flight!’

By any standards, it’s a classic tale of plucky British pioneers – Captain John Alcock, dashing WW1 fighter pilot, and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, navigational genius with a gammy leg, huddled together against the elements in the tiny timber and canvas cockpit of their converted Vickers Vimy biplane – talk about winging it!

Now critically-acclaimed comedy writing duo, Brian Mitchell & Joseph Nixon, have turned the story of the race to conquer the skies over the Atlantic into a fast and furious comic tour-de-force. Thrill to the sheer adventuring spirit of our unlikely heroes, marvel at their daredevil aerial antics, and wonder at how the whole bally thing is told with just two actors and a crate full of funny props.