Setting the scene for an entertaining few months ahead
Theatre Royal Bath’s new brochure showcases a packed autumn and winter season and a host of new shows for 2023. Drama, comedies, opera, musicals, ballet, new writing, concerts and pantomime feature in the upcoming programme, which runs from September 2022 to April 2023.
This week, there’s still time to catch The Doctor starring Olivier Award winner Juliet Stevenson (pictured right, photo by Manuel Harlan), who reprises her leading role in Robert Icke’s five-star London production (until September 17). The 40th anniversary production of Michael Frayn’s Noises Off opens in Bath with a stellar cast featuring Felicity Kendal, Jonathan Coy, Matthew Kelly and Tracy Ann-oberman. One of the greatest British comedies ever written, this riotous play-within-a-play follows the backstage antics of a touring theatre company as they stumble their way through the fictional farce, Nothing On, with hilarious consequences. (Sept 22-Oct 1).
Musicals come to the fore in October, with double Olivier and Tony Award-winning, West End and Broadway smash-hit Girl From The North Country visiting Bath on its first UK tour (Oct 4-8). Playwright Conor Mcpherson and Bafta and Tony Award-winning music arranger and composer Simon Hale’s bold reimagining of the legendary songs of Bob Dylan is followed by Friendsical, an original and unique new parody musical inspired by the iconic TV show Friends (Oct 11-15). This thoroughly entertaining feel-good show features guest appearances from Pussycat Doll Kimberley Wyatt and Strictly winner Jay Mcguinness. Completing the musical triple bill, Bath Light Operatic Group make a welcome return to the Theatre Royal from October 18-22 to present Jerry Herman’s famous Broadway musical Mack & Mabel, set in 1920s Hollywood.
Drama takes centre stage from
October 25-29, when The Two Popes tours to Bath starring Anton Lesser and Nicholas Woodeson (recently seen as Prospero in The Tempest at the Ustinov Studio). Directed by James Dacre and written by Anthony Mccarten – best known for the biopics Bohemian Rhapsody, Darkest Hour and The Theory of Everything – this gripping play shines a light on one of the world’s most secretive institutions.
The success story of Cornwall’s most unlikely “buoy band” is celebrated from November 1-5 in Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical, based on the true story of the Cornish singing sensations and the hit 2019 film. The world premiere stage production stars James Gaddas, Robert Duncan, Susan Penhaligon and Parisa Shamir. A brandnew production one of the wittiest and most provocative plays ever written, George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession runs from November 9-19, with real-life mother and daughter Caroline Quentin and Rose Quentin joined by Simon Shepherd and Matthew Cottle. Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap makes a welcome return to the Theatre Royal from
November 21-26 – 70 years to the week since its first ever performance! The 2022 tour of the genredefining murder mystery stars Todd Carty, John Altman and Gwyneth Strong. The stage version of the hit UK movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, visits Bath from November 28-December 3 starring Hayley Mills, Paul Nicholas and Rula Lenska.
During the festive season at the Theatre Royal, West End and
Emmerdale star Tom Lister will play Abanazar in the enchanting family pantomime Aladdin, alongside Bath favourite Jon Monie as Wishee Washee and Eastenders’ Nick Wilton as Dame Widow Twankey (Dec 8-Jan 8). Guaranteed to entertain both the young and the young at heart, Aladdin will feature a brand-new joke-filled script penned by Bath’s own all-round pantomime legend Jon Monie.
New shows announced for 2023
include Alan Ayckbourn’s uproariously funny comedy Relatively Speaking starring Liza Goddard and Antony Eden (Jan 12-21). The International Classic Ballet Theatre presents Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, two of the world’s most popular classical ballets, accompanied by a live orchestra (Jan 24-28). Comedy continues with Olivier Award winner Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), a unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s most iconic love story (Jan 30-Feb 4), and Miles Jupp and Justin Edwards star in the 24-carat comedy caper The Lavender Hill Mob (Feb 6-11) when a brand-new staging of the classic Ealing comedy is brought to life.
TV stars Jacqueline Jossa and Laura Main head the cast in Steel Magnolias (February 14-18) when the hilarious and heart-warming true story that inspired the hit film tours to Bath, in a new production of the original play by Robert Harling, who also wrote the screenplay. New drama Noughts And Crosses (Feb 28-Mar 4) is adapted from the story which inspired the
hit BBC TV series. This gripping Romeo and Juliet tale by acclaimed writer Malorie Blackman and adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz is a captivating snapshot of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world. From March 7-18, the five-star spectacular National Theatre production of The Ocean At The End Of The Lane tours to Bath. The first major
stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed work is a thrilling adventure of fantasy, myth and friendship. Blending magic with memory, this tour-de-force of storytelling takes audiences on an epic journey to a childhood once forgotten and the darkness that lurks at the very edge of it.
From April 4-8, the multi-award-winning West End smash-hit musical Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story returns to Bath for the first time in 20 years, featuring two terrific hours of the greatest songs ever written, including Oh Boy, Everyday, Peggy Sue, Rave On and many, many more. Young theatregoers can enjoy the purrfect Easter treat when The Tiger Who Came To Tea, the musical play based on the much-loved book by Judith Kerr, appears at the Theatre Royal on April 9 and 10 (Easter Sunday and Monday). Direct from London’s acclaimed Jermyn Street Theatre, Farm Hall tours to Bath from April 12-15, based on a remarkable true story surrounding events at Farm Hall in the Cambridgeshire countryside during the aftermath of the Second World War. Looking ahead to May, the multi award-winning An Inspector Calls returns to the Theatre Royal from May 16-20. Stephen Daldry’s must-see production of JB Priestley’s classic thriller has delighted more than five million theatregoers worldwide and remains more relevant than ever.
SUNDAY PERFORMANCES Sunday performances at the Theatre Royal Bath this autumn include
Monty Python legend and intrepid globetrotter Michael Palin, who makes a welcome return to the Theatre Royal on October 9, this time with his new tour From North Korea Into Iraq sharing tales of two of the most extraordinary journeys he’s ever made. On November 20, Gareth Malone brings a feelgood matinee concert Sing-alonga-gareth, when together with his band and a group of stellar singers, Gareth guides the audience through an afternoon of tunes he’s performed over the last 15 years on TV. Independent rock stars of the “bonsai guitar”, George Hinchliffe’s Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain, are back by popular demand on November 27, when the world’s very first Ukulele Orchestra returns to present a matinee and evening concert.
Aladdin is sponsored by Bath Carpets and Flooring, and Moore.