From our winter wond
Theatre Royal Bath’s new brochure showcases a packed Christmas, New Year and Spring season with 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 December 2022 to June 2023.
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. (8 Dec – 8 Jan).
Guaranteed to entertain both the young and the young at heart, Aladdin will feature a brand-new jokefilled script penned by Bath’s own all-round pantomime legend Jon Monie.
The New Year begins with one of our best-loved actresses Liza Goddard in Alan Ayckbourn’s timeless comedy RELATIVELY SPEAKING (12 – 21 Jan).
She is joined by Steven Pacey and Antony Eden in this revival of the hit which made Alan Ayckbourn a household name.
Several much-loved movies will be recreated on the Main House stage throughout the year.
Miles Jupp and Justin Edwards star in the 24-carat comedy caper THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (6 – 11 Feb) when a brand-new staging of the classic Ealing comedy is brought to life, followed by a brand new staging of STEEL MAGNOLIAS, the heartwarming true story set in small town America (14 – 18 February).
Laura Main (Call the Midwife), Lucy Speed (The Archers, The Bill), Caroline Harker (A Touch of Frost), National Theatre’s Elizabeth Ayodele and X Factor star Diana Vickers head the cast in this iconic comedy.
Repeatedly voted one of the best movies of all time, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION becomes an acclaimed stage event, with Joe Absolom (Eastenders) and Ben Onwukwe (London’s Burning) leading the cast through Stephen King’s thrilling prison-based drama. (27 March – 1 April)
Bafta-winner Jessica Ransom (Doc Martin, Horrible Histories) stars in HOME, I’M DARLING (21 – 25 February) the thought-provoking new comedy about one woman’s quest to be the perfect 1950s housewife.
Fans of musicals are in for a treat in 2023, with Olivier Award-winning, West End smash-hit, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE * (*sort of) visiting Bath on its first UK tour (30 Jan – 4 Feb).
This unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s most iconic love story is followed by another new musical phenomenon HEATHERS The Musical, the black comedy based on the eponymous 1988 movie (21 – 25 March).
Musical legend Buddy Holly is celebrated in BUDDY – The Buddy Holly Story which returns to Bath for the first time in 20 years as part of a huge UK tour (4 – 8 April) featuring two terrific hours of the greatest songs ever written including Oh Boy, Everyday, Peggy Sue, Rave On and many, many more.
For family entertainment, The International Classic Ballet Theatre present Tchaikovsky’s THE NUTCRACKER and SWAN LAKE, two of the world’s most popular classical ballets, accompanied by a live orchestra (24 – 28 Jan).
Young theatregoers can enjoy the purrfect Easter treat when THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA, the musical play based on the muchloved book by Judith Kerr, appears at the Theatre Royal on 9 & 10 April (Easter Sunday & Monday).
Later in April, DINOSAUR WORLD LIVE brings a pre-historic world of astonishing and remarkably life-like dinosaurs to the stage, including everyone’s favourite T-rex! (20 – 23 April).
New drama NOUGHTS AND CROSSES (28 Feb – 4 Mar) 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 7 - 18 March, 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.
Direct from London’s acclaimed Jermyn Street Theatre, FARM HALL tours to Bath from 12 – 15 April, based on a remarkable true story surrounding events at Farm Hall in the Cambridgeshire countryside during the aftermath of the Second World War.
Two of the original cast of the multi-award-winning smash hit The Play That Goes Wrong return in their hilarious new comedy, MIND MANGLER.
Join Henry Lewis and Jonathan
Sayer for an evening in the company of the disastrous hypnotist and mind reader, a five-star hit at the Edinburgh Festival (18 – 22 April).
Original Theatre also return after their hit comedy take on The Hound of the Baskervilles, to give the same treatment to another classic, H G Wells’ THE TIME MACHINE (24 – 29 April).
Looking ahead to May, John Steinbeck’s renowned novel OF MICE AND MEN (2 – 6 May) and the multi award-winning AN INSPECTOR CALLS returns to the Theatre Royal from 16 – 20 May.
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.
As summer and Eurovision approaches, an obsession with ABBA forms the basis for new comedy THE WAY OLD FRIENDS DO, as two old school friends reunite after 30 years to form an ABBA tribute act in drag! (30 May – 3 June).
Heading into the summer, Bath hosts the UK premiere of a new musical combining the songs of the unforgettable Cole Porter with the Academy Award winning movie which made a star of Audrey Hepburn
– ROMAN HOLIDAY. (10 June – 1 July).
Combining Italian chic, European glamour and Porter’s timeless music, Roman Holiday promises a charming and glittering start to the summer season!
Also now on sale for October, legendary stage and screen actor Brian Cox (HBO’S multi-award winning Succession) comes to the Theatre Royal Bath for the very first time, playing Johann Sebastian Bach in the world premiere of Oliver Cotton’s new play THE SCORE. (12 – 28 October).