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The evenings may be getting lighter but a darkness will hang over the Chesil Theatre, Winchester, when Dracula engulfs the stage in a modern adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Gothic tale, which runs from 28th March to 4th April 2020.

It’s the close of the nineteenth century and a freak storm brings more than bad weather to the cosy town of Whitby. The most famous vampire of them all, Count Dracula, has arrived. His interest is in the Westerman sisters, who are enjoying a seaside holiday. Mina, an intelligent young woman, conforms to the requirements of Victorian society but Lucy is quite the opposite. Vivacious and bold, she strains at the leash, pushing barriers and with horrifying results.

Poet and playwright Liz Lochhead, tells this intriguing story, whilst also bringing contemporary issues into the drama. Faith battles with reason, madness with sanity. Does the heart rule, or the head?

Dracula runs at the Chesil Theatre, Chesil Street, Winchester, nightly from Saturday 28th March to Saturday 4th April 2020, with a matinee on Sunday 29th March at 2.30pm. Tickets are available here.

​This production contains strong language and adult themes.

In 1913 The Winchester Amateur Operatic Society presented their first show, The Pirates of Penzance. The programme shows many members of the Winchester Dramatic Society, established 1863, were in the cast and backstage.  The close links have remained and now the two groups have joined forces to bring a Summer Festival in the beautiful gardens of Wolvesey Palace.

The Festival opens on July 14th with the Chesil Theatre, as Winchester Dramatic Society is now known, performing one of Shakespeare's best loved comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It will be directed by Sarah Hawkins. As well as appearing on stage and directing at the Chesil, she brings a wealth of experience in outdoor productions and Shakespeare from her years as Head of English Literature at Peter Symonds College.

WMOS swing aboard on July 21st with their 2020 approach to the 1913 G&S operetta . Suzanne Hall, the chairman of the Society takes the helm. She has a fine reputation as actor, singer, dancer and choreographer and directed her first WMOS show in 2007. She has been in charge for several more productions including the stunning Singing in the Rain in 2018

Both directors have won much acclaim from audiences and NODA Awards for their high standards and are sure to bring fine entertainment to the gardens of Wolvesey Palace.

A Fine Bright Day Today by Philip Goulding

​Reading Friday February 21 7.45pm

Auditions Sunday February 23 7.45pm and Monday February 24 7.45pm

Performances May 16 - 23 7.45pm. Matinee Sunday 17 2.30pm

The Chesil Theatre has a fine record of bringing a wide range of drama of all genres to Winchester; classics, favourites but also of introducing new works.

The May production, A Fine Bright Day Today by Philip Goulding is a contemporary play which explores, with warmth, understanding and humour, the intertwining past and present lives of three very different people.

Set in a small English coastal town, where trawler men take their boats out in all weathers, this is a delicately constructed story of hope in later life.

Since her husband was lost at sea more than 30 years ago, Margaret has lived with her daughter, Rebecca. Now she is moving out to be with her boyfriend and Margaret faces a future alone. However, when Rebecca asks her mother to take in a lodger, on impulse she  agrees. It’s not long before he’s disturbing her calm routine, dripping rainwater on her clean floors and appearing for breakfast in his boxers.

Director, Caroline Helcke, said: "There are open auditions for these three fine parts in this entertaining, thoughtful play with a big heart. Philip Goulding makes us really care about these people and their hopes for the future."

There will be a reading on Friday February 21 with auditions on Sunday February 23 and Monday 24; all at the Theatre at 7.45pm.

New members are always welcome.

Chesil Theatre Winchester opens the New Year with a classic piece when Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts runs from 25th January to 1st February 2020.

To her social class, Helen Alving’s marriage appeared outwardly successful yet it was inwardly miserable, due to her husband’s continued philandering. Now a widow, she wishes to protect her son Oswald and guide him from his father’s ways. But is she already too late? Will ghosts from the past reappear and events repeat themselves?

Ibsen’s drama is now considered a masterpiece but in 1883 19th-century audiences were shocked, particularly by comments on incest, prostitution and venereal disease. This new adaptation by former-National Theatre Director Richard Eyre was welcomed as “fleet and vivid” (The Telegraph) and “spellbinding” (The Independent).

Ghosts runs at the Chesil Theatre, Chesil Street, Winchester from Saturday 25th January to Saturday 1st February 2020 nightly with a matinee performance on Sunday 26th January at 2.30pm. You can buy your tickets here. 

​Be afraid! Be very afraid! The most famous vampire of all, Dracula, is coming to Winchester’s Chesil Theatre in March 2020. Open auditions for the 10 exciting roles, five male five female, are being held on Sunday 8th and Monday 9th December 2019. The characters cover a wide age range from 18 to 60 including two young women (one vivacious the other very proper), an insane inmate of Bedlam asylum, an upright solicitor, plus of course the Prince of Darkness himself.

Set in the 1890s, the narrative follows Count Dracula’s attempt to move from Transylvania to England, seeking, what else, but new blood. From the remote Yorkshire coast to the crowded streets of London, the struggle to stop his vampiric reign begins.
Director John Wakeman said: “This bold modern adaptation is by renowned poet and playwright Liz Lochhead and stays unnervingly close to Bram Stoker’s original nightmare tale.”

An informal reading is being held at the theatre on Friday 6th December at 7.45pm when newcomers are particularly welcome. Dracula runs from 28th March to 4th April 2020 and tickets are now available from 

Dracula by Liz Lochhead – open casting call (with playing ages)
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Lucy Westerman/Bride of Dracula (18-25) – a vivacious young woman who strains at the bounds of Victorian society, with horrifying results.

Mina Westerman (20-30s) – an intelligent yet proper young lady conforming to Victorian norms and engaged to Jonathan Harker.

Florrie Hathersage/Bride of Dracula (18-25) – maid to the Westerman household, young but worldly.

Mrs Manners/Doctor Goldman/Bride of Dracula (40s+) – Mrs Manners, housekeeper to the Westermans. Doctor Goldman, an intellectual who views her patients as objects of study

Nurse Nesbitt, Grice (40s +) – one character with opposing personalities, sadist/masochist, working at Bedlam.

Dracula/Drinkwater (ageless) – Dracula the Prince of Darkness, pure evil, charming, sophisticated. Drinkwater, an orderly at Bedlam.

Arthur Seward (20s-40s) – old school acquaintance of Jonathan, consulting physician to Renfield at Bedlam, suitor to Lucy.

Jonathan Harker (20s-40s) – fiancé to Mina, up-and-coming solicitor, encounters Dracula on a business trip to Eastern Europe.

Professor Van Helsing (50+) – the one person familiar with vampires and how to fight them.

Renfield (30s-60s) – inmate at Bedlam. Prior encounters with Dracula have left him insane and an unwilling accomplice.
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For further information please contact:

Flavia Bateson
Chesil Theatre Marketing Team
01962 855544
flavia.bateson@starspray.org

Chesil Theatre Winchester’s New Year production will be Henrik Ibsen’s classic tragedy Ghosts and open auditions are being held on 13th and 14th October 2019. The play is a scathing commentary on 19th century morals and offers challenging roles for two women and three men.
 
At the centre of the narrative is Helene Alving, a widow, wanting to escape the ghosts of her earlier life but as the drama unfolds she learns that present consequences are brought about by past actions. This award-winning adaptation is by former National Theatre Director Richard Eyre.
 
Director Peter Andrews comments:
“This play shocked 19th-century audiences because of its comment on religion, incest, and inherited disease but this contemporary production gives it enormous freshness and power”.
 
An informal reading is being held at the theatre on 11th October at 7.45pm when newcomers are particularly welcome. Ghosts runs from 25th January to 1st February 2020 and tickets are now available from www.chesiltheatre.org.uk
 
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​In Praise of Love by Terence Rattigan
Saturday September 28th - Saturday October 5th
Matinee Sunday September 29th 2.30pm

The new season at the Chesil Theatre, Winchester, opens with In Praise of Love, a tender and deeply moving play by a master of twentieth century theatre, Terence Rattigan. 

Sebastian Crutwell, an acerbic arts critic on a Sunday newspaper, keeps the world at bay with his aggressively mocking banter. His reluctance, or inability, to admit his true feelings for his wife, Lydia and son, Joey,  results in him talking to them in the same witty, but detached, style.

Lydia knows she has polyarteritus but shields Sebastian from the knowledge. However, he also knows and in turn is trying to protect her. We learn of the hidden truths and reticent emotions in this marriage when both confide in their friend, Mark. It is ironic that they can confess their passion more easily to other people than to each other.

Director, Norma York, said: "In Praise of Love, Rattigan's penultimate play, is packed with allusions to his own life and those of his friends. He was particularly inspired by  Rex Harrison's decision not to inform his beautiful wife, the actress, Kay Kendall of her terminal diagnosis." 

The play opens on Saturday September 28th and runs until October 5th at 7.45pm with a matinee on Sunday 29th at 2.30pm.Tickets from £12 available from our online booking facility.

Reading: Friday August 30 7.45pm
Auditions: Sunday September 2 7.45pm
                   Monday September 3 7.45pm
All at the Chesil Theatre

Production dates Saturday November 16 - November 23
 
This classic, fast-moving and riotous farce by Neil Simon, is about the dinner party from hell.  The American playwright and screenwriter  is widely regarded as one of the most successful, prolific and performed playwrights in the world and Rumours is one of his funniest with quick firing wit and repartee from the start.
 
Four well-to-do couples gather at the home of rising politician, Charley, and his wife Vivian for a wedding anniversary celebration. But where are the host and hostess? Where are the servants who should be preparing the meal? Charley is found with a shotgun wound to his ear. No-one must know. So the excuses, deceptions, confusion and outright lies begin for they must stop the rumour that he has tried to commit suicide .
 
​This version is adapted to take place in a British context, so American accents are not required. 

Director, Flavia Bateson said: "There are challenging, but also enormously entertaining, parts for four men, four women and two roles which can be male or female with playing ages : 30s - 50s.
We always welcome newcomers at the reading and auditions."
 

Rehearsals are already underway for the first production, In Praise of Love by Terence Rattigan, which opens on September 28th.  This is a deeply moving drama about hidden truths and feelings in Sebastian and Lydia Crutwell’s marriage. They are protecting each other from the knowledge of Lydia’s terminal illness. Rattigan’s pitch-perfect dialogue combines comedy and heart-rending pathos.
 
The Chesil set building team are renowned for their skills. The November show, Rumours by Neil Simon, will certainly challenge them. The classic, fast-moving, and riotous farce about the dinner party from hell requires two storeys, a staircase and several doors all of which must open and close at inopportune moments.  
 
An exciting new adaptation of, Ghosts by Richard Eyre, is the first play in 2020. Eyre, who led the Royal National Theatre for ten years, has brought enormous freshness and power to Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece.
 
A stunning version by Liz Lochhead of Dracula is the March production. Lochhead, who wrote Blood and Ice the story behind Frankenstein performed at the Chesil in 2017, has packed this classic tale with theatricality and energy. 
 
In complete contrast May brings a perceptive and amusing play A Fine Bright Day Today by Philip Goulding. Margaret has been a widow for 30 years and is set in her ways. Her daughter persuades her to take an American artist as a lodger -  with disruptive results.
 
The biennial outdoor production in July is A Midsummer Night's Dream, many people’s favourite Shakespearian comedy. The Bishop's Garden, Wolvesey Palace, is the perfect venue for the magical worlds of Oberon and Titania, young runaway Athenians and Bottom and his friends rehearsing their play, to come together in a night of midsummer madness. The large cast will involve members of the Youth Theatre.
 
The two groups, which meet on Mondays and Wednesdays from September, will also be having fun learning theatre skills as they prepare for their show in February 2020 : James and the Giant Peach and The Witches.
 
All auditions are open and publicised on the website. New members are always welcome to these and to the coffee mornings which take place on the first Saturday of every month. More details can be found on the website chesiltheatre.org.uk
 
Tickets for all these Chesil shows may be booked now online. Last season two shows sold out well before the opening night.