In Praise of Love by Terence Rattigan
 
Reading Friday June 21 7.45pm
Auditions Sunday June 23 7.45pm
                Monday June 24 7.45pm

All at the Chesil Theatre

​Production dates Saturday September 28 - October 5
 
A deeply moving drama, In Praise of Love  by Terence Rattigan,is the first production of the new season at the Chesil Theatre, Winchester. The play explores the often hidden truths and feelings in a long marriage. Sebastian and Lydia Crutwell insist on protecting each other from the knowledge of Lydia's terminal illness. Their unspoken anxieties and deep love is portrayed in Rattigan's pitch perfect dialogue which combines gentle comedy with heart-rending pathos.
 
Rattigan, one of the great dramatists of the last century, was inspired to write the play by the way Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall lived in the last months before her untimely death, aged just 32, of myeloid leukaemia. Rex Harrison kept this from his vivacious actress wife who believed she was suffering from an iron deficiency.
 
Director, Norma York said: "There are challenging parts for one woman and three men, one in his twenties. We always welcome newcomers at the reading and auditions."
 
Editorial Note
 
Contact Lisbeth Rake 01794 388245 The.rakes@zen.co.uk

The Chesil Theatre, Winchester, is honoured to be one of the first amateur companies in the country to secure the rights to present Lucy Kirkwood's The Children as the May production. This play opened at the Royal Court Theatre London in November 2016, three years after Kirkwood's multi-award winning Chimerica took the West End and Broadway by storm. Kirkwood updated and developed ideas in that play to create the highly acclaimed four part programme seen on Channel 4.
 
Lucy Kirkwood, who  is still only 34, has been described as the most rewarding dramatist of her generation. The Children was the Winner of the 2018 Writers Guild Best Play UK and in the same year she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative. When the play moved to the  USA  it was nominated for a Best Play Tony Award.
 
Retired nuclear physicists, Hazel and Robin move to an isolated cottage as the world around them crumbles. One day, Rose, an old friend and former colleague they haven’t seen for many years arrives. She has a challenging request.
 
Director Lisbeth Rake said: "This rich and beautifully written play is both moving and funny. It examines a long marriage and the way the friendships of youth reverberate in old age  whilst provoking questions that will develop in the mind long after the lights have faded."
 
Production Dates Saturday May 18 - Saturday May 25
Matinee Sunday May 19 4pm
 
Tickets from £10 available from chesiltheatre.org.uk, 0333 666 3366 (booking fee applies)

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime by Oscar Wilde adapted by Constance Cox

Performance Dates Saturday July 13 - July 20 2019
 
Reading Friday May 3 at 7.45pm
Auditions Saturday May 4 and Sunday May 5 Time 7.45pm

A comedy of mishaps, mayhem, muddle and murder, not to mention matrimony, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime is the summer production at the Chesil.  Adapted by Constance Cox from a short story by Oscar Wilde, it tells of the honourable Arthur's decision to postpone his wedding to the beautiful Sibyl until he has committed a dastardly deed as foretold by a reader of palms.
 
But who will be the victim?
 
Aided by his trusty butler, Baines, and an inept anarchist, Herr Winkelkopf, Arthur puts his and Sibyl's relatives in peril only to have all his plans to dispose of elderly aunts and uncles thwarted by the good intentions of others.
 
There are ten roles, five male and five female with ages ranging between 20 and 70. New members are always welcome.
 
Director, Malcolm Brown, has set the play in 1925. He said: " “This is an out and out comedy in the traditions of Jeeves and Wooster, Carry On . . and Frasier but it has a darker comical element which will have you chuckling all the way home.”
 
The reading on 3 May is a social occasion not an audition. You don't have to be a member, simply turn up and read or just listen.

Saturday 23 to Saturday 30 March 2019 7.45pm
Matinee Sunday March 24 4pm
 
Tickets from £10 available from chesiltheatre.org.uk
0333 666 3366 (booking fee applies)
 
The spring production at the Chesil Theatre, Winchester is The Real Thing, first presented in 1982 and thought of as Tom Stoppard's most personal play. Stoppard, then aged 45, had written several successful and critically acclaimed plays such Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Travesties and Jumpers.
 
The Real Thing features Henry, the smartest playwright of his generation, now a recognised success, whose wife Charlotte has been appearing in his latest triumph about a couple whose marriage is on the verge of collapse. Max, her leading man, is also married to an actress, Annie. When Henry’s passionate affair with Annie threatens to destroy both marriages, Henry realises life has started imitating art.
 
The Real Thing combines Stoppard's intellectual and dazzling wordplay with some of his most tender and touching writing, as he examines his own life for this poignant story of the search for love which is "the real thing". This clever, witty and entertaining examination of fidelity and trust is a multi award-winning modern classic.
 
Director Marcus Whitfield said: "It’s a challenge and a privilege to help my talented cast bring such a brilliant piece of writing alive on the Chesil stage. Stoppard’s deeply insightful play speaks volumes to all of us who have wrestled with life and love. I look forward to seeing you there!"

​Booking here.
 

​Production Dates Saturday May 18 - Saturday May 25
Matinee Sunday May 19 4pm
 
Reading Friday March 8 7.45pm
Auditions Saturday March 9 4pm
Sunday March 10 7.45pm
 
It usually takes many years before a new play is released for amateur performance. The Chesil Theatre, Winchester is delighted, therefore  that it has been granted the rights to present Lucy Kirkwood's The Children in May 2019
 
The play was the Winner of the 2018 Writers’ Guild Best Play Award and nominated for a Tony when it moved to the Broadway USA.
 
Lucy Kirkwood, who was only 32 when she wrote the play, has been described as one of the most rewarding dramatists of her generation. In The Children she has created three finely drawn characters, all in their sixties. Two retired nuclear physicists Hazel and Robin move to an isolated cottage near the sea as the world around them crumbles. One day there’s a new arrival, Rose, an old friend and former colleague they haven’t seen for many years. Why has she come and why does she seem to know her way round the cottage?
 
Director Lisbeth Rake said: "This rich and beautifully written play is both moving and funny whilst provoking questions that will develop in the mind long after the lights have faded."
 

The two sections of Chesil Youth Theatre Winchester will be performing four short pieces on the theme of “Delusions” on 14th and 15th February 2019 at 7.30pm.  Tickets are now available from www.chesiltheatre.org.uk.
 
The senior group (aged 13-16) open with an adaptation by Paul King of Nikolai Gogol’s satire The Government Inspector, where a group of townspeople endeavour to impress an important official. But have they identified the right person?
 
Are You New Here? by S J Edwards is performed by the junior section (8-12) and features three aliens who have landed on earth and want to join the local school. The moral to be learned is that we should not judge by appearances only.
 
School Rules is a devised piece which explores how young people perceive themselves within the school structure. Listen Pretend Dance rounds off the evening and is a new challenge for the Chesil Youth Theatre in the form of a black comedy dance drama.  This is directed by Dee Jones, Director of Chesil Youth Theatre and a former Head of Drama, Physical and Expressive Arts at The Henry Beaufort School in Winchester.
 
The Chesil Youth Theatre welcomes new members. For more information contact youth@chesiltheatre.org,uk.  

Reading Friday 4 January at 7.45 pm at the Chesil Theatre
Auditions Saturday 5 January 2.30pm &  Sunday 6 January 7.45pm  at Chesil Theatre
 
Henry is the smartest playwright of his generation. Charlotte, his wife, has been appearing in his latest success  about a couple whose marriage is on the verge of collapse. Max, her leading man, is also married to an actress, Annie. When Henry’s affair with Annie threatens to destroy both marriages, Henry realises life has started imitating art. But are they really in love? Is it the real thing?
 
The Real Thing combines the intellectual and dazzling wordplay of Stoppard at his most witty with some of his most tender and touching writing. A clever, poignant and entertaining examination of infidelity, this play is recognised as a multi award-winning modern classic.
 
Director Marcus Whitfield said: "There are roles for four males and three females in this remarkable play that continually and delightfully challenges our preconceptions and assumptions."

Audition pieces can be found here.
 
The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
​
Production dates 23 - 30 March 2019
 

Chesil Theatre Winchester welcomes a guest production The Singer by award-winning writer-director Nick Joseph from 28th November to 1st December 2018.
 
An absurd tragi-comedy in two acts, the play follows a rootless man struggling to keep rein on his unreliable and rebellious mind as he recounts the story of his obsession with a jazz singer. Pathos overlaps with comedy and the surreal, presenting striking transitions in location and character, style and tone.
 
The Singer follows on Nick Joseph’s sell-out success with The Railway Plays in 2017. A Senior Lecturer at the University of Winchester, Nick directs Arthur Wood and Charlotte Teschner in The Singer, both Drama graduates, with technical and stage management provided by current Theatre Production undergraduates.
 
Tickets are now available from www.chesiltheatre.org.uk priced £11 with a concession for students at £7. There will also be an after show discussion on Thursday 29th November, when the team will happy to expand on all aspects of the production, especially the ins and outs of non-naturalistic theatre.
 
Chesil Theatre has promoted new writing for many years, most recently staging the 10x10 Festival of New Writing in October 2018, which featured ten new works by emerging and established writers.

A contented, happy marriage of 32 years may be in danger when one of the partners unexpectedly gets the chance to follow a path to an exciting new life. Should they do so at the expense of the other’s happiness and security? How does the one left behind cope with the convulsive shock of an abrupt termination of life together? How will their adult daughter react to this cataclysmic betrayal?
 
With Rachel O’Neill, last seen as Phyllis in Season’s Greetings, and Marcus Whitfield whose most recent appearance was as Tonino and Zanetto in The Venetian Twins, this promises to be an absorbing evening of drama which challenges notions of honour, loyalty, the sense of decency and the belief that love will prevail.
 
Director, Heather Bradford said: "Honour surveys the emotional terrain of a familiar story and considers how power shifts in disrupted relationships. It shows that the consequences of an impulsive act can be interpreted in different ways. Often compared with Pinter’s Betrayal, Joanna Murray-Smith’s sharp, quick-witted dialogue will give you an unflinchingly clear portrait of marital crack-up."
 
Tickets: £10, Students, £11 first night and Matinee, £13 obtainable online chesiltheatre.org.uk
 
Honour by Joanna Murray-Smith
​
Performances 17 - 24 November
 
Matinee Saturday 24 November 2.30pm
 
Directed by Heather Bradford
 

​Chesil Theatre Winchester will be offering a new comedy to brighten up the post-festive blues in the New Year and auditions for A Bunch of Amateurs are being held on 27th and 28th October 2018.
 
The play is the latest to come from  Have I Got News For You star Ian Hislop with Spitting Image writer Nick Newman. The piece is an homage to amateur drama and involves an aging Hollywood actor agreeing to play King Lear in Stratford. However, instead of the birthplace of the famous Bard, Stratford turns out to be a sleepy Suffolk town and the production is being staged by, what else but a bunch of amateurs who are trying to save their community theatre by involving an A-lister. What could possibly go wrong?
 
There are significant roles for four women and three men including Jefferson Steel, vain and self-centred, but who learns some truths about himself, along with his inner Lear, mainly thanks to the involvement of his teenage daughter Carefully sketched characters from the Stratford Players mirror a cross-section of the community from local solicitor to handyman, B&B owner to physiotherapist.
 
Director Peter Liddiard comments:
“This play certainly has hilarious moments as egoes and cultures collide and Jefferson realises he must come to grips with his unexpected situation. There are many twists and turns throughout with brilliant comic dialogue.”
 
Auditions are being held at Chesil Theatre, Chesil Street, Winchester on Saturday 27th October at 12.30pm and Sunday 28th October at 7.45pm. There will be an informal playreading on Friday 26th October at 7.45pm when newcomers are particularly welcome. Performances take place on 26th January to 2nd February 2019 and booking is now open from www.chesiltheatre.org.uk.
 
The roles are:
 
Jefferson Steel – a fading Hollywood star: think Charlton Heston meets Clint Eastwood,
Jessica Steel – his teenage daughter,
Dorothy Nettle – director of the Stratford Players,
Nigel Dewbury – local solicitor, self-regarding leading light of the Stratford Players,
Mary Plunkett – B&B owner and unashamedly adoring Jefferson Steel fan,
Denis Dobbins – useful handyman, enthusiastic but rather dull,
Lauren Bell – wife of sponsor, considered a bimbo but smarter than she looks.