Your Local Theatre with a Global Perspective
2023 OFFIE Awards winner - Most Welcoming Venue
Recently at Barons Court
All's Well That Ends by Andreea Tanase
17-21 October 2023
'Do you remember the day you got married?
Did you make promises to each other? So did we. We made a lot of promises . . . Did you see them through?'
You’re invited to the divorce party of Daria and Radu, two of your close friends who are splitting up.
Together, we’ll toast to what was and could have been as we follow their investigation into where love was lost. But will going back through their time together divide them even further, or will memories of the good times make them question their choice?
Witty and fast-paced, All’s Well That Ends is a darkly comedic, forensic journey into the romantic failures of our once happy couple.
Join us for their last hurrah in all its beautiful, awkward glory.
fell by Chris Salt
2 - 7 October 2023
Troubled schoolboy Lyle walks out of his life and up into the mountains of the Lake District. On the edge of a mountain lake, he meets Jake, whose life is as far removed from Lyle’s as possible. Over the course of 24 hours, Lyle and Jake chip away at each other until they are no longer sure who they really are or what the future holds for them. At the mercy of the elements, all they have is each other. Chris Salt's play fell is a compelling and moving story of two young, funny, sensitive lads trapped by the poverty of hope and facing the challenges of friendship whilst growing up as a young adult in a rural community.
“'fell' is a gift from heaven ... The script is so tight. Each word counting to bringing humour and drama to situations which are upsetting and very real." (North West End)
Queering the Canon
26 - 30 September 2023
A week where non-binary theatre makers held conversations, shared new work, and ran workshops around questions of gender and representation on stage. Additionally, the Barons Court Theatre donated time for genderqueer companies and artists to use the theatre for R&D's.
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Reboot Festival 3
5 - 23 September 2023 7:30pm
'A fabulous addition to London’s theatre scene’
- Fringe Biscuit
‘A delightful evening of diverse and punchy short plays that’ll leave you laughing, pondering, and feeling deeply moved’
Zuzanna Chmielewska, West End Evenings
This year's edition was truly an international new writing festival, with more than half of the writers hailing from all over the US, Canada, Australia, Ukraine and the UK.
Each week featured a whole host of talented emerging London-based actors and directors, some returing to the stage for the first time since the pandemic.
17 plays
77 theatre makers
3 weeks of new writing
1 unforgettable experience
Click the image to view the whole line up.
Slippery Wen Wet by Leanne Devlin
22 August - 2 September 2023
“I didn’t expect Love to show up,
At my dreary new job.
If we made eye contact I might explode.
Cleanup in aisle four.”
Getting a grip on love, life and everything is tricky, and just when she thinks she’s got a firm footing, Love unexpectedly slides into her…workplace! This makes for a slippery love story, with slippery floors and a very slippery vagina. Does she abandon her lifelong dreams to swim in the balmy waters of Love?
Slippery When Wet is a one-woman show written and performed by Leanne Devlin. Witty, wistful, and gushing with emotion, this story is a reminder that you can only really jump into love when you have both your feet firmly planted on the ground.
Heart by Reece Lewis
8 - 19 August 2023
A love letter to all the gay men in London
Tyler is a 24-year-old gay man. He loves his mum, his friends, and partying. But there’s more to this story than what’s on the surface. Tyler wants to be loved deeply and passionately by somebody. But in the age of Grindr and hook-ups, it’s not as easy as it seems.
Pretty Witty Nell by Ryan J Smith
18-22 July 2023
Smith’s 7th verse play, Pretty, Witty Nell® is a new and original one-woman tragicomic history, written entirely in rhyming iambic pentameter, that tells the true story of Nell Gwynne, the famous actress and mistress of the wild British monarch, King Charles II.
In the introduction to his forthcoming book of plays, ‘Rogue Shakespeare®: 3 plays’ which includes Pretty, Witty Nell®, Smith says he wrote the one-woman show as a celebration of both women on the stage; and of Nell, “a one-woman force of nature.” Smith asks, rhetorically, “what better way to celebrate the life of this absolutely amazing woman than by writing her a tribute in the style of theatre (rhyming iambic verse) that made her famous?” Pretty, Witty Nell® is indeed the first ever play about Nell Gwynne written in iambic verse.
The world premiere took place in Hollywood, California, in June 2019, where it delighted audiences and reviewers alike:
“a standout solo show - perfect!” - Broadway World
Pretty, Witty Nell® was also nominated for the Hollywood Fringe International Award – an award which Smith previously won twice in 2015 & 2016 with his verse plays, Love Labours Won and MacDeth! respectively.
Starring Hannah Attfield, Pretty, Witty Nell® (50 mins) played 6 unmissable performances at Barons Court Theatre!
Learn more at rogueshakespeare.com
So... you knew? by Bartolomeo Bartolini
11 - 15 July 2023
“...we have already done more than Greenpeace ever will to reduce emissions.” - Lee Raymond, ExxonMobil CEO until 2005
So… You Knew? is a gripping physical theatre drama that follows the life of Willie, a young scientist who discovers the truth about climate change back in 1982 while working for EcsonWobil (sounds familiar?).
The show takes us on a journey through Willie's life until 2023, as he battles with his conscience and his desire for financial stability, while also facing pressure from his colleagues and bosses to suppress his findings.
Drawing from real people, real statements and advertising from the fossil fuel industry and real scientific evidence, this compelling story is made up of hundreds of hours of research and hundreads of hours of having fun with it.
This high-energy, inspiring one-man show So… You Knew? immerses the audience in a dynamic and multi-sensory experience, utilising projections, sound effects, and compelling video footage to create a truly engaging and memorable performance.
Willie's story makes us wonder “what would you do if you discovered a truth that threatened everything you knew?”. Join us for an unforgettable exploration of one man's struggle to do the right thing, while doing all the wrong things.
Performer: Bartolomeo Bartolini
Director: Maria Cristina Petitti
Technician: Alice Catanzaro
The Therapist by Gabriela Yepes
4 - 8 July 2023
How do you look the enemy in the eye?
A human rights lawyer, accustomed to solving unwanted cases, receives an unusual proposal: to organize a yoga workshop for the leaders of Peru’s most notorious terrorist groups: The Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) and MRTA (Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru). The men are serving life sentences in a maximum-security prison since their arrest in the early 90s. Abimael Guzmán, Shining Path’s leader, is one of them.
All prisoners have the right to rehabilitation. But how do you teach wellness skills to the perpetrators of the bloodiest civil conflict in contemporary Peruvian history? Can those responsible for such suffering change? To address these questions, the therapist confronts a group of now aged, fragile looking men, who remain invisible on stage. The sheer act of standing there, with the audience as witness, strengthens her resolve to confront her own family history. The Therapist is above all a settling of accounts with past demons. The play takes us back in time through our protagonist’s early years, marked by abandonment, and solitude. A time when violence stalked her country, as well as her home.
Awards: Premio Luces 2019 Best Peruvian Play: La Terapeuta de Gabriela Yepes (Teatro de la Alianza Francesa)
Written by Gabriela Yepes
Directed by Sarah O'Connell
Translated and performed by Gigi Guizado
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
27 June - 2 July 2023
“An intense ritual of youth. If Shakespeare were alive, he would have come to see this piece.”
—NorthWestEnd
Welsh creative Evan L. Barker’s new version of the under-cherished drama-comedy presents a bold and surprising hybrid of classical and contemporary text.
Creating the modern-day school system; following sixth-form students navigating their way through the social hierarchy; into their adult life.
Going between Verona (State Comprehensive), Milan (Private) & Mantua (Military School) Exploring corrupted youth, naive love, friendship & betrayal. With themes of class, loneliness, and abandonment.
Laika by Aliya Gilmore
20 - 24 June 2023
1958.
A thousand miles above the mighty USSR.
Last recorded transmission from the burning Sputnik 2.
'She melts you know. The snowchild. She melts...'
Laika is trapped in a cardboard box, hurtling at 18,000mph into the unknown perils of space. But she isn't alone - the walls bend as she fills her square world with stories of wondrous planets made of fire, smoke and ash. Featuring live music, physical theatre and cutting-edge tech, Gilmore's story takes us on the final hours of Laika's infamous voyage, celebrating the soul who was the first to dance among the stars.
Cast
Isabel McGrady
One Day When We Were Young
29 May - 3 June 2023
“I am scared, that once this war is over, and I am sent home, that you won’t be here. That you might be gone.”
Leonard and Violet, young, restless, and in love, spend their first night together knowing it may also be their last. It’s 1942 and, in a hotel room in Bath, they dream of their future while preparing for Leonard’s departure to the war. But the bombs begin to fall and their world will never be the same again.
In the year 2002, the couple looks back at what might have been.
Creatives:
Written by Nick Payne
Director Connor McCrory
Designer Laura Mugford
Produced by Just a Regular House
Cast
Laura Mugford
Joseph Ryan-Hughes
Nick Payne’s One Day When We We’re Young premiered at the Crucible Studio, Sheffield, in October 2011 in a Paines Plough and Sheffield Theatres production as part of the first Roundabout Season.
This production has been licensed by arrangement with Curtis Brown Group Ltd.
At Birth
16 - 20 May 2023
“The cracks can still be showing and that’s ok. New and old at the same time.”
What could possibly go wrong when one drunken night Anna, very gay, and Isaac, very very gay, have sex to heal from a breakup? What follows is a journey covering themes of queer families, abortion rights in the South, and the pursuit of building community, no matter how untypical. This queer dark comedy navigates blurred family lines, friendship, and dealing with the unexpected consequences life can throw at a person.
At Birth is written, performed, and designed by Ty Autry (A Southern Fairytale) a genderqueer Southern creative, and Thalia Gonzalez Kane (A Drunk Lesbian Love Affair) a queer, Ecuadorian-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, and theatre scholar. Collectively, they've performed in North America, Australia, and Europe numerous times, garnering multiple awards and critical acclaim for their work on elevating queer voices.
Directing the production is Atlanta-based, award-winning director Melissa Foulger (Artistic Director, DramaTech). Rounding out the creative team is Intimacy Director, Monty Davis (Atlanta-based fight and intimacy choreographer) and Dramaturge, Kat Sandler (Toronto-based award-winning playwright and screenwriter).
At Birth continues touring to Prague Fringe Festival (Prague, Czech Republic), Out Front Theatre Company (Atlanta, GA), Elite Studio Works (Nashville, TN), and The Queerly Festival (New York, NY).
Totally Trucked
9 -13 May 2023
“In a world so full of hate, misunderstanding, and separation, we as people find love. It’s what gets us through, isn’t it? Love is how we survive.”
Growing up is hard enough, but when disaster strikes for Katie in the form of a ten-tonne truck, there is a whole other world of problems she has to deal with.
Totally Trucked is a rollercoaster of a one-woman show written and performed by Katie Damer. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and incredibly raw, this unique story is an astounding reminder of human strength and the power of holding out hope.
Creative team:
Katie Damer (Writer and performer)
Naseem Partington (Producer)
Kirsti Burch (Marketing Liason)
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Trumpets and Raspberries
18 April - 6 May 2023
TRUMPETS & RASPBERRIES (Clacson, Trombette e Pernacchi) By DARIO FO, Nobel Prize Winner.
A madcap political satire and farce about corruption and hypocrisy in high places and the plight of the common man versus the rich elites and the too-powerful corporations and institutions. Set in politically turbulent 1980s Italy, Antonio is a downtrodden shop steward at the Fiat Factory where Gianni Agnelli is the conceited, fabulously wealthy, famous boss.
During a bungled kidnap attempt of Agnelli, presumed to be by Left-wing terrorists, Antonio an innocent bystander, saves him without realizing who he is. The hospital treating Agnelli,
together with the authorities, believes their severely disfigured patient to be Antonio, and that he is one of the terrorists involved in the kidnap. It is a case of mistaken identity and absolute mayhem ensues in true Fo style!
Force of Habit
28 March - 1 April 2023
There should be a siren when love starts to leave.
But it’s not like that. It’s a daily creep.
John and Martha fall in love and prepare for a life of joy together. Things are good, but never quite perfect, and the two lovers are trying their darndest but they can’t quite seem to get on the same page. Until one day, destiny happens.
Kibo Productions present their first show of the year, a bittersweet romantic comedy from the pen of Roz Wyllie, starring May López and Michael Hajiantonis, and directed by Leo Bacica.
Slither
21-25 March 2023
"This country'd be a whole hell of a lot different if every woman had a snake."
Eve.
A Cretan snake priestess.
A 1930s burlesque snake dancer.
And the modern woman who needs their stories.
Slither is a modern feminist fable about family, faith, and finding your strength. ...with snakes.
Creative team:
Director: Sarah Beebe
Assistant Director: Darcy Calcraft
Cast:
Adela McBrine
Antonia Kasoulidou
Anuli Changa
Freddie Wride
Keir Pagett-Mills
Malavika Suresh
Sarah Jost
Sarah-Luna Ace
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Love Songs in London
14 - 19 March 2023
‘Love Songs in London’ is a joyful collage of the messy, crazy, uncomfortable, intimate, filthy, unpredictable, and slightly absurd encounters one has when living in the big smoke.
It’s a southbound service of songs to stories to real conversations with the lovers of London. It will take a tour around the romantic alleyways of Aldwych, sit back and hear the titillating tales of the tube and learn just how erotic the exhibitions in the V&A can be.
Mind the gap between your beating heart and Cupid’s bow and arrow.
This process and production has been generously supported by the Earls Court Development Company.
My Dead
3-4 March 2023
My Dead is the story of a woman who finds her life through her dead. Uncovering letters and autobiographies from her deceased grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great grandparents, and even great-great-great grandparents, she is shocked to discover her ancestors from England, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Denmark, and Mexico are passing down shared experiences that will alter the course of her life... leading her to ask: "My Dead. Do I really know them?"
My Dead was originally developed as a 25 min thesis project at LAMDA in 2021. It has since developed into an hour long one woman play that is now embarking on a multi-country tour.
"Like a splash of cold water - I love this kind of show." (Ethan Scott, playwright)
"Endearing and intriguing from start to finish"(How Do You Survive Your 20s Podcast)
"Original, beautiful, and vulnerable...I was captivated." (Audience response)
The High Life
14 - 19 February 2023
The High Life is a one-woman play about Kayla, a twenty-something black woman who is desperate to get out of her service industry job, and therefore enters the PR industry. It is a funny, vibrant, truthful piece about the lure and danger of toxic work environments, full of personal revelations, clandestine romance and some home truths that hit a modern audience hard.
Bloody Influencers
7-11 February 2023
Bloody Influencers is a comedy about influencer Daisy Woolworth aka Lucija Antonija Matic, Instagram queen, who goes on a journey of finding something real in a world where everything she has is fake, starting with the feelings between her and her fiancé.
She is on a journey of self-discovery when she faces an accident that causes her to change and find out what matters: the real connection with others, real care, and love that changes her life as she decides to go to therapy.
I Am Not Black
30 January - 4 February 2023
Temz Thomas has been asked to give a speech at his old school about how his time there shaped him into the man he is today.
While searching his old bedroom for his Blackberry from when he was in school Temz goes on a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
In this solo performance, writer Akin Wright is asking the question where do you fit in when you're ‘too white for the black kids and too white for the white kids’?
'I am not Black' is a one-man show written and performed by Akin Wright and directed by Joseph Junkere.
Morveren
17 - 28 January 2023
Morveren.
Cornish, noun: sea maiden, mermaid
Ambitious banker Keren is determined to make her mark. In a male-dominated industry, she’s learned that the way to get ahead is to speak loudly, strut your stuff, and sell sell sell. But the siren’s song is calling her name, drawing her back to her roots.
Meanwhile, Keren’s grandmother Morwen knows it’s time to pass down her wisdom, knowledge and place in her grieving community. Inheriting the village’s leadership was never part of Keren’s plan, but her daughter, mermaid-obsessed Ellie, loves it here.
Drawing on Cornish mythology, Morveren is centered around a hidden coastal village where women make the rules and no one has to shout to be heard. Using theatrical magic and a digital choir to imagine an alternative way of living, Morveren is a celebration of community and a coming of age for three generations of women.
2022
2021 Reopening Season
Radek Hoffman
Me, Myself & Secrets
14 - 18 December 2021
Emerging Artists Festival
22 - 27 November 2021
Savi Arts x Richard Swann present Emerging Artist Festival
The Emerging Artist Festival features work-in-progress projects and showcases emerging actors.
The programme includes:
Lions in the Lilypads by Romo Sikdar-Rahman
Give My Love to Dad & the Dog by Lauren Cooper
Moving Day by Dani Kennedy & Tilly Upton
Big Gay Liar by Charlotte Frost
Hildegard by Michelle Payne
To Have & To Hold by Michelle Payne
For show times and more details visit
Titus Andronicus
16 – 20 November 2021
A punchy reimagining of Shakespeare’s most brutal tragedy. This pacey, modern Titus explores the dangers of revenge and how it can twist the intentions of everyone it touches. Watch as this political dance descends into bloodshed and despair.
Titus follows the story of a war veteran who, having lost 21 sons in battle, returns to a Rome that betrays rather than celebrates his achievements. A series of bloody events unfold as he and Tamora, Queen of the Goths, begin a violent cycle of revenge.
Playing time: 90 mins
Content warning: Contains extreme violence and depictions of sexual assault.
Maryland by Lucy Kirkwood
11 - 13 November 2021
Kibo Productions is proud to invite you to script-in-hand readings of Maryland by Lucy Kirkwood on 11 - 13 November at the Barons Court Theatre.
Maryland premiered at the Royal Court this October and was written following the murder of Sabina Nessa and the rape and murder of Sarah Everard. The readings are part of a UK-wide effort to amplify the reach of the work to those unable to attend the readings at the Royal Court Theatre.
Bluebeard
after Max Frisch
26 October - 7 November 2021
Theatre Collection and ART-VIC produced this atmospheric adaptation of Max Frisch’s classic novel. Dr. Felix Schaad is haunted by the memories of his dead ex-wife Rozalind in this haunting tale of sexual obsession.