Upcoming SLT Productions
Jerusalem
by Jez Butterworth
7.30pm 30 April - 4 May
It's St. George's Day and the morning of the local county fair. The May Queen is missing, the villagers are nursing their collective hangovers, and all are immersed in the world of the man and the myth, Johnny "Rooster" Byron. Apart from his cohort of hangers on, the council want to evict him, others want revenge, and his son just wants to be taken to the fair.
Director: Charlotte Benstead
The Liar
by David Ives
8pm 14-18 May
"All the world's a lie, and all the men and women merely liars.” Dorante is charming, handsome - and a pathological liar. Newly arrived in Paris, his outlandish tales amaze and convince all who hear them, but for each problem his clever lying solves, it creates two new ones. Especially that one with the pomegranates.
Director: Mark Ireson
Two
by Jim Cartwright
8pm 28 May - 1 June
Two is a real time, one scene snapshot of life in a local pub on a weekend evening. The spotlight falls on the couple who run the pub then pairs of their customers and always back again, pulling various relationships into focus. The landlord and landlady are suppressing their sad secret while they paint on smiles for their customers.
Director: Jess Osorio
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
by Brian Clark
8pm 11-15 June
What would you do if you had an active, witty and creative brain but could no longer do even the simplest task for yourself? Overnight, Claire has gone from being a successful sculptor with an active social life and devoted partner to being a quadriplegic unable to do anything for herself but think and speak. Her life is literally in the hands of the medical professionals.
...Or so they suppose.
Director: Lily Ann Green
Gundog
by Simon Longman
8pm 25-29 June
Anna, Becky and Ben struggle after the death of their mother leaves life in flux. Their grandfather is haunted by the past, their father looms in the present and disease among the sheep makes the future uncertain. As they question their survival, along comes Guy, a stranger seeking his own resolution.
CAST TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON
Queers
by Various authors, curated by Mark Gatiss
8pm 9-13 July
Queers celebrates a century of evolving social and political milestones in British gay history.
Eight monologues for eight performers of varying ages: some funny, some tragic, all of them casting an entertaining spotlight on what it was to be gay in the last century.
Director: Jack King
The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (adapted by Steve Canny and John Nicholson)
7.30pm 25-27 July and 1-3 August
2.30pm 27 & 28 July, 3 August
A demonic hound appears to be terrorising the heirs of the Baskerville family, whose home borders the wastes of Dartmoor. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are implored by a friend of Sir Henry Baskerville to investigate the curse. A comedic take on the story sees an energetic cast of three bring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous story to life in an interpretation that will amuse and terrorise its audience in equal measure.
Director: Lisa Thomas
CAST TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON
SLT Summer Shorts 2024
New writing
8pm 13-17 August
A five-night run of 10 short plays which has become a fixture in the SLT summer calendar, the SLT Summer Shorts will be a celebration of new writing. Over 60 budding playwrights from SLT and beyond have registered to submit texts on the theme of "Storm" for this year's programme. Once again, following a bequest from a former member, there will be a prize for the play judged the best in show by the audience. Last year's winner, Mr Tuesday by Charlotte Benstead, went on to be staged as part of The Platform, at the Bread & Roses Theatre in Clapham.
Shorts Curators: Cal Beckett, Anna Callender and Guy Jones
Auditions: 19 & 20 May
The Kitchen Sink
By Tom Wells
10-14th September
An irresistibly funny and tender play about big dreams and small changes. Amid the dreaming, the dramas and the dirty dishes, something has to give. But will it be Kath or the kitchen sink? Things aren't going to plan for one family in Withernsea, Yorkshire. Pieces are falling off Martin's milk float as quickly as he's losing customers and something's up with Kath's kitchen sink. Billy is pinning his hopes of a place at art college on a revealing portrait of Dolly Parton, whilst Sophie's dreams of becoming a ju-jitsu teacher might be disappearing down the plughole.
Director: David Chappell
Auditions: 12 & 13 May
Linck and Mülhahn
By Ruby Thomas
24th-28th September
It is life's great aim. To find a way to be honest with oneself, even as the world pretends around you.
Dashing soldier Anastasius Linck has no intention of falling in love, but a chance encounter with the rebellious Catharina Mülhahn changes everything. As they begin to forge a relationship that breaks boundaries and rejects the rigid rules of their society, they find themselves confronted by a world determined to tear them apart.
Director: Jo Boniface
Auditions: 2 & 3 June
Mother Courage and her Children
by Bertolt Brecht
8-12 October
Mother Courage is considered by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century, and perhaps also the greatest anti-war play of all time. It follows the fortunes of Anna Fierling, nicknamed Mother Courage, a wily canteen woman with the Swedish Army, who is determined to make her living from the war. Over the course of the play, she loses all three of her children, Schweizerkas, Eilif, and Kattrin, to the very war from which she tried to profit.
Director: Tom Melly
Auditions: 9 & 10 June
Bleak Expectations
By Mark Evans
22-26 October
Adapted from a BBC Radio 4 comedy series, Mark Evans' play has been described as the riotous story Charles Dickens might have written after drinking too much gin! And, crucially, had he lived for another 152 years. Follow half-orphan Pip's extraordinary exploits with sisters Pippa and Poppy and best friend Harry Biscuit, as they attempt to escape the calculating clutches of the dastardly Mr Gently Benevolent, defeat the hideous Hardthrasher siblings, and deflect disaster at every turn! Will evil be vanquished by virtue?
Director: Tom Mathias
Auditions: 7 & 8 July
Four Old Broads
By Leslie Kimble
7-11 November
Unfortunately, things have not been very pleasant at Magnolia Place Assisted Living since Nurse Pat Jones began working there. The newest resident, Imogene Fletcher, is suddenly losing her memory. Maude Jenkins is obsessed with her favorite soap opera and planning her own funeral. Sam Smith, retired Elvis impersonator, keeps trying to bed every woman in the building. A mystery unfolds with laughter as the gals try to outsmart the evil Nurse Pat Jones and figure out why so many residents have been moved to “the dark side,” what exactly IS that mysterious pill, and what happened to Doctor Head?
Director: Saskia Van 't Hoff
Auditions: 21 & 22 July
A View From The Bridge
By Arthur Miller
21-26 November
In one of Miller's most intimate dramas, Eddie, a longshoreman (or dock worker) struggles with his possessive feelings toward his niece in the face of her impending marriage. Immigration, love, and possession all come to a head in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Director: Janine Wunsche
Auditions: TBC
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe - Christmas Show
Family show
By C.S Lewis and Glynn Robbins
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy embark on a magical mystery tour to the Land of Narnia through the wardrobe. There they encounter the wicked White Witch, representing the forces of evil, and the King of the Beasts, Aslan the lion, representing all that is good and right. Will the White Witch be defeated, allowing good to triumph over evil in the time-honoured way?
Director: Sally Toyton
Auditions: TBC