Unveiling of the new 2023 theatre season by James Haddrell

With the panto finishing its now award-nominated run (here’s hoping for another Offie-award win when we get to the ceremony in February) it’s always hard to find the right shows to follow it.

Pantomime is clearly the biggest show of our year, as is the case with so many theatres, so do we focus on the joyful anarchy that drives pantomime season and endeavour to continue that into the new year, or do we reach out with something very different, re-engaging with those audience members who choose not to come to the panto and encouraging audiences to take a risk on something new?

That large panto audience is obviously very important to us, so just as the supermarkets have already started stacking the shelves with Easter Eggs, we are already promoting the Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival, bringing a whole host of shows and workshops for all ages to the theatre in April.

Alongside big name shows like Fireman Sam and The Little Mermaid, we are delighted to be presenting a series of smaller shows like The Nosy Little Troll and the puppet musical The King Of Nothing (based on The Emperor’s New Clothes).

However, we pride ourselves on presenting theatre for a hugely diverse audience, so at the same time we are beginning to unveil a series of very different main-house and studio shows for the spring.

Two stand-out shows this season are set to be presented by solo writers/performers.

The first, FOX, is written and performed by Katie Guicciardi and will play in the studio here on Match 1 and 2.

With both day-time and evening performances to allow parents to attend with or without newborns, FOX is billed as “a brutally honest and amusing exploration of new motherhood in an increasingly isolating society”.

Described by The Telegraph as “small but perfectly formed”, and by Whats On Stage as “a brave, eye-opening show”, FOX is about the challenges faced by a young first-time mother, battling with her own mental health while increasingly obsessed with the plight of a homeless man outside her house.

Then on April 1, we welcome Alexandra Donnachie, the writer and performer of When We Died.

A hard-hitting play, shortlisted for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, When We Died caused a stir when it premiered at the Vault Festival in 2020, just before the first Covid lockdown closed the festival.

The show tells the story of Rachel, whose is comfortable in her job as an embalmer.

Day in, day out, she imagines the lives lived by those she prepares for their funerals, until she is confronted with someone she recognises, someone she knows, someone who sits at the heart of her greatest trauma.

The shift out of pantomime season always feels like a bit of a culture shock here, as the show takes over the venue for longer than anything else, but the unveiling of a new season is also a hugely exciting moment for us, and we look forward to welcoming audiences to a whole range of new shows in 2023.

 

Picture: Katie Guicciardi in FOX. Picture: Rukaya Cesar.