* Previews and booking details for 'VPL 2', 'Collaborators' and 'Great Expectations'
* NEW JANUARY SHOW - 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' by Neil Simon replaces 'When We Are Married' - see 'Auditions' section below
* Auditions for 'Brighton Beach Memoirs', 'A Chorus of Disapproval', 'Harper Regan' and 'Compleat Female Stage Beauty'
* Sir Derek Jacobi CBE gives a gala perfomance at BLT
* Important parking changes affecting BLT
* BLT Christmas party details
Book now for our next Bar show...
VPL #2: ‘Thongs Ain’t What They Used to Be'
Fri 31st October - Sun 2nd November at 7.45pm
Yes, it’s back… And this time its BIGGER than ever!!!
Variety Performance: Live #2 explodes onto the BLT Bar stage once more!
Witness the skill, sounds and stylings of BLT regulars – and a few newbies too. For those who didn’t see the show last year, it's a collection of songs, and comedy sketches all linked together with a bit of banter and audience participation.
If you love your comedies dark, clever and razor-sharp funny, 'Collaborators' is the play for you.
Playwright Mikhail Bulgakov develops a bad case of writer’s block when he’s commissioned by the secret police to write a play about Stalin in honour of the tyrant’s 60th birthday. However, help is at hand when the dictator himself decides to help out in the writing of the play – and Bulgakov takes over the running of the Soviet Union!
First performed at the National in 2012, this surreal, theatrical, stylish, caviar-black comedy is an unmissable brilliant piece of total theatre!
by Charles Dickens Adapted by Neil Bartlett Directed by Pauline Armour
Fri 5th - Sat 13th Dec
'Great Expectations' is one of the world’s most loved novels. Indeed, Dickens himself felt that it was his best work, calling it “a very fine idea”. Neil Bartlett's powerful stage version of this great story uses Dickens’ extraordinary words and a cast of eight actors.
From its opening image of Pip, alone on the windswept marshes, to the haunted darkness of Miss Havisham’s cobweb-strewn lair, this inventive and atmospheric adaptation brings to thrilling, theatrical life this classic exploration of childhood terrors and hopes and adult dreams and regrets.
We are pleased to announce more auditions to be held at the theatre on Sunday 9th November and Sunday 23rd November (full details below).
All auditions are open to everyone - even non-members - but you must become a member if cast. Good luck!
A Chorus of Disapproval
by Alan Ayckbourn Directed by Kay O'Dea
Audition date: Sun 9th November at 2.00pm
Performance dates: Thu 12 – Sun 21 March 2015
An Oliver Award-winning play in 1984, and last seen at BLT in 1989, the 2012 revival in the West End starred Rob Brydon and demonstrated that the heady mix of sex, laughs and amateur theatricals is hard to beat.
In an attempt to escape from loneliness a shy widower, Guy Jones, joins a local amateur light operatic society and rises through the company ranks purely by his inability to say no – this spills over into his personal relationships with members of the society. The play is juxtaposed with scenes and music from John Gay’s ‘The Beggar’s Opera.’
Skilfully, Ayckbourn draws parallels between the characters in the opera and the private lives of the amateur thespians.
Due to unforseen circumstances our planned January production of 'When We Are Married' has had to be withdrawn. Instead we are presenting this superb play by Neil Simon, directed by Arthur Rochester.
Part one of Simon’s autobiographical trilogy, 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' chronicles the life of Eugene Jerome, a 15-year-old aspiring playwright and baseball pitcher living with his family in a crowded lower middle-class Brooklyn (New York) apartment during the depression of 1937. However, it is timeless in its depiction of lovable characters struggling to cope with life’s challenges.
“Simon’s finest play, a delightful and enriching experience.” (CBS TV).
Performance dates: Thu 26 – Sun 29 March (in the Bar)
Harper Regan is a working mother, and wife, who takes time out from her job and family in Uxbridge to visit her dying father in Stockport. All very normal, except she is refused permission by her eccentrically weird boss and doesn’t tell her family where she is going.
Harper’s Northern odyssey catalyzes her, permanently altering her sense of those closest to her and herself.
Simon Stephens' play opened at the National Theatre in 2008 and garnered praise for, amongst other things, creating a star role that led to Lesley Sharp receiving reviews recommending she receive awards for her performance.
Performance dates: Thurs 16th – Sat 25th April 2015
The play is set in the period during Charles II reign when the King changes the law to allow female actors on the London stage. The central part is the actor, Kynaston, the most successful interpreter of female roles of his age.
Exploring gender and social roles with frankness and verve, the play presents a witty comedy peppered with theatrical injokes. Jeffrey Hatcher’s script negotiates beautifully and honestly the theme of sexual identity and the importance placed on it by society, producing some moments that are bawdy and hilarious, others that are moving and poignant.
This production will be BLT’s entry to the Bromley Theatre Guild and Kent Drama Association Festivals April 2015.
On Sunday 12th October BLT members donned posh frocks, dinner jackets and black ties for a gala charity fund-raising evening with Sir Derek Jacobi CBE, interviewed on the BLT stage.
The evening took the form of a conversation with our very own Pat Jones (seen here with Sir Derek), who also organised the event.
The event was also attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Bromley and was a great success, with over £2,700 raised for The Motor Neurone Disease Association.
A full report and pictures will appear in the December edition of 'Spotlights'.
Important parking changes affecting your visit to BLT
Following the (almost completed) roadworks in the vicinity of the theatre, most of the Bromley North area is now designated a restricted parking zone.
This means that, in East Street, West Street and South Street, parking is permitted only in marked bays AT ALL TIMES. You can read full details HERE
The new restrictions do not appear to include North Street, although it would probably be wise not to bet on the enforcement officers respecting the fact!
Also, West Street will be closed from 27th Oct, which means that traffic will have to enter College Rd from Kentish Way (being made two way temporarily) and turn left into North Street.
Santa's on his way....
Yes, it's only November, but we wanted to let you know in plenty of time that this year's BLT Christmas Party will be talking place on Friday 19th December at 7:30pm in the Bar.
As usual, all current BLT members are invited. So make a date in your diary now!
How to book for BLT shows
Book online* here Email the box office here Or call 0333 666 3366
*You can use the online booking system with your membership number and a credit/debit card, provided we have a valid e-mail address for you registered on the Ticketsource system. In the event of any problems using the system please click on these links to email the membership secretary or the box office
Please note: tickets booked online or via the telephone booking system can be refunded with 48 hours notice but are subject to a deduction of the 10% Ticketsource booking fee
IMPORTANT: To book tickets for shows at Bromley Little Theatre you MUST be a member. For details please click here
May we remind you that the smoking of electronic cigarettes is not permitted anywhere on Bromley Little Theatre premises. Thank you.
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