About the Autumn Season

I am delighted to share with you our plans for the re-opening of the Wharf Theatre this autumn. It has been a challenging few months and we have been very busy behind the scenes making the theatre fully compliant with government guidance relating to Covid secure measures and these are detailed further in this newsletter.
As the guidance has continued to change it has been a real challenge to keep up with things, especially relating to how many performers we could have together in the same space. Fortunately, all our cast sizes are 6 or under and so we are fully compliant. Directing to respect social distance on stage has provided us with more challenge but we are finding ways in which we can use it to support the text. It has given us more need for creatively using space.
Two of our forthcoming productions: My Mother Said I Never Should and Gurglewink are billed as ‘Rehearsed readings’ meaning that the performers will still have scripts in hand. But we will not just be sitting on chairs! We are bringing the plays to life as much as we can and using a few essential props and costumes to support the meaning of things where we need to. They’re really more of a ‘work in progress’. We hope that both plays will be fully performed sometime next year. So do come along and see how we’re doing.
Our final work for 2020 will be Collected Grimm Tales in December. This will be fully staged but limited to 6 performers playing a wide range of parts. This will be a delightful evening suitable for all ages.
I am pleased to say that all three productions are fully cast and I would like to thank all those who came forward to auditions – it was heart-warming to see so many people attending and I’m sorry that cast sizes are currently so limited that many of you were disappointed. Please keep coming forwards.
So, my final words……..we MUST keep the theatre alive. Professional theatres are struggling so hard through this pandemic and many of them are unlikely to survive – this breaks my heart. So, the work of theatres such as The Wharf, which doesn’t have the challenge of paid staff, is ever more important. We’re doing our bit, please do yours and support us by booking tickets and giving us an audience. There are 30 tickets available for each performance. I look forward to seeing you.
Debby Wilkinson
Artistic Director