Greenwich Theatre Announces 2024 in-house productions

The premieres of four new Greenwich Theatre productions are announced today. In its 2024 season, the company will present Greenwich Theatre productions of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen and Jez Butterworth’s The River alongside new family shows Beauty and the Beast in the summer and Dick Whittington and his Cat premiering for Christmas 2024.

Greenwich Theatre’s 2024 productions feature acclaimed actors including Kerrie Taylor (Hollyoaks, Where The Heart Is, The Bay), Paul McGann (Withnail and I, Doctor Who, Luther), and James Bradshaw (Endeavour, Hollyoaks) whilst emerging talent is propelled behind the scenes including Beauty and the Beast writing duo Sidonie Welton and Brad Tutt.

• Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival (29th March – 14th April 2024) in its 17th year

• Bryony Lavery’s Frozen, directed by James Haddrell, cast includes Kerrie Taylor and James Bradshaw (26th April – 19th May 2024)

• Beauty and the Beast by Sidonie Welton and Brad Tutt with original music by David Haller, directed by James Haddrell (2nd – 25th August 2024)

• The River by Jez Butterworth, directed by James Haddrell, cast includes Paul McGann (1st – 27th October 2024)

• Dick Whittington and his Cat by Anthony Spargo, musical direction by Steve Markwick, directed by James Haddrell (22nd November 2024 – 5th January 2025)

• In addition to its Greenwich Theatre productions, the venue welcomes productions from visiting companies throughout the year with highlights including shows from The Paper Birds, Townshend Productions, Ha Hum Ah and Live Wire Theatre. Full details to be announced.

Alongside the 2024 season of Greenwich Theatre productions, Artistic Director James Haddrell announces the news that the company has just signed a long-lease on its building with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, securing its place on the local, London, and theatre-landscape for the foreseeable future.

James Haddrell said: “At a time when arts funding is being slashed around the country, we are delighted that Greenwich Council have made this astonishing 24-year commitment to our future. For decades Greenwich Theatre has survived – changes in funding priorities, shifts in audience behaviour, recession and the pandemic – but survival is not enough. Now we are in a position build on all the work we’ve put in over the past 20 years and to thrive, presenting more of our own work, providing a crucial London home to countless touring companies and offering that all important step from fringe theatre to the mid-scale for early career artists.”

The 2024 season continues Greenwich Theatre’s commitment to producing high quality new productions of plays from some of the greatest living British playwrights and to delivering a year-round programme of children’s theatre, cultivating new generations of theatre-lovers and theatre-makers.

New family productions Beauty and the Beast and Dick Whittington and his Cat are joined at Easter by the return of the Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival, now celebrating its 17th year and featuring a range of established, new and international theatre for young audiences.

The programme of Greenwich Theatre productions is:

GREENWICH CHILDREN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL

Fri 29th March – Sunday 14th April 2024

Now in its 17th year, Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival’s highlights include touring productions of The Singing Mermaid and The Selfish Giant alongside new work by Scratchworks Theatre, family-friendly gig theatre from Groove Baby, the trial of a new Pay What You Decide model with Half Cut Theatre’s The Canterbury Tales, and international work from The Netherlands (Simone de Jong Company) and Australia (Brymore Productions). Full programme to be announced.

Greenwich Theatre presents

FROZEN by Bryony Lavery

directed by James Haddrell

Fri 26th April – Sun 19th May 2024

Tue – Sat at 7.30pm / Sat matinees at 2.30pm / Sun 5, 12, 19 May at 5pm

Press Night: Mon 29 April at 7.30pm

Tickets: £20 – £30 (full price); £15 – £25 (concs); £12 (schools)

The mother of a murdered child. Her imprisoned killer. A criminal psychologist attempting to understand what drove him to do it. Set in present day England, Bryony Lavery’s Frozen focuses on the search for missing 10-year old girl Rhona and the dramatic years that follow.

Hailed by the Independent as one of the 40 best plays of all time, Lavery’s thriller won the TMA Best Play Award, the Eileen Anderson Central Television Award and earned four Tony Award nominations when it played on Broadway in 2004. With an astonishing cast and innovative new staging, the play now returns to the capital in a searing new production with a cast including Kerrie Taylor and James Bradshaw.

Greenwich Theatre presents

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

in a new adaptation by Sidonie Welton and Brad Tutt with original music by David Haller

directed by James Haddrell

Fri 2nd – Sun 25th August 2024

Tue – Thu at 2pm / Fri – Sat at 1pm + 5pm

Press Performances: Tue 6 August at 2pm + 6pm

Tickets £22 – £27 (full price); £20 – £22 (conc); £11 – £13.50 (child)

Lost in the forest and caught in the midst of a terrible storm, Belle’s father seeks shelter in an old castle, but what starts as a magical adventure with food and drink appearing before his eyes rapidly becomes something far less cosy. Caught by the mysterious Beast in the act of picking a rose for his youngest daughter he must make a terrible decision, one which could tear his family apart – but Belle may prove to be far more resourceful than anyone thinks, and the Beast could be in for a surprise…

For over 250 years, the tale of Beauty and the Beast has been told and retold, in print, on screen and in the theatre, but now the ‘tale as old as time’ gets a fresh makeover with an astonishing cast of actor-musicians in a magical, musical, laugh-out-loud new adaptation.

Greenwich Theatre presents

THE RIVER by Jez Butterworth

directed by James Haddrell

Tue 1st – Sun 27th October 2024

Tue – Sat at 7.30pm / Wed & Sat mats at 2.30pm / Sun 13, 20, 27 Oct at 5pm

Press Night: Thursday 3 October at 7.30pm

Tickets £25 – £32.50 (full price); £20 – £27.50 (conc); £12 (schools)

On a moonless night in August when the sea trout are ready to run, a man brings his new girlfriend to the remote family cabin where he has come for the fly-fishing since he was a boy. But she’s not the only woman he has brought here – and nor is she the last.

From Mojo to Jerusalem and The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth’s plays have won two Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Critics Circle Theatre Award, an Evening Standard Theatre Award and more. The River returns to London in the first major revival since its world premiere at the Royal Court in 2012, with casting including Paul McGann playing The Man.

Greenwich Theatre presents

DICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT

written by Anthony Spargo, musical direction by Steve Markwick, directed by James Haddrell

Fri 22nd Nov 2024 – Sun 5 Jan 2025

Press Performances: Friday 29 November at 7pm

Tickets: £31 – £33 (full price); £25 – £27 (conc); £15.50 – £16.50 (child). Group/School rates available

The team behind the triple Offie Award-nominated Snow White returns with an all-new, all-singing, all-dancing pantomime adventure – Dick Whittington and his Cat. It may be true that the streets are paved with gold, but something much more dastardly is hiding beneath those same city streets, just waiting for the right moment to emerge…

British Panto Award-nominated villain extraordinaire Anthony Spargo returns to Greenwich as the devilish King Rat to lead an unforgettable cast in one of the capital’s favourite traditional pantomimes.

“Greenwich Theatre… sets the gold standard for pantomime” British Theatre Guide

ABOUT GREENWICH THEATRE

Greenwich Theatre, owned by the Royal Borough of Greenwich, has been a home for live entertainment since 1855, and has been operated by Greenwich Theatre Ltd since 1969. In 2024, the company signed a 24-year lease guaranteeing the future of the venue.

The theatre’s Offie-nominated return to producing led by artistic director James Haddrell has included work by Michael Frayn, Caryl Churchill, Harold Pinter, Philip Ridley and Mike Bartlett, with family work by Russ Tunney, Anthony Clarke, Tracy Power, Sally Cookson, Adam Peck and Le Navet Bete. An online programme during the pandemic included a string of premieres including work by Caryl Churchill and Steven Berkoff, and an online appearance by Dame Helen Mirren.

The Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival, originally launched in 2008 with the support of Royal Greenwich and the Docklands Light Railway, has been presented every year since, with online programmes during the pandemic.

The company’s support for emerging artists has included everything from marketing and tour-booking to dramaturgy and company development, with supported artists aided in touring around the country and to Edinburgh, Dublin, Madrid, Adelaide and New York. https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/