Based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and adapted for the stage by Lee Hall, with music by Paddy Cunneen.

Next Stage Theatre Company’s Production

Tuesday 20th – Saturday 24th January 7:30pm

Matinee Saturday 24th January 2:00pm

“Let me explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. But it always works out in the end… It’s a mystery.”
- Henslowe, Act 1 Sc 5

It’s 1593, it’s Elizabethan London and aspiring playwright William Shakespeare has writer’s block. His latest play, Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter, does not seem to be going anywhere and contemporary friend and dramatist Kit Marlowe is writing the plays that the audience want to see. Hounded by theatre impresario, Philip Henslowe, who needs a new play to clear his debts, not to mention Queen Elizabeth I who wants a comedy with a dog in it – Will is despairing. Then he meets his muse.

Viola de Lesseps, the beautiful young daughter of Sir Robert, has taken to visiting the London theatres, besotted as she is with the thought of an actor’s life. Disguised as a man, Viola auditions for Shakespeare, and he is captivated! Will seeks her out and although he discovers her secret, and that she is betrothed to the dastardly Wessex, he and Viola fall hopelessly in love. Will now has his inspiration for Romeo and Juliet, and the words pour forth.

A talented Next Stage cast, under the directorship of Ann Ellison BEM delivers a perfect post-Christmas pick-me-up, with scintillating dialogue, dances and sword fights aplenty, this is definitely a show not to be missed.

Tickets £18 | Concessions £14 (Full-time Education, NHS and Universal Credit)