Ilkley Playhouse

A NEW Year brings about new opportunities and at Ilkley Playhouse, we have so many new and exciting plays, courses and events to get your New Year off to a flying start.

On January16th our Wharfeside Theatre opens its doors to a New Year with Charlotte Jones’ critically acclaimed play Humble Boy. The play begins when news of the sudden death of Felix’s father is announced.

Felix, a Cambridge astrophysicist who is in search of a unified field theory, returns to his family home and his difficult and demanding mother, where he soon realises that his search for unity must include his own chaotic life.

Science is only one of many threads running through the fabric of this play about families, gardening, beekeeping and the value of words.

The play has been described as “the kind of play we don’t much see anymore, one that seeks to entertain and make you laugh as much as it wants you to think and feel.” If you fancy this bittersweet play about dysfunctional family relationships, the burdens of parenthood and the life cycle of bees, then get your tickets soon!

Following the sellout success of the Greenroom production of Pinocchio last January, tutors Andrew Leggott and Lisa Debney are now in rehearsals for the junior Greenroom production of The Snow Queen on January 11th and 12th.

Our talented junior Greenroom members will be performing Hans Christian Andersen’s charming tale of the battle between evil and enduring love, delightfully retold in this brilliant version by Sarah Osborne.

Back by popular demand, our tutor led Poetry and the Novel course returns on Thursday, January 16th. Over 10 weeks, participants can read and discuss poems inspired by two novels: Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It will be held weekly in the Sheridan Suite from 10.30am till 12pm.

If it is an evening of entertainment and a bit of detective work you are after, then we have just the ticket! On January 18th our murder mystery event returns with Murder on Air, directed by our Artistic Director Jay Cundell-Walker.

Dress up in your best 50s vintage gear, figure out ‘who done it’ and enjoy a pie and pea supper.

On January 26th David Harper will be coming to Ilkley Playhouse with his Unexpected Tales!

David is well known in television, appearing in Bargain Hunt, Antiques Roadtrip, Flog It and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.

The show will feature funny, behind the scenes anecdotes from TV, live auctions, exciting antique finds and stories from celebrity TV appearances.

So whatever you are after this New Year, you can be sure to enjoy a jam-packed January at Ilkley Playhouse! For tickets and more information please visit www.ilkleyplayhouse.co.uk

Caroline Mutton