EVENTS Diary

All Saints Dramatic Society; Tickets: E12; Available via Box Office enquiries (07548 100770) or online.

Broadstone Players; Tickets: £15 - includes supper (fish and chips, sausage and chips or Quorn nuggets and chips); Available via phone (01202 678449), email or from Broadstone News on The Broadway, Broadstone.

Maskers Theatre Company; Tickets: £15; Available via Box Office (0333 666 3366) or online.

Bishopstoke Players; Tickets: Full £12, Under 18s £8; Available via phone (07871 006551), email or online (no booking fee online).

Chesil Theatre 

Last Of The Red Hot Lovers

Written by Neil Simon

Directed by Terry Lohr

The first production of the new season at Chesil Theatre, Winchester, is The Last Of The Red Hot Lovers. This witty comedy, written by the shrewd observer of New York life, Neil Simon, is set in the late 1960s. Successful middle-aged, middle-class fish restauranteur, Barney Cashman, realises that life is passing by without anything really exciting happening to him. He wants to get in on this Sexual Revolution he's heard so much about before it’s too late.   But how suave can this wannabe Casanova be when he is constantly worried about his fingers smelling of fish? Typical of his inept approach, he chooses his mother's Upper East Side apartment, which is empty one afternoon a week, as the location for his desired liaisons.

Over three weeks three very different ladies, Elaine, Jeanette and Bobbi arrive who offer opportunities for Barney to stray. Will he succeed?

Barney is played by Chesil favourite, Gary Nicholson. He also appeared in director Terry Lohr’s first production, Educating Rita, which won a NODA 2022 award of excellence. Terry is enjoying working with Gary again and the three actors who play the ladies: Karen Fitzsimmons, Cassandra Powers and newcomer, Jo-Anna Coyningham.

Terry says: “This comedy classic reflects the language and attitudes of the time it was written, but is also timeless as Barney tackles, and is bewildered by, the complexities of seduction.”  

The play runs from Saturday 28 September to Saturday 5 October with curtain up at the new time of 7:30pm.

Tickets: Adults £18.00, Student / Under 18s £12.00, Group £16.20 (booking fees apply); Available online.

Lyndhurst Drama & Musical Society; Tickets: Adults £12, Under 16s £9, Family (2 adults & 2 children) £38; Available via phone (023 8029 2531) or online.

Poole & Parkstone Productions [P&P Productions]; Performances: Thursday & Friday @ 7:30pm, Saturday @ 2:30pm; Tickets: £10; Available via phone (0333 666 3366), in person from The Spire Office and online.

New Forest Players

Charade

Written by Janet Shaw

Directed by Len Reid

A bittersweet adult comedy full of humour and pathos.

Following the success of his last production (One Day I’ll Fly Away), Director Len Reid has chosen another comedy written by Janet Shaw.

The play is set in 1970 and Kate is about to marry Steven on the romantic Greek island of Xantos. Their families haven’t met before arriving and when they do meet, the two mothers detest each other on sight, causing a volcanic clash of style and temperament. The two fathers are also nowhere to be seen. The bride’s Aunt Issie arrives and skeletons now fall out of the cupboards at an alarming rate. It’s been twenty five years since World War Two ended, but ghosts from the past reveal a trail of heartbreak and discovery for both families. A bittersweet adult comedy full of humour and pathos, which will have you laughing and crying, probably at the same time.

(Please note this play has no connection to the 1963 Film of the same name starring Carry Grant and Audrey Hepburn.)

Tickets: £14; Available via phone (01425 542414) or online.

Waterside Musical Society; Performances: Wednesday - Friday @ 7.30 pm, Saturday @ 12.30 pm & 5.30 pm; Tickets: Adults/Seniors £15, Children £10; Available via phone (07852 317466), email or online.

Chesil Theatre 

Jekyll And Hyde

Written by Robert Louis Stevenson

Adapted by Neil Bartlett

Directed by John Wakeman

Respectability is such a good place to hide.

A series of random assaults in the darkened back streets of Victorian London are spreading fear and panic. Meanwhile, the friends of a highly respected doctor are beginning to wonder why he goes missing on exactly the same nights…

Contains adult themes and violence.

Tickets: Adults £18.00, Student / Under 18s £12.00, Group £16.20 (booking fees apply); Available online.

Castle Players; Tickets: £10; Available via phone (01202 912351) or online.

Cheriton Players

Two Funny By Half

Written by Terry Pratchett

Adapted for the stage by Stephen Briggs

Cheriton Players are proud to present two one act comedies – the first, Grave Concerns by their own Craig Robb (who will also direct) and the second an hilarious short comedy entitled Last Tango In Little Grimley, written by David Tristram and directed by Pauline Cornter.

Tickets: £13; Available via phone (0333 666 3366) or online.

Swanage Drama Company; Tickets: Adults £14, Concessions £13, Children £9, Family (2 adults + 2 children) £40; Available via Box Office (0333 666 3366 - for tickets, fees apply) or online.

Swanage Drama Company; Tickets: Adults £14, Concessions £13, Children £9, Family (2 adults + 2 children) £40; Available via Box Office (0333 666 3366 - for tickets, fees apply) or online.

Chesil Theatre 

Life X 3

Written by Yasmina Reza; Translated by Christopher Hampton

Directed by Flavia Bateson

One evening. Two couples. Three perspectives on a single situation in an intriguing comedy. Henri and Sonia are putting their son to bed when the doorbell rings. Hubert and Inès have arrived for dinner – a day earlier than expected. The socially disastrous evening degenerates with hilarious yet poignant results. Discussions on parenting mix with the world of astrophysics. And how might it all end? Could there be three conclusions?

Running time 90 mins, no interval.

Tickets: Adults £18.00, Student / Under 18s £12.00, Group £16.20 (booking fees apply); Available online.