RETFORD LITTLE THEATRE
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2010-2011 Season
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
by F. Andrew Lesley (from the novel by Shirley Jackson)
1st - 9th October 2010, 7.30 pm
Cut off from the outside world by its remote location and its forbidding, sinister reputation, Hill House's isolation is broken by the arrival of an investigator of supernatural phenomena. He invites three others to join him, and they soon experience strange and eerie occurrences which bring on a crisis in which the evil forces of Hill House are goaded to a new and, for one of those present, fatal fury. Twice filmed, this suspenseful thriller is sure to send shivers round the auditorium.
Produced by Nick Clayton
HABEAS CORPUS
by Alan Bennett
19th - 27th November 2010, 7.30pm
The idea behind this inoffensive farcical comedy is that the whole middle class is in a constant state of sexual frustration. A fancies B who fancies C, played out in a format which combines elements of the game show, music hall, the sauce of an Donald McGill postcard, and an ever-present cleaning lady and her hoover. In the social world of the Wicksteed family, the characters move in and out through a maze of mistaken identities, and, as Wicksteed himself says: "He whose lust lasts, lasts longest".
Produced by Simon Cox
UNCLE VANYA
by Anton Chekhov
28th January - 5th February 2011, 7.30pm
Anger and hatred, appearance and reality, duty and responsibility, choice and consequence are just some of the themes played out in this outstanding Russian drama, presented by RLT in a modern translation. The family is facing breakdown under mounting pressures from the world around them, and Vanya himself is undergoing a crisis of values, further threatened by dispossession of his property at the hands of his brother-in-law. This will be a riveting evening of classic European theatre, not to be missed.
Produced by Mike Nixon
AMY'S VIEW
by David Hare
18th - 26th March 2011, 7.30pm
Esme Allen, a well-known actress, suffers a decline in her career and overcomes the loss of both her wealth and her daughter Amy through sheer professional determination. The play is a tribute both to the power of theatre and the survival of moral integrity in a hostile environment. Entertaining, engaging and thought-provoking, this modern classic can be seen as a study of the mother-daughter relationship, but it is also much more than that, with elements of both comedy and tragedy in a train of events spanning 16 years.
Produced by Dave Lintin
GOOD THINGS
by Liz Lochhead
13th - 21st May 2011, 7.30pm
Left by her husband for a girl half her age, Susan Love is described as a Cinderella for fortysomethings as she does voluntary work in a Glasgow charity shop and hopes that speed-dating will sort her out. She faces minor interruptions, major tragedies and farcical turns of event as Lochhead delivers both the laughs and the pathos with feelgood assurance. A hugely entertaining and enjoyable celebration of the courage required for even ordinary lives just to get through the day.
Produced by David Larder
EXTRA TO THE SEASON:
KRAPP'S LAST TAPE
by Samuel Beckett
13th - 15th October 2010, 7.30pm
It is Krapp's sixty-ninth birthday and, as has become his custom, he hauls out his old tape recorder, reviews one of his earlier years - in this case the recording he made when he was thirty-nine - and makes a new recording commenting on the events of the previous twelve months.
Produced by Margaret Nixon
THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES
by Eve Ensler
12th February 2011, 7.30pm
Based on author Eve Ensler's interviews conducted with women from all around the world, this hilariously witty and moving collection of tales give voice to a chorus of lusty, outrageous, poignant, brave and thoroughly human stories.
Produced by Liz Wood
JEFFREY BERNARD IS UNWELL
by Keith Waterhouse
6th - 9th July 2011, 7.30pm
A sell-out West End hit, the play is based on the writings of real-life journalist, gambler, fervent alcoholic and four-times married Jeffrey Bernard who wrote the weekly "Low Life" column for the Spectator magazine, chronicling Soho life as well as offering a very personal philosophy on vodka, women and race-courses. The play's title refers to the magazine's habit of printing a one-line apology on a blank page when he was too drunk or hung-over to produce the required copy and a substitute article could not be found before the deadline for publication. Its premise is that Bernard has found himself locked in overnight at his favourite public house, the Coach and Horses, Soho, and uses the occasion to share anecdotes from his life with the audience.
Produced by Phil Wood
