Hebden Bridge Little Theatre

Social Play Reading Group
2018-03-07 19:30 - 22:00 UTC | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
The next play chosen by the Social Play Reading Group, A Night Out, by Harold Pinter, has a very topical theme. Pinter’s first big success on television, featuring many of his trademark themes and stylistic techniques, is a tale of a young loner, dominated by an emotionally suffocating mother.
Finally rebelling, he goes along to an office party, but things start to go wrong when he is accused of molesting a female colleague.
The SPRG meets to read this early modern classic on Wednesday, 7 March, at 7.30, in the Little Theatre.

Be My Baby
2018-02-19 - 2018-02-24 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By Amanda Whittington, directed by Jenny Gore
Be My Baby is an uplifting tale of hope, friendship and survival, with a swinging sixties soundtrack!
Set in 1964, it follows the fortunes of Mary Adams, aged 19, unmarried and seven months pregnant. Mary ends up in a Mother and Baby Home, in the north of England, where she meets other young women in a similar predicament. Despite the dawning realisation that their babies are to be given up for adoption, the girls’ youthful exuberance breaks through, as they sing along to the songs of the period – by girl groups such as the Ronettes, and the Shangri-Las.

Social Play Reading Group
2018-02-07 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
The Social Play Reading Group will be reading Me and My Friend by Gillian Plowman, on Wednesday, 7 February.
This ‘hilarious and heart-breaking’ black comedy explores the relationship between two ‘odd’ couples thrown prematurely out of hospital care. In the downstairs flat are Oz, who has never recovered from his mother’s death, and Bunny, whose workaholism led to estrangement from his wife. Upstairs are Robin, a middle-class housewife who suffocated her own son, and Julia whose obsessive thoughts of men drew her into prostitution. In the first act we see the men conduct fantasy interviews for jobs they will never get, then in the second act, the women trying to make plans for a holiday. They all meet when Oz throws a disastrous party with the four desperately attempting the niceties of social intercourse.
If you like reading plays aloud, or would like to just listen – please join us!
Plowman’s writing is rich in affectionate humour…The Times…a remarkable play…The Sunday Telegraph…what good theatre should be …What’s On.

Snow White
2017-12-29 - 2017-12-31 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
StoryMagic Theatre returns to the Little Theatre once again this Christmas with the much loved fairy tale, Snow White. Katrina and her talented company perform twice daily: 29, 30, and 31 December, at 11am (a ‘toddler friendly performance’) and 3pm. Tickets are £7 per child, and £10 per adult.
Book in person, or over the phone at Todmorden Tourist Information Centre, 01706 818181 (no booking fee), or at www.storymagictheatre.com (a small booking fee applies).

Godfrey’s Last Love
2017-12-13 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
Tickets are now on sale for Godfrey’s Last Love, by Alan Stockdill, which plays for one night at the Little Theatre, on 13 December.
Retired cricket umpire, proud Yorkshireman and avowed socialist, Godfrey Shackleton, celebrates his lottery win with a lads’ trip to Morecambe and a beer or two. But his life changes once again when he bumps into twinkly widow, Betty, who is visiting the resort with Clitheroe Conservative Club. Love, loss, hope, happiness, struggles and smiles, all come together in this charming tale of finding love in the third age. But the path of romance doesn’t always run smoothly. Will Godfrey bowl this maiden over? Will this unlikely couple triumph over adversity and bring each other the ‘golden years’ sunshine they both deserve?
Tickets are available online at www.wegottickets/talkingstock or ring/text Alan on 07866 750580.

Social Play Reading Group
2017-12-06 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
The SPRG plans another reading of Pyrenees by David Greig, on Wednesday 6 December, at 7.30pm in the Little Theatre bar. In this intriguing play, a man found lying in the snow at the base of the Pyrenees, suffering from amnesia, is confronted by two women who offer alternative stories about his identity. There was such disagreement among the readers who were there in November about the true identities of the characters, we are inviting Little Theatre members to come along, read or listen and help us solve the puzzle. If you are good at accents (eg. a slight Scottish lilt, or the accent of a person speaking English who might have been born in France), this is an opportunity to have some fun and help us solve the mystery.

RolePlay
2017-11-27 - 2017-12-02 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By Alan Ayckbourn, directed by Ray Riches
Justin and Julie-Ann, hopelessly mismatched in love, are about to introduce their respective parents to each other over dinner – Justin’s upper-crust alcoholic mother from Surrey and Julie-Ann’s bigoted Yorkshire father and prim mother.
Enter Paige Petite, a former lap-dancer with suicidal tendencies, who appears on their balcony having dropped from the flat above, followed shortly after by the thick, gun-toting minder employed by her violent boyfriend!
This is the third in the Damsels in Distress trilogy, by Alan Ayckbourn. Although part of a trilogy, each play stands alone. The director Ray Riches previously directed GamePlan, the first of the series, in 2007, and is delighted to get the chance to direct RolePlay: ‘RolePlay is very funny! The humour comes from an array of larger than life characters, heightened by the sense of peril in which our hapless heroine finds herself. All this combines to hilarious effect!’
‘returns to vintage Ayckbourn territory, the dinner party from hell’ Paul Taylor, The Independent

Proof
2017-10-02 - 2017-10-07 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By David Auburn, directed by Vaughan Leslie
Catherine is mourning the recent passing of her father, Robert, a maths professor. Feeling vulnerable she worries that she has inherited Robert’s inclination towards mental instability, as well as his maths genius.
Into the equation comes Hal, an ex-student of her father’s, who wants to study the hundreds of notebooks left behind after his death, looking for any work that could be published.
Catherine assures him that the notebooks are filled with scribbles and nonsense as her father wrote them when he was at his most delusional. But then Hal makes a sensational discovery that threatens to turn everyone’s world upside down!
Proof won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play.
‘In Proof, David Auburn has fashioned an exhilarating and assured play – a subtle and gripping exploration of loss, guilt, discovery, instability, and, ultimately, the elusive nature of truth.’

Sally Wainwright Benefit
2017-09-23 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
We are thrilled to be hosting, another celebrity Benefit Evening, on Saturday, 23 September, at 7.30. Following her coup in organising an audience with Timothy West and Prunella Scales last year, Jenny Gore has managed to secure an evening with award-winning author, Sally Wainwright.
Sally is well known for her popular and critically-acclaimed television dramas, such as Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley, both filmed locally, and To Walk Invisible, a TV film about the Brontes, shown last Christmas. She is currently working on an eight-part series for the BBC about Anne Lister of Shibden Hall.
Sally’s roots are in Calderdale. She went to Sowerby Bridge Grammar, and she has come back to the area to write. Jenny taught her when she was at Sowerby Bridge, and the two have recently renewed their acquaintance, resulting in her generous offer to do a Benefit Evening for the theatre.
Jenny will be chairing an informal evening of conversation, with questions and answers, and some film extracts. Tickets priced at £15, are available at Innovation, Hebden Bridge, or by ringing Sue Riches on 01422 843907.
Book now, for what is sure to be a very special and entertaining evening.

Read-through date announced!
2017-09-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
There will be a casting, read-through of Alan Ayckbourn’s hilarious comedy Roleplay on Sunday, 3 September, at 7pm in the theatre bar.
Director Ray Riches is looking for a couple in their twenties/early thirties, and two men and two women in their forties-fifties. See Our Next Read-through for further details.
If you can’t attend the rehearsal but would like to know more you can contact Ray on sueandrayriches@hotmail.com or on 01422 843907.

A Little Light Music for a Summer Evening
2017-07-01 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
You are invited to a free concert, A Little Light Music for a Summer Evening, at the Little Theatre, on Saturday 1 July, at 7.30pm.
The programme, presented by Christopher Irvin’s Leeds-based, New White Rose Orchestra, and Hebden Bridge Little Theatre Choir, will include classic light music favourites, such as The Westminster Waltz, selections from Rodgers & Hammerstein, some unusual ‘novelty’ pieces, a premiere, Verdi’s Va Pensiero and Mozart’s glorious Exsultate, Jubilate.
The event is free. You are welcome to come along on the night, although advance notice would be appreciated. Please telephone: 01422 845446, and leave a message to reserve your seats.

Calderdale Young Shorts
2017-06-28 19:00 - 21:30 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
In a collaboration between the Arts Festival, Square Chapel, Calderdale Theatre School and Beacon Actors Company, Calderdale Young Shorts 2017 is providing play-writing workshops in local schools, leading to performances of a selection of the plays, to be performed at the Little Theatre on Wednesday, 28 June, at 7pm. Admission is free.

Summer Fancy
2017-06-19 - 2017-06-24 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
Adapted and directed by Freda Kelsall
Young, handsome lawyer, Charles Bradford Raye is visiting the small city of Melchester on business, when he meets, and seduces Anna, an attractive country girl, at the local carnival. Anna has recently come to Melchester to work in the service of Edith Harnham and her husband, an elderly vintner.
Charles returns to London, and writes to Anna, not knowing that she is illiterate and cannot read the letter. Anna begs Edith to write a letter for her, which she does, and the lovers fall into a regular correspondence.
Anna begins by dictating the letters, but soon Edith edits and embellishes and even writes entire letters without Anna’s knowledge. Charles is astonished that an ill-educated country girl could write so well, and he begins to fall in love with the letter-writer. Then Anna finds herself ‘in a delicate situation’, and the plot thickens.
This moving tale first appeared as a short story On the Western Circuit, in the collection Life’s Little Ironies, by Thomas Hardy. Re-titled Summer Fancy it was adapted by local playwright, Freda Kelsall, and first produced by the Bridge Theatre, at The Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield, in June 1992. We are honoured that Freda Kelsall has agreed to direct this latest revival.

Social Play Reading
2017-06-07 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
The next meeting of the play reading group will be on Wednesday, 7 June, at 7.30pm, in the theatre bar. The Social Play Reading Group will be reading one (or more) of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. These monologues which reflect Bennett’s wonderfully observant view of the British way of life are often touching, funny and always very real. You are invited to come along and help us choose which ones to read, take part, or just listen to the reading. The group will break for the summer after this, and restart on Wednesday, 6 September. Plans for the autumn include reading one of Jez Butterworth’s plays (possibly Jerusalem), and Pyrenees by David Greig.

May Concert
2017-05-20 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
The Christmas Concert was such fun, we’ve decided to schedule another night of music and song!

On Saturday 20 May, at 7.30pm, the Lost chord Ensemble, Little Theatre Choir and invited soloists will entertain you with music to put a Spring in your step. Tickets cost £5. Phone 01422 845446 to book.

Social Play Reading
2017-05-03 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
The Social Play Reading Group meets next on Wednesday, 3 May, at 7.30pm, and will be reading Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen. Though written in the 19th century, the play deals with issues that are timeless. Convenor, Anita Alzamora says this is a play once done at the Little Theatre by Freda Kelsall’s Bridge Theatre, and more recently mentioned as a play that some women wished could be performed by the Little Theatre. We think it is timely to look at it more closely. There are parts for both men and women, and everyone is invited, whether to listen, read, or comment upon the play and its relevance to today.

A View from the Bridge
2017-04-17 - 2017-04-22 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By Arthur Miller, directed by Jenny Gore
The story of Eddie Carbone, an Italian American longshoreman, working the docks around the Brooklyn Bridge, as narrated by Alfieri, an American lawyer, raised in Italy, who acts as the ‘Bridge’ between the two cultures.

Eddie lives with his wife Beatrice and her orphaned niece, Catherine. At first protective and fatherly towards the girl, he becomes increasingly jealous and controlling as she approaches her 18th birthday, objecting to the way she dresses and her growing interest in men.

Eddie returns home one afternoon with the news that Beatrice’s two cousins, brothers Marco and Rodolpho, have arrived in New York as illegal immigrants. He has agreed to house them saying that he is honoured to be able to help family.
Marco has a family starving in Italy and plans to work illegally for several years, then return home. Rodolpho hopes to stay in America and make a career out of singing. Although Eddie, Beatrice and Catherine are at first excellent hosts, ominous cracks appear when Rodolpho and Catherine begin dating.
This classic tragedy, written in 1955, is one of Arthur Miller’s finest works.

Goodnight Mister Tom
2017-03-15 19:15 - 2017-03-18 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
Hebden Bridge Light Opera Society presents Goodnight Mister Tom at the Little Theatre, 15-18 March, at 7.15 pm, with a Saturday Matinee at 2.15 pm. Directed by Liz Holland, with musical direction by David Root, the musical is based on the popular award-winning novel by Michelle Magorian.
Goodnight Mister Tom is the story of eight year old William Beech, an artistically gifted but abused young boy who escapes his brutal home life when he is evacuated to the heart of the English countryside at the outbreak of World War II. When William arrives in the village he is physically and emotionally scarred by the cruelty of his mother but is rescued from his hideous upbringing when he is taken into the care of Tom Oakley, a lonely, bad-tempered old man. There he experiences a new life of loving and care.
With Gary Carpenter’s soaring, tuneful score and Michelle Magorian’s beautiful lyrics, this is a wonderful uplifting show which will appeal to both young and old alike.
Tickets can be reserved by contacting Sue Lee (ring 01422 250181, or text 07741 460868), and cost £10 adults, £8 concessions. Tickets are also on sale at Bonsall’s Hebden Bridge.
An amateur performance by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd.

The Kardashians Made Me Do It
2017-03-10 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
Award winning comedian Shazia Mirza, brings her critically acclaimed show, The Kardashians Made Me Do It, to Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, on Friday 10 March 2017, 7.30 pm.
Shazia has built up a huge reputation in recent years, touring and appearing on radio and TV (including The Jonathan Ross Show, and Have I Got News For You), and has garnered high praise for her comedy:
**** Telegraph: ‘The Kardashians Made Me Do It is brave and urgent’
**** Mail on Sunday: ‘As brave a piece of comedy as you’ll see’
The Little Theatre is pleased to be able to host this special event. Tickets are £14, available through
Ticketsource:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/mtm-productions

Spring and Port Wine
2017-02-20 - 2017-02-25 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By Bill Naughton, directed by Gil Burns
Rafe Crompton rules his wife, Daisy, and their four children with a rod of iron. Yet the tide is turning: Florence has found love with a sheet metal worker; Hilda wants to stay out late like the other girls; while Wilf and Harold have their hearts set on a place of their own, away from Rafe’s strict regime.
It’s Hilda who finally tires of their overbearing father when she refuses to eat the herring served to her at dinner. Who would have thought this one small act of rebellion could have such unexpected and far-reaching consequences?!
Bill Naughton’s comic masterpiece pays homage to the great period of Lancashire comedies, that produced Hobson’s Choice and Hindle Wakes, and is one of the great northern comedy-dramas.

Christmas Concert
2016-12-17 19:30 - 22:00 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
We are pleased to announce the return of our popular Christmas Concert, a mixture of comedy, sketches and song, on Saturday 17 December, at 7.30 pm. A seasonal treat guaranteed to warm your cockles! Mulled wine and cake included in the £5 entry price. Phone 01422 843907 to book.

Dracula
2016-11-28 - 2016-12-03 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By Deane and Balderston, directed by Ray Riches
Adapted from Bram Stoker’s original, chilling novel, this version promises more spills than thrills in spite of the fact that early performances had nurses in attendance to deal with overcome members of the audience.
Lucy Seward lives with her father in the quiet English countryside when she is attacked by some strange disease. (‘Day by day she is wasting away’). Not even her father can diagnose the cause so he sends for the eccentric Van Helsing, a specialist in the occult and mysterious diseases.
Questions arise concerning the suave Count Dracula who has recently moved into a nearby castle. What strange power does he have over Lucy when he comes to check on her condition? Where does he disappear to in the daytime? Is there any connection with the strange boxes which he has had delivered from his home in Transylvania?
With bats aplenty and specially written songs, director Ray Riches promises the audience:
‘An evening of fun guaranteed to get your blood flowing but a clove of garlic might not go amiss.’

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The New White Rose Orchestra
2016-10-27 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
STOP PRESS!
Christopher Irvin will be conducting The New White Rose Orchestra in a concert of light classical music at Hebden Bridge Little Theatre on Thursday 27 October, at 7.30 pm. Pieces will include The Westminster Waltz, a selection from My Fair Lady, and the premiere of a movement from his new Ridings Suite (North Riding). This is a free event – please e-mail:
chris.browne@tiscali.co.uk or telephone 01422 844744 to be added to the guest list.

Diwali
2016-10-22 16:30 - 18:30 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
Annapurna Indian Dance proudly presents ‘Diwali – Indian Festival of Lights’, an afternoon of dance, at the Little Theatre, on 22 October, 4.30-6.30 pm. Described as ‘a passionate celebration of the colours and splendour of India’s rich cultural heritage’. This vibrant celebration features graceful traditional dances and stories, and a unique performance known as ‘Morris Natyam’, which combines the traditional dances of South India with English Morris Dancing!
Entry is free but you need to reserve your seats by emailing info@annapurnadance.com, as the theatre has limited seating. Food tickets, costing £7 for adults and teenagers, and £3 for children, includes hot vegetarian Indian food cooked by chef Vinod of Hebden Bridge.

Contact 07737 759783 or email us on info@annapurnadance.com

Moonlight and Magnolias
2016-10-03 - 2016-10-08 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By Ron Hutchinson, directed by Hannah Stow
Imagine the crazy scenario:- five weeks into filming ‘Gone With The Wind’, the most eagerly awaited and expensive film of all time, producer David O. Selznick, fires the director and halts filming. With his reputation on the line and a determination to still make a great movie, he pulls director Victor Fleming off the set of the ‘Wizard of Oz’ and commissions script writer, Ben Hecht, to rewrite the screenplay.
Add to that the fact that they only have five days and the added complication that Hecht is the only person in Hollywood who hasn’t read the epic novel and you have all the ingredients for a great comedy.
The three are locked in an office with Selznick and Fleming reduced to hilariously re-enacting the story to a baffled Hecht. Fuelled only by bananas and peanuts, tension builds, exhaustion sets in but from amidst the chaos emerges the biggest blockbuster of all time. Crazy? But the British Theatre Guide said of it:
“A sheer joy. It’s years since I laughed out loud so much at a play”.

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Read-through: Dracula
2016-09-04 19:30 - 21:30 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
If you’d like to get involved with our end of year production ‘Dracula’, Ray Riches is holding auditions on Sunday September 4th, 7-30 pm, at the theatre. Check out ‘Our Next Read-Through’ for details.

Calderdale Young Shorts
2016-06-30 19:00 - 21:00
Following last year’s successful launch, Calderdale Young Shorts is back! A celebration of Calderdale young people’s imagination, writing talent and performance skills.
A joint project between Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, Square Chapel Education and Outreach and Calderdale Theatre School, Calderdale Young Shorts 2016 is providing playwriting workshops in local schools leading to performances of a selection of the plays in both Halifax and Hebden Bridge.

The Children's Hour
2016-06-13 - 2016-06-18 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By Lillian Hellman, directed by Jenny Gore
The play is set in the thirties, in a rural all-girls’ boarding school, run by two women. A mischievous and frequently disobedient student, Mary, runs away from the school and to avoid being sent back she tells her doting grandmother that the two women are having a lesbian affair.
Her grandmother, a significant member of the community, withdraws Mary and persuades all the other parents to do likewise causing the school to close which has tragic consequences for the two women.
The play, which is based on a true story, is about the powerful, corrosive effect of a malicious lie and how witch hunts can destroy lives. It was a shocking play for its time, challenging the views of contemporary American Society and making a profoundly moving, dramatic story.

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Stepping Out
2016-04-18 - 2016-04-23 | Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EE
By Richard Harris, directed by Gill Burns and Gilly Walker
The Evening Standard Best Comedy of 1984 is a warm and funny play about a group of women, (and a solitary man) who attend a weekly tap-dance class in a dingy, rundown church hall. The women bring all kinds of emotional baggage to the sessions, along with little talent or co-ordination, for them it’s a weekly chat.
However, driven by their eternally patient instructor Mavis and their grumpy pianist, their skills improve and they begin to develop as a team finally being successful in giving a great performance at a local gala.
But their real triumph is the personal journeys the women make as they don their leotards, shed their inhibitions and overcome various personal hang-ups.

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