Wiltshire Creative Reveals Spring 2024 Programme Featuring New Plays by Chris Chibnall and Sir Alan Ayckbourn

Wiltshire Creative has announced their Spring 2024 programme. Building on their recent in-house productions at Salisbury Playhouse, which include The Girl on the Train and Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, Wiltshire Creative's programme for next spring includes three new in-house productions.  

 

One Last Push is a world premiere of a new original comedy about the unexpected and often hilarious dramas of childbirth written by Chris Chibnall, creator of Broadchurch and the showrunner of Doctor Who, which will premiere at the Playhouse and will run from 15 February to 9 March with the press night on the 20 February. Alan Ayckbourn's A Chorus of Disapproval staged from the 25 April to 18 May is a farce following a hapless widower who joins an amateur operatic society in time for its production of The Beggar's Opera with the press night on the 30 April. The third in-house production for Spring '24 will be Wiltshire Creative's Youth Theatre retelling of Philip Pullman's Ghosts and Grimm Tales and this will run from 25 until 27 July. 

 

Gareth Machin, the Artistic Director of Wiltshire Creative said: “I'm delighted that original drama is back centre stage at Salisbury Playhouse with the world premiere of Chris Chibnall's new raucous comedy One Last Push alongside a packed and varied programme of high quality visiting work both at the Playhouse and Arts Centre, we know we are offering our audience a season brimming with entertainment.” 

 

Highlights of the visiting programme include: 

• The Adventures of the Little Red Hen, produced by Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company visiting Wiltshire for the first time 
• Breathe by SK Shlomo which won 2022 “Spirit of the Fringe” award, blending beatboxing, storytelling and technology into a concert-cum-theatre piece 
• A comedy programme of well-known names including Omid Djalili, Reginald D. Hunter, Paul Foot and Mark Watson, and debuts from Judi Love and Alasdair Beckett-King 
• The British poet and Sunday Times bestseller Holly McNish's The Lobster Tour, to promote the release of her new book Lobster: and other things that I'm learning to love 
• A music programme headlined by Louise Jordan who is performing a series of sung stories to celebrate hidden women of history for International Women's Day 2024 

ONE LAST PUSH

A Wiltshire Creative Production
By Chris Chibnall 

Salisbury Playhouse 

15 February – 9 March 
Press night: Wednesday 20 February at 7:30pm

Director: Gareth Machin; Designer: Simon Kenny; Lighting Designer Johanna Town; Casting Director: Gabrielle Dawes CDG 

 

A raucous new comedy from the writer of Worst Wedding Ever. Jen and Mark have done the NCT classes. They've written the birth plan, in precise detail. They've even got the birth pool ready in the living room of their new flat. Almost. Everything is set for the perfect, calm, idyllic home birth. Except they've reckoned without intrusive family, nosy neighbours, uninvited guests and a new flat full of unwelcome surprises. Chris Chibnall's new play hilariously depicts what happens when one of life's most magical events gets hijacked… by life itself. Chris Chibnall is best known for writing Broadchurch, Worst Wedding Ever (2014 and 2017 Salisbury Playhouse) and Doctor Who (2018–2022). 

 

Chris Chibnall is a BAFTAand Peabody award-winning screenwriter, executive producer, and playwright whose work has been seen, translated and remade all around the world. He is the recipient of the prestigious FIPA Prix D'Honneur, and honorary doctorates from Edge Hill University and Sheffield Hallam University. His theatre credits include Worst Wedding Ever (Salisbury Playhouse, 2015 & 2017 and national tour), Gaffer! (Southwark Playhouse, York Theatre Royal, 2005), Kiss Me Like You Mean It (Soho Theatre 2002, Théâtre de L'Oeuvre 2004). His TV writing credits include Broadchurch (Imaginary Friends/ITV), The Great Train Robbery: A Robber's Tale and A Copper's Tale (BBC One/World Productions), United (BBC Two/World Productions), Doctor Who, (BBC Studios, 2018-2022), Torchwood and Life On Mars (BBC Studios) and Law & Order UK (Kudos, Wolf Entertainment, Universal).  

 

Gareth Machin directs. Machin is the Artistic Director of Wiltshire Creative. Previously, he was studio associate at The National Theatre, Artistic Director of Southwark Playhouse and associate director at Bristol Old Vic.  

 

A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL

A Wiltshire Creative Production
By Alan Ayckbourn 

Salisbury Playhouse 

25 April – 18 May  
Press night: Tuesday 30 April at 7:30pm 

 

Director: Gareth Machin 

 

Recently widowed Guy joins his local Amateur Light Operatic Society in hope of finding new friends and meaning in his life but ends up with a lot more than he bargained for! In their upcoming production of The Beggar's Opera, Guy starts out playing a part with only one line, but his good looks and mild manners soon see him climb his way to the leading role. Unable to say no to wine, women and song, he finds himself embroiled in a series of backhand deals, steamy affairs and pub brawls.  

 

Ayckbourn's comedic genius comes to life in this award-winning show and promises to be a guaranteed night of blissful hilarity.  

 

Sir Alan Ayckbourn is an Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright. He has written 89 full-length plays, many of which have been produced in London's West End and New York as well as around the world. As an acclaimed director, he has worked extensively in the West End and at The National Theatre. He was the Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from 1972 to 2009, where the majority of his work has and continues to be launched. More than 40 plays have subsequently been produced in the West End, at The National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. Major successes include Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975), Just Between Ourselves (1976), A Chorus of Disapproval (1984), Woman in Mind (1985), A Small Family Business (1987), Man of the Moment (1988), House & Garden (1999) and Private Fears in Public Places (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, including seven London Evening Standard Awards. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway, attracting two Tony nominations and one Tony Award.  

GHOSTS AND GRIMM TALES 

 

A Wiltshire Creative Production 

By Philip Pullman
Adapted by Philip Wilson 

SALISBURY ARTS CENTRE 

Performed by Wiltshire Creative's Youth Theatre 

 
25 - 27 July

Wiltshire Creative's Youth Theatre Stage 65 present an evening of Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales in the spooky surroundings of Salisbury Arts Centre. These original tales will incorporate local ghost stories with dark, sinister twists. Join us if you dare!  

 

Philip Pullman's books include the trilogy His Dark Materials and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. In 2008, The Times named Pullman one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945”. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to literature.  

 

Philip Wilson is a freelance director, who was previously Artistic Director of Salisbury Playhouse (2007-2011). Recent directing credits include The Oyster Problem (Jermyn Street Theatre), A Single Man (Park Theatre), Starcrossed (Wilton's Music Hall), The Boy with the Bee Jar (Hope Theatre), This Island's Mine (King's Head Theatre), After the Dance (Theatre By The Lake) and A Fox on the Fairway (Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch). His adaptations of Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales were originally produced for Shoreditch Town Hall and Oxo Bargehouse. As Artistic Director of Salisbury Playhouse, he directed The Game of Love and Chance, The Constant Wife, The Picture, Private Lives, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Winslow Boy, his own adaptation of JL Carr's A Month in the Country, What the Butler Saw, People at Sea, Alphabetical Order and Corpse! 

 

Age guidance 10+  

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