As we head towards Christmas and 2024 I wanted to take the opportunity
to thank all our wonderful members and audience members. It has been
a successful year for us with fantastic productions, great events and
building developments. From Coffee mornings to drama classes, our
wonderful bar nights to the artistic endeavours we continue to grow
and develop. None of which would be able to happen without the hard
work, support and dedication of the team of volunteers, putting their
time in day after day, production after production. I would like to
take the opportunity to say a personal thank you to the board and
committees, that keep the wheels turning, for all their hard work this
year. The dedication and selflessness, doing a difficult job, is
commendable and appreciated.
I also wanted to let you know that Anne-marie Greene, our Artistic
Director, is undergoing some health issues and will be going into
hospital after Christmas and will be out of action for a few weeks
while she recovers. If you know Anne-marie you will know this will be
difficult for her, as a major driving force behind the Criterion, she
is not good at putting herself first. I have no doubts that the
theatre will rally behind her and support where needed to ensure she
has time while she recovers. We have rescheduled her production of
‘Every Brilliant Thing’ to September to ensure that she can
concentrate on getting fit and well to direct this wonderful play. Our
love and best wishes are with her and the family.
As I write this our final show of 2023 is about to end after a sold
out run, the set will be struck and work will start for the next. In
the meantime, preparations are underway for the legendary Carols night
on Friday 22nd December, the true start of Christmas I feel. I hope
to see you there.
Finally, on behalf of the board, I want to wish you all a very merry
Christmas and a happy new year.
Best wishes,
Jon Elves, Chair.
17th December
We are really pleased to announce the 2024 season so far. It is
exciting and challenging, with a mix of genres, new writing and
classic pieces, well known and unusual plays.
Please look out for Open Reading and Audition notices coming soon.
STUDIO SLOT : WEDS 10TH TO SATURDAY 13TH JANUARY
THE TRIALS BY DAWN KING (2022)
Genre: Drama , Cast: 12 youth, 2 adults , Director: Alan Fenn
_Synopsis: The near future. The climate emergency is gathering pace,
and our generation is being judged. The jurors are children. But are
they delivering justice – or just taking revenge? Dawn King's
searing play was first performed in January 2022. The Trials offers an
exciting opportunity for theatre companies to address the climate
emergency and intergenerational conflict, as the jury of 12 to
17-year-olds hold the stage alongside two adult defendants._
MAIN HOUSE: SAT 16TH TO SAT 23RD MARCH
A DIRTY GREAT LOVE STORY BY KATE BONNA/RICHARD MARSH (2012)
Genre: Comedy, Cast: 4, Director: Kelly Davidson
_Synopsis: A wry, funny, sweet-natured variation on the archetypal
boy-meets-girl story. Nice, nerdy Richard and lately dumped Katie meet
when a stag night and hen party collide and end up having a drunken
one-night stand. Over the following months, they acquire new partners
and, when their respective best friends get hitched, fleetingly meet
at a wedding, a christening and a muddy pop festival. Wittily written,
at times in rhyme, the pleasure of the piece lies in the language. It
premiered in August 2012 as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival._
MAIN HOUSE: SAT 4TH TO SAT 11TH MAY
SPRINGBOARD FESTIVAL 2024
A week of one act plays, poetry, music and art, bringing together
amateur and professionals in one space, with in house company
performances and community/Criterion collaborations alongside external
artists, musicians and theatre companies, poetry workshops and art
exhibitions.
MAIN HOUSE SAT 22ND TO 29TH JUNE
THE HOMECOMING BY HAROLD PINTER (1965)
Genre: Classic Drama, Cast: 5 (4M 1W), Director: John Ruscoe
_Synopsis: Pinter wrote this two-act play in 1964, and it premiered in
1965. It is one of the playwright’s most unnerving works. Teddy
brings his wife, Ruth, home from America for the first time to meet
his family in London. The play is essentially one long power struggle
between the male family members, with Ruth as the catalyst. The play
is rich with meaning, picking at ideas of family, masculinity and the
home. _
MAIN HOUSE RESCHEDULED SAT 31ST AUGUST TO SAT 7TH SEPTEMBER
EVERY BRILLIANT THING BY DUNCAN MACMILLAN (2015)
Genre: Totally heartwarming, Cast: 1, Director: Anne-marie Greene
_Synopsis: When Mum’s in the hospital and Dad says she finds it
hard to be happy, there’s not much a seven year old can do…1. Ice
cream, 2. Water fights, 3. Staying up past your bedtime and being
allowed to watch TV. These are the first three items on a list of
every brilliant thing in the world worth living for. As the child
grows up, so does the list. It takes on a life of its own, a Facebook
group is started, other people start adding to it, writing in the
margins, making amendments, providing footnotes. The purpose of the
list is forgotten and the mother’s depression doesn’t go away.
Eventually, as a grown-up, they reach their self-imposed target of one
million entries. They call the list ‘Every Brilliant Thing’.
Based on true and untrue stories, Every Brilliant Thing is a
life-affirming story of how to achieve hope through focusing on the
smallest miracles of life._
MAIN HOUSE SAT 19TH TO SAT 26TH OCTOBER
1984 BY ROBERT ICKE/DUNCAN MACMILLAN (2013)
Genre: Drama, Cast: 8 (1W 1M, 6 gender non-specific), Director: Steve
Brown
_Synopsis: A critically acclaimed adaptation of George Orwell’s
dystopian novel. 1984 follows a group of historians as they discover
the diary of Comrade 6079, Winston Smith. In a world where all
citizens are closely watched by Big Brother, Winston’s life is
jeopardised when he suddenly falls in love and begins to think free
thoughts that threaten the scarily controlling government. This is a
chilling adaptation of a classic tale, which will leave audiences
gripping their seats in fear._
MAIN HOUSE SAT 7TH TO SAT 14TH DECEMBER
A CHRISTMAS CAROL : A FAIRY TALE BY PIERS TORDAY (2019).
Genre: Classic Christmas drama, Cast: 15-30, Director: TBC
_Synopsis: A really exciting re-imagining for the 21st century with an
original, female-led version. In this reinvention of the timeless
classic, Ebenezer has died and his sister Fan has inherited his
money-lending business. _
22nd September