07 Nov What’s On This Winter at Mercury Theatre Colchester
Mercury Theatre Colchester has a wide range of entertainment scheduled for this Winter including the theatre’s pantomime Sleeping Beauty, Frantic Assembly and Lemn Sissay OBE’s production of Metamorphosis, children’s show WOW! Said the Owl and Paulus’ acclaimed Victoria Wood tribute show Looking For Me Friend – The Music of Victoria Wood.
In their first commission since 2019, Frantic Assembly and Lemn Sissay OBE collaborate on this thrilling new adaptation of Metamorphosis, which will run at the Mercury Theatre from 7-11 November. Combining the fluidity and lyricism of Lemn Sissay’s adaptation and Frantic’s uncompromising physicality, this promises to be an unmissable retelling of Franz Kafka’s shocking tale of cruelty and kindness; a visceral and vital depiction of humans struggling within a system that crushes them under its heel.
Avalon Theatre will present their monthly The Comedy Network comedy night in the Mercury Studio on 10 November and 1 December, which will feature a line-up of the best up-and-coming comedians. November’s line-up consists of Travis Jay (regular on DAVE’s Late Night Mash and voice artist for Spitting Image), Lorna Rose Treen (First double award winner at the Funny Women Awards in 2022 and viral TikTok sensation), and Jason Stampe (East Anglia’s award-winning Big Deal Comedy and Comedy Store King Gong winner). December’s line-up will feature Laura Smyth (Live at the Apollo), Matty Hutson (BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show), Alex Kitson (First Laugh Awards 2020 finalist).
Little Angel Theatre’s production of WOW! Said the Owl will run in the Mercury Studio from 11-12 November. WOW! Said the Owl, the acclaimed children’s book by award winning author, Tim Hopgood, is brought to life through a blend of beautiful storytelling, puppetry, and music. Directed by Joy Haynes, this show will delight and excite children aged 2-5.
The Mercury’s LATES programme will host three events over the Winter months.
The Mercury Theatre’s free Cocktail Cabaret that champions local queer talent will return on 11 November. Hosted by the King and Queen of Colchester, Cyro and Flick, the free event in the Mercury’s Café Bar will feature various splashes of drag, dashes of dance, sprinklings of comedy, drama, and poetry making up the cocktail for the night.
The theatre will also be hosting a free Chai Lates, celebrating the creative arts of the local South Asian communities over Chai and Chaats on 16 November in the Mercury’s Café Bar.
Mercury Theatre, in partnership with Colchester Pride and Terrence Higgins Trust, will present an evening of participation, remembrance, inclusion, information, education and performance to mark World AIDS Day on 1 December.
This special free evening in Mercury’s Café Bar, presented as part of the LATES programme, will include guest speakers, performances and charity stalls. In creating a safe space in which to gather, there will also be an opportunity for reflection, remembrance and a candle-lit one-minute silence. The line-up includes Shar Cooterie as compere, and Aria Close.
Sanskruti Dance will present Magical Honey in the Mercury Studio on 25 November. The show follows Maya as she needs to find a little bit of magic to combat Miss. Tusra and restore the beauty of her enchanting world.
The Mercury Theatre’s annual pantomime, this year Sleeping Beauty, will run over the festive season from 25 November 2023 – 14 January 2024.
Directed by Mercury’s Artistic Director Ryan McBryde (Aladdin, The Comedy of Errors), Sleeping Beauty – this year’s pantomime offering – jumps off the page in a side-splitting adaptation by Guy Unsworth (Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em). This year’s pantomime, which runs at Mercury Theatre from 25 November 2023 – 14 January 2024, has recently broken box office records with over 75% tickets already sold.
The production features Mercury pantomime legends Dale Superville (Spamalot) as Spud, Antony Stuart-Hicks (Hairspray) as Dame Maris Piper with Sasha Latoya (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) as Fairy Fizz, Jaimie Pruden (Assassins) as Carabosse, Alexandra Barredo (Romeo and Juliet) as Luna, Philip Catchpole (The Book of Mormon) as Prince Istuna, Matthew Forbes (The Lion King) as Polo with Shelby Speed (Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour) and Nick Brittain (Cat in the Hat) as Ensemble/Understudies.
Running alongside Sleeping Beauty in the Mercury Studio will be Little Angel Theatre’s production of Me… from 13 December 2023 – 7 January 2024. The early years favourite, which follows a baby penguin finding his feet in the world, is a lovely and touching story about a parent and their love for their child by much loved children’s author Emma Dodd, brought to life through puppetry.
Local creative and Mercury Creatives alumnus Kate Millner will star in this production. Kate penned the script for the Christmas 2021 advert for In Colchester (Blank Space) and the script (adapted from an original story by Neil D’Arcy Jones), music and lyrics for the children’s musical King Coel’s Curtains- which premiered last year in Colchester Castle Park.
Featuring the star of BBC1’s ‘All Together Now’, Paulus The Cabaret Geek, with accompanist Michael Roulston (Fascinating Aida), join the boys in their acclaimed Victoria Wood tribute show Looking For Me Friend – The Music of Victoria Wood in the Mercury Studio on 30 November as they take you on a whistle-stop tour of 21 of Victoria’s best-loved songs, including the hilarious ‘Ballad of Barry & Freda’ and the classic ‘It Would Never Have Worked’.
Tom Walker (Good Luck, Studio), who is best known as the character Jonathan Pie, will return to the Mercury Theatre in Colchester with his new show Jonathan Pie & Friends which runs from 12th-14th December 2023.
The Mercury Theatre’s annual Christmas Concert will return on 19 December featuring seasonal songs, readings and magical performances from the cast of Sleeping Beauty, Mercury Theatre’s Social Club, Mercury Young Company and Musical Theatre Dance. The theatre will be hosting a collection following the free concert to raise funds for Refugee, Asylum Seeker & Migrant Action.
The Mercury Theatre also continues with its Colchester Pride Film Nights in the Mercury Studio with screenings of Rocky Horror Picture Show (7 November), The Danish Girl (28 November) and Beginners (5 December).
Tickets can be bought at www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
