Featured image by Chris Watkins
Autumn, finish your ice lolly, as we need to to start thinking about it! Our wonderful, one and only, theatre in Devizes is currently “dark,” for maintenance, installation of new equipment and stage enhancement. But there’s a new season coming soon, and tickets for a variety of performances beyond panto and into 2025 are up for grabs…
The theatrical term “gone dark” indicates the venue is closed to the public. No lights mean no show. Historically, when theatres go dark one is left lit light at the centre of the stage. It’s known as the “Ghost Light,” believed to guide spirits and ghosts around the building.
While it may be a fire safety hazard too far for us today, candles were used in times gone by, and this may explain why many theatre’s often burned down in the Shakespearean era. I’m not a fountain of knowledge, I pinched it from the Wharf Theatre’s Facebook post! But we can’t have ghosts snapping up all the tickets for themselves, so here’s the lowdown on performances they’ve got lined up for us from August.
Sat 10th August: sees Rabbit Rabbit, a tribute to those cockney sparrows, Chas & Dave. Performed by the renowned trio, Triple Cream with their fantastic musicianship & witty banter, this show will have you smiling from ear to ear!
Mon 2nd – Sat 7th September: Abigail Newton directs British playwright Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. Three dramatic monologues taken from the BBC TV series from 1988.
Thur 12th September: Devizes Film Club screens joyful British comedy Scrapper.
Fri 20th September: Relive Hancock’s Half Hour with award-winning theatre company, Hambledon Productions’ recreations of three, ‘lost’ episodes from the original television series. Missing from the BBC archives, this UK Tour will mark the very first time these hilarious scripts have been brought to life since their original broadcast.
Sat 28th September: Jazz Britannia. Britain’s best New Orleans jazz combo Baby Jools & The Jazzaholics take you on a musical journey through the birth of British Jazz.
Mon 21st – Sat 26th October: Nic Proud adapts and directs Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre. A man on an endless voyage of peril, with romance and killing.
Sat 2nd Nov: Murder: Just What The Dr Ordered. From Isosceles Theatre Company who brought us a sold-out performance of The Man Who Left The Titanic last year. Set in Edinburgh, between 1827 and 1828, science and murder cling together in a dance of death.
7th Nov: Devizes Film Club screens Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, a Finnish film about a romance between a supermarket girl and a metalworker against a backdrop of economic disparity and war in Ukraine. Winner of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize.
Thu 28th Nov – Sat 7th Dec: Panto Time! This year the Wharf Theatre presents Hansel & Gretel. Karen Ellis & Jessica Bone take direction roles for the gingerbread house traditional pantomime. Alway popular, book this asap.
Mon 27th Jan – Sat 1st Feb: Veronica’s Room. John Winterton directs the first Wharf production of 2025, a chilling mystery thriller by the author of Rosemary’s Baby, exploring the thin line between fantasy and reality, madness and murder.
Tickets now on General Release HERE. Please note that Devizes Library is closed until 24 July which includes the Community Hub Box Office. Support our lovely local theatre.
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