Theatre by the Lake - Cumbria's Keswick-based professional producing theatre - has announced an eclectic mix of musicals, comedies, northern stories and new adaptations of classics for its spring and summer 2024 season.
Next August marks 25 years since the venue's opening, and plans are afoot for yet-to-be-revealed special celebrations...
Meanwhile, first up for the new season is green monster musical Little Shop of Horrors (March 27-April 20). Weedy flower shop assistant Seymour is down on his luck until he stumbles across a mysterious plant with killer potential. A co-production with Octagon Theatre Bolton, Hull Truck Theatre and New Wolsey. Jane Austen’s coming of age story Northanger Abbey (April 27-May 17) gets a new take from writer Zoe Cooper. Catherine Morland knows little of the world but who needs real life experience when you have novels? A co-production with Orange Tree Theatre, Octagon Theatre Bolton and Stephen Joseph Theatre. TBTL artistic director and Joint CEO Liz Stevenson directs Northern classic Brassed Off (June 28-July 27). Brass bands run in Shane’s family and in the midst of yet another cost of living crisis he looks back on the last great battle for the local pit and the defiant glory of Grimley Colliery Band. Based on the hit film and featuring local brass bands. A co-production with Octagon Theatre Bolton and Stephen Joseph Theatre.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (August 9-September 7) has the world’s most famous detective in a major makeover. This West End hit adaptation takes the familiar elements of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tale through ridiculously funny performances, witty dialogue and buckets of chaos. Tilted Wig and Malvern Theatres open their 2024 tour of Sheridan's The School for Scandal at TBTL (Mar 7-16). Sir Peter Teazle believes his young wife is sleeping with someone else. She isn’t. But she’s starting to think if her husband believes it she may as well give it a go. The theatre's Christmas 2024 show The Jungle Book (November 15, 2024-January 5, 2025) is already on sale. Artistic director Liz Stevenson said: “Summer 2023 was a real boost for us, with audiences returning for packed-out performances and filling the theatre with that infectious buzz and excitement, and so I’m really thrilled to announce this fantastic programme for next spring and summer. "August 2024 is also our 25th anniversary, so we are planning an exciting programme to mark the event – which we’ll be announcing soon.
"While we celebrate our origins, our star-studded grand opening in 1999, and everything TBTL has achieved in the last quarter century, we’ll also be looking to the next 25 years and what our audiences and communities across Cumbria would like to see and can look forward to from TBTL in the future.”
More info and tickets here