Dead Guilty

by Richard Harris

Directed by Chris Westgate

3 – 13 September 2025

When John Haddrell dies of a heart attack at the wheel of his car, the woman at his side is not his wife Margaret, but his lover, Julia. Housebound and depressed, whilst recovering, Julia is visited by Margaret, who seemingly knows nothing about the affair. While a kindly counselor contends with Julia’s suicidal tendencies and a besotted handyman helps around the house, the excessively solicitous widow invades Julia’s life.

Left alone in the house together, Julia and Margaret are locked in deadly combat – suspense builds as the question becomes whether the affair Julia was enjoying with her now dead colleague will cost her her own life.

The Winslow Boy

by Terence Rattigan

Directed by Jenny Brown

15 – 25 October 2025

14-year-old naval cadet Ronnie Winslow has been accused of stealing a five shilling postal order. An internal enquiry, conducted without notice to his family and without the benefit of representation, finds him guilty. His father, Arthur, is convinced of his son’s innocence and launches a relentless legal battle against the British Admiralty, despite the social and financial strain it places on the family, enlisting the help of renowned barrister Sir Robert Morton. Though seemingly cold and and calculating, as the case unfolds, it becomes clear that Morton is deeply committed to justice.

Based on a real legal case, Rattigan’s study of family, social expectations, and the cost of standing up for one’s principles remains of his most enduring works.

The Unfriend

by Stephen Moffatt

Directed by Fiona Rogers

3 – 13 December 2025

While on holiday, Peter and Debbie befriend Elsa: a lusty, Trump-loving widow from Denver, USA. She’s less than woke but kind of wonderful. They agree to stay in touch – because no one ever really does, do they?
When Elsa invites herself to stay a few months later, they decide to look her up online. Too late, they learn the truth about Elsa Jean Krakowski. Deadly danger has just boarded a flight to London! But how do you protect all that you love from mortal peril without seeming, well, a bit impolite? Because guess who’s coming… to murder!

Steven Moffat’s play The Unfriend takes a hilarious and satirical look at middle-class England’s disastrous instinct always to appear nice. It was first performed at Chichester before transferring to the West End.

Lovesong

by Abi Morgan

Directed by Sophie Pierce

21 – 31 January 2026

All relationships have their ups and downs; the optimism of youth becomes the wisdom of experience. A story of one couple, Billy and Maggie, told from two different points in their lives – as young lovers in their 20s, and as worldly companions looking back on their relationship. Their past and present selves collide in this haunting and beautiful tale of togetherness. 

As the older Billy and Maggie confront illness and the inevitable end of their journey together, their younger selves serve as a poignant reminder of the past – full of dreams, arguments, and devotion. Love is a leap of faith.

Wokingham Youth Theatre present

Frankenstein

by Rona Munro from the novel by Mary Shelley

Directed by Indigo Hogg

19 – 21 February 2026

An eighteen-year-old girl, Mary Shelley, dreams up a monster whose tragic story will capture the imaginations of generations to come. A young scientist by the name of Frankenstein breathes life into a gruesome body. Banished into an indifferent world, Frankenstein’s creature desperately seeks out his true identity, but the agony of rejection and a broken promise push him into darkness. Dangerous and vengeful, the creature threatens to obliterate Frankenstein and everyone he loves, in a ferocious and bloodthirsty hunt for his maker.

Rona Munro’s brilliant adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Gothic masterpiece places the writer herself amongst the action as she wrestles with her creation and with the stark realities facing revolutionary young women, then and now.

The Watsons

by Laura Wade from the unfinished novel by Jane Austen

Directed by Hedda Bird

18 – 28 March 2026

What happens when the writer loses the plot? Emma Watson is 19 and new in town. She’s been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast.

If not, they face poverty, spinsterhood, or worse: an eternity with their boorish brother and his awful wife. Luckily there are plenty of potential suitors to dance with, from flirtatious Tom Musgrave to castle-owning Lord Osborne, who’s as awkward as he is rich. So far, so familiar.

But there’s a problem: Jane Austen didn’t finish the story.

Who will write Emma’s happy ending now?

Based on her incomplete novel, this sparklingly witty play looks under the bonnet of Jane Austen and asks: What can characters do when their author abandons them?

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

by Edward Albee

Directed by Sophie Earle Thorpe

29 April – 9 May 2026

George, a professor at a small college, and his wife, Martha, have just returned home, drunk from a Saturday night party. Martha announces, amidst general profanity, that she has invited a young couple, the opportunistic new college professor his shatteringly naïve new bride, to stop by for a nightcap. When they arrive the charade begins. The drinks flow and suddenly inhibitions melt. It becomes clear that Martha is determined to seduce the young professor, and George couldn’t care less.

But underneath the edgy banter lurks an undercurrent of tragedy and despair. George and Martha’s bitterness toward one another is provoked by the enormous personal sadness that they have pledged to keep to themselves: a secret that has seemingly been the foundation for their relationship.

Romantic Comedy

by Bernard Slade

Directed by Mel Hampshire

3 – 13 June 2026

Arrogant, self centered and sharp tongued Jason Carmichael, successful co-author of Broadway romantic comedies, is facing two momentous events: he is about to marry a society belle and his collaborator is retiring. Enter Phoebe Craddock, Vermont schoolteacher and budding playwright.

Quicker than a flash, Jason acquires a talented and adoring collaborator in the mousy Phoebe. Fame and success are theirs for ten years and then Jason’s world falls apart. His wife divorces him to go into politics and Phoebe, her love for Jason unrequited, marries a breezy journalist and moves to Paris.

Jason goes into professional, financial and physical decline as a newly chic Phoebe returns, solo and successful.

An Ideal Husband

by Oscar Wilde

Directed by Emma Merchant

15 – 25 July 2026

Sir Robert Chiltern is the perfect politician: honest, upright, and adored by his wife. At least, that’s what everyone thinks. But when the scheming Mrs. Cheveley saunters into his life armed with a scandalous secret from his past, his squeaky-clean reputation starts to look a little grubby. As Lady Chiltern’s idealism begins to crack, Sir Robert must rely on his best friend, the charming and perpetually unbothered bachelor Lord Goring, to help untangle the mess.

Cue razor-sharp banter, moral dilemmas, and just the right amount of chaos as they wrestle with blackmail, betrayal, and the gap between public virtue and private vice. 

Will the blackmail schemes be foiled? Will husband and wife reconcile? And will the dandy bachelor finally find love? In true Wilde fashion, this comedy of manners is a sparkling satire that proves not everyone is quite what they seem.