Tickets for The New Wolsey’s Amateur & Community Season 2008 went on sale at 10am on Monday 7 April.

The Amateur & Community Season begins on 7 May with Suffolk Youth Theatre presenting Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, directed by Michael Platt and with original music by Pat Whymark. The vibrant style of SYT fuses drama, dance and music in an entirely new approach to this well-known story.

This year The Gallery Players present Spend, Spend, Spend based on the autobiographical book by Viv Nicholson and Stephen Smith. Spend, Spend, Spend is a riveting new musical which charts the tragedy, the comedy and the love story that is the legend of housewife Viv Nicholson who won the first mega-jackpot (over £3 million in today’s money) on the football pools in 1961.The show runs from Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 June.

On Thursday 19 June at New Wolsey Studio The Refugee Council and Black & White Productions present Refugee Café, in celebration of Refugee Week 2008. Refugee Café is a new play by Suzanne Hawkes based on the stories and experiences of refugees from many countries who have found their way to Ipswich.

On Friday 27 and Saturday 28 June DanceEast presents High Voltage 8, its annual celebration of dance in the East of England. The programme brings together a selection of DanceEast’s very best youth groups and adult performance companies.

This year’s New Wolsey Festival of Youth Performance explores the world of circus in Behind The Scenes At The Big Top. Young people from schools and drama clubs all over the county have been working on their scenes and sketches and four pieces will be presented each evening from Tuesday 1 to Friday 4 July.

Appeal Theatre Group (Ipswich) presents the East Anglian Amateur Premiere of Working from Monday 7 to Saturday 12 July. With songs by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell and Wicked), Craig Camelia, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead this exciting new musical is not to be missed.

The New Wolsey’s annual Amateur and Community Season celebrates local talent, giving the region’s amateur performers the opportunity to take to the stage with professional back-up including technical support.

“One of the New Wolsey’s key objectives is to engage with our community and opening our doors to local performers is an important element of our programme,” says General Manager Stephen Freeman. “Just as we aim to present a diverse range of work in our professional season we are pleased that this year’s Community season includes a mix of drama, musicals, dance and new writing. This season is an exciting opportunity for many young performers to appear on the New Wolsey stage for the first time and it is our aim to make it a wholly positive experience.”

So come along to the New Wolsey, have a pre-show drink on the new café terrace and enjoy the wonderful range of work in the 2008 Amateur & Community Season.

For further information about the Amateur & Community Season visit www.wolseytheatre.co.uk To book tickets call the New Wolsey Box Office on 01473 295900.