New shows for New Wolsey announced
New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, has announced the first shows for Spring 2027, with creative partnerships bringing a rich range of compelling stories to Suffolk audiences, from the extraordinary life of a television icon to the private worlds inside our heads.
At the heart of the season is Larry, a new co-production with Wiltshire Creative, celebrating the life of Larry Grayson. Alongside it, Technicolor, from Rhum + Clay, and 48 Thoughts Per Minute, from New Wolsey Theatre associate company The Paper Birds, starring Mark Thomas, will premiere in Ipswich before touring the UK. The theatre is also working in association with Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and London’s Arcola Theatre on Bedlam, a new play by Essex-based writer Peter Imms.
Spanning humour, fame, identity, mental health and human connection, these collaborations bring together distinctive theatre-makers to tell stories that entertain, move and enrich our lives. They sit within a wider programme championing East Anglian talent and giving Suffolk audiences access to a broad spectrum of live theatre, including a rebellious new musical, psychological suspense, poetry and wordless storytelling.
Larry, a Wiltshire Creative and New Wolsey Theatre production, comes to Ipswich from 10-20 March, following its premiere at Salisbury Playhouse. Written by BAFTA and Olivier Award-winning playwright Tim Whitnall and directed by Gareth Machin, this playful, funny and moving new play celebrates the entertainer whose “Shut that door!” catchphrase and appearances on The Generation Game made him a household name. His journey from drag artiste to Saturday-night television favourite is a story of persistence, friendship and the courage to be different, set against the prejudice he faced as a gay man.
48 Thoughts Per Minute, a co-production with New Wolsey Associate company The Paper Birds, premieres in Ipswich from 27-28 January, before touring the UK. The fast-paced, hilarious show stars Mark Thomas and is co-written by comedian Jessica Fostekew with The Paper Birds’ directors’ Jemma McDonnell and Kylie Perry. Set over three minutes as one woman awaits potentially life-changing news, the show opens up the wonderfully chaotic world inside our heads: late-night worries, unexpected memories and conversations we have with ourselves. Drawing on real experiences and academic research, it combines comedy with an exploration of grief and uncertainty. Audiences will have the option to join in too, sharing their own thoughts via their smartphones.
Drag Me To The 80s visits on 29 January, taking audiences on an unforgettable journey as the production delivers a dazzling fusion of nostalgia, empowerment and a celebration of the extraordinary. Audiences can expect to dance, sing and be captivated by the powerhouse vocals of the queens who bring the spirit of the 80s roaring back to life. With a full live band, the show features the music of Kylie, Madonna, Whitney, Tina Turner, Queen, Wham and many more.
Technicolor (4-6 February), a new co-production with Rhum + Clay, premieres at the New Wolsey Theatre prior to a national tour. Devised by the company, written by Stephen Laughton and directed by Julian Spooner and Matt Wells, it takes audiences behind the camera during the making of the Hollywood epic Giant, into the world of Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Drawing on the language of 1950s cinema, it explores the tension between public image and private life.
Blackeyed Theatre and Arcola Theatre’s The Turn of the Screw (9-13 February) brings Henry James’ unsettling ghost story to the stage in a new adaptation by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, directed by Nicky Allpress. A governess’s arrival at a remote country house leads to a struggle to protect two children from a threat she cannot fully explain.
Vamos Theatre’s Finding Joy (23-24 February) celebrates the company’s 21st anniversary. Inspired by a real family, this wordless, full-mask production follows a teenage grandson who becomes his grandmother’s carer as she lives with dementia. Humour and tenderness reveal the possibilities of connection when words are no longer enough.
Lovedale (26 February), a tense drama written by Fiona Padfield and directed by Scott Hurran, follows Lara, who leaves India after her father’s murder and builds a new life under an assumed name in rural Wales. When local mechanic Ricky discovers her identity and offers to restore her father’s reputation, his promise comes at a price.
Suffolk poet Luke Wright brings Yes. (27 February), a funny and reflective new show combining poetry and stand-up. Exploring family, England and changing convictions, Wright considers how to remain open-minded in an increasingly divided world. It invites us to look again at the people and places we think we know.
Wedding Fayre (2-6 March) is a new folk-punk musical from Graeae and Derby Theatre. With book and lyrics by Paul Sirett, music by Max Runham and direction by Jenny Sealey, it imagines a near-future England where adults who fail to meet the authorities’ definition of “normal” must marry someone who does. A story of love, belonging and resistance, it creatively integrates British Sign Language, captions and audio description into every performance.
Private Peaceful (23-24 March), adapted and directed by Simon Reade from Michael Morpurgo’s novel, follows Tommo Peaceful from childhood and first love to the trenches of the First World War. A single performer creates a world of family, friendship and loss in a moving account of courage and the human cost of conflict.
Not the Benny Hill Show (20-24 April), a new comedy by Jonathan Maitland, stars Keith Allen as the Controller. Inspired by real events and directed by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, it imagines Hill’s encounter with a changing television industry, exploring comedy, power and what happens when the world stops laughing along.
Bedlam (18-20 May), is a Mercury Original co-production with Arcola Theatre, in association with New Wolsey Theatre. Written by award-winning, Essex-based playwright Peter Imms, it brings together two young people separated by 400 years: Shill, who has spent much of her young life in Bedlam in 1625, and Aaron, who in 2022 seeks help for his mental health, convinced that admission to a psychiatric facility is the way forward. Across the centuries, the two meet, finding the understanding missing from their own worlds. Inspired by true events, Bedlam explores mental illness, institutional failure and human connection. Developed through the Mercury Playwrights Programme, it premieres in Colchester before transferring to London and Ipswich.
Douglas Rintoul, Chief Executive/Artistic Director of New Wolsey Theatre, said: “What excites me about these partnerships is the extraordinary range of stories we can bring to our audiences. There’s the humour and heart of Larry Grayson’s remarkable life, the glamour and private struggles of Hollywood stars, the chaos of our own thoughts, and an unexpected friendship across four centuries.
“Working together allows us to create ambitious new theatre and support the artists making it. It’s particularly exciting to see work developed here in East Anglia reach wider audiences, and to welcome Suffolk audiences to premieres before those productions travel across the country.
“We want people to have access to the full breadth of what theatre can offer, close to home. These are stories to get absorbed in, laugh with, be moved by and talk about afterwards, and plenty of opportunities to discover something new.”
Book online at wolseytheatre.co.uk, or call the Box Office on 01473 295900. General on-sale is Friday 6 November, with members on-sale from Monday 2 November.