Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch has today (Tuesday 1 September) announced its Autumn 2020 season following the news it will be reopening its doors to the public on Thursday 3 September. The building has been closed to the public for the last five and a half months, while extensive work has continued behind closed doors to complete the Theatre’s £1.2 million QNew Transformation capital programme.
The Autumn season includes Misfits, intertwining four inspirational tales of Essex resilience to make an unmissable world premiere by some of the region’s most exciting playwrights. The production is a new hybrid of live theatre and digital content – bookers will purchase a ticket which will allow them the choice of watching the show be performed live onstage in front of an audience or streamed to their homes, right up until the day of the show. Misfits is a collaborative project written by four Outer East London and Essex writers: Anne Odeke, aSouthend-based actor writing for theatre for the first time (Bartholomew Fair, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Globe Theatre), Guleraana Mir, aHornchurch-based playwright and one half of female-led theatre company The Thelmas, Kenny Emson, an award-winning Essex playwright and Sadie Hasler,who wrote the acclaimed Stiletto Beachfor the Theatre’s2019 Essex Girls and Boys season.
The Theatre is also bringing a range of socially distanced comedy, family and music guest shows to its Main House throughout the Autumn, such as comedy spectaculars Desi Central and COBO: Comedy Shutdown, family favourite Horrible Histories: The Best of Barmy Britain along with Christmas shows from Neil Sands, Tenors Un Limited and Bring The Laughter. It will beshowcasing new work from local artists, such as Rendered Retina, as part of its Outer Limits programme on its newly renamed The Other Stage, as well as continuing the sing-a-long musical for people living with dementia and their carers, Down Memory Lane.The popular community Café will reopen, and the Theatre’s impressive learning and participation programme, which engaged over 32,000 participants of all ages last year, continues with a range of online and in-person activities.
Finally, the Theatre gets festive with Christmas Allsorts! This brand new production, directed and devised by QTH Artistic Director Douglas Rintoul, runs from 11 December 2020 – 3 January 2021. It is a delightfully traditional family variety show featuring yuletide tunes from films and musicals, as well as beloved Christmas pop, alongside classic and new sketches.