Holiday Snap - 1 June to 8 June

(no Sunday performance)

by Michael Pertwee & John Chapman

Directed by Glynis Tame - A TOADS' season play

Henry who is mistaken for Pedro is married to Kit but is here with Mary. Leslie who is also mistaken for Pedro is here with Eve who is married to Sydney, but is mistaken for Maria, as is Mary. But Leslie is actually pretending to be Sir Piers who pretends to be Pedro while Eve pretends to be his wife Amanda and married to Leslie ... Confused? You will be!

Princess Ida - 2 July to 6 July

(matinee 6 July, 2.30pm)

by Gilbert & Sullivan

The Gilbert & Sullivan Society (Torbay branch)

A topical and amusing story about the battle of the sexes! It contains some of Sullivan’s loveliest music and Gilbert’s wittiest libretto. If you have never seen this opera before (or even if you have), we are sure you will love our interpretation of this neglected gem.

Calendar Girls - 5 August to 17 August

(no Sunday performance)

by Tim Firth

Directed by Cora Gant - A TOADS' season play

Based on the true story of eleven WI members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukaemia Research Fund, Calendar Girls opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre and has since become the fastest selling play in British theatre history.

“It’s marvellous theatre, guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and come out singing Jerusalem.” Mail on Sunday

Death by Fatal Murder - 9 September to 21 September

(no Sunday performance)

by Peter Gordon

Directed by Alec Stokes - A TOADS' season play

Inspector Pratt’s record of crime detection at Bagshot House is not enviable. In his previous visit, in Murdered to Death, the body count mounted disastrously as he looked on. Now he is back and, as usual, chaos reigns supreme. Pratt meets the new owner of the house, and soon he is embroiled in more mystery, aided and abetted by Miss Maple and Constable Thomkins. Upper-crust Ginny and Italian gigolo Enzo help with enquiries but danger soon looms with a frightening suggestion by Welsh busybody, Blodwyn Morgan.

84 Charing Cross Road - 12 October to 19 October

(no Sunday performance)

by Helene Hanff, adapted by James Roose-Evans

Directed by Paul ffitch - A TOADS' season play

In 1949 a struggling American writer started a correspondence with a firm of British antiquarian booksellers that was to last for twenty years. The warm and compassionate exchange of letters is here skilfully and lovingly adapted for the stage.

“An evening of enchantment and charm the like of which is rarely encountered in the theatre.” What’s On in London

The Haunting - 9 November to 16 November

(no Sunday performance)

by Hugh Janes, after Charles Dickens

Directed by Dianne ffitch - A TOADS' season play

This gripping new adaptation of some of Charles Dickens’ most haunting works, often compared to ‘The Woman in Black’, will have you on the edge of your seat. In an ancient, crumbling mansion, two men stumble across a dark and terrifying secret that will change their lives forever. David Filde is employed to catalogue the estate’s impressive library and finds an incredible array of rare books. But as a series of strange and unexplained events conspire to keep Filde from his work, he realises that if he is to convince his sceptical employer that the mysterious phenomena he is experiencing is real, they must journey together to the very edge of terror to discover the source of the terrifying visitations.

Carter Davies: Secret Agent - 17 November

(Moonstone Theatre Company)

Relive radio’s Golden Age! Moonstone Theatre Company’s live broadcast of two episodes of a period radio thriller transports you back to a time of tantalising adventure serials, derring-do heroes and evil villains. But these aren’t the only protagonists with a tale to tell. The actors have an agenda, too…

The Sociable Plover - 22 November

by Tim Whitnall

(Fourthwall Theatre Company)

Anal-retentive birdwatcher, Roy Tunt is one bird away from making “twitcher” history. He is confident that this is going to be his Big Day … Until the arrival of Dave who is not a birdwatcher and not Roy’s sort at all. All is not what it seems … Both men are hiding secrets … Both confide in the other … They watch and they wait … This spring all will be revealed – inside the hide.

An award-winning play - recently made into the feature film The Hide (2008) “Swinging from laugh out loud moments to intense drama, both actors handle the script brilliantly.”

The Railway Children - 7 December to 14 December

(no Sunday performance, matinee 14 December, 2.30pm)

by Edith Nesbitt, adapted by Mike Kenny

Directed by Carolyn Bavister - A TOADS' season play

The Railway Children, with their hearts of gold and sense of adventure are as charming on stage as they are on the page. Here they recount their memories as grown-ups, which brings a remarkable fluidity and emotional punch to the story. Follow Peter, Phyllis and Bobby as they form new friendships and help save the day in their new country home after their father has been wrongly imprisoned for fraud. They must fend for themselves until he returns home to them.

A Celebration of Christmas in Words & Music - 16 December

by Words 4 Voices

Words to Celebrate. Words of Merriment & Words of Reflection. All with Christmas music for you to listen to and to join in.

Cinderella - 19 December to 20 December

(Beyond Eternity Promotions Ltd)

This traditional family pantomime written by celebrated author and playwright Mike Bennett will delight audiences of all ages. Join Cinderella, Buttons, the Ugly Sisters, Baron Hardup, Prince Charming, the evil step-mother et al for a wealth of songs, comedy and sheer entertainment. What better way to start the festive period!

Life of Riley - 11 January to 18 January

(no Sunday performance)

by Alan Ayckbourn

Directed by Jill Pettigrew - A TOADS' season play

With a few months of his life remaining, George Riley’s closest friends remember with love, nostalgia or occasional bursts of fury, how deeply he has affected all their past lives. George, though, is plotting one last final farewell which threatens to upset all their future lives. What exactly is the eccentric maverick Riley playing at?

“As perceptive as ever … Ayckbourn has once again achieved a satisfyingly rich, tragi-comic complexity.” Daily Telegraph

The Wit & Songs of Noel Coward - 24 January

(Beyond Eternity Promotions Ltd)

Pianist and entertainer, Peter Gill presents a tribute to the wit and song-writing skill of that most English of Englishmen, Noel Coward, who said of himself “I am an enormously talented man and there is
no point in denying it”. Peter will remind us of his dazzling wit and perform such gems as ‘A Bar on The Piccola Marina’, ‘Don’t Let’s Be Beastly To The Germans’, ‘Mrs Worthington’, ‘There Are Bad Times Just Around The Corner’ and ‘Mad Dogs & Englishmen’.

Alice - 19 February to 22 February

by Laura Wade

Directed by Maggie Campbell & Dianne ffitch

(A Tadpoles' Youth Theatre production)

The White Rabbit is late for the Duchess. The Cheshire Cat won’t stop grinning & the Hatter is, well, mad. In the middle of it all is Alice, a young girl with a vivid imagination and a family life that’s less than perfect. Follow Alice as she escapes her Sheffield home to find adventure in a topsy-turvy world.

Touch and Go - 15 March to 22 March

(no Sunday performance)

by Derek Benfield

Directed by Alan Tanner - A TOADS' season play

Having been encouraged to take up jogging by his wife Hilary, Brian sees his girl-friend, Wendy, in his friend George’s flat when he is ostensibly running around the park. However, while Brian is visiting Wendy, helpful George knows that his own affair will not be discovered as the object of his affection is Brian’s wife Hilary! It is all plain sailing until George’s wife Jessica returns too soon from a business trip to America …

She Stoops to Conquer - 12 April to 19 April

(no Sunday performance)

by Oliver Goldsmith

Directed by Maggie Campbell - A TOADS' season play

Mr Hardcastle and Sir Charles Marlow have arranged a match between Miss Kate Hardcastle and young Marlow. The fun arises when Marlow is directed to the Hardcastles’ house rather than a neighbouring inn, and mistakes Hardcastle for the landlord and Kate for one of the servants.

Double Cut - 10 May to 17 May

(no Sunday performance)

by Alfred Shaughnessy

Directed by Stephanie Austin - A TOADS' season play

Diamond heiress Olivia Prescott’s villa is disturbed by an enigmatic stranger claiming to be her supposedly dead brother. He seems to know every trivial detail of their past family life, his papers verify his identity, and we begin to question whether Olivia herself is concealing something. We learn that £10 million worth of diamonds are missing. Is this what the stranger is after? The complications are finally unravelled in a revealing denouement to this taut and well-written thriller.

The Importance of being Earnest - 7 June to 14 June

(no Sunday performance)

by Oscar Wilde

Directed by Nigel Howells - A TOADS' season play

Jack Worthing is “Ernest” in town. He wins Gwendolyn’s hand, but Gwendolyn declares that she chiefly loves him for his name - Ernest - the name Jack has allotted his non-existent brother whose peccadilloes explain his frequent absences from his country home where lives his pretty ward, Cecily. Meanwhile, Cecily has decided to marry rake-hell “Ernest” and when Algernon presents himself in this guise, she immediately accepts his smitten proposal. However, through some highly improbable coincidences, all is happily resolved.