Exeter Northcott Theatre Launches Spring/Summer 2023 Season
Exeter Northcott has announced a new season of events at its Northcott and Barnfield theatres for January to August 2023, revealing a rich range of absurd comedies, cutting-edge dramas, family favourites and innovative South West-based productions:
- 74 events across Exeter over the next eight months.
- Olivier Award-winning West End comedy Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of).
- Mark Gatiss directs ABBA comedy The Way Old Friends Do.
- Bone-chilling ghost story When Darkness Falls.
- School holiday stage adaptations of beloved children’s storiesMog the Forgetful Cat, The Smartest Giant in Town and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh.
- South West-based theatre company Beyond Face create ground-breaking new work with Global Majority artists at the Barnfield.
Season Highlights:
Experience inventive comedy and drama at the Northcott
Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer, the comedy geniuses behind Olivier Award-winning The Play That Goes Wrong (West End) and The Goes Wrong Show (BBC 1), kick-off the Northcott’s comedy season with Edinburgh Fringe sell-out Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle (30 Jan – 1 Feb, Northcott).
In April, Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen (BBC 1)) directs Ian Hallard’s (The Boys in the Band (West End)) heartfelt-yet-hilarious celebration of queer life The Way Old Friends Do (24 – 29 April, Northcott), a new comedy about the world’s first ABBA-drag tribute band.
Moving to drama, The Faction strip back William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (20 – 21 February, Northcott) to its emotional core in their daring reimagining of the Scottish play. Audiences will be on the edge-of-their-seats watching James Milton and Paul Morrissey explore the shocking truths behind Guernsey’s paranormal histories in When Darkness Falls (Tue 7 – Sat 11 March, Northcott). The next week, Blackeyed Theatre return to the Northcott donning their deerstalkers in new mystery Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear (13 – 15 March, Northcott).
Looking forward to Summer, Laura Main (Call the Midwife (BBC 1)) leads a star-studded cast in the new adaptation of iconic beauty salon comedy-drama Steel Magnolias (Wed 10 – Sat 13 May, Northcott). In June, the farcical Jane Austen retelling Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of) (12 – 17 June, Northcott) is followed by director Michael Cabot’s (Absurd Person Singular (London Classic Theatre)) bold new take on Mike Leigh’skitchen sink black comedy Abigail’s Party (Tue 20 – Sat 24 June, Northcott).
Enjoy family favourites across Exeter during the school holidays
Younger audiences are spoilt for choice at the Northcott and Barnfield during spring and summer breaks next year with beautifully crafted stage adaptations of stories they know and love as well as some intriguing new tales.
The Northcott’s family season starts in February half-term with Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Smartest Giant in Town (14 –19 February, Northcott). This show is the first of several Donaldson and Scheffler adaptations coming to the Northcott over the next year: all ages will enjoy animal-themed stories this Easter in Tales from Acorn Wood (13 –15 April, Northcott); everyone’s favourite dragon Zog (5 – 7 May, Northcott) touches down at the Northcott again following sell-out performances of Zog and the Flying Doctors last Summer; in June, Olivier Award-nominated theatre company Tall Stories (Room on the Broom) reimagine The Snail and the Whale (27 – 28 June, Northcott).
This Easter at the Barnfield, families can take a magical live music journey through countryside fables and wild nature stories in The Oak, the Ash and the Standing Stones (5 April, Barnfield), as well as experience new twists on Tales from a Thousand and One Nights (6 – 8 April, Barnfield).
At the tail-end of the season, South West-based theatre company The Wardrobe Ensemble adapt Judith Kerr’s endearing Mog the Forgetful Cat(16 – 18 June, Barnfield), and the Northcott host a South West-exclusive performance of Disney’s new musical stage adaptation of Winnie the Pooh (22 – 24 August, Northcott), first performed in New York last year.
Exciting work by local artists showcased at the Barnfield
The Northcott re-opened the city centre Barnfield Theatre in September, aiming to stage events for and with local artists and communities.
In March, South West-based theatre company Beyond Face, co-creators of September’s celebrated The Story of Us cultural festival at the Barnfield, perform Bigger Than Lyrics (15 – 16 March, Barnfield), a brand-new story shaped as a visual concept album.
Following Robin Hood, their first creative collaboration with the Northcott, Exeter’s Le Navet Bete return this summer with their absolutely riotous variety show Extravaganza (7 – 9 July, Barnfield). Expect outrageous stunts, slapstick silliness and questionable acrobatics.
Also coming up this season:
Internationally in-demand choreographer James Wilton gets the Northcott’s dance season underway with the kaleidoscopic The Four Seasons (8 February, Northcott). In May, former Northcott Associate Company Richard Chappell Dance celebrates its 10th anniversary with the mesmerising Hot House (15 May, Northcott). The next month, Ballet Cymru return to the Northcott with its family fairy tale adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Little Red Riding Hood & The Three Little Pigs (1 – 2 June, Northcott), from the author’s celebrated Revolting Rhymes poetry collection.
English Touring Opera perform a trio of Italian-sung classics Giulio Cesare(25 May, Northcott), Lucrezia Borgia (26 May, Northcott) and Il Viaggio a Reims (27 May, Northcott).
Musical fans can catch Moulin Rouge celebration Come What May (18 May, Northcott), starring Strictly Come Dancing’s Robin Windsor, as well as Dreamcoat Stars (3 June, Northcott), featuring past Josephs putting on their technicolour dreamcoats once again to perform classic hits from Broadway and the West End.
The Northcott and Barnfield are also hosting superb stand-up nights out across Exeter this spring with Soccer AM and Ted Lasso’s Lloyd Griffith(17 February, Northcott), I’m A Celebrity favourite Babatunde Aléshé (12 March, Barnfield), Rhys James (17 March, Northcott), Russel Kane (24 March, Great Hall), Frankie Boyle (25 March, Great Hall) and Gary Meikle (23 April, Barnfield).
Tickets for these events and many more are now on sale at exeternorthcott.co.uk
Here is the full list of the Northcott’s Spring/Summer 2023 events:
Exeter Northcott Theatre
January
Sun 15 - Gareth Gates in the Best of Frankie Valli
Wed 18 - Sat 21 EUTco Frankenstein
Wed 25 - Sat 28 Footlights - Bandstand
Mon 30 - Wed 1 February Mind Mangler
February
Sat 4 - Sun 5 ICCA UK Quarterfinal
Wed 8 James Wilton - Four Seasons
Thu 9 Troy Hawke
Tue 14 - Sun 19 The Smartest Giant in Town
Fri 17 Lloyd Griffith
Mon 20 - Tue 21 Macbeth
Fri 24 - Sat 25 Wodehouse in Wonderland
March
Wed 1 - Thu 2 Stewart Lee
Sat 4 The Magic of the Beatles
Sun 5 Kate Mosse
Tue 7 - Sat 11 When Darkness Falls
Mon 13 - Wed 15 Sherlock Holmes
Thu 16 The Ronnie Scott’s Story
Fri 17 Rhys James
Sat 18 Come What May
Wed 22 - Thu 23 UoE Drama - Comrades
Sun 26 Charity Dance Show
Tue 28 - 1 April Around the World in 80 Days
April
Mon 3 - Sat 8 Exeter Musical Society - The Sound of Music
Wed 12 The Magnets - 80s Rewind
Thu 13 - Sat 15 Tales from Acorn Wood
Wed 19 - Thu 20 Living Spit - One Man and His Cow
Fri 21 Legend – The Music of Bob Marley
Sat 22 Danny Baker
Mon 24 - Sat 29 The Way Old Friends Do
May
Mon 1 Meet & Beat The Beast
Thu 4 Voices of Swing
Fri 5 - Sun 7 Zog
Tue 9 - Sat 13 Steel Magnolias
Mon 15 Richard Chappell - Hot House
Thu 18 - Sun 21 Demon Dentist
Thu 25 ETO - Guilio Cesare
Fri 26 ETO - Lucrezia Borga
Sat 27 ETO - Il Viaggio a Reims
June
Thu 1 - Fri 2 Ballet Cymru – Revolting Rhymes
Sat 3 Dreamcoat Stars
Mon 12 - Sat 17 Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of)
Sun 18 Simon & Garfunkel Through the Years
Tue 20 - Sat 24 Abigail’s Party
Tue 27 - Wed 28 The Snail & The Whale
Fri 30 The Story of Soul
July
Sat 1 Showstopper!
August
Tue 22 - Wed 23 Disney’s Winnie the Pooh
September
Thu 7 – Sun 10 Dawn French
Barnfield Theatre
January
Fri 13 The Beach Boyz Tribute Show
Fri 27 The Comedy Store
February
Mon 6 Mark Beaumont
Fri 10 Randy Feltface
Sat 11 AJ’s Big Band and Vocalists
Thu 16 - Sat 18 Shotgun Theatre - Little Women
Sat 25 The Clare Teal Four
March
Thu 9 - Fri 10 Teechers Leavers ‘22
Sun 12 Babatunde Aléshé
Wed 15 - Thu 16 Bigger Than Lyrics
Fri 17 The Counterfeit Sixties
Fri 24 Yippee Ki Yay
Sat 25 An Evening Without Kate Bush
April
Wed 5 The Oak, The Ash and the Standing Stones
Thu 6 - Sat 8 Tales from a Thousand and One Nights
Sun 23 Gary Meikle
Fri 28 The Comedy Store
May
Wed 10 - Sat 14 Exeter College - DNA
Thu 18 - Sat 20 Exeter College - BOAT
June
Tue 6 - Sat 10 Exeter Little Theatre Company - The Vicar of Dibley
Fri 16 - Sun 18 Mog The Forgetful Cat
July
Sat 1 Topsham School of Dance
Fri 7 - Sun 9 Le Navet Bete – Extravaganza
The Great Hall
February
Sat 11 Tubular Bells
Fri 17 Jason Fox
Sun 26 Jon Richardson
March
Fri 24 Russell Kane
Sat 25 Frankie Boyle
