THEATRE PROGRAMME

“At Home with William Shakespeare”

Pip Utton’s makes the famous man come alive again. No longer merely the probable writer of wonderful plays and poetry but a real man who loves, laughs, drinks, sings, dances and cries, and in between has to write some words to make a living.The poems and speeches come alive. It’s fun, it’s moving and it involves the audience now and again in the way in which Pip excels. It’s Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, performed by Shakespeare himself

“Bacon”

Described by critics as the greatest British painter since Turner and by Margaret Thatcher as ‘that dreadful man who paints those horrible pictures’, Francis Bacon remains one of the most challenging and controversial artists of all time. His paintings have the power to horrify, excite, disgust, revolt and haunt. It is impossible not to react to his work.
Francis Bacon could spend his mornings painting, but his lifestyle full of alcohol, gambling and homosexual promiscuity has created an iconic enigma. Appearing uncannily like Bacon, Pip Utton looks back on his extraordinary life as he rants at, charms, entertains and enlightens his audience swigging champagne.

Some swearing and sexual references. Suitable for 16+

Rising star Carina Harris is murdered during an unscheduled rehearsal for an upcoming play. With the plot and action literally taking place on the theatre stage it's up to the director of the show to determine which of his temperamental cast members is dramatic enough to be a killer!

Purple Dreams Productions have been touring England since the start of 2012, and after a variety of comedies and dramas, feel it's time to perform their first 'whodunit'!

Two Ghost Stories by M R James presented by R M Lloyd Parry who returns to the Heron for the first time since first having us hanging on to our seats in 2011.

Over a century after they were first published, these stories retain their power to terrify and amuse. This gripping one man show retells two of the eeriest.

Lost Hearts was among the first stories the author wrote and it offers one of his most memorable villains, the predatory scholar Mr Abney. It is paired here with perhaps James’s most poignant and personal work: A Warning to the Curious, in which a young archaeologist is haunted and hunted by the guardian of an ancient treasure.

The English seaside has never looked so menacing.

“Storytelling at its finest . . . . “ The Stage

‘May you go on keeping the flame of Joyce alive’ wrote Joyce Grenfell’s pianist William Blezard to Jane Bower after Jane had visited him at his London home. She has been doing so since Joyce’s death, and now brings this newly reworked solo show north for the first time. Jane does not seek to imitate the much-loved actress so much as to introduce or reawaken memories of Joyce’s remarkable skill, personality and beliefs.

“Joyce - A Celebration” shows far more of Grenfell than ‘George – don’t do that’ and includes lesser known songs and monologues, humorous and serious, along with glimpses into her varied, vibrant and faith-filled life.

Jane Bower is a professional actress, writer and teacher who trained in Lancaster and lived there for many years. Now living in Cambridge, she brought her solo show ‘Daddy’s Diaries’ to a packed Heron Theatre in March 2017.

Enjoy an audience with Mr Edward Lear, King of the Nonsense Rhyme and Loopy Limerick played by Jonathan Goodwin on his return to The Heron! Allow him to entertain you with tall tales concerning his life and times, the people, flora and fauna he encountered along the way and his own inimitable philosophy of life. Oh! And a certain Owl and a particular Pussycat are also guaranteed

Do you enjoy people watching? Do you ever speculate on the back story when you see someone just waiting? The Bench explores this curiosity. Nine different scenes take place on this Bench on a late summer’s day. Some are sad, some comic; all are recognisable. Come and meet the people who spend some of their day on ‘The Bench’.

The Bench was first created for the touring company ‘The Jay Walkers’ by Jamesine Cundell Walker and it toured several venues in and around Yorkshire. Since then it has had outings in Cumbria and in Essex. An opportunity for a mixed company of actors to explore a range of parts which challenge their dramatic acting and comedy timing.

Jamesine Cundell Walker is currently Artistic Director of Ilkley Playhouse, a community theatre in West Yorkshire. She was the founder and Artistic Director of The Jay Walkers and directs for a number of companies in the Yorkshire region.

‘The year is 1544 and King Henry, the Eighth of that name, is engaged upon Royal Progress about his Realm; and has halted here to afford his Loyal Subjects the opportunity to have 'audience' with their Sovereign Lord and King.

The King, recently married to his new, and sixth, wife, Queen Catherine Parr, is in poor health; his leg continues to cause him considerable pain and he is often in a poor humour!

In the course of the 'audience', His Majesty will recount the events of his  long reign; telling of his wives and his children, and His Majesty will invite his Loyal Subjects to petition him or question him on any related subject : there may be some surprising answers!

Orlando: Who is she? Who is he? Who are we?

Find out in the life-affirming, comedic tale of an immortal poet, whose gender cannot be pinned down, whose spirit cannot be caged, and whose irreverent, romantic adventures across British history – from the 1500s to the present day – provide a magic-realist exploration of human identity; personal, sexual and national.

Drawing on a decade's worth of critically-acclaimed theatre-making, Dyad Productions – performer Rebecca Vaughan and writer/director Elton Townend Jones – explore what it means to find our place in the world whilst remaining utterly true to who we are. Based on the satirical 1928 novel by Virginia Woolf.

Once Grande Dames of Hollywood, by 1962 arch-rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were in danger of becoming has-beens. Then an opportunity came along; to appear together in a new movie called “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? ”Bette & Joan” depicts the two stars, in their adjacent dressing rooms where we can relish their wickedly funny and barbed dialogue, between takes on the set of Baby Jane.

While Joan manages her anxiety by lacing her Pepsi with vodka and signing photographs for her beloved fans, Bette chain smokes and muses on her love life, and her ability to pick a decent script, never a decent man.

Behind the bitching and the practical jokes we see each woman's insecurities and regrets, and their rivalry is revealed to be underpinned by grudging respect as they attempt to identify their new roles in life as well as in their careers.