x It was a very dark winter’s night when I walked along the narrow residential street to where The Cut is to be found. The car parking is a few minutes walk away, in the town centre. Entering, there are a few steps up into the café (there is a stair lift, which I noticed wasn’t working when I arrived, so it may be worth […]
According to their website, in 1882 Daniel Gurteen, Haverhill business owner “built a Town Hall as a place for the people of Haverhill to go so that they could appreciate music performances, hear lectures, play chess and avail themselves of the books and newspapers in the reading room.” The exterior of the building still has quite a ‘wow factor’ sited in the main street surrounded […]
The stage at Beccles Public Hall has a 1903 plaque above, marking the renovation of the building, so it has been a venue at a busy crossroads in the town centre, for many years. The website says that, “In 1785 the Corporation of Beccles Fen decided that building a Public Room as an Assembly Room and a Playhouse would encourage people of independent means to […]
The Seckford Theatre is a modern building set in the beautiful 45 acres of grounds at Woodbridge School. Obviously used for school productions, it is also hired by amateur groups like Deben Players and The Company of Four, stage and dance schools, and small-scale professional tours such as those by Eastern Angles and Common Ground Theatre Company. Even the Royal Ballet has performed there! I have […]
The Red Rose Theatre Company is well known for its amazing outdoor productions of Shakespeare. Always a madcap ride that are perfect for both newcomers to his work and aficionados, this year they took Macbeth to their new summer home of Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge. (Read my review here: https://www.rachelsloane.co.uk/2022/07/30/review-macbeth-presented-by-the-red-rose-chain/) However, many people don’t realise that since 2015 they have their own theatre, next to Gippeswyck […]
I must have driven past this theatre several times when I’ve been in Lowestoft but hadn’t noticed it on Battery Green Road, the main road past the old harbour, just after the bridge. The Lowestoft Players bought the building in 2009 and transformed it into a 200 seat theatre which opened in 2012. Previously they’d performed in the Sparrow’s Nest Theatre, which I visited as […]
Based in an old Victorian Primary School, the Ipswich-based touring theatre company Eastern Angles is having a new lease of life. The Sir John Mills Theatre is an Ipswich studio-style theatre and has been home to Eastern Angles’ work for decades. Now the company have expanded into the rest of the school building and developed it into an Arts & Heritage Community Hub for West Ipswich. […]
When the new shopping development was built in Bury St Edmunds a wonderful concert hall was included, The Apex. The town already had the historic Theatre Royal, but this addition, a council project, meant that with great acoustics, a flexible space and in a prime location with nearby parking, they could now offer a venue for concerts and for conferences. As you would expect from […]
When I did the original tour of Suffolk theatres in 1988, for BBC Radio Suffolk, I didn’t go to The Seagull Theatre at Pakefield. Looking back, I assumed that it wasn’t open then, but from the history of the theatre it appears that they were functioning … as an arts centre. Perhaps there wasn’t any productions in 1988? Anyway, I have made it now. The […]
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds 19th – 3 September 2022 This well loved 1911 story by Frances Hodgson Burnett, was updated for the Theatre Royal’s community production by Nicola Werenowska. That was a necessity as the original story ends with Colin, the child who had been mainly confined to bed for ten years, and who then uses a wheelchair, miraculously standing and walking, due to the influence […]