Category: Theatres

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 […]

It’s a place for shoppers, walkers, tourists, foodies, art lovers and music lovers – Snape Maltings. With ample parking, it’s a destination for a good day out with shops, café’s, galleries …and a world famous concert hall.   Over half a million people visit every year with 80,000 tickets sold for concerts (pre-Covid figures).  It’s the home of the Britten-Pears Orchestra, and the Aldeburgh Festival.   Beloved by […]

This was a double first. My first visit to the arts centre named after famous Stowmarket resident, the late John Peel, the radio presenter who did so much for undiscovered performers and unusual music … and my first visit to stand-up comedy.  The John Peel Centre for Creative Arts, to give it its full name, is hidden behind the main street, near the library and […]

When I started this challenge to myself – to visit every theatre in Suffolk in 2022 – there was one theatre that was top of my list. It didn’t exist when I originally did the challenge in 1988 for BBC Radio Suffolk. In fact, this outdoor theatre was only created in 2020. Mark and Lindy O’Hare walked in the wood near their cottage on a […]

The Two Sisters Arts Theatre is based in a redundant church in Trimley St Mary, which  opened in April 2019. It is a theatre I know well and always enjoy the intimate atmosphere and variety of performances.  “I’d been looking for a suitable premises for Black and White Productions, my theatre group, for years,” explained Suzanne Hawkes, who had the idea and manages the venue.” I […]

When I was newly married, The Riverside Theatre (which opened in 1915 as the Woodbridge Electric Theatre) was our nearest cinema, but it was in sore need of some love and attention. I can’t listen to the music of Saturday Night Fever without remembering the sewn patch in the middle of the screen!  Luckily, in 1985, new owners restored and refurbished it into a venue […]

c The Marina Theatre in Lowestoft is a bit like a cat with nine lives. Originally, in the 1870’s it was an ice-rink with a temporary stage,  known as The Rink Theatre, it was then rebuilt and opened in 1897 as a proper theatre. With numerous pantomimes and summer shows it was a popular venue in a thriving seaside town. Like so many of our theatres, it […]

As someone who was born in Ipswich, lived there, went to school in the town and worked there I have many memories of the Regent Theatre in Ipswich, which I knew as The Gaumont. As a child it was here that I had my first experience of the cinema, attended Victor Sylvester ballroom dance classes in what had been the restaurant, and had a major […]