theatre club
Do you love theatre, and wish you had more people to talk with about it?
Do you secretly eavesdrop on people during an interval or after a show, to find out what they thought?
Do you wish theatre offered more spaces to connect and chat?
Come to Theatre Club!
What is it?
It’s a bit like a book group: you see a show, then meet with friendly people to chat about it. All are welcome, snacks are provided, and I’m there as the host with abundant curiosity.
Who is invited?
Anyone who saw the show! But not the people who made it, which makes Theatre Club very different to the usual post-show Q&A. Got a comment, not a question? Not actually sure what you thought of it? Come to to Theatre Club!
How does it work?
You watch the show on any day that suits you, and come to the discussion on the advertised date. To make life simpler, that’s usually post-show in the bar, but sometimes it’s online. I host the conversation and always have a few questions I’m interested in, to move us along if needed – but the best Theatre Clubs are genuine conversations, to which everyone brings their curiosity and points of view.
Why do people come?
Why don’t I hand you over to some of the people who come for this bit? They say:
“There's something about the range of people, opinions and reasons for attendance that is beautiful, theatre club brings me into contact with people and opinions that differ and I value that.”
“I like the friendliness and the format and the chance to share my love of theatre with like-minded people.”
“We could talk so freely and I got so many different takes/opinions and I felt safe to disagree, it was chewing it over with people I didn't know that was so great – new opinions!”
💙💛💙
Where does it happen?
I have an ongoing relationship with Cambridge Junction, who have supported Theatre Club since 2023, enabling some extraordinary conversations, from a group of teenagers responding to a show featuring people aged 60+ to a multi-ethnic group dissecting an evening inspired by Sardinian carnival. It’s a wonderful community so if you’re in the area, do join us!
I also host Theatre Clubs ad-hoc around London (with an often remarkable lack of support from theatres themselves). And because not everyone lives in the bottom of the country, there are always a couple of Theatre Clubs each season watching digital work and then chatting online as well.
Although all the listings can be read online, I also have a mailing list where I share additional theatre recommendations and reminders. Do join if you're interested!
When are the next dates?
Below are all the upcoming dates currently scheduled to the end of 2026. If you like the sound of Theatre Club and would like me to host one in your area, please get in touch!
An autumn special! Theatre Club comes to Leeds!
Afternoon of Saturday 7 November: Our Eyes Looking for God, at Leeds School of Art
People who run away from the word opera, hear me out: this one reflects on the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, incorporates rap and jazz, and has a title that echoes the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Its director, TD Moyo, is also a social activist who makes work for people who otherwise feel excluded from so-called “high” art forms, and is making interventions in opera because it’s a form that takes up space. London friends: the show is on at the Barbican 9-13 September, please see it there and then tell your Leeds friends to catch it at the School of Art and join Theatre Club on the afternoon of Saturday 7 November. Booking details to follow asap.
In London
The Saturday Matinee Club
Exciting announcement! This season I’m attempting a(nother) new experiment for Theatre Club: a Saturday afternoon gathering to catch up on London theatre more generally. I’ll be seeing four shows specifically: you don’t have to see all of them but it would be great if everyone who attends had seen at least one of them. We can then see where the conversation takes us on the day. Dates for the Saturday Matinee Club are as follows, and box office links for each show are embedded in their titles:
4.30pm, Saturday 14 November, meeting in the upstairs bar at the Young Vic
Plays to discuss: the new Thelma and Louise musical at the Young Vic, with songs by (one of my favourite singers ever) Neko Case; Ugly Bucket’s clown show about food banks, Stuffed, at New Diorama; Lost Dog’s The Last Hamlet at Sadler’s Wells East – for me a new show from Lost Dog is always cause for massive excitement; and Alaa Shehada’s The Bridge, at Bush Theatre.
And then if you’d prefer to attend the usual kind of see a show and talk about it theatre club, here is a single play discussions:
8pm, Wednesday 25 November: Attention, at Bush Theatre
Attention is a love story (bit snooze), but it’s also theatrical experiment (oooh! now i’m interested!!), which invites its actors to choose how they tell the story, shuffling the script as though it were a deck of cards. Given that one of those actors is Norah Lopez Holden, luminous in Gunter at the Royal Court, I think this one could be a bit special. Tickets here: https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/attention/
Online
Helpful notes: these online chats happen on zoom and they really are like book groups – you need to watch the show BEFORE joining the zoom call! If the price would make it hard for you to watch the show, email me and we can see if we can figure something out together… I share the zoom link on the newsletter, or you can email me for it.
8pm, Sunday 22 November: Golden Boy
Confession: I was genuinely fretting that I was only going to have one chance to see Golden Boy at the Almeida. Clifford Odets is one of my favourite playwrights, Josh O’Connor is all right as well (ha ha ok I think he’s brilliant), and if this production is even half as good as the one I saw on the fringe more than 25 years ago, it’s going to break my heart into a hundred pieces. This Theatre Club is timed to follow the cinema release of Golden Boy via NT Live: however you get to see it, please make sure you’ve watched it before the Theatre Club on Sunday 22 November. And yes, two theatre clubs for the same play. I so hope it lives up to my own hype.