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.
At Cambridge Junction
7.45pm, Wednesday 7 October: The Dirty Work
Performance-maker Jo Bannon has been working with theatre magician Augusto Corrieri to explore the connections between illusion, invisibility and disability. Already in this sequence of work Jo has produced an interactive installation, Sleight of Hand, and a film, Passing, both of which were sly, full of wonder and sharp in their social critique. All of which make this new work feel all the more enticing. Tickets here: https://www.junction.co.uk/events/the-dirty-work-cambridge/
7.30pm, Tuesday 20 October: L’Addition
What happens when clowning duo Bert and Nasi, who already excel in absurdist confrontation pushed to extremes, join up with Forced Entertainment’s Tim Etchells, who pushes repetition until it breaks? Mayhem of the most delicious kind, is the answer. L’Addition is maddening, hilarious, delightful and melancholy and I’m so thrilled to get to see it a second time. Tickets here: https://www.junction.co.uk/events/laddition/
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 10 October, meeting in the cafe at New Diorama
Plays to discuss: a long-long-long awaited production of Ntozake Shange’s extraordinary choreopoem, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow Is enuf, at the Yard; Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy, the latest from playwright Ava Pickett, at Theatre Royal Stratford East; The First Year (of the Gaza Genocide in the Media) at New Diorama; and the golden show of the autumn season, Golden Boy, starring Josh O’Connor, at the Almeida.
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 are two single play discussions:
7.30pm, Wednesday 23 September: Unfortunately, at Shoreditch Town Hall
Unfortunately looks at money: more specifically, at how money shapes the way we live, how we think, even how we feel. Which might sound dry but it’s made by Josie Dale Jones/This Egg, who bring a gorgeous, tactile theatricality to everything they stage. Note the ticket pricing: as with all tickets, they tell a story – but at least this one is a story of generosity not profit. Tickets here: https://shoreditchtownhall.com/whats-on/unfortunately
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 20 September: Our Town
Thornton Wilder’s classic life-and-times-of-a-tiny-town travels the Atlantic in this production from National Theatre of Wales, starring Michael Sheen as the stage manager. This one comes highly recommended by a theatre club regular, so I think we’ll have an excellent conversation. Make sure to watch it BEFORE Sunday 20 September, then join the Theatre Club ready to chat about it at 8pm! https://www.ntathome.com/products/our-town-rent
8pm, Sunday 11 October: The Estate
Adeel Aktar excels as Angad Singh, a conservative politician rising through the ranks despite institutional racism – and his pesky sisters. I saw this live and found Shaan Sahota’s portrait of family dynamics so incisive (and terrifyingly relatable) that I’m really excited to see it again and dig in to it in company. Make sure to watch it BEFORE Sunday 20 September, then join the Theatre Club ready to chat about it at 8pm!
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. Never have I been more grateful for NT at Home making a show more widely available. At the conversation we’ll talk about both the live performance (booking link here, in case you don't already have one and are lucky enough to get a return) and the recording, but you don’t have to watch both! Just make sure you’ve seen one before the Theatre Club on Sunday 22 November. NT at Home link to follow when it’s made available. And yes, two theatre clubs for the same play. I so hope it lives up to my own hype.