Sewell Barn   2011 - 2012 Season


The Long and the Short and the Tall by Willis Hall, directed byMichelle Montague,
7.30pm  13-15 &19-22 October 2011. Matinée 2.30pm 22 October 

Set during the Battle of Malaya in 1942, The Long and The Short and The Tall graphically tells a tale of human spirit faced with impending doom in a war-torn environment.
A patrol of 7 British soldiers take refuge in an abandoned hut. Tensions rise as the radio malfunctions and a Japanese soldier stumbles upon them.
Willis Hall’s ear for language and eye for natural human behaviour ignites a dramatic conflict of conscience among the men in a bid to survive.
This action packed, often humorous, suspense-laden play is set to make audiences ponder on the glorification of war in our modern day society.

Entertaining Angels by Richard Everett, directed by Mike Dunne,
7.30pm   1-3 & 7-10 December 2011. Matinée 2.30pm 10 December

As a vicar's wife Grace has spent a lifetime on her best behaviour.  Now, following the death of her husband, Bardolph, she is enjoying the new-found freedom to do and say exactly as she pleases.  But the return of her missionary sister, Ruth, together with some disturbing revelations, forces Grace to confront the truth of her marriage.  This sharp and witty comedy is a touching and thought-provoking tale. 

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo adapted by Tim Kelly (not a musical!), directed by Robert Little,
7.30pm   12-14 & 18-21 January 2012. Matinée 2.30pm 21 January

This new version remains true to the original story of the ex-convict Jean Valjean and his relentless pursuit by the "law and order" police inspector Javert.  Filled with fascinating vignettes of nineteenth-century France, the script boasts a brilliant cast of characters who weave an exciting tapestry of human kind at its best and worst.
Visually exciting, emotionally powerful, this is imaginative theatre with a capital T.

Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence adapted and directed by Roger Parsley,
7.30pm   23-25 February and 29 February-3rd March. Matinée 2.30pm 3 March  

This stage adaptation of D.H.Lawrence's powerful semi-autobiographical novel tells the emotionally charged story of an artistic young man, Paul Morel, and his relationship with his father, his controlling mother, Gertrude (who dreams of a golden future for Paul which she will share) and two very different women who enter his life.  Can his mother let him go?  Can his father finally "understand" him?  An intriguing and moving piece of theatre.

Company Along the Mile by Tom Bidwell, directed by Jon Hyde & Jonty Rea,
7.30pm   5-7 & 11-14 April.  Matinée 2.30pm 14 April

A dark comedy about love, Bidwell's play occupies the same landscape of yearning and redemption found in the plays of Williams, Pinter and Orton.
Stella, a transvestite and lifestyle fantasist who insists on having sandwiches cut into triangles, pays the other main character, George, for his company each Wednesday in a Blackpool hotel room.  Then they find a dead bellboy en suite.......

Tom Bidwell's film Wish 143 was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for best live action short film.

World Amateur Premiere

Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon, directed by Jenny Hobson,
7.30pm   10-12 & 16-19 May. Matinée 2.30pm 19 May

This semi-autobiographical drama, set in post depression New York, demonstrates Neil Simon's ability to combine sophisticated and witty comedy with underlying seriousness.
The central character, young Eugene Jerome, engages the audience in his story as he writes his journal, charting the sometimes frustrating, and sometimes funny situations in which he finds himself as he moves through adolescence to adulthood.
Brighton Beach Memoirs has been seen on stage worldwide, and we are confident that Sewell Barn audiences will be delighted by this award winning play.

You Never Can Tell by Bernard Shaw, directed by David Hare,
7.30pm   14-16 & 20-23 June. Matinée 2.30pm 23 June  

One of Bernard Shaw's "Plays Pleasant", this is the story of a smart and witty middle class family at the turn of the 20th century, on holiday on the south coast of
England.   Two young people brighten the dialogue with their youthful enthusiasms and their elder sister has fallen for her dentist.  Their lives are ordered by their imperious mother.  Parentage is puzzling until later in the action when family problems are eventually sorted out by a trusted, if idiosyncratic, solicitor.

Seldom performed today, this is a golden opportunity to see a gem, which will send you home with a spring in your step and warmth in your heart.


The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare, directed by Carole Lovett,
7.30pm   19-21 & 25-28 July. Matinée 2.30pm  28 July
Two sets of identical twins do not know of each other's existence, and farcical confusion occurs when all the twins converge in Ephesus.  The audience sit back and thoroughly enjoy the joke as mayhem becomes ever more ridiculous.  Needless to say, by the final curtain, all the muddles have been sorted out and everyone does indeed live "happily ever after".
This play, one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies, is full of delightful puns and slapstick.

Performance Times                     Evening                    Matinée

Performances start                           7.30pm                      2.30pm
Foyer opens                                    6.45pm                      1.45pm
Auditorium opens                            7.15pm                      2.15pm

Want to know more?
For regular Sewell Barn information, join our free mailing list.  Leave your postal address on our Information Line, or with a steward.
Infomation Line: 01603 418803