Building back from pandemic

FIVE years after building a new theatre space during the coronavirus pandemic, Reading Rep Theatre is going from strength to strength.

The new season has been announced and preparation is underway for The Last Five Years, A Christmas Carol, Educating Rita and Private Lives. Executive director and chief executive officer, Nick Thompson, says: “Our last season was super-successful and we’re trying to continue down that track.

“We’ve had a major transfer up to the Royal Lyceum Theatre up in Edinburgh and we’ve had a number of national tours.

“After having the building open for five years, it feels like we’ve really hit our stride and we’ve got some really exciting work coming through.

“We’re letting people know they don’t have to pay West End prices to see some good culture in Berkshire and beyond, so they can give us a chance and come and see what we’ve got to offer.”

Founded in 2012, the group began converting a former Salvation Army building into its first permanent base in 2000.

“Reading Rep itself is 13 years old and five years ago we started a capital project to rebuild a new theatre. So, the theatre was finished during covid, it was literally our one route out of our house, to go and see the building progress.

“It opened just as people were returning to live entertainment venues, so it really was such a unique time to welcome people in for the first time.”

Three years ago, the theatre showed the world premiere of Gary McNair’s adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson gothic classic, Jekyll and Hyde, starring Audrey Brisson as the narrator, Utterson, in a one-woman show. It was such a success that in January 2024, the production, which was directed by Michael Fentiman, transferred to Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre for a two-week run.

In May, the theatre co-produced Three Hens in a Boat with the Watermill Theatre in Bagnor, near Newbury.

Written by Camille Ucan, who also starred in it, the play took inspiration from Jerome K Jerome’s classic novel, Three Men in a Boat.

Nick is excited about the upcoming season, which starts on Friday, September 19 with the Jason Robert Brown musical, The Last Five Years.

“It’s actually one of my favourite musicals,” he says.

“It’s a love story told in reverse, charting a relationship, a really unique production and it’s actually a co-production we’re making with Theatre Royal Bath and the Barn Theatre.

“So, it’s opening with us here in Reading before going off touring in Cirencester and then off to Bath after that. It’s up in the Ustinov Studio over Christmas.

“It’s really lovely as an organisation to be collaborating with those sorts of venues now. We’ve got lots of productions in development at the moment.

“We’re really excited. We’ve just done castings for it, with an amazingly high calibre, I think pretty much everyone has got West End credits.”

In 2022, Reading Rep’s version of Charles Dickens’s classic tale A Christmas Carol was updated to feature local landmarks. The character of Scrooge became a boss in the old Huntley and Palmers biscuit factory, which traded in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The theatre company is working on a new production with the same script for this winter.

Nick says: “It is one of those scripts that you can go back to, it’s such an iconic story and I think what we did with it was try and find a unique way in.

“Scrooge runs Reading Biscuit Factory, so it’s got lots of references to the local area. It feels like a really present and local production which I think is really important at Christmas.

“It has all the things you need, it’s super-festive and there’s a really exciting team behind it. It’s probably going to be the biggest production we’ve had yet.

“Educating Rita speaks for itself, Willy Russell’s incredible modern classic, so that’s in February for us. It’s one of my favourite plays. It’s super well-known, with two absolute dream parts in it.

“Then Noël Coward’s Private Lives is in mid-April running through to May. It’s the first time we’ve staged any Coward and I think it will connect really well with our audience and it’s one of those stories that people know but you find new ways into.”

Situated in King’s Road, Reading Rep is in the shadow of Reading Gaol, and last summer, it staged Micheál Mac Liammóir’s play, The Importance of Being Oscar, starring Alastair Whatley in an homage to Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, who was imprisoned there from 1895 to 1897. Wilde went on to write a poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, about his time in incarceration.

Nick says: “We’re about 100 yards away from Reading Gaol. I think everyone in Reading is in some way part of Reading Gaol. We’re part of the discussions around how the foundation that is running it is going to engage with the community. We would love to do some type of community event in there.”

In the meantime, the company has plans to reach a wider audience and spread the word.

“The newer situation of Reading Rep is still really young and I think to many still a bit of an undiscovered gem.

“We work hard at trying to get the message out and break into brilliant areas like Henley where there are lots of people that will enjoy what we do.

“The Henley Standard has been excellent at supporting us, it’s really good to see, it’s one of the few local publications that still seems to have great readership and have lots of output.”

l Reading Rep’s new season opens at the theatre in King’s Road, Reading, on Friday, September 19 with The Last Five Years. For more information, call 0118 370 2620 or visit readingrep.com