A children’s musical of giant proportions, three nights of hilarious stand-up comedy and a performance where audiences decide how much to pay for their ticket are among the highlights of Bishop Auckland Town Hall’s upcoming season.
The town hall stage will be invaded by the biggest toilet roll in theatre when the children’s musical The Giant’s Loo Roll stops off in Bishop Auckland on Saturday, 17 September.
Audiences can expect frightened sheep, lots of excited children and a large amount of toilet paper.
The Bishop Auckland venue welcomes back the Hilarity Bites Comedy Club for the first of three shows on Friday, 16 September, with Radio 4 regular Jessica Fostekew, BBC New Comedy Award finalist Tom Ward and host Pete Otway.
Following the success of the venue’s previous Pay As You Decide event, town hall bosses will once again be encouraging more people to try live theatre by inviting them to pay as much as they wish for a performance of Under the Bed on Monday, 19 September.
This compelling new play about childhood trauma and what happens when nightmares are indistinguishable from reality is told through performance, music, live animation and film.
And there’s more live theatre on Wednesday, 21 September with Grow Up Grandad. Eleven-year- old Poppy finds herself living with her cantankerous grandfather, who is suddenly and unexpectedly confronted by a tornado of energy that can’t stop asking questions.
October kicks off with live music courtesy of Swing Manouche and Daniel John Martin (Wednesday, 5 October), a swinging gypsy jazz outfit who recreate the Parisian jazz manouche of the 1930s and 1940s.
Comedy heavyweight Gary Delaney stops by the town hall on Friday, 7 October as part of a very special Hilarity Bites Comedy Club. There’s Something About Gary demonstrates just why he is considered the premier gagsmith of his generation.
Starring an all-female cast, Make Do and Mend on Wednesday, 14 October is a poignant show which tells the real life stories of County Durham women who have suffered and survived the trauma of domestic abuse.
Bob Fox, otherwise known as The War Horse Songman, visits Bishop Auckland Town Hall on Monday, 19 October. Bob will perform songs from War Horse along with additional material from the newly written BBC Radio Ballads alongside old favourites from a back catalogue spanning more than 40 years.
Widely acclaimed in their home county of Yorkshire, Let’s Rock the Jukebox (Saturday, 29 October) regularly perform to sell-out audiences. Their repertoire spans the 1950s to the 1970s with songs from artists including Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers, The Beatles and many other music icons.
Father Christmas Needs a Wee! is a musical adaptation of Nicholas Allan’s much-loved book. Offering a combination of witty humour, fantastic music and some festive sparkle, the show, on Friday, 11 November, is the perfect way to begin the build-up to Christmas.
And the festive fun continues with panto time at the town hall from Saturday, 26 to Monday, 28 November. This year’s offering, Aladdin, sees evil Abanazar planning to trick our hero. However, his dastardly scheme backfires when Aladdin finds a lamp giving him all the powers of the universe and allowing him to marry a beautiful princess. But Abanazar has other ideas…
For more information and to view the full programme of events, visit www.bishopaucklandtownhall.org.uk. To book tickets, contact the town hall box office on 03000 269 524.