Next Stage Theatre Company

 

 

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***STOP PRESS***

NEXT STAGE TO HIT THE BIG APPLE!

Next Stage Theatre Company has achieved another first. It has been invited to perform in New York in a theatre just off-Broadway and 42nd Street.

To read more about this fantastic opportunity, please click here.

Welcome to Next Stage, one of the UK's most innovative and adventurous non-professional theatre companies.  Based in the city of Bath, a World Heritage site located in the West of England, Next Stage was founded in 1994 and has established a reputation for its award winning drama focusing on 20th and 21st century plays.

Key attributes of the company are:

  • 10th anniversary in 2004 -- see our retrospective on the first ten years
  • Innovative, challenging productions, see the show archive
  • Own dedicated 100-seat theatre in the round -- read all about The Mission Theatre
  • Theatre Supper events, combining drama and convivial dining
  • Over 40 members plus a youth wing
  • Touring appearances at the Minack Open Air Theatre on the cliffs at Porthcurno, Cornwall
  • Murder/Mystery weekends and evenings involving company members
  • School performances and 'Page-to-Stage' workshops linked to exam texts

"Staged in the round (thereby bringing the audience right into the heart of the psychodrama), none of the six-strong cast would have been out of place at a certain Theatre Royal just down the road." Melissa Blease, Venue - 30 Nov 2007 (review of 'The Birthday Party' by Harold Pinter)
"This isn't your usual kids production these young women show acting maturity way beyond their years."  Emma Samways, Bath Chronicle - 7 Sep 2007   (first night review of 'The Witches by Roald Dahl, adapted by David Wood, presented by Next Stage Youth)

"One of the region's best companies, performing a mix of classics and edgier modern fare in a beautiful theatre-in-the-round. Oh, and a friendly bar/bistro upstairs. What more could you want?"  Steve Wright, Venue Magazine - 23 July 2007
Next Production - The Breath of Life
14-17 May 2008 at 7.30pm

Living in the retirement backwater of the Isle of Wight, Madeline Palmer’s comfortable daily routine is shattered by the arrival at her flat of Frances Beale. The two women have only met once before but their lives are inextricably linked by their love of the same man, Frances ex-husband, Martin. Determined to lay ghosts Frances, a popular novelist, seeks answers to questions which Madeline fears are simply going to provide the basis of a new novel. In the course of the visit, both women discover more than they dreamt about each other, their love for Martin and themselves.

Click here for more information.

BEING PART OF THE COMPANY

"With Next Stage:
On Stage - great plays/talented casts
Directed with vision.
Back Stage - dedicated/clever crews,
Off Stage - warm/generous friends."

"However small one's contribution, it's great to be part of a team that is so friendly, so creative and so successful. Next Stage never stands still."

"… and in his time a man may play many parts – I certainly have in my short time with Next Stage."

"If only my poor old mum could see me now! Support to a band of mummers/strolling players/rude mechanicals; but it’s such fun, Ma!"

"Next Stage has a ‘family feel’ to it – I’ve played two mothers (“All My Sons” and “Mother Courage”) and a brother (Valverde in “The Royal Hunt of the Sun”)."

"The sky’s the limit and everyone’s a star."

"Thank you Next Stage for sending me round the world as an American longshoreman, an Equadorian interpreter, a Russian peasant, a French major domo, an East-German villager, and five Italian brothers in Bath, Bristol and Cornwall."

" 'All the world’s a stage …' which should be daunting but Next Stage looks after its family with friendship, support, encouragement, great teamwork, and terrific productions. I’m Next Stage struck!"

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