by ANTON CHEKHOV

April 22 - 30

In 1896, on a lakeside estate outside Moscow, an anxious young writer stages his experimental first play, starring the young woman he adores. Among the audience are his mother, an acclaimed actress, and her lover, a famous novelist. Their glamorous presence not only disrupts the performance, but takes on a more profound significance for all present, in a dramatic comedy about misplaced love and the artistic life.

“Seagull” was the first of Chekhov’s four great plays which revolutionised the world of theatre. This brilliant new translation was first performed at London’s Arcola Theatre, and starred Geraldine James as Arkadina. Independent Theatre’s cast includes Rebecca Kemp, Eddie Sims, Eloise Quinn-Valentine and Patrick Marlin.

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by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

August 5 - 13

Othello is a heroic North African general in 1600s Venice. Surprisingly, in a white society, he is befriended by a Venetian senator and his beautiful daughter, Desdemona. Bravely defying society and her father, Desdemona secretly marries Othello and follows him to Cyprus, where he is sent to repel a Turkish invasion. Iago, a junior officer, tormented by personal and professional envy, by playing on Othello’s sense of foreignness, sets out to destroy their love, and bring Othello down.

In 2011, Shedrick Yarkpai became the first African-born actor to play Othello in Australia. In 2022’s production, he is joined by David Daradan as Iago.

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by PETER SHAFFER

November 25 - December 3

In Vienna, in 1823, the dying 73-year-old former court-composer, Antonio Salieri, is babbling that he was responsible for the murder of his arch-rival, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri’s fevered memories transport the audience back to the glittering court and musical worlds of Vienna, as Salieri battles with God over His choice of “an obscene child” to be the beneficiary of musical genius.

Starring Paul Scofield and Simon Callow, Peter Shaffer’s modern classic took the world by storm in 1979. Milos Forman’s spectacular 1986 film starred F Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce. Together again, after their triumph in Old, Wicked Songs, Ben Francis and David Roach play Mozart and Salieri.

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by ENID BAGNOLD

June 11

High-born military widow, Mrs St Maugham, has taken custody of her alarming granddaughter, Laurel, who specialises in self-dramatisation and pyromania. The old lady engages a governess - the mysterious Miss Madrigal - who sees that the lying teenager can no more flourish in this world of licensed eccentricity, than rhododendrons can prosper in Mrs St Maugham's arid chalk garden. Meanwhile, Laurel and the butler, Maitland, sharing a passion for true crime, set out to discover the secret to Miss Madrigal’s past.

The play’s brilliantly witty dialogue inspired acerbic critic, Kenneth Tynan, to say that it "may well be the finest artificial comedy to have flowed from an English (as opposed to an Irish) pen since the death of Congreve".

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