TALKING HEADS

7.30pm on 22 & 23 July 2022
2.30pm on 24 July 2022
Players Theatre Hurstpierpoint

There's nothing quite so satisfying as the ability to eavesdrop on a person's thoughts and fears, especially if you don't share them. Though superficially simple, they are notoriously difficult to interpret, and director Ian Amos has chosen three very different stories from Bennett's original collection, and selected three of the society's most experienced actors: Sue Wicks, Josie Porter and Phil Balding.

"Bed Among the Lentils" - The vicar's wife finds a vision of God at the local off-licence.

"A Chip in the Sugar" - A middle aged man struggles with his mother's intention to remarry.

"A Lady of Letters" - Writing angry letters to the appropriate authorities can get out of hand.

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Alan Bennett's monologues first appeared on the BBC in 1988, with a second set following a decade later. A number of the monologues were re-made professionally for TV in 2020 during pandemic lockdowns.

THE THRILL OF LOVE

19 - 24 September 2022
Players Theatre Hurstpierpoint

A hostess in the West End's gentlemen's clubs, Ruth works hard, plays hard and dreams of a movie-star life. Yet in 1955, the self-styled 'blonde bombshell' is convicted of murder and becomes the last woman to be hanged in Great Britain.

Amanda Whittington's play dramatises the true story of Ruth Ellis, and takes a fresh look at the woman behind the headlines.

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The play was first staged at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in 2013. It later toured to London, and was also adapted for BBC Radio4 in 2016.
"The show is terrific, too, on the warmth, bitchiness and complexities of female friendship at a time when, even if women knew the rules of the game, they often still end up the losers in a man's world" -- The Guardian.
Directed by Bob Sampson.

HUMBLE BOY

Coming in 2023

Felix Humble returns to his family home in the English countryside after receiving word of the death of his father. He discovers that his mother, Flora, has got rid of all of her husband's belongings including the bees which he kept. The reunion of mother and son is not pleasant, old animosity is sparked between the two.

Felix is an astrophysicist who discovers that untangling his emotional and family life is considerably more difficult than his search for a unified theory of everything.

A contemporary family comedy with a touch of string theory, all set in a summer garden... and there's a lot of lovely things about bees coming at you from all angles! (no live bees in the auditorium though)

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Written in 2001 the play premiered at the National Theatre. "Sad, very sad... funny, very, very funny... this is a seriously wonderful play" --The Sunday Times. Directed by Ian Amos.

National Theatre Live

Tickets from £10
Produced by the Hurstpierpoint Players in conjunction with Hurst Village Cinema.

Check the cinema's website for details of upcoming screenings

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National Theatre Live brings the best of British theatre to cinema screens all over the UK and beyond. With state-of-the-art filming techniques, tailored to every play, you see the performance as it happens, in all its glory. From close-ups that capture every flicker of emotion, to sweeping wide shots of the stage.