Thaliana, January 2026
Welcome
Welcome to what we hope will be our regular newsletter, not only letting you know about upcoming shows and events, but also about some of the behind the scenes work that committee members and supporters carry out on behalf of the Thalian Theatre Company.
If you attended the recent Directors Evening at Thalian Hall you will be aware of the exciting season that we have lined up for 2026 and beyond.
In case you haven’t heard, the Thalian Theatre Company has been nominated for Best Musical in the NODA 2026 Awards for last year’s Kinky Boots which was directed by Mandy Sayers. We will keep you posted with the result!
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Rehearsals are in full swing for our first play, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time ( playing dates 18th-21st February). This is also a first for our company as it will be performed in the round. Clive Dancey, Director, and the cast are enjoying being challenged by the demands of producing this thought provoking, emotional and often humorous look inside the world of an autistic teenager, Christopher Boone. How do we, as actors, make a spaceship, a train station, a beach, a police station? Come to see the play to find out. Tickets are selling fast, so please buy yours while you can. Click here.
Leonardo
Running concurrently with Curious rehearsals are workshops for Leonardo, a musical written by a professional duo from Canada; Peter Sipos and Tony Calabretta. They have entrusted us with trialling their work with a view to possibly staging a full- scale world premiere of the show. This is an exciting venture, as it allows us to be involved in the creative process, under the expert musical directorship of Margaret Johnson with Darren Barsby directing.
It’s not too late to join in. We rehearse at 10:30am on Sundays and will be adding a weekday evening too, starting this Tuesday at 8pm. Come along and join in the fun. We plan to exhibit our work in front of an invited audience sometime in March.
Contact Darren for information.
The Great British Bake-Off
Watch out for notification of the launch night for our Summer production – The Great British Bake-Off, the musical (playing dates 9th -13th June). The audition and information pack will be out shortly, with rehearsals beginning in March.
Thalian Hall
As you are probably aware, the Thalian Theatre Company is a registered charity, and all proceeds from shows and events are put back into the company and used for future shows, or projects to enhance our theatre for performers and audiences. We have an extensive wish list, as you can imagine, but our next big project is upgrading our sound and lighting provision in the hall. This has already begun with new lighting bars being erected, which will be in place for the Curious Incident, and also used for our in the round production of Come From Away, next Spring.
Socials
On the Executive Committee we now have a Social Secretary, MJ Barsby-Scott, who was responsible for organising our first Quiz Night last year. The next event, for members and friends, will be a Stand up Comedy Night, at Thalian Hall, on Saturday 21st March. Ticket price will be £10 on the door and there will be a licensed bar. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start.
NODA Summer School
For those who might be interested, here are details of a NODA Summer School
Spotlight on Martin Lester – Vice Chair and Web Administrator
Martin is the oil that keeps the Thalian Theatre Company working, and is so much more than his job title suggests. From being there to fix a light or build a piece of scenery to designing new and smarter ways for the company to run, he works tirelessly and unassumingly for us all. In his own words, here are some of the things he has been involved with recently.
Stage Floor
I am pleased to say that we now have a brand-new stage floor. This was installed just before our last show, Nativity!, in early November last year.
The extension to the stage was started back in 2019 when Tim Spink led the design and build. It has now been levelled and finished with a continuous commercial-grade vinyl surface giving us a level floor throughout. We even had enough material left over to cover the steps leading onto the stage.
Thaliana
We are trialling Thaliana as a blog rather than simply an email newsletter. This allows us to provide more dynamic content, and it also means the newsletter will have a permanent home on our website. If you have any suggestions on how this could be improved, please do let me know.
For those who are curious, the website is built using Elementor on top of WordPress. If you have a technical bent and would like to get involved in the ongoing maintenance and development of the website, we would love to hear from you webadmin@thaliantheatrecompany.co.uk, (Martin).
Website Archive Page
Our website has recently had an overhaul, particularly the Shows page. As before, shows are listed in reverse chronological order, but you can now also search by show title, director, MD, and more.
Most productions include full cast and crew details, along with programmes where available. However, some older shows are missing information, simply because we’ve been unable to locate any archive material. If you do by any chance have information that you see is missing, please let me know at webadmin@thaliantheatrecompany.co.uk, (Martin).
Membership
Our membership subscription process has been streamlined, as some of you may already have discovered. We are now using an online service that allows members to apply for and renew their membership online. Members can manage their own details and view their payment history.
This service can also be used to pay show fees, and we are planning to add other items to the online store in the near future.
You don’t have to be in a show to be a member. Being a member helps keep you in the loop with what we’re planning and supports Thalians in producing some amazing shows. If you were a member in one of our past shows but have moved out of the area (or country!) your support as a member would be very welcome. There’s also a lot of work happening behind the scenes (literally!), so if you’d like to gain some backstage or back office experience, please get in touch with a member of the committee or the director of a show you are interested in.
To apply, please visit the Members page on our website, and if you have any questions, please contact our membership secretary Colleen Town at membership@thaliantheatrecompany.co.uk .
At the Thalian Theatre Company we pride ourselves on being open, friendly and welcoming of ideas and suggestions for shows, events and more. Moreover if you have any skills that you could bring to the society to enhance what we do, please do get in touch with any committee member.
Wishing you all a happy and dramatic (in a good way) 2026,
Alison
On behalf of the Thalian Theatre Company committee.
