Caroline Mutton looks ahead to Ilkley Playhouse's second fringe production of the season '8x8x8' and many more events coming to the Ilkley's much loved venue this autumn.
Opening on Thursday [25th September] is 8x8x8 Magic Waiting. It has a bit of everything – comedy, romance, drama, mystery – eight new plays in one evening, each lasting eight minutes and written by eight different playwrights!
The plays are borne out of a recent writing competition, plays that have been carefully considered and selected by the judging panel. This production is part of the Bradford 2025 City of Culture festival, who together with Creative Lives, financially supported this venture and who selected the theme of the production: Magic Waiting, based on Bradford’s own J.B. Priestly, “I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” 8x8x8 Magic Waiting runs until Saturday 27th September.
Our next Wharfeside Theatre production The Unfriend opens on Thursday 30th October. While on holiday, English couple Peter and Debbie befriend Elsa - a brassy, Trump-loving widow from America. She is less than woke but kind of wonderful, so they agree to stay in touch – because no-one ever really does, do they? But when she invites herself to stay, they find out that Elsa has a terrible secret. Peter and Debbie now face a middle-class English couple’s ultimate challenge – how do you protect all that you love from deadly peril without seeming just a little impolite. The play runs until 8th November.
On Friday 14th November join us for an unforgettable night of blues music in support of Ilkley Live, a local charity dedicated to supporting cohesion in the community and promoting live music in the area. Not one, not two but three acts showcasing blues music, covering the greats of the era and originally penned Yorkshire blues by incredibly talented local artists. The night is the first of many in partnership between Ilkley Live and Ilkley Playhouse. Please note this is a seated event. No dancing.
The first Stagefright Comedy Club of the season takes place on Saturday 15th November and will be frontlined by Mitch Benn, described as ‘the country’s leading musical satirist’ (The Times). His TV credits include The One Show as the writer and arranger of The Complaints Choir, Bremner, Bird and Fortune, The Comedy Store, Live at Jongleurs and Celebrity Mastermind amongst others. He is a regular writer and performer on The Now Show for BBC Radio 4 and It's Been a Bad Week for BBC Radio 2. Three series of his successful Radio 4 show, Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music have been broadcast so far. He also presented The Mitch Benn Music Show on BBC Radio 7. Mitch is one of the most sought-after acts on the comedy circuit for his 'song after song of exquisitely crafted satire' (The Scotsman). Joining him is Elaine Robertson, finalist in the Channel 4 Sean Lock Comedy Award. Last year she also took her debut show Delulu to Edinburgh Fringe where it received widespread critical acclaim and garnered her the Edinburgh Fringe Awards Panel Prize. Also performing is Best New Yorkshire Act nominee 2025 Mick Tickner. 'Witty observations, unique but very relatable. One of the best new acts we've seen in ages' (Bee Funny Comedy). Completing the line-up is Kelly Edgar, described as an 'emerging comic oddball with a talent for outlandish storytelling and a penchant for trouble' (BBC Online). This year she was awarded Felt Nowt New Act of the Year. The evening will be compered by the talented Anthony J Brown.
Yorkshire Celtic Folk Rock band Gaelforce returns to Ilkley Playhouse on Friday 21st November. Enjoy rocked-up traditional folk songs, self-penned tunes in the traditional style and jigs and reels. In 2023 Gaelforce won, by public vote, on the Introducing Stage at the Great British Folk Festival. Since then they have been selling out ticketed gigs in Yorkshire and beyond.
To book tickets for all our plays and events visit www.ilkleyplayhouse.co.uk or contact Ilkley Playhouse box office on 01943 609539.
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