Ilkley Playhouse releases its 25/26 autumn and winter season programme

The autumn and winter season 2025/2026 has arrived at Ilkley Playhouse and we hope there is something for everyone to enjoy over the next six months.

Caroline Mutton from Ilkley Playhouse looks at the new season.

Our committed and talented volunteers have a long-standing reputation for directing, staging and performing modern dramas, classics, farce, comedies, musicals - all carefully selected by Ilkley Playhouse’s Casting Committee and all performed to the highest standard. This season five Wharfeside Theatre and Wildman Studio productions will be performed, as well as two fringe productions - all performed by Ilkley Players. Our theatre is also a venue for visiting musicians, comedians and singers and hosts an array of academic courses, festivals and fairs throughout the year. You can get your hands on a copy of the Autumn/Winter programme at Ilkley Playhouse, in the local libraries, in various shops in and around the town, at Ilkley Tourist information Office and at the Clarke Foley Centre.

There are connecting themes of family, relationships, hope and the power of human connection in several of our dramas this season, starting with Nigel Slater’s Toast, running from the 11th to the 20th September in the Wharfeside Theatre. Nigel Slater’s award-winning memoir was adapted into a play in 2018, winning many accolades. The play tells the story of Nigel’s childhood through his memories of the food that he grew up with. Interwoven with the culinary descriptions and demonstrations, there are real savoury treats to be experienced. The play gives us a child’s-eye view of the most important relationships and events in his young life: the death of his beloved mother when he was just ten, his father’s strict presence, his battle with his stepmother over supremacy in the kitchen and his final escape to London to pursue his dream of becoming a cook. Toast is a funny, touching and truthful portrayal of a boy who finds the courage to follow his own recipe in life.

The Unfriend, by Steven Moffat opens in the Wharfeside Theatre on 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.

Experience a story of hope, redemption and community in It’s a Wonderful Life, running from 4th December in the Wharfeside Theatre. This magical stage adaptation of the beloved film is the perfect festive play. George Bailey has given up his own dreams to help others. Facing financial ruin, he questions the value of his life. But in his darkest moment a guardian angel appears, showing what the world would have been like without him. George discovers the extraordinary impact of his seemingly ordinary existence, revealing the power of kindness and discovering your own worth. The play runs until 13th December.

Atmospheric play Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton runs from the 15th to the 24th January in the Wharfeside Theatre. The suave and confident Jack Manningham seems to live a comfortable life with his wife Bella. But a quiet malevolence and casual misogyny lurks beneath the surface. As Mrs Manningham begins to doubt her own sanity, Inspector Rough appears. Is Bella really losing her grip on reality, or is there something altogether more sinister happening? Written in 1938, this psychological thriller of manipulation and control in a toxic marriage remains alarmingly relevant in today’s world.

Big Big Sky, our final play of the season, takes place in the Wildman Studio and opens on 17th February. Tom Wells’ beautifully tender play explores nature’s influence on love, friendship and family and the belief that anyone who is lost can be found, even in the remotest of places. Set in Kilnsea, East Yorkshire, Angie and Lauren are closing up the café for another winter; the birds have gone south and taken the tourists with them. The last visitor is Dennis, stopping by for his pasty and beans. But there is another arrival – one that’s unforeseen and life changing for them all. Big Big Sky runs until 21st February.

On Saturday 23rd August, returning for the sixth consecutive year, is our popular fringe production Bard in the Yard. This year you can look forward to forty-minute adaptations of Antony and Cleopatra and As You Like It, directed by Dick Hebbert and Andrew Leggott. Performances will take place at 7.30pm on Saturday 23rd August in the Wildman Studio and at 2pm in the Manor House Yard on Sunday 24th and Monday 25th August (Bank Holiday). Please note that to book for the Manor House performances, please book via their website www.ilkleymanorhouse.org

Our second fringe production of the season 8x8x8, running from the 25th until 27th September, is 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.”

This season’s literature course is a ten-week course starting on Thursday 18th September. The course explores literary highlights from the weekly magazine The New Yorker, which celebrated its centenary this year. Over the ten-week course you will explore The New Yorker’s evolution from a Manhattan-focused ‘fifteen-cent comic paper’ (as stated by its original editor), to a magazine still able ‘to surprise, delight and inform with accuracy and depth’ (as stated by the current editor).

The six-week modern art course offered this season looks at various artistic couples and explores the connections between their works and their contribution to the art movements they belonged to. The course starts on Wednesday 21st January and considers the work of Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Gabriele Munter and Wassily Kandinsky, Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova, Man Ray and Lee Miller, Anni and Josef Albers, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.

From Friday 3rd to Sunday 19th October, Ilkley Playhouse will host a wide range of author talks, panel discussions and poetry performances as part of the annual Ilkley Literature Festival. Each year the festival brings writers, poets, politicians, sporting heroes, historians, scientists and much more to the town and into our community-based space.

On Saturday 25th October the Ilkley Playhouse Vintage Fair will accommodate twenty stalls selling stunning vintage items from the 1920s to the 1980s. Expect to find beautiful fashion for men and women, all types of homeware, vinyl records, furniture, toys, books, pictures and much more. Refuel in the café with delicious cakes, savouries and drinks.

We have a full programme of music events for you to enjoy this season, starting with A Night of the Blues on Friday 14th November. This will be an unforgettable night showcasing Blues Music, covering the greats of the era and originally penned Yorkshire blues by incredibly talented local artists. This will be a fantastic evening in support of Ilkley Live – a local charity dedicated to supporting cohesion in the community and promoting live music in the area.

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.

Stunning female trio Belle Voix bring the timeless sounds of Motown and Northern Soul to Ilkley Playhouse on Friday 30th January. Featuring over thirty iconic hits including Do I Love You, Tainted Love, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Midnight Train To Georgia and more. Starring Sandy Smith, Sophie Mairi and Briony Gunn, whose credits include London’s West End, Cruise Liners and Luxury Hotels, the trio deliver a powerful, soul-stirring performance that will have audiences singing along.

Always popular with Ilkley Playhouse audiences, Jon Palmer Acoustic Band [pictured above] returns to the Wildman Studio on Friday 6 February. This is a six-piece band that performs with a passion and enthusiasm that matches the content of Jon’s songs. Mixing the traditional with the contemporary, Jon Palmer writes songs with soaring, memorable choruses that you will struggle to get out of your head, long after the evening is over.

Holly Taymar makes her debut performance at Ilkley Playhouse on Saturday 7th February, singing the songs of Eva Cassidy.  A highly accomplished singer-songwriter from York, Holly Taymar brings to life the timeless music in appreciation of one of the most beloved voices of the 20th Century. With a voice perfectly suited to Eva Cassidy’s unique blend of folk, jazz and blues, Holly performs renditions of classics such as Fields of Gold, Songbird, Over the Rainbow, Time After Time and Autumn Leaves. This show is not an impersonation; it’s a heartfelt homage to an artist who left a lasting impact on Holly’s development as an artist, and on the world of music. Expect an intimate, moving and unforgettable evening for those who cherish Eva Cassidy’s legacy.

Stagefright Comedy Clubs have become a regular favourite here at Ilkley Playhouse and showcase the finest comedy acts on the UK and international comedy circuits. Over the years, the club has featured the likes of Joe Lycett, Chris Ramsey, Gary Delaney, Shazia Mirza and Justin Moorhouse. The first Comedy Club of the season takes place on On Saturday 15th November and will be frontlined by Mitch Benn and Elaine Robertson. Keep a look out for details of forthcoming Stagefright Comedy Clubs on Saturday 31st January, Saturday 28th March, Saturday 9th May and Saturday 4th July.  

Looking ahead to our Spring/Summer 2026 Season, we have a super line-up of plays including The Human Body, Calendar Girls The Musical, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Girl On The Train and Iron. Book all seven Wharfeside Theatre productions at the same time and save money with a Season Ticket. The season includes all of the above spring/summer season plays in addition to Toast, The Unfriend, It’s a Wonderful Life and Gaslight.

For the latest plays and events please check our website and Facebook page and of course, our weekly What’s On article on the Your Ilkley website and app. You can also find out more on our website about hiring our venue, costume and prop hire, our Greenroom drama classes and how you can get involved. To book tickets for all our plays and events visit www.ilkleyplayhouse.co.uk or contact Ilkley Playhouse box office on 01943 609539.