The Henley Players Spring production will be Absent Friends written by Alan Ayckbourn and will be performed at The Kenton Theatre from 26th to 29th March 2025. Our Director is Mark Wilkin.

It’s always good to see old friends – isn’t it?

Diana has invited Colin over for a nice cup of tea and to catch up with friends he hasn’t seen in years. Given that Colin’s fiancée has recently drowned everyone is on edge worrying about what to say to him, but when he finally arrives he seems to be the most cheerful among them. The reunion only succeeds in opening old wounds and Colin’s jolly attempts to smooth the waters only make things worse.

Set in the 1970’s and rooted firmly in that era, Absent Friends is regarded as one of Alan Ayckbourn’s finest plays. He makes this road-crash of a party both sad and touching, but always bitingly funny.

Cast:

“If music be the food of love, play on”

Our Autumn production will be Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare and will be performed at the Kenton Theatre in Henley-on-Thames on 16th to 19th October 2024.

Twelfth Night is a tale of unrequited love – hilarious and heartbreaking. Shakespeare’s comedy of mistaken identity is a giddy mix of joy, yearning, farce, frolics and debauched revelry.

Following a shipwreck Viola, who has been separated from her brother Sebastian, disguises herself as a boy in the court of Count Orsino and is tasked on his behalf with wooing the Countess Olivia only to herself become the object of Olivia’s affections. Meanwhile Olivia’s steward Malvolio has ideas above his station when he is tricked into believing his mistress has amorous intentions towards him and wishes to see him dressed in cross-gartered yellow stockings.

Romantic intrigues, cunning deceptions, sexual confusion, and drunken songs abound in one of Shakespeare’s most popular and enduring comedies.

Our latest production is Dangerous Corner by J.B. Priestley

Dangerous Corner is a well-crafted story, a thriller of truth, secrets and lies, where one loose word leads to an explosive combination of suspicions and emotions. The examination and exposure of the complex human relationships of the dinner party guests is the key, each new revelation taking us to new and more sinister possibilities until we reach an unexpected and gripping climax, a classic thriller.

Initially all seems well at the Caplan’s independent publishing house until a can of worms is unceremoniously ripped open at their dinner party. A chance remark plunges the guests into a re-examination of the mysterious events surrounding the recent death of young Martin Caplan and skeletons come crashing out of the closet in more ways than one. Life will never be the same again… or will it?