Have you visited The Barons Court Theatre yet at The Curtain’s Up?

Unlike many pub theatres that are located upstairs or in the back room, the Barons Court Theatre is located in the cellar/vaults below the pub! It has been around for about 16 years! This season they have an incredible pregramme of shows for you, ranging from devilishly funny Oscar Wilde to classic romance with Anna Karenina.  So take your pick, book your tickets, and get to the pub early for some good grub beforehand!

2012 PROGRAMME

TUESDAY 10 JANUARY – SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 12

“THE BIRDS, ONLY THE BIRDS CAN SEE”

Xenia Orphanides opens the New Year for us with two powerful stories which intertwine with each other until they become one poetic play, combining physical theatre and songs.

The first story is told in the present. The play begins with a poem, it echoes into the past, where bells of truth make sounds that resonate to the heart. It may be disturbing and real, but the journey for Lilly is about to end. For those who are watching, the journey has just begun. As the poem is being told, we jump to the second story, which is the past. Lilly’s wish is to be a dancer, an unexpected stranger arrives just in time. Thinking he’s about to change her life for the better, he takes her to a house to be sex trafficked. Lilly is beaten up and forced to give services to men. Unable to go anywhere through fear of being killed, her only hope is to find comfort in drugs.

PERFORMANCES: Tuesdays – Sundays (7.45 p.m.)

ADMISSION: £12 (£10 Concessions)

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TUES 24 – SAT 28 JAN 12

“THE GOOD DOCTOR”

By Neil Simon

The Good Doctor is a love-letter to Anton Chekhov by American writer Neil Simon (The Odd Couple, The Goodbye Girl, Barefoot in the Park). Inspired by some of Chekhov’s most hilarious short work, Simon has flung together a snappy evening of inventive and funny playlets, all enlivened by the sweet/sour genius of Chekhov as seen through the lens of America’s greatest comic writer.

PERFORMANCES: Tues – Saturday (7.30 pm)
ADMISSION: £10

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TUES 24 – SUN 19 FEB 12

“SLEEPING DOGS”

by Brenda Gottsche

Brenda Gottzche, a writer whose plays have been acclaimed all over the world, returns to England and to Barons Court Theatre with her latest work “Let sleeping dogs lie…” We all have times when we take that option and hope those hounds stay put. Dr Roz was one of those people. She is a famous, hugely popular radio psychologist who fixes people’s problems. Her husband, Leo, is a bestselling crime writer. Just when it seems she’s set to become Britain’s Oprah Winfrey, a letter arrives revealing juicy information they were hiding from the world and each other. The ‘sleeping dogs’ awake and cause chaos. Their son, a member of a radical religious group, the man who is blackmailing them, and the eccentric psychiatrist who is addicted to designer shoes all join in the chaos. A comedy drama…sometimes hilariously funny, sometimes very moving.

PERFORMANCES: Tues – Sundays (7.45 p.m.)

ADMISSION: £12 (£10 Conc)

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TUESDAY 21 FEBRUARY – SUNDAY 4 MARCH 2012

“ANNA KARENINA”

by Leo Tolstoy

A perfect adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s gloriously romantic story of Anna Karenina and her doomed love affair with the dashing cavalry officer, Count Vronsky.

PERFORMANCES: Tuesdays – Saturdays (7.30 p.m.) Sundays (7 p.m.)

ADMISSION: £12 (£10 Conc)

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TUESDAY 6 MARCH – SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2012

“VAMPIRE”

by Snoo Wilson

CP Theatre continue their Goths, Ghosts and Ghouls season with Snoo Wilson’s hilarious vampire nightmare. Don’t expect this fast, funny fantasy to bring you a parade of pale-skinned monsters with protruding teeth, however. This hugely praised play explores a century of social vampires who bleed our way of life to death – and the women who try to stop this happening. It’s high-camp, quite surreal and it may scare you out of your skin – but you’ll die laughing!

PERFORMANCES: Tues – Sundays (7.30 p.m.)

ADMISSION: £12 (£8 Conc)

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TUES 13 MARCH – SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2012

“THE WEIR”

by Conor McPherson

CP Theatre stage the last of

their Goths, Ghosts and Ghouls Season at Barons Court. This latest supernatural offering in this splendidly terrifying series is “The Weir” by Conor McPherson. First seen in London at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in 1997, the play is a bittersweet exploration of relationships and missed opportunities.

Set in a bar in rural Ireland, barman Brendan and three of his regulars try to spook newcomer Valerie with ghostly tales, only to be frightened themselves when she tells her own story. A powerful play by a leading modern playwright, sure to prove popular so early booking advised.

PERFORMANCES: Tues – Sundays (7.30 p.m.)

ADMISSION: £12 (£8 Conc)

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BARONS COURT THEATRE’S “PLAY OF THE YEAR”

“LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME”

by Oscar Wilde

(Dramatised by Ronald Selwyn Phillips)

This hilarious adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s amusing comedy was premiered at Barons Court in the 90′s. As soon as the reviews appeared, it sold out. We staged it again: all tickets sold out immediately. And the same thing happened again at the 3rd staging – even though we gave it a 12-week run! After the total sell out for the 4th production in 1999, we decided that everyone in London must have seen it, so we decided to rest it for a time. But so many people keep asking “When are you going to put on ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ again?”, that we felt we had to listen to them. So here it is, in a delightfully fresh treatment of this hugely successful play.

Lord Arthur, a handsome but rather naive aristocrat, gets the shock of his life when he takes Sybil, his beautiful fiancee, for approval by his aunt, the dragon-like Lady Windermere. His aunt insists that Lord Arthur must have his palm read by her amazing clairvoyant, Podgers – and Podgers predicts that it is Lord Arthur’s destiny to become a murderer! Even worse, the murder victim will be his lovely fiancee, Sybil! But scheming Podgers suggests a possible way out….and the blackest of all black comedies begins to unfold once again.

PERFORMANCES: TUES – SATURDAYS (7.45 p.m.) SUNDAYS (6.45 p.m.)

ADMISSION: FIRST 3 WEEKS: £14 (Or £10 Concessions)

LAST WEEK OF RUN: £15 (or £12 Concessions)

“The Curtain’s Up”, 28a Comeragh Road, London W14 9HR

BOX OFFICE: 020 8932 4747