Brand new comedy SPIKE to open the 2022 Spring season at the Watermill Theatre

Newbury’s Watermill Theatre have announced details of their spring season, running from January to May 2022.

The season opens with the world premiere of Spike, a new comedy based on the life of Spike Milligan by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman. It is followed by the return of folk-inspired mythic musical The Wicker Husband, and a world premiere musical adaptation of Graham Greene’s bestselling novel Our Man in Havana.

Spike delves into the inner workings of one of our most unique and brilliantly irreverent comedy minds. It premieres at The Watermill from 27 January – 5 March, and will be directed by Watermill Artistic Director Paul Hart, with design by Katie Lias. Full creative team and casting will be announced shortly.

“I’m not acting crazy. I’m the genuine article.”

It’s the booming fifties, and Britain is in the clutches of Goon mania as men, women and children across the country scramble to get their ear to a wireless for another instalment of The Goon Show. While Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers get down to the serious business of becoming overnight celebrities, fellow Goon and chief writer Spike finds himself pushing the boundaries of comedy, and testing the patience of the BBC.

Flanked by his fellow Goons and bolstered by the efforts of irrepressible sound assistant Janet, Spike takes a flourishing nosedive off the cliffs of respectability, and mashes up his haunted past to create the comedy of the future.

Will Spike’s dogged obsession with finding the funny elevate The Goons to soaring new heights, or will the whole thing come crashing down with the stroke of a potato peeler?

Critically acclaimed musical The Wicker Husband will return to the Watermill following its premature closure in March 2020, where it will play from 11 – 26 March 2022. Directed by Charlotte Westenra, with a book by Rhys Jennings, music and lyrics by Darren Clark and based on an original short story by Ursula Wills, this folk-inspired new musical tells the timeless tale of the outsider. Full casting will be announced nearer the time.

‘Once upon a withy on the edge of a deep damp swamp, nestled in the arms of a winding river, stood a pretty little town…’

In a superficial world, where beauty is only skin-deep, meet the so-called ‘Ugly Girl’.

Ostracised by the shallow townsfolk because she doesn’t fit in, the Ugly Girl becomes the envy of her neighbours when the mysterious Old Basketmaker makes her a strong and loving husband woven from living wicker. As bitter rivalry and jealousy threaten to tear the community apart, the townsfolk embark on a cruel and destructive plan. Will the Ugly Girl’s happiness be ruined forever.

Our Man in Havana, a world premiere musical adaptation of Graham Greene’s iconic novel by Ben Morales Frost and Richard Hough, will play at the Watermill from 7 April - 21 May. Directed by Amy Draper, designed by Kat Heath, with Eliane Correa as co-orchestrator and musical director, the production was originally programmed as part of The Watermill’s Spring 2020 season but had to be postponed by the pandemic.

‘And all around them, the night comes alive with the music of Havana…’

It’s 1958 and Havana is on the brink of revolution. All day and night, the streets are filled with dancing and the shadows are filled with criminals. In the midst of the warm tropical air, an English vacuum cleaner salesman lives a quiet life running a modest business, raising his teenage daughter Milly and collecting miniature whisky bottles.

Just as Milly’s love of shopping reaches new heights, James Wormold receives an offer from the British Secret Intelligence Service that is too good to refuse. What Wormold lacks in sleuthing experience, he makes up for with imagination. Nothing stays quiet for long in Havana and his life is soon turned upside down when the fictional events of his intelligence reports start to come true!

For more information and to book tickets, please click here.