The Mercury Theatre have announced their 50th anniversary season, with some exciting new initiatives to nurture talent and keep the arts a solid foundation of the community.

The first of two Mercury productions: a new version of Charles Bennett’s classic thriller Blackmail by Mark Ravenhill, directed by Anthony Banks, will premiere in March. Whilst closing the season will be Shakespeare’s The Comedy Of Errors, directed by Ryan McBryde – Mercury’s own creative director, running from 13–28 May.

That’s the bookends for their season, Besties – but what about everything in between? From the consortium that brought  you their highly acclaimed Noughts and Crosses, the Mercury and Pilot Theatre will co-present an adaptation of Zana Fraillon’s The Bone Sparrow from award winning writer S. Shakthidharan from 29 March–2 April. A co-production between those two venues alongside the York Theatre Royal, Belgrade Theatre Coventry and Derby Theatre, The Bone Sparrow will also embark on a UK tour from 25 February until 23 April. Further announcements on the season will follow in due course.

The Mercury are also proud to introduce Lates, a series of events running on selected Saturday nights in the Café Bar,featuring everything from cabaret to comedy and jazz: the initial lineup will include: Cocktail Cabaret, Colchester Operatic Singalong and JAMJAR, with further acts to be announced.

Executive Director Steve Mannix said: “Our golden anniversary season of 2022 is a confident step into the next fifty years in our iconic building, with two new Mercury Productions - Blackmail and The Comedy of Errors - leading the way. January will get off to a flying start as our hit panto Aladdin continues until 16 January and then our programme is packed with more extraordinary performances, established talent, old favourites and new writing too. We can’t wait to share it all with our audiences.”

Priority on sale for supporters is open now, with general on sale 10 December at 10am here.