The Mercury Theatre in Colchester has today announced an exciting selection of new shows that will be heading to the theatre over the next year including the return of Pam Ayres with her new show and the play adaptation of the BAFTA award-winning series Boys from the Blackstuff, direct from its West End run.
MERCURY THEATRE
James Graham’s powerful new adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s BAFTA award-winning TV series Boys from the Blackstuff comes to Colchester direct from the National Theatre and the West End from 28-31 May 2025. The play, directed by Kate Wasserberg, follows Chrissie, Loggo, George, Dixie and Yosser as they play the game: find jobs, avoid the ‘sniffers’ and see if they can have a laugh along the way.
Pam Ayres will return to the Mercury Theatre on 2 March 2025 at 5pm to talk about her latest book, Doggedly Onward – A Life in Poems, 1970 to 2020s. Pam has gathered her career’s work of poetry into this book, which traces the course of her life, and illustrates how her work has provoked laughter, and some tears, to people around the world.
The Masked Singer and In With a Shout star Joel Dommett returns to his stand-up roots with a brand-new show for 2025, which will visit the Mercury Theatre on 1 May 2025 at 7:30pm.
Award-winning full-mask maestros Vamos Theatre will bring their show Boy on the Roof to the Mercury Theatre on 6 March 2025 at 7:30pm. The show follows the story of a cross-generational friendship between teenager Liam, who has ADHD, and his 91-year-old neighbour, Albert. Performed without words, it has been created through Community Conversations across the UK, gathering people’s experiences of ADHD, loneliness, aging, connection and community.
The Last Leg and Rob Beckett’s Smart TV star Josh Widdicombe will warm up his Work-in-Progress show on 3 April 2025 at 7:30pm ahead of his brand-new nationwide tour later this year.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of her global bestseller, Kate Mosse will present her one-woman show, Labyrinth Live: Unlocking the Secrets of the Labyrinth, at the Mercury Theatre on 4 April 2025 at 7:30pm. This dazzling, immersive theatre experience features music, imagery, and film, guiding audiences through the history and mystery of the Languedoc region. Kate revisits wars, conspiracy theories and Grail legends, revealing the inspirations and experiences that shaped the beloved classic Labyrinth.
Multi award-winning, BAFTA-nominated writer and comedian Mark Steel will bring his new tour The Leopard in My House to the theatre on 16 April 2025 at 7:30pm. The topic? His battle with throat cancer. A battle he is winning (thankfully) and which only his rapier wit could fashion a comedy tour show out of. Cancer has done nothing to dull Mark’s acute political observations or quash his “frankly bonkers” energy: you will laugh, you will cry, but you’ll laugh again, and again, and again.
Confessional multi-award winning comedian Suzi Ruffell brings her brand-new show The Juggle to the theatre on 10 September 2025 at 7:30pm.
Other shows heading to the Mercury Theatre include That’s So 90s (20 Feb 2025 at 7:30pm), Country Roads (12 Apr 2025, 7:30pm), The Spice Girls Experience (25 Apr 2025, 7:30pm) and Drag Me to the 90s (2 May 2025, 7:30pm).
MERCURY STUDIO
The Astonishing Adventures of Kitty and Peg, playing the Mercury Studio on 8 March 2025 at 7pm, is a hilarious two-hander set in 1745 at the Theatre Royal. Watch as Kitty Clive and Peg Woffington, after being sacked, resort to fake news, fights, and accidental poisoning. Will they survive? A fast-paced, cheeky period farce with women wrestling!
Toxic, playing the Mercury Studio from 13-14 March 2025 at 8pm, follows a chance meeting on a hook-up app as it sets two damaged thirty-something hearts on a spectacular collision course. He is HIV+ and drowning in shame. They are one microaggression away from a full-on meltdown. Born into Thatcher’s Britain of race riots and rampant homophobia and growing up in the shadow of Aids and Section 28, the pair form a trauma bond so tight, they might just survive it all. But sometimes survival means knowing when to leave.
Eastern Angles bring the show Sophia to the Mercury Studio from 20-21 March 2025 at 8pm. Daughter of the last Maharajah of Punjab, Sophia spent her childhood at Elveden Hall in Suffolk and faced years of loss and mourning before embarking on a lifechanging journey to her family’s homeland in India. This epic new drama explores Sophia’s life, uncovering the story of this unknown lioness of women’s suffrage and her part in some of the defining moments of British Indian history.
Whole, written and performed by Emma Spearing and directed by Kirsty Housley, will be performed in the Mercury Studio on 9 April 2025 at 8pm. Whole is a show about 2 people – one of them is on stage, the other isn’t. Emma’s been looking for ways to fill the gaping hole her identical twin sister’s death left behind. So, she thought she’d make a show for them. Only it’s proving a little tricky because Emma doesn’t like doing things on her own.
Matthew Seager’s five star, 4X Moliere Award winning drama In Other Words – Music & Dementia will run in the Mercury Studio from 25-26 April 2025. Connected by the music of Frank Sinatra, this intimate, humorous and deeply moving drama examines the power of music, memory and the nature of enduring love.
January 2025 will also see new terms of the Mercury Theatre’s creative engagement activities: Tots Twinkles, Tots Stars, Musical Theatre Dance, Senior Social Club, Pilates, Zumba and Mercury Adult Company.
All announced shows are currently available for priority sale with general sale beginning from 10am on Friday 1 November. More information and booking can be found at www.mercurytheatre.co.uk.
