Thu 18 Dec 2025
If you thought autumn was busy at the Lakeside Theatre, just wait for the Spring line-up!
Our Theatre Manager, Hanna Jones, previews the shows and events coming to the Lakeside from January to April 2026. Expect plenty of student drama, experimental alumni and beautiful touring productions, as well as a return of the popular scratch nights and free workshops too.
Two Come Home
The iconic Two Come Home, with its team of mostly Colchester based creatives, comes home to the Lakeside Theatre!
Written by Colchester based writer and performer Joe Eason, Two Come Home is directed by BA Drama alumni Isobel Sheard with intimacy coordination and tech by the Lakeside’s very own Marina Cusi Sanchez and Samuel Button-Bell.
Direct from an acclaimed off-west end run at The Cockpit Theatre, having received 5-star reviews and a whopping seven Fringe Theatre Award nominations, Two Come Home is an unflinching tale of poverty, addiction, and homophobia. A unique combination of true crime, romance, and family drama all set to a haunting live soundtrack.
We are excited to welcome home the production that had its world premiere at the Lakeside in March 2024 for one night only!
Friday 23 January, 7pm
A Two Woman Hamlet
Another returner to the Lakeside is A Two Woman Hamlet, but this time they come home and take on the main stage!
But that’s not the only plot twist… this time, the two original principal actors (Sharmila Peake and Deanna Strasse) will be switching over to the other track with Sharmila taking on the Horatio track and Deanna debuting on the Hamlet track!
It’s Hamlet, but not as you know it. Two women (and a skull) take on 23 roles between them in 60 minutes, in a spectacularly fun and surprisingly moving theatrical event. This is an unpretentious adaptation, with joys in it for those familiar with Hamlet and those new to the story.
Nora J Williams (LiFTS staff alumni) directs Deanna Strasse (MA Scriptwriting 2025 alumni) and Sharmila Peake (Essex based actor) in this mammoth undertaking, with Lolly Taylor (BA Drama and Literature 2025 and current East 15 MA Acting student) understudying. Marina Cusi Sanchez (BA Drama and Literature 2022 alumni and Lakeside Theatre Assistant Manager) returns as movement director.
Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 January, 7.30pm
Real Boy
We are extremely excited to present REAL BOY, directed by University of Essex team member, Jesse Smith.
After moving to yet another new school and unexpectedly making friends with a hypermasculine trans ally, a gender-questioning teenager must fight back against bullies, friends and his mother to finally embrace his identity as a trans boy. Will he succeed or succumb to his people-pleasing ways?
REAL BOY was written by Finn Evans and Ramonah N.J. Gibson in 2022, when Finn first directed and produced the play at the UEA Drama Studio (October 2022) and then at the inaugural Norwich Queer Fest (February 2023). Jesse Smith played Real Boy in both productions. Now, they bring his story to Colchester in Jesse’s directorial debut.
Friday 27 February, 7pm
Sub Titles Over
Our very own Marina Cusi Sanchez returns to the Lakeside’s main stage with her latest production which explores censorship, and the Catalan independence vote of 2017.
This award-winning one-woman-show explores how translation and subtitles can be used to manipulate monolingual communities through the media, especially when creating the hegemonic narrative surrounding foreign affairs in non-English-speaking countries.
Performed fully in Catalan, with English captions, the show follows two young anti-fascist activists during the referendum for Catalan independence on the 1st of October 2017, which was deemed as illegal by the Spanish government, who deployed its military corps to stop the voting from happening all throughout Catalonia.
Thursday 5 March, 7pm
Theatre Arts Society Spring Show
The University of Essex Theatre Arts Society return to the Lakeside’s main stage with their Spring Show!
The Society are yet to announce their show, but expect a big student cast and a full take over of our main stage for two nights…
Thursday 12 and Friday 13 March, 7pm
Tickets will be available to book soon!
Heal All Wounds
Theatre Arts Society ReWrite 2025 competition winner Dan Casey brings this new writing to our main stage!
This hard-hitting play explores the intricacies of queer relationships and the trauma of past abuse and homophobia juxtaposed by a domestic setting.
Ten years, two couples, one shared past. Married couple Isaac and Gabriel prepare for a dinner party. Gabriel’s colleague, Anna is bringing her husband, Luke. The table is set, the meal is prepared, and the wine has been corked, all the preparations for a lovely dinner. It seems like nothing could go wrong. That is until Isaac opens the door and sees Luke for the first time in a decade.
Told through flashbacks, Isaac and Luke can no longer run from their history. Has time healed their wounds or are some traumas too great to overcome?
Thursday 19 March, 7pm
Scratch Nights
Our popular open mic style Scratch Nights return for another season! Join our hostess with the mostest, Alice K. Stephens and either take to the mic yourself or join us for an evening of performances to support our acts! It’s free to attend or perform at our scratch nights!
Upcoming dates for scratch nights:
All 6pm to 8pm in our café!
Writing Workshops
Did you miss our writing workshops with Alice K Stephens in the Autumn term? We are planning to bring a new workshop series in the Spring, keep an eye on our socials for announcements!
Dates and times coming soon!
Holocaust Memorial Week
We will be supporting Holocaust Memorial Week at the University of Essex in week commencing 26 January. More details to be announced!
LGBTQ+ History Month
For February 2026 we are working with the LQBTQ+ and Trans Student Community Officers and the LGBTQ+ Staff Forum at Essex to present a series of community events and workshops.
Keep an eye on our socials, more to be announced soon!
Sweat
Professor Liz Kuti from the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies will be directing a student cast in a staged reading of “Sweat” by Lynn Nottage for local schools.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by acclaimed African-American playwright Lynn Nottage looks at the lives of factory workers in Pennsylvania USA between 2000 and 2008.
Monday 9 and Wednesday 11 February, TBC
M Night
The Malaysian Society of the University of Essex will return to the Lakeside Theatre main stage to perform another original play as part of the annual M Night celebrations!
Everyone is welcome to this celebration of Malaysian culture through theatre.
Saturday 7 March, 7pm
The show and cast are TBA, keep an eye on our socials!
Pseudonym
The award-winning playwright and actor Deanna Strasse (MA Scriptwriting 2025) returns to our Homegrown theatre programme with another new production, a poetic semi-autobiographical journey.
“Bridget” looks back on her life and ponders how she got here. A story about complacency, William Shakespeare, the theatre, parasocial relationships, and what ducks can teach us about feminism.
Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 February, 7pm
Coming soon
More Homegrown shows to be announced later in the spring!
Find out more about Homegrown and how to apply!
Hamlet
Olivier Award-winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) is Hamlet in this fearless, contemporary take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
Trapped between duty and doubt, surrounded by power and privilege, young Prince Hamlet dares to ask the ultimate question – you know the one.
National Theatre Deputy Artistic Director, Robert Hastie (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Operation Mincemeat) directs this sharp, stylish and darkly funny reimagining.
Thursday 5 February, 7pm
The Audience
Returning for the first time in over a decade, Helen Mirren plays Queen Elizabeth II in the Olivier and Tony Award® -winning hit production, directed by Stephen Daldry.
For 60 years, Queen Elizabeth II met with each of her 12 prime ministers in a private weekly meeting. This meeting is known as The Audience. From Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron, the Queen advised her prime ministers on matters both public and personal. Through these private audiences, we see glimpses of the woman behind the crown and witness the moments that shaped a monarch.
Peter Morgan’s Netflix phenomenon The Crown was based on this hit play that was captured live from London’s West End in 2013 and went on to become one of the most-watched NT Live productions.
Friday 20 March, 7pm
