Studio

With 98 seats, the Studio is an intimate space where anyone can be entertained, it’s a space for all! It’s our home of new writing, inspiring adaptations and the best of theatre festivals. We encourage you to bring your little ones for the first time, or try something brand new!

Thu 18 May Read Through

Mercury READS

7pm | Free

Sit back and listen to a reading of a brand new play for the very first time! Join us at the Mercury as we discover fresh new writing from some of the country’s most exciting emerging artists and playwrights.

Mercury READS is a free event that allows you to experience some new shows at their earliest stages, a real behind the scenes opportunity!

Check out our website for the next READS. Book early to avoid disappointment!

Tue 28 Feb – Thu 02 Mar Play

The City and the Town

8pm | £13.50 | 14+

By Anders Lustgarten

Directed by Dritero Kasapi

When Ben returns home to his father’s funeral after 13 years away, he is confronted with uncomfortable truths about the past, present and future of the community and the family he grew up in and left behind.

Tricky thing memories – not always the way you remember them.

Anders Lustgarten’s new play is a funny, eclectic and uniquely political piece of theatre that brings a fresh perspective to some of the political divides and problems facing our country today.

Produced by Riksteatern and Matthew Linley Creative Projects

Fri 17 Mar Play

Making Headway by Peter Barrett

3pm & 8pm | £13.50 | 16+

In Essex alone, every 58 minutes, somebody is admitted to hospital with an acquired brain injury. Making Headway tells the extraordinary stories of just some of those people whose head injuries have upended their lives.

Working with Headway Essex (The Brain Injury Charity) award-winning playwright and Headway volunteer Peter Barrett serves up a heart-warming show that clears away the myths and reveals the brave, difficult, but also funny aspects of the lives they lead.

Tue 28 Mar – Wed 29 Mar Play

Sap 8pm | £15 | 16+

A contemporary thriller with ancient roots. When a woman tells a lie to her girlfriend, a seed is planted that starts to grow in the darkness. Direct from an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Fringe this is a new play based on an old myth about passion, power and photosynthesis.

Presented by Atticist, Ellie Keel Productions and MAST Mayflower Studios

Thu 06 Apr Children’s

Breathe

11:30am & 1:30pm | £10 | 5+

An extraordinary journey from the perspective of an acorn; the hectic forest floor, thrumming underworlds and dazzling heights of icy branches. Beautifully realised through puppetry, folk music and live camera work. Find the epic in the tiny in this celebration of trees, nature and finding space in a buzzing community.

Sat 15 Apr Play

A Shoddy Detective & The Art Of Deception

7:30pm | £12

When a priceless painting goes missing at Lord and Lady Raeburn’s private auction, it’s down to bumbling Detective Stuart Pidcock to uncover the mystery. However, when he cannot solve it himself he is forced to enlist the help of an old nemesis to interrogate the many characterful suspects that reside at the manor, in order to catch the conniving culprit and solve the crime of the century!

A multi-rolling, slapstick comedy inspired by the classics.

Tue 18 Apr

Too Much World At Once

8pm | £14

On his fifteenth birthday, Noble transforms into a bird. Thousands of miles away, his sister Cleo is stationed on a remote island with the British Antarctic Survey. The birds have disappeared. Noble needs to reach her. Lying low until it’s time to take flight, he finds solace in misfit Ellis while his mum Fiona desperately tries to stop their home from falling apart.

A lyrical, theatrical journey that spans continents and lives, Too Much World at Once is an urgent coming-of-age story for our times.

Wed 19 Apr

Play Family

To the Moon and Back

by Concrete Youth

11am & 1:30pm | £12, Carers free

Alex and Dad, Gareth, haven’t been getting on too well lately. With the help of Lena, their new babysitter, Alex and his Dad go on an adventure to the moon and back and together they save the world along with your help too! Travel through a meteor shower, make a wish upon a star and visit Mars and the moon!

An intergalactic sensory theatre show for audiences of any age with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).

Sat 22 Apr Dance

Underwater

by Xenia Aidonopoulou and Georgia Tegou

11:30am, 1pm & 3pm | £16.50 (admits one adult and baby) | 0-2 yrs

A dance theatre show for babies and their grown ups.

Come with us on a magical journey into the deep blue sea in this beautiful dance theatre piece, created especially for babies aged 0-2 and their parents or carers.

A ballerina wakes from a dreamy sleep and finds herself in the ocean, a comforting world of blue lights and bubbles. As she explores her gorgeous new home, she meets an octopus – and the pair quickly form a loving friendship beneath the waves, dancing a duet to a twinkling soundtrack that features some familiar melodies.

This multi-sensory show is sure to engage and stimulate your baby’s imagination – and there’s plenty for adults to enjoy too!