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NEWS ESHER THEATRE

Esher Theatre is the new, 280-person capacity, live entertainment venue located just off Esher High Street. The building was previously owned by the Civic Hall and has been lovingly restored and renovated to bring the very best of theatre, arts, music, comedy and culture to Surrey. Having only opened 6 months ago, Surrey Rocks had the privilege of catching up with its charismatic and youthful proprietor Charlie Swift to find out all about this fantastic new Surrey enterprise and what life is like treading the boards.

ESHER THEATRE

Esher Theatre is the new, 280-person capacity, live entertainment venue located just off Esher High Street. The building was previously owned by the Civic Hall and has been lovingly restored and renovated to bring the very best of theatre, arts, music, comedy and culture to Surrey. Having only opened 6 months ago, Surrey Rocks had the privilege of catching up with its charismatic and youthful proprietor Charlie Swift to find out all about this fantastic new Surrey enterprise and what life is like treading the boards.

What made you decide to open Esher Theatre?

My love of all forms of entertainment - theatre, comedy and music and more. I wanted to create a place where all these arts can come together. Esher Theatre is full of great entertainment for any age or interest. Also, there really is so much talent in Elmbridge and Surrey – I really felt there needed to be a platform to showcase this.

The renovation project must have been huge, how long did it take?

The whole project took a year. It was actually quite funny as I built a miniature wooden model of the vision I had for the theatre, working out the minimal space I needed for each area including its auditorium, green room and dressing rooms. I looked at 6 different places before I finally chose Esher.

We hear you even have a piece of the Royal Albert Hall at Esher Theatre, is that true?

Yes it is actually! One of the companies we use is Western Rigging and they service the Royal Albert Hall so we managed to get the Hall’s original quad truss bar in our theatre!

Can you tell us about some of your favourite upcoming shows?

‘The Alchemy Beat Collective Steam Punk Cabaret’ is a round table event with circus and cabaret performances on May 6th. ‘Showtime Orchestra Featuring Sing That Swing Rhythm & Blues is a 20-piece band with a very impressive

supporting light show coming on May 26th.

‘Kid David Jenson Presents...’ is a fabulous one too. The ‘Top of the Pops’ and Radio One presenter is a new regular gig featuring Kid and a famous guest on each show. He is bringing Chris Jagger on the June 10th. Then returning after popular demand will be Shakatak - who performed on our opening night in September. That one will be on June 11th. but readers please do get in early for your favourite shows as they are selling out quicker than ever.

What shows have you been most proud of to date and why?

The Jersey Boys, Brian Blessed, Harry Hill and Toyah Wilcox were stand out shows for me. Plus, the WW1 play

Journey’s End was amazing, so much so we are considering a brand new Remembrance immersive experience in November.

Oh please tell us more?!

Without giving too much away expect gunfire, explosions, poppy displays, and a lot of WW2 memorabilia including vehicles.

That sounds amazing. Can you tell us a bit more about your seasonal shows?

Yes, we think it’s important to put on the seasonal stuff. We have fun shows for Halloween, Easter, St Patricks, Christmas and other major (and minor!) calendar dates. SURREYROCKS | ISSUE 09 27

What is your Christmas Pantomime going to be this year?

Aladdin, written by Eric Potts, is our pantomime this year. Eric has written shows for the biggest UK theatres including Wimbledon and Manchester. It will definitely be a great show – fun for all the family. We are about to reveal our big celebrity lead so stay tuned!

We hear your sound system is the best in the business too, can you tell us more?

One of the joys of starting a theatre essentially from scratch was we were able to install the best lighting and sound equipment. Our sound system was handmade in Dorking by Funktion 1 – they only do commercial sound systems and are used in all the huge nightclubs in the world and the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Our lighting and light shows are legendary too.

You also support a number of charities local youth organisations and community projects; it must feel good to give back?

Yes we work with the British Theatre Academy, Young Set, South Side Theatre Academy, and Dance Direction; all great local community projects.

The Queen’s Platinum Weekend line-up sounds amazing too, can you tell our readers what to expect?

We have the ‘Magnificent Music Hall’ on June 3rd and 4th with ‘The Good Old Days’ artists celebrating the glamorous heyday of the British Music Hall. We will have a giant double decker bus, a JCB,

Austin-Healeys and Aston Martins, ice-cream vans, fish & chips – basically all the best of British! This culminates with a huge Street Party on the Sunday with great local bands performing. This one is a family friendly, free event. Register for free at our website – see details below. We are improving and restoring all our buildings to eventually go completely carbon neutral. Our heating and ventilation are already completely electric via a deal with Dyson – there are only 3 venues in the whole of the UK that are able to provide this and we are proud to be one. We are excited to start working with Tesla to go completely green and have a zero-carbon footprint in the future. We are also expanding! This is a Surrey Rocks exclusive... we have just taken on the neighbouring buildings and will have a brandnew café and state-of-the-art dance studio opening by the end of the year. The studio flooring is from the finest brand Harlequin and will be like the iconic Pineapple dance studios in Covent Garden. We can’t wait to show everyone.

CONTACT ESHER THEATRE:

 www.eshertheatre.com  info@eshertheatre.com   @eshertheatre

105 Queens Rd, Weybridge, KT13 9UJ 01932 850222 reservations@red-restaurant.co.uk redbarandcafe

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