IMPROVESARIOS

An evening of improvised opera

LOFT STUDIO

14 February 7.30 p.m.

“Absolutely brilliant show. Bravo. Laughed my socks off!” -

Audience Member

Following two sell-out performances in the Loft Studio over the last two years, the Improvesarios are back for an evening of fun and mayhem as they put down their scores and put their creative prowess to the test.

Using your suggestions, this group of classically trained musicians improvise a brand new opera completely on the spot! Help them make beautiful musical moments or laugh along as they try to hold it all together. Their fate is in your hands...

Hot off their award winning season, the Improvesarios return will bring you more wild and wacky musical exploits. With previous adventures including prison breaks, lost love in the hotel business and even the sacking of Rome, no scenario is too outlandish or too mundane for this group to turn into an opera.

DOUBT: A Parable

By

John Patrick Shanley

Director: Chris Gilbey-Smith 

MAIN HOUSE

25 February – 7 March, 2026

“Like all good parables, its story feels both timeless and more timely than ever, its ideological arguments speaking to our world of social media silos and ‘Punch and Judy’ political debates.”

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian 



John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable, originally premiered on Broadway in 2005 and was awarded a Pulitzer prize and several Tony awards, including Best Play. Shanley went on to adapt this stage play for a 2008 film version starring Meryl Streep, which earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay and nominations for all of the cast of four.

This taut, unsettling drama is set in a convent in the parish of St Nicholas in New York’s Bronx, against the backdrop of the mid-60s, in the midst of political and social change.

A modernising priest’s conduct comes under question by the Principal of this Catholic School. As the actions and motivations of each are scrutinized and suspicion mounts, the two are drawn into a battle of wills that threatens irrevocable consequences for everyone involved.

This challenging, provocative drama, by this much garlanded playwright, is both impeccably written and compellingly topical. Unmissable.

Originally produced on Broadway

By Carole Shorenstein Hays, MTC Productions, Roger Berlind, and Scott Rudin on March 31, 2005.

Originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club on November 23, 2004.”