THE CAGE PROTECTS ME

By Giles Allen-Bowden

Directed by Giles Allen-Bowden

MAIN HOUSE PREMIERE

Friday 31st October - Saturday 8th November

Every night for the last ten years, a pack of wolves has descended upon the town of Drylake, Texas. Their unbroken siege has left one survivor standing, a man named Red, who by day, fortifies the town’s church, and by night, prays his work holds until the morning.

But to say Red is alone isn’t strictly true. Amidst the chaos, two voices in his head have come to life. They are his logical reasoning, Sense, and his paranoia, Omen, and though Red cannot see them, they are keeping him alive in this endless stalemate.

That is until a woman named Élan, on the run from her past, crashes into their lives. And with her arrival, old ghosts will resurface, and new fears will be brought to harrowing life.

The Cage Protects Me is a new ghost story by Giles Allan-Bowden, premiering in the Loft studio, that explores our relationship to the horrors of the world and the horrors we inflict, set against a Western frontier that has learned to push back.

DANCING AT LUGHNASA

By Brian Friel

Directed by Tom O’Connor

MAIN HOUSE

Wednesday 03 December - Saturday 13 December

“You leave convinced that this is one of Friel's finest plays.”

Michael Billington, Guardian

Following Brian Friel’s award-winning play Translations performed at the Loft last year to great acclaim, we are now staging his greatly loved 1990 play Dancing at Lughnasa.

This semi-autobiographical play, set in 1936 in the Ireland of his boyhood, features five unmarried sisters based on his mother and aunts.

It is Harvest time in County Donegal, 1936.

Outside the village of Ballybeg, the five Mundy sisters battle poverty to raise seven-year-old Michael and care for their brother, ‘Uncle’ Jack.

During the Festival of Lughnasa, Pagans and Christians meet and collide. The sisters fight each other, love each other, dance together, yearn and survive.

Brian Friel’s Olivier Award-winning play, most recently performed in a revival at The National Theatre in 2023, is an astonishing evocation of a family’s world on the brink of change.

Friel’s artful blend of nothing and everything happening at once is finely calibrated here. Brian Friel is one of the finest writers and this is a showcase for his skill.  We love to bring his work to the Loft stage.

FILM NIGHT

Main House

Monday, 15 December at 7.30 p.m.

LEAMINGTON HISTORY GROUP

LEAMINGTON AT WAR

Created by local film maker Mark Ellis

What was life like in Leamington Spa during World War 2, and how did the people of the town contribute to the war effort? These are the questions explored in Leamington at War, a new documentary created by Leamington History Group and local film maker Mark Ellis.

Find out more about the Camoufleurs, who worked in secret on the site of the current Loft Theatre; hear from the diary of a young soldier of the Free Czech Army, living in exile in the town; and re-live deadly bombing raids that nearly knocked Queen Victoria off her plinth.

With a mix of archive images, expert interviews, animation, and reconstructions of wartime life, specially shot at the Loft, Leamington at War will transport you back to this dramatic and poignant period of the town’s history.

UNCLE VANYA – LOFT FILMED PRODUCTION

Tuesday,16 December, 2025 at 7.30 p.m.

Main House

By Anton Chekhov, in a new version by David Fletcher

Directed by David Fletcher

Videographer Michael Wheeldon

AN UNMISSABLE CHANCE TO SEE THIS BEAUTIFUL, HIGHLY ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION, FILMED LIVE AT THE LOFT THEATRE IN OCTOBER 2024.

The Loft is proud to present their 2024 production of Uncle Vanya, filmed live at a performance.

“Chekhov’s melancholy masterpiece, Uncle Vanya, comes to The Loft Theatre in a magnificent production, directed by David Fletcher. Featuring the cream of The Loft’s actors, the company delivers a tragedy worthy of any stage, professional or otherwise. “Nick Le Mesurier Warwickshire World.

“David Fletcher’s Uncle Vanya at The Loft is a rare fusion of vision, artistry, and profound performance, breathing new life into this masterpiece….A revelatory and exquisitely crafted production” Mark Pitt Choppanews.

Sonya and her Uncle Vanya lead a difficult, uneventful life on their country estate, animated only by visits from the dashing local doctor. When Sonya’s famous father and his glamorous new wife unexpectedly turn up, old grudges return and new desires ignite. In the heat of summer, tempers boil over and forbidden lusts threaten to end in tragedy.

Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya was first staged at the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1899. In this new compelling version by David Fletcher, the script illuminates these characters in the clearest light, fully embracing their tenderness, passion, sadness and comedy in this most exquisite of plays.

If you missed the original production, this is a wonderful opportunity to see the live filmed performance, in a new version of a Russian masterpiece. Is there anyone better than Chekhov to offer us a comedic and tragic focus on our humanity – our hopes, dreams and regrets.