Category: Theatre

Rain or Shine: The Pickwick Papers

The Pickwick Papers

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company is coming back to the Barn, Goosecroft (RG8 8DR), on Friday 26th June 2026, with a performance of “The Pickwick Papers”.

 

The performance will start at 7:00 pm, doors open 6:15 pm, bar available serving wine and soft drinks, card or cash.

Tickets cost £18 (adult) and £8 (child).

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Tickets are available from:

    • David Downs on 0118 942 4167 (cash only)
    • The ticket Hotline 03306 600541 (card only)
    • Website (booking fee applies, so the ticket price including fee will be £19.51/£8.67) www:ticketsource.com (card only)

As usual, an optional donation may be made after the performance to a local charity (details to be confirmed on the day).

This summer the Rain or Shine Theatre Company aims to guide you into the delightfully chaotic Victorian world of The Pickwick Papers, where misadventure and merriment collide in a whirlwind of Dickensian absurdity!

Join the lovable Mr. Pickwick and his eccentric band of companions as they bumble their way through confusing courtships, courtroom shenanigans, questionable duels, and carriage rides gone terribly wrong. Expect fast-paced wit, slapstick, more multi-rolling mayhem, and a cast of larger-than-life characters in this brand new and hilarious adaptation.

Dickens has never been this delightfully unpredictable! Secure your seat and prepare for an uproarious adventure with the Pickwick Society—where the only certainty is a thoroughly good time to be had by all!

The performance last for 2 ½ hours, including a 15-minute interval.

Rain or Shine: Agatha Appleton

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company is coming back to the Barn on Friday 9th January 2026, with a performance of “Agatha Appleton and the Peril of the Pyramids”.

The performance will start at 7:00 pm, doors open 6:00 pm, bar open from 6:15 pm, serving wine and soft drinks, card or cash.  Tickets will be available from David Downs, 0118 942 4167, and the charity being supported by the bucket collection will be Diabetes UK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain or Shine: The Rivals

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company is coming back to the Barn on Friday 20th June 2025, with a performance of Sheridan’s The Rivals.

The performance will start at 7:00 pm, doors open 6:15 pm, bar open from 6:30 pm, serving wine and soft drinks, card or cash.

 

The Rivals,  a 17th Century comedy adventure by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

When fashionable 18th century London society comes to take the waters in the spa-town of Bath, comic confusion, daring duels and romantic entanglements abound.

At the centre of it all is heiress Lydia Languish, who is determined to elope with the penniless Ensign Beverly rather than marry the eligible Jack Absolute.

Come and sample the sparkling wit and whirlwind plot of The Rivals, a Restoration Comedy which has delighted audiences for over 250 years with its collection of comic characters, including the formidable Mrs Malaprop, a creation so famous for the way she mangles the English language that her name is now immortalised in the dictionary.

This brand new adaptation combines Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s masterpiece with Rain or Shine’s fast and furious comic flair.

Tickets available online (card only) – click link below:

 

 

Or point your phone camera at the QR code below:

Or via the Rain or Shine telephone ticket line: 03306 600541.

Or from David Downs (cash only) at the April and May meetings in the Barn, or call him on 0118 942 4167.

 

Rain or Shine: Murder Most Wilde

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company will be back at the Barn in Purley on Friday 6th December with their new performance Murder Most Wilde.  Tickets from David Downs, 0118 942 4167, or from the Rain or Shine website:  https://www.rainorshine.co.uk/

The performance will start at 7:00 pm, and the bar will be open at 6:30 pm and at the interval.  Profits from the evening will go to Cancer Research.

Following their highly successful summer tour of The Importance Of Being Earnest, Rain or Shine Theatre Company is touring ‘Murder Most Wilde’, a new adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s comic and quirky tale “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime”, a delightfully silly Victorian comedy chock full of muddled murder attempts and comic confusion.

Rain or Shine: The Importance of Being Earnest

Friday 7th June – 7.30pm
“The Importance of Being Earnest”

The Barn, Goosecroft

Profits from the evening will be donated to the Army Benevolent Fund.

Rain or Shine describe their adaptation as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When two Victorian gentlemen assume the name of ‘Earnest’ to win the affections of two ladies, both determined to marry a man of that name, the scene is set. Join Rain or Shine Theatre Company for an evening of hilarious confusion in a world of handbags, perambulators, cucumber sandwiches, muffins, butlers, the English upper class, and of course, that theatrical tour de force – Lady Bracknell!”

Tickets are priced at £16 adult and £8 child, and you can purchase these from:

David Downs at 0118 942 4167 (cash purchases only)
The box office ticket line 03306 600541 (card only)

Website https://www.rainorshine.co.uk/   (card only)

Please do come and support, if you can, and bring your family and friends. Open to all.

 

Rain or Shine: Frankenstein

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company will be back in the Barn in Purley on Thames on Friday 8th December 2023, hosted again by Project Purley.  As usual, we look set for an evening of great acting and much laughter.

Mobirise

Victor Frankenstein is on a scientific quest. He believes that he alone is destined to break through the greatest boundary of the medical world and harness the power to control life and death. Along with his faithful assistant, Igor, he finds that the act of creation is not all it’s cracked up to be when his efforts finally bring a homemade man to life. The only true question is who is the monster? Victor or his creation? Join Rain or Shine this winter for their hilarious take on this Gothic classic. Expect gags, fast paced chaos, well-timed comic set pieces. And hats. Lots and lots of hats.

Tickets are on sale now at £12 adult and £8 concession either from David Downs face-to-face or on 0118 942 4167.

Rain or Shine: The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company will be back in the Barn in Purley on Friday 16th June!

The Rain or Shine Theatre Company is back, hosted again by Project Purley.  As usual, we look set for an evening of great acting and much laughter.  Do come if you can. Tickets are on sale now at £16 adult and £15 concession either from David Downs face–to–face or on 0118 942 4167, or by card on the box office ticket line 03306 600541 or online at www.bit.ly/PurleyCOE.

Rain or Shine: Sherlock Holmes and the Music Hall Mystery

Rain or Shine will be back in in the Barn in Purley on Friday 2nd December!

Sherlock Holmes and the Music Hall Mystery

When Sherlock Holmes and his trusty assistant Doctor Watson are asked for help by a music hall performer in distress, the pair spring into action to foil a deeply dastardly plot of national importance that rocks London to the core!

Following on from their previous Sherlock Holmes mysteries – The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Case of Jekyll and Hyde, Rain or Shine Theatre invites you to enjoy an evening of adventure, mishaps, tomfoolery, and lashings of comedy!

Tickets are £12 adult and £8 child (under 15), available from David Downs at a Project Purley meeting or 0118 942 4167, or from the Rain or Shine website or from their box office ticket line on 03306 600541 (card payments).

 

 

 

 

Rain or Shine February 2022: Around the World in 80 Days

The Rain or Shine performance has been postponed from December to February, due to continuing restrictions in numbers in the Barn.

25th February 2022:  Around the World in 80 Days

There will be two performances: a matinee at 14:30 and an evening performance at 19:00.

Tickets are available direct from the  Rain or Shine website, or their box office line 0330 660 0541.

It’s 1872

The Nightingale has struck again!  The famous art thief has stolen three paintings from museums around London and is now attempting to flee the country for the safety of foreign soil.

At the same time, Phileas Fogg and his new valet Passepartout are attempting to go Around the World in 80 Days in order to win a bet of £20,000.

But is that just a cover story to hide the dastardly escape of The Nightingale?  That’s what Scotland Yard’s finest detective, Chief Inspector Fix, believes and he will stop at nothing to capture our heroes.

Join Rain or Shine Theatre Company for a knock-about adventure full of mishaps, tomfoolery, British stiff upper lip, curious camels and lashings of comedy!

Suitable for audiences from age 6 to 106