Nottingham Playhouse reveals line-up of new shows for 2022

Sophie Thompson and Adrian Scarborough will star in a new adaptation of Alan Bennett’s The Clothes They Stood Up In at Nottingham Playhouse this year.

It is part of a 2022 season that also includes the regional premiere of Natasha Gordon’s Nine Night and an open-air production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Thompson and Scarborough will appear in a stage version of Bennett’s novella The Clothes They Stood Up In, written by Scarborough. It will run at Nottingham Playhouse throughout September.

Artistic director Adam Penford said of the adaptation: "The Clothes They Stood Up In has been a labour of love, developed over several years, and I’m delighted it’s finally hitting the stage. Alan’s story is a beautiful exploration of marriage and dreams unfulfilled - very funny, characteristically understated, combined with a gripping plot. Sophie Thompson and Adrian Scarborough are two of our nation’s finest actors."

Before this will be a summer production on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, cut down to 80 minutes and performed by four actors on a specially built outdoor stage next to the theatre.

It will be followed by the previously announced new musical Identical, based on The Parent Trap, which has music by Stiles and Drewe and is directed by Trevor Nunn.

Later in the autumn will be a co-production of Much Ado About Nothing with Sheffield Theatres and Ramps on the Moon. It will feature integrated creative sign language, audio description and captioning.

Gordon’s Nine Night will follow, in what will be its first staging outside London, where it ran at both the National Theatre and Trafalgar Studios in 2018. It will be co-produced with Leeds Playhouse.

The year will finish with the theatre’s annual pantomime, which will this year be Dick Whittington. It opens in November and continues until January 2023.

Season at a glance

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
July 13 to 16

Identical by George Stiles, Anthony Drewe and Stuart Paterson
Directed by Trevor Nunn
July 26 to August 14, with press night on August 2

The Clothes They Stood Up In adapted by Adrian Scarborough
September 9 to October 1, with press night on September 14

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
October 11 to 15, with press night on October 11

Nine Night by Natasha Gordon
October 19 to November 5, with press night on October 20

Dick Whittington
November 22 to January 14, 2023