Long before the Salem witch trials in America, there were the Manningtree witch trials in Essex! Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch has today announced the exciting world premiere of Beth Underdown’s chilling and creepy tale of Essex witch hunts, The Witchfinder’s Sister.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is delighted that its world premiere of Douglas Rintoul’s critically acclaimed new musical Love Letters, has received a nomination in the Off West End Theatre Awards. Assessors from The Offies (Off West End Theatre Awards) have nominated the show for New Musical.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is delighted to announce that the first show of its autumn 2021 season will be a revival of the National Theatre’s 2017 production of Beginning by David Eldridge. This ‘gorgeous new play’ (Independent) has been eagerly waiting in the wings since last September.

Your upbeat musical to celebrate the very best of Essex this Summer opens soon! We're just a couple of weeks away from the first preview show of our brand new musical, Love Letters.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch have announced today that they will be streaming their new epic play that tells the story of five lives colliding on a single day along the banks of the river Thames, free to view. Tales from the Thames is currently touring to sold out venues across South Essex where theatre is rarely, if ever, staged.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is thrilled to announce the cast for its summer musical Love Letters, a brand new world premiere production written and directed by Douglas Rintoul. Love Letters runs 30 July – 21 August 2021.

This summer, to help the artistic community recover from the pandemic that all but closed down the performing arts industry, Queen's Theatre Hornchurch, supported by the Culture Recovery Fund, called out for submissions from local artists for projects that had a value between £1 and £500 which: – help them move their practice or career forward post-pandemic – that signify crossing a new frontier - involves them coming and taking the theatre up on free rehearsal space and performance opportunities – involves them interacting in real life with a new person in their community All that the Theatre asked was that all of the artists: – live in Outer East London or South Essex – define themselves as ‘professional’ After an overwhelming response from the Outer East London and South Essex creative community, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch have supported 15 professional local artists to create 13 separate projects.  All of those who were not successful have been offered on-going in-kind support for their project from Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch’s Associate Producer, including rehearsal space, performance opportunities and careers and advice sessions. THE NEW FRONTIERS: CATALYST COMMISSION ARTISTS are: MICHELLE PAYNE Michelle will work with an Essex based Virtual Reality specialist and an Oculus Rift headset to work out how this area of technology can influence her theatre-making practice.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is pleased to announce the cast of Tales from the Thames, touring to community venues in South Essex from 26 June to 10 July 2021. The cast includes Tim Freeman (A View from the Bridge, Protocol Productions), Mia Jerome (Lost Lending Library, Punchdrunk), Tom Mangan is the co-artistic director of multi-award winning theatre company Rendered Retina and Lisa Wright (Sunny Afternoon, UK Tour).

The show goes on for Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, as it receives a £100,000 grant from Havering Council to help the cultural landmark recover from Covid 19 restrictions. The significant financial boost was made available through Havering Council’s Additional Restrictions Grant, a discretionary fund set up by the Government for Councils to help businesses hit hardest by the pandemic.

A new play will bring live theatre to parts of South Essex where it is rarely, if ever, staged. From a village hall in West Tilbury to a historic pub on Canvey Island, a Heritage Barn in the Wat Tyler Country Park to a Leisure Centre in Pitsea, Tales from the Thames charts its way along the Estuary, visiting ten diverse, intimate community locations and telling the epic story of five lives colliding on a single day along the banks of the river, and their futures changing forever.

It feels almost like tempting fate but is that the sound of the world switching back on we hear? It has been a ridiculously tough 15 months for everyone.  Whether it has been felt in small or large ways we don’t think any of us are quite the same as we were in March 2020.  As artists the pandemic has affected our world and work profoundly, taking away our audience, our community and our ability to share the beautiful things we make, live.

Throughout the spring, local participants have been dialling in for our Tiny Telephone Plays workshops exploring creative writing, led by director Jules Tipton. 10 Tiny Telephone Plays have been selected for an audio performance by professional actors, and you can be among the first to hear these brand new audio plays...

This summer, Queen's Theatre Hornchurch is leading an exciting new collaborative project, a Creative Estuary Co-commission, stretching in impact across South Essex, titled Tales from the Thames. The Theatre has commissioned two writers, Rebecca Brewer and Vickie Donoghue, and composer M G Boulter, all from or living in South Essex, to write the piece.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch announces the cast and creative team for its production of Neville’s Island, playing 20 May – 12 June and 22 June – 3 July 2021. This fresh new staging of Tim Firth’s smash hit comedy launches the season at the Theatre and welcomes back Emma Baggott to direct, following her acclaimed productions of Misfits and Stiletto Beach.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is thrilled to announce that their summer musical Love Letters will include hits ranging from the 60s to today from Essex's very best! Artists include Alison Moyet, Billy Bragg, Billy Ocean, Blur, David Woodcock, Depeche Mode, Jessie J, Olly Murs, Sandie Shaw and The Tremeloes.