Details have been revealed today of the 2025 / 26 season at Royal & Derngate Northampton. Artistic Director Jesse Jones has announced four productions that will be part of the new Made in Northampton season produced by the venue. Telling stories of hope in the face of adversity, and the legacy we leave behind, all four plays examine issues affecting people who have been marginalised in society.
Hugh Whitemore’s acclaimed play Breaking the Code tells the story of Alan Turing’s career as a visionary mathematician and codebreaker, and how society’s attitude towards his sexuality changed the course of his life. Revived in a new production on the Royal stage directed by Jesse Jones, the play will feature new material that speaks to Turing’s lasting legacy for modern Britain. Co-produced with Landmark Theatres and Oxford Playhouse, the production will open in Northampton before touring.
The world premiere of a new play Top G’s Like Me by Samson Hawkins directed by Jesse Jones will see the Derngate auditorium transformed into Northampton’s Radlands skatepark in which a group of rudderless young adults enter a post-playground world of seething toxic masculinity, poisonous social media and black market Ben & Jerry’s deliveries. Originally seed funded through Generate, Royal & Derngate’s artist development programme, this new comedy will ask big questions of the online space and how it influences young minds.
Jane Upton’s new play (the) Woman explores how women can keep hold of their own identities and maintain the status quo after becoming mothers. The 2022 Bruntwood Prize shortlisted play is relatable, funny and unflinching in its portrayal of being a working mother. This world premiere is co-produced with New Perspectives and will be directed by their Artistic Director Angharad Jones. After opening at Royal & Derngate, the play will tour the UK, with venues to be announced soon.
A hip-hop concert, an Afro-futuristic lecture, an absurdist minstrel show, Tambo & Bones interrogates the commodification and commercialisation of Black pain in a satirical roller coaster of a play. Directed by Matthew Xia, it received its UK premiere at Stratford East in 2023, and returns in 2025 for a UK tour, opening in Northampton, produced by Royal & Derngate, Actors Touring Company and Stratford East, in association with Belgrade Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and Liverpool Everyman.
These produced shows are complemented by a programme of received work that includes Floella Benjamin’s inspirational story of hope, determination and triumph – Coming to England as well as Winsome Pinnock’s adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s novel Pig Heart Boy. Musicals on offer include Dear Evan Hansen, Cruel Intentions and Bat Out Of Hell. For fans of comedy the line up includes Chris McCausland, Henning Wehn, Katherine Ryan, Jamali Maddix and Nick Mohammed and there will be performances from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s BRB2 company.
The creative team for this year’s Made in Northampton production of The Jolly Christmas Postman has also been announced today. This family show will see the combined forces of Artistic Director Jesse Jones and adaptor Adam Peck (A Monster Calls) bring this much-loved classic to life – with songs by Darren Clark (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), set and costume design by Abby Clarke (Unfortunate), lighting design by Ric Mountjoy (The Play That Goes Wrong), sound design by Beth Duke (The Other Boleyn Girl) and movement direction and choreography by Stacey McCarthy (The Owl Who Came for Christmas), as well as an actor-musician cast of six still to be announced. Due to popular demand, the production run is being extended.
Artistic Director Jesse Jones said: “I am delighted to announce a season of work that I hope will speak to our audiences at Royal & Derngate and around the country. The plays in this Made in Northampton programme give voice to people whose lived experience has collided with insidious power structures that look to oppress them. These brilliant plays are thought-provoking and challenging as well as hugely entertaining and surprising in the same breath. We hope that they will spark conversations about how we, as a society and industry can build a better future. It is a privilege to be working once again with so many exceptional partners and artists to deliver this exciting season.”
Holly Gladwell, Royal & Derngate’s Deputy CEO (Producing & Programming) added: “This season brings together produced and presented work that celebrates a diverse and vibrant ecosystem of artists and genres which makes Royal & Derngate unique. The programme seeks to always entertain and to reflect the society that we live in and the community that our theatres and filmhouse reach.”
The Made in Northampton season is sponsored locally by Michael Jones Jeweller.
