After nine months in lockdown, The Mill at Sonning, the UK’s only dinner theatre, is to re-open its theatre on 30 October with a winter season of comedy, magic, cabarets and plays.
It is also announcing a full programme of in-house theatre productions for 2021.
Since July, when the theatre celebrated its 38th birthday, the Mill has only been able to operate its adjoining restaurant with reduced seating, but this together with fundraising and donations from Mill Angel supporters and Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife Amal, who are near neighbours and regular attenders, have been a lifeline to ensure the venue’s survival.
Artistic Director Sally Hughes singles out special praise for the playwright Ray Cooney, whose legendary farces are performed regularly at the venue. “I owe the most enormous thank you to a very special man – the wonderful Ray Cooney. When we had to close down he was straight in there with financial aid. He has called me every week during the last five months to see how we are getting on. Next year I will be producing a special Gala night we are naming the auditorium after him.”
The 2021 season will include a new production of Ray Cooney’s riotous comedy farce, Two into One, directed by Ron Aldridge, from 5 August – 9 October.
The season launches with Alan Aykbourn’s classic comedy Relatively Speaking, which will run from 24 March – 22 May. Directed by Robin Herford, a long time associate of the playwright, it will be a restaging of the production that was playing to packed houses in March when all theatres were closed by the Covid pandemic.
That will be followed by the return of TV and film legend Brian Blessed to direct the crime whodunit Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers (27 May – 31 July), featuring her greatest detective creation, upper crust sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. Brian Blessed said: “Dorothy L Sayers is one of the greatest writers of The Golden Age of British crime fiction. This is her masterpiece!”
The 2021 season will conclude with a spectacular production of Irving Berlin’s musical Top Hat (16 October – 31 December) based on RKO’s motion picture and directed by Jonathan O’Boyle (‘The Last Five Years’, ‘Aspects of Love’ at Southwark Playhouse, ‘Rain Man’, UK tour), designed by Jason Denvir.
The Mill will reopen with a much reduced capacity of 70 customers for dinner and show due to social distancing, but the venue has come up with an ingenious way to hide the empty seats that have to be left between bookings. “Our in-house master carpenter has built small tables that will slot over the empty seats. These can move depending on the size of each group and will be dressed with small lights, so the auditorium will look more like an intimate cabaret space than a traditional theatre,” said Sally.
Shows in the coming months will include ‘An Evening with Debbie McGee’;and ‘Just Williams’, which sees famous father and son, Simon and Tam Williams taking a look at their great love of theatre.
During lockdown the venue used the empty auditorium to film a series of video courses that will soon be available to watch online. The first one in Professional Make-Up and the second one in Directing with Robin Herford will be available in November.
The Mill’s Costume Designer Natalie Titchener has been making face masks using spare material from costumes from recent productions. The £6 masks, with £1 going to local charities, are available at the venue.
