Packed with vibrant, powerful and collaborative productions

• Autumn/Winter 2024 promises large scale musicals to intimate dramas, beloved family stories to mind-expanding conversations, and boasts a plethora of world class entertainment
• The Bramall Rock Void studio theatre enjoys its biggest season ever since its opening in 2019, with 11 shows comprising new writing, celebrations of aging and creative integrated access.
• The season showcases the Playhouse as a creative hub for audiences, artists, friends, neighbours, partners, supporters and communities from across the region and beyond

“For Autumn/Winter 2024 we’re continuing our mission to create a vibrant and exciting programme that has something for everyone whether you’re 3 or 93,” said Artistic Director and CEO James Brining. “As always through our work both on and off our stages, our ambition is to be as relevant to as many different people as we can, enabling dialogue and debate, bringing individuals together, and forging a shared space with a view to increasing mutual understanding and strengthening people and communities.

“As we continue celebrating major milestones as part of the theatre’s fifty plus year history, including a decade of our ground-breaking Theatre of Sanctuary programme, our industry-leading Dementia Friendly performances and of our Community Tour, taking theatre productions to neighbourhoods across the Leeds City Region, we are reminded of the very DNA that has driven us for more than half a century. We listen to our audiences and welcome more and more people into our theatre spaces every year to partake in Playhouse activities, using this building as a hub for the city as we share our spaces for meetings, events, and social get-togethers.”

 The Autumn/Winter 2024 season of produced work includes:

Leeds Playhouse will join forces in September with leading theatre companies Headlong, Lyric Hammersmith and Nottingham Playhouse for a new staging of Lorraine Hansberry’s seminal drama  A Raisin in the Sun directed by Tinuke Craig (Trouble in Butetown, Jitney, Crave, The Color Purple). The production will play in the Playhouse’s Courtyard Theatre from 13 – 28 Sept ahead of a UK tour visiting Lyric Hammersmith, Nottingham Playhouse and Oxford Playhouse.

Narnians Unite! The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is set to make a roaring return to its original home in the Quarry Theatre at the Playhouse, in association with Chris Harper Productions & Catherine Schreiber. The much-loved C.S. Lewis’ tale will be brought to life with magical storytelling, bewitching stagecraft and incredible puppets that are guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages. Mon 18 Nov 2024 – Sat 25 Jan 2025.

A magical Christmas is guaranteed at Leeds Playhouse when Mr Snow, an enchanting new show for young audiences, brings flurries of fun to its Courtyard theatre from 30 Nov 2024 – 4 Jan 2025. Writer Robert Alan Evans and Director Amy Leach wowed audiences in 2019 with their fun festive family tale The Night Before Christmas and are teaming up again for Mr Snow, a twinkle-tastic show about Blessyou, a child who lives in the North Pole with their polar explorer dad and their best friend Beartie.

Leeds Playhouse’s Bramall Rock Void studio space continues to play a significant role in supporting diverse, daring artists to share work small in scale but epic in ambition. For Autumn/Winter 2024, the theatre space will host an incredible 11 productions, its biggest programme since opening in 2018.  Watch out for:

• Nana Funk, the great-great-grandmother of good times, in a heartfelt musical cabaret journey, inspired by real life events. Tough Old Bird explores how women are viewed in society when they have the absolute gall to get older! 6 – 7 Sept
• Follow the Signs by Fuse Theatre in association with Soho Theatre is a Deaf-led fully integrated BSL hip-hop gig theatre show, telling a story about growing up Black and Deaf in a white hearing world. 12 – 14 Sept
• Leeds based theatre company Tutti Frutti return to the Playhouse with The Glass Slippers, A new adaptation of Cinderella by three-time BAFTA-nominated writer Emma Reeves. 26 Oct
• Box Of Tricks presents a brand-new play by playwright and TV writer Stefanie Reynolds. Danesha is an exploration of Black culture, queer love, and finding yourself, aimed at high school audiences. 10 – 12 Oct
• Bright Sparks presents Emporium Curioso. All the curious items in the little shop have a story to tell. Some stories are sad, some are happy. Some stories are scary, some will make you laugh. The shop is a kind of museum, specialising in trinkets, whispers, and forgotten chapters of lives lived and lives lost. Bright Sparks Theatre Arts Company work with adults with Learning Disabilities from Leeds to create original devised plays based on the group’s ideas, experiences, and passions. 15 – 16 Oct
• Winner of the 2022 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, Nathan Queeley-Dennis’ debut play Bullring’s Techno Makeout Jamz is a love letter to Birmingham directed by Leeds based director Dermot Daly, exploring Black masculinity through Beyoncé lyrics, techno raves and the deeply intimate relationship between a man and his barber. 23 – 25 Oct
• Frozen Light presents The Bar at the Edge of Time, where the glasses are polished, the lights are low, and time will be hopping. This is a sensory performance designed for audiences with Multiple and Profound Learning Disabilities and their supporters. 29 – 30 Oct
• Based in Leeds, Theatre Blah Blah Blah is a Theatre in Education Company. The Hidden Garden follows the story of a curious child who discovers a hidden garden and meets the man who has created his own little paradise to brighten up the grey and to feed those for whom hunger is never far away. Ages 5+ 2 – 4 Nov
• The Watch House from Olivier Award-winners Papatango is a funny and thrilling adaptation of Carnegie Medal-winner Robert Westall’s classic ghost story. Age 10+. 8 – 9 Nov
• The Performance Ensemble return to Leeds Playhouse with RIPE directed by Lucy Campbell. This uplifting and groundbreaking show explores the fragility and strengths inherent in the ageing process. 15 – 16 Nov
• The Paradise Club is back by popular demand for Christmas 2024. This glam-rock showstopper, with lots of singing and dancing, celebrates a golden era of partying – the 1970s. 4 – 5 Dec

During Autumn/Winter 2024, the theatre will be filled with some of the UK’s leading theatre companies and artists with work of all scales. Productions include: 

• Reigning Strictly champion Ellie Leach will be waltzing into the Quarry theatre for the world premiere tour of Cluedo 2. 3 – 7 Sept
• Once seen, never forgotten – Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks’ epic story of love and loss returns to the Playhouse, marking the 30th anniversary of the internationally best-selling novel. 17 – 21 Sept
• Get ready to enjoy the music of Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, Millie Small and many more as part of an incredible narrated musical RUSH: A Joyous Jamaican Journey. Narrated and written by John Simmit, it features ska, rock steady, calypso, gospel, lovers rock, dancehall and reggae played live by the JA Reggae Band to tell the story of the Windrush Generation and how reggae took the world by storm. 24 – 25 Sept
• Final tickets remaining for Ben Elton Authenticity Stupidity – the undisputed godfather of modern stand-up. 26 – 27 Sept
• Leeds International Festival of Ideas returns with four days of thought-provoking conversations. This year’s festival includes an all-star lineup of names from the world of entertainment, science, technology and more including Kate Adie, Stacey Dooley, Kate Garraway, Goldie, Paterson Joseph, Nile Rodgers, Self Esteem, Tim Spector, Carol Vorderman and Matt Willis. 2 – 5 Oct
• For one night only Scotland’s queen of comedy Fern Brady (Taskmaster, Live At The Apollo, Roast Battle, Russell Howard, The Last Leg) brings her brand new show I gave you milk to drink to the Playhouse. 10 Oct
• Peppa Pig, along with her family and friends takes us to the zoo and the beach for a fun-filled adventure in Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out!, packed full of songs, dance and muddy puddles. 11 – 12 Oct
• The ever innovative 1927 are back with their most personal show to date. Part social realism, part science fiction with a healthy dose of mischief and a dash of dystopia, Please right back is a eulogy to the power of the imagination, storytelling and make believe and is set to sweep audiences into a magical world inspired by a true story. 8+ 15 – 19 Oct
• An alumni of Leeds Playhouse’s Youth Theatre, Maisie Adam returns to her home theatre with her brand new show Appraisal. 16 Oct
• Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band, the internationally renowned, competition-winning West Yorkshire band, bring the very best in traditional and contemporary brass band music to the Quarry. 19 Oct
• Pilot Theatre are back at Leeds Playhouse with their electrifying adaptation of Manjeet Mann’s acclaimed novel Run Rebel. This landmark production made especially for audiences aged 11+ combines physical theatre, mesmerising visuals and a talented ensemble cast, setting the stage for a transformative story of revolution, empowerment and courage. 22 – 26 Oct
• An Evening Without Kate Bush is an unforgettable must-see. Kate’s not there, but you are. Performer Sarah-Louise Young and theatre maker Russell Lucas explore the music – and fans – of one of the most influential voices in British pop culture. 24 Oct
• Now in its third year, the partnership between Leeds Playhouse and Leeds Conservatoire continues to grow and develop. Over two nights, graduating actors from Leeds Conservatoire’s BA Acting and BA Actor Musician courses will present The Crucible (31 Oct) and John Proctor Is the Villain (2 Nov).
• Red Ladder Theatre Company in collaboration with Theatre Royal Wakefield & CAPA College present Sanctuary, a brand-new musical that asks the question: Do we want safety and freedom for only ourselves, or for us all? 5 – 6 Nov
• Feel Me is a new interactive theatre show from The Paper Birds, UK leaders in devised verbatim theatre. It asks, via your mobile phone, who and what you care about from the stories unfolding live on stage in front of you. 20 – 21 Nov

Furnace, the Playhouse’s Artist Development programme, continues to flourish with even more opportunities for Yorkshire-based artists. Keep a look out for info in November around Furnace Festival, which will see sharings, rehearsed readings, workshops and panel events by local artists.

The Playhouse’s award-winning Playhouse Connect team continues to connect with over 10,000 people each year, delivering work with participants ‘on their doorstep’ around the city as well as providing a warm welcome in the Playhouse building. This BUZZ, our programme for people with learning disabilities; a weekly range of Theatre of Sanctuary activities for refugees and people seeking asylum now a decade old; our Creative Ageing programme including weekly Heydays activity and regular arts sessions for people living with Dementia; and a comprehensive youth programme including our Youth Theatre for people aged 8-21 and programmes of work with schools across the region. The access provision at the Playhouse, including the Playhouse Connect work, is supported by Access Partner Irwin Mitchell.