Founded in 1967 and with many award-winning productions to their name, The Lowestoft Players are one of East Anglia's premier amateur theatre groups.
For over 50 years the society has been performing pantomimes, musicals, plays and revues to packed audiences from across the region.
The society usually performs two musicals, one play/revue and one pantomime per year. These productions are performed at 'The Marina Theatre', or at our own intimate 200 seater theatre 'The Players Theatre' which also doubles up as our own rehearsal and social venue.
The society currently has over 100 active members who all contribute in their own way, either on the stage, behind the scenes or helping with social activities.
We have members from all across the local area and we always welcome new members aged 16 and above. In pantomimes and some musicals, junior members are required. Separate auditions are held for junior members. For details on upcoming auditons please check our Facebook page.
UPDATE JUNE 2021
We now have re-scheduled our production of 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' to new dates in October 2021, and also contacted all ticket holders to re-issue new tickets. We are very excited to start rehearsals in mid July for this fantastic production.
UPDATE JANUARY 2021
At this moment we still have plans in place for performances later in 2021, albeit different from what we had planned a year ago. Like everyone, we are waiting safely until rehearsals and performances are given the go ahead. We have been so overwhelmed with the support for our 'Relight My Fire' campaign for heating, ventilation and cooling for 'The Players Theatre' so we are making use of this down time to organise this ambitious project, and we look forward to welcoming all of our supporters back to 'The Players Theatre' as soon as we possibly can!
UPDATE AUGUST 2020
As you will know, because of the continuing government restrictions around the coronavirus outbreak we have now taken another difficult decision and moved our Joseph production dates again. In order to perform on the publicised later 2020 dates, we would need to start rehearsals within the first few weeks of August. This is something which we are currently not allowed to do, and our building currently remains closed.
We are however pleased to inform you that we have been able to now re-schedule our performances of 'Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' to new dates in May/June 2021, one year on from the original published dates.
We have automatically mirrored all bookings to a new date (as detailed below) and have made contact with each booking to confirm the new dates.
We are looking forward to some certainty about the future, which will allow us to plan fully for the coming months. The Players membership cannot wait to return to see our friends and extended family at our home at 'The Players Theatre' and get back on the stage.
BOOKINGS UPDATE MAY 2020
We have now started to contact customers who had a booking for our planned production of 'Chicago'. Unfortunately due to very strict licensing, owing to the national tour, this production has now been cancelled as we could not secure dates for 2021.
We have already sent an email to everyone who has booked for this production. Some people may not receive this email due to their spam filter settings. We will make contact with you in due course or email: boxoffice@lowestoftplayers.co.uk, where we will respond as quickly as possible.
With the exception of just a couple of people, we have now made contact with all our 'Joseph' bookings. Thank you for your continued support.
Of course our society activities have stopped, but this has not stopped us meeting online and having fun together. Our members have been arranging regular quizzes where everybody has been put to the test, including some very testing musical theatre questions!
UPDATE FROM THE LOWESTOFT PLAYERS COMMITTEE - MAY 2020
Dear Theatregoer,
In these uncertain times, the Players Management Team have been holding regular remote meetings and we would like to let you know our current plans for future productions for 2020 and 2021.
As you are aware we have now been able to reschedule our production of "JOSEPH and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". This production is currently planned be performed at the Players Theatre for 10 performances from 23rd October 2020. We have also starting planning for our annual spectacular pantomime "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST", which will be presented at the Marina Theatre towards the end of January 2021.
After careful consideration we have decided to hold over our "VICAR OF DIBLEY" production until 2021 when hopefully we will then be back and up and running at full speed!
As you will be aware, the Players were going to perform "CHICAGO" in September of this year. Given the current situation we were hoping to reschedule it for May 2021, but we have just learnt that there are plans for a professional tour of this show during 2021. This is disappointing, so regretfully as a result of this, for the time being our production has had to go on hold.
Nevertheless, the Players Management Team have been busy in the background and we are pleased to announce that we have secured the rights to perform "ELF - The Musical" at the end of October 2021!
Our revival of ‘TITANIC the Musical’ is also waiting in the wings for revised performance dates.
So, please be assured, that as soon as we are able to start rehearsals and productions again, we will be working within all the Government guidelines to keep our performers, company and audiences safe.
Hopefully we will see you all soon for some fabulous and fun productions!
Please stay safe!
BOOKINGS UPDATE APRIL 2020
This morning (14/04) we sent an important update via email to all of our customers with existing tickets for 'JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT'.
If you have a booking for this production, please do follow the instructions within the email carefully. If you have a booking, but for some reason did not receive the email, please get in touch with us via email: boxoffice@lowestoftplayers.co.uk
Our box office volunteers are working extremely hard to process each booking. If you have tickets booked for a different production at The Players Theatre, don't worry, your bookings are safe and we will be in touch as soon as we can.
Don't forget, our NEW 'Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' performance dates are from 23rd October - 1st November 2020 and the box office will reopen as soon as we can!
ORIGINAL STATEMENT MARCH 2020
In light of the Coronavirus pandemic and following advice from government, we have taken the decision with a heavy heart to postpone our productions of 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat', 'Rehearsal for Murder' and 'Chicago' until a later date and to close the doors to our wonderful building 'The Players Theatre' until such time that is safe to re-open.
The safety and well-being of both our members and our wider community is ultimately, all that matters. These aren't normal times and we find ourselves in a unique situation where closing our doors is the best way to look after the community we are part of.
We are now in the complex process of re-arranging our schedule of shows to new date slots wherever possible. This does take a little time as we have to wait for licence approval from the rights-holders before we can publicise any new dates.
Contacting all of our existing ticket holders is now our biggest priority and our hardworking volunteer box office team will be working hard to do this. Please be patient as this may take us a little while, this is a very large job. We have temporarily stopped taking new bookings for all shows to allow ourselves time to do this. Don't worry, all of your bookings are safe.
Although we anticipate most of our customers will still be willing to support our shows in their new date slots, for those who cannot make it, we already have been overwhelmed by the number of people willing to donate the cost of their ticket to us to help us through these times and with our ongoing running costs.
We will continue to post on our social channels, so please follow us and we’ll share some things to lift your spirits.
We thank you so much for your continued support of 'The Lowestoft Players' and 'The Players Theatre' during these uncertain times.
We can't wait to see you again when this is over.