News Story
We’re so excited to announce our 60th anniversary and the full 2027 season!
It’s a huge year for us, and we’re going to make the most of it by celebrating everything that makes us unique. Not just through our incredible 2027 season of shows and one-off events, but through our outreach work, where we’ll be launching a brand-new Community Collective project, and through our fundraising, where we'll also launch Creative Futures, a public fundraising campaign aiming to raise £60,000 in 2027.
We’re also going to be focusing on opportunities to celebrate the people, productions and audiences that have shaped the Watermill over the past 60 years.
We’ve curated an anniversary season that celebrates the distinctiveness of the Watermill’s work, revisiting productions, creative collaborations and forms of theatre-making that epitomise the history of our work, while continuing our long tradition of reinvention.
Read on to take a look at what’s on at the Watermill in our anniversary year.
“In planning for this year, we've tried to capture the essence of what is so special about the Watermill's work, both on and off stage.
Both deeply rooted in our community and consistently reaching across the UK and the globe, in 2027 we hope to celebrate the distinctive quality of our work and to continue to connect with audiences, communities, creatives and artists in ways that make an important difference to their lives. We hope this season has something for everyone and offers a chance for our entire Watermill community to celebrate the incredible past and exciting future of this unique organisation.”
- Paul Hart & Claire Murray, Joint-CEOs
2027 Season
The Wipers Times
The year opens with the return of Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s comedy The Wipers Times, directed by Caroline Leslie, ten years after the play first premiered at the Watermill in 2016. Its return also celebrates our long-running creative relationship with Hislop and Newman, whose work for the Watermill has also included Spike, A Bunch of Amateurs and The Autobiography of a Cad. Since its premiere, The Wipers Times has gone on three successful national tours, two West End runs and is included in the national curriculum.
29 Jan – 6 Mar
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Watermill Youth Ensemble celebrates the Watermill’s long relationship with Shakespeare with an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, adapted and directed by Matty Green. This production marks 40 years since the inception of the Watermill’s Youth Theatre and will see the young company weave actor-musicianship through the production, a celebrated feature of so much of the Watermill’s work.
11 - 13 Mar
Jerusalem
We’re bringing Jez Butterworth’s modern classic Jerusalem back to the stage, in association with Fiery Angel. Based on Lisa Blair's 2018 production, this new staging will be co-directed by Paul Hart and Georgie Staight. The return feels a little bit like a homecoming for us, as the play itself is set within 10 miles of the Watermill.
19 Mar – 24 Apr
Way Upstream
Alan Ayckbourn’s Way Upstream will be reimagined in an ambitious new outdoor production that makes use of the Watermill’s unique setting. Directed by Katie Posner and staged on and around the water itself, the production will transform the surrounding landscape into the world of Ayckbourn’s darkly comic, politically hot play, bringing audiences closer than ever to the elements at the heart of the show. Bold in scale and theatrical imagination, it will celebrate the ambition of the Watermill with its theatrical ingenuity and inventive staging.
Dates to be announced - On sale in 2027
Carousel
Over the summer, Paul Hart directs Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. Continuing the theatre’s approach of reinventing classic titles, this new production will reinvigorate this beloved musical, offering a dynamic new version, with music and dance spanning the theatre and grounds, in a new orchestral adaptation by Stuart Morley, created for actor-musicians, and choreography by Anjali Mehra. As part of bringing this celebrated musical to the stage, the team will also be collaborating with Project Salama, a domestic abuse charity, to explore the way the story of Billy and Julie is told in this production. Carousel is sponsored by Horsey Lightly Solicitors, one of the most prestigious law firms in the South of England.
Dates to be announced - On sale in 2027
Enigma
The autumn sees Enigma, Robert Harris' bestselling novel, newly adapted by dramatist Mike Poulton, directed by Paul Hart, and co-commissioned by Chichester Festival Theatre. The Bletchley Park-set thriller follows the story of codebreaker Tom Jericho attempting to crack the case of the missing Claire Romilly, taking him deep into a web of espionage and betrayal.
Dates to be announced - On sale in 2027
Beauty and the Beast
The anniversary year concludes at Christmas with the world premiere of a new adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s Beauty and the Beast by Tatty Hennessy, directed by Indiana Lown-Collins. Hennessy returns to the Watermill following her 2022 adaptation of Morpurgo’s The Sleeping Sword, while Lown-Collins returns following her co-direction of the 2026 revival of Morpurgo’s Pinocchio, continuing the theatre’s relationship with both writer and adaptor and director. Featuring a new folk-inspired score, Beauty and the Beast will be suitable for audiences aged 4+.
Dates to be announced - On sale in Nov 2026
“Programming for this year has been partially about thinking about our astonishing history in which the Watermill has become a driving force in the creation of bold, new, exciting work.
Even more importantly, though, it’s been about thinking about the future. Despite receiving no subsidy from central Government or local authority funding, the Watermill continues to make work that is truly distinctive. Whether that be new work such as the mega hit that is The Wipers Times; vital revivals including our production of Jerusalem; new adaptations such as Robert Harris’ Enigma; unique reinterpretations of musicals such as Carousel, which will be unforgettable in this space; celebrating our extraordinary riverbank site with Way Upstream; vital family work as we collaborate again with Michael Morpurgo on Beauty and the Beast or work that really engages with the community such as our Youth Theatre production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The season is emblematic of everything we do, and we are so lucky to be working with an extraordinary team, including an array of artists to bring that to life. I’m thrilled that Caroline Leslie will be returning to direct The Wipers Times following its national success, including two runs in the West End, Katie Posner will be directing her first show for us, Tatty Hennessy and Indiana Lown-Collins will be returning to work with Michael Morpurgo, Mike Poulton reunites with Robert Harris and I’m thrilled to be working with Georgie Staight following her previous work here to bring Lisa Blair’s inspired production of Jerusalem back to the stage."
- Paul Hart, Joint-CEO & Artistic Director