Be swept away to the Emerald City this Christmas in a fresh new take on The Wizard of Oz.
Dot is a dot of a girl stuck in a nowhere place in a nowhere town with nothing but big dreams and her little dog Toto for company. Her Auntie Em is tired all the time and the chores never seem to stop. The rain pours, people are mean, and the real world just seems a bit rubbish. If only she could be someone else, from somewhere else...
Toto disappears and a desperate search through a storm transports Dot to a strange and miraculous land full of witches and wizards and unusual creatures.
Meeting new friends Tinman, Scarrow and Lionel, Dot heads to the Emerald City in search of the magical Wizard to help her find Toto and return home. However, her journey is fraught with danger as they are followed by the scheming wicked witch Westly, who will stop at nothing to get her hands on Dot’s all-powerful magic shoes...
With bravery, brains, and heart, will Dot and her friends find Toto and make it back home to Auntie Em? Click your heels three times and book to find out!
A brand-new adaptation
from writer Marietta Kirkbride (Five Children and It, The Egg), director Georgie Staight
(Camp Albion, The
Watermill), and composer and musical director Nick Barstow (From Here
to Eternity, West End).
Tickets from £15
SAVE with a Family Pass! Available on all performances up to 14 December. A combination of 4 tickets with at least one Under 16 ticket must be selected for the discount to apply.
---------------------------------
Why not take advantage of the food and drink we have on offer! Whether you want to book a table for a full meal with your family, fancy a light bite in the café before or after the show, or just crave a quick snack, cookie, or ice cream, we have a wide range of options. And, with our app, you can order as soon as you arrive to pick up at the interval!
---------------------------------
Groups 6+ mid-week show & lunch package £29.50. Celebrate the festive season at The Watermill with a two-course festive lunch followed by a fantastical afternoon in Oz! Available for groups 6+, Wed to Fri (1.30pm shows only) until 14 Dec. Book by calling the Box Office on 01635 46044.
---------------------------------
Running Time: Approximately 1 hour 50 minutes including an interval.
Age Guidance: Most suitable for those aged 4+ but all ages are welcome
Babes in Arms (under 24 months) are welcome to sit on a guardian's lap for the duration of the performance, just select an 'Adult & Babe In Arms' ticket when booking. Children aged 24 months and over will require their own seat. We would recommend sitting downstairs with very young children.
Guidance on content: This production contains haze, smoke, and flashing lights including strobe lighting.
Written by Marietta Kirkbride
Director Georgie Staight
Composer and Musical Director Nick Barstow
Designer Sophia Pardon
Lighting Designer Ali Hunter
Sound Designer Anna Short
Movement Director Sarah Golding
Costume Supervisor Hannah Gilbert
CSM Cat Pewsey
DSM Bethany Jefferies
ASM Josette Shipp
ASM Gracie Adlington
Rehearsal ASM Natalie Toney
Captioner Emma Bradbury
BSL Sign Consultant Paul Whittaker OBE
BSL Sign Performers Lixi Chivas and Lian Duan
Audio Describer Lixi Chivas
Angela Caesar
Westly / The Wizard / Aunt Em
Watermill credits include: The Wicker Husband (2022).
Theatre credits include: Rags (The Park Theatre); Caroline or Change (Playhouse Theatre/Chichester Festival Theatre/National Theatre); Astronaut (The Other Palace); King (Hackney Empire); Orlando & The Three Graces, Into the Forest, The Magic Paintbrush and Clown (Theatre Peckham); Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and Porgy & Bess (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); Phantom of the Opera (UK Tour) and Showboat (Raymond Gubby Productions).
Opera Credits Include: La Boheme, Macbeth, Tosca, Nabucco and Samson Et Dalila (Royal Opera House); Shaw Goes Wilde, L’Elisir D’Amore and Falstaff (Pegasus Opera Company); Rusalka (English Touring Opera); Dream Lovers (Syncopation); Lucia Di Lammermoor (Baltimore Opera); A Midsummer Nights Dream, Edgar & Emily, Hansel & Gretel and Don Giovanni (Peabody Opera Theatre); The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (English National Opera).
Sally Cheng
Scarrow
Watermill credits include: Macbeth (2019).
Theatre credits include: Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera (UK Tour); Richard II and Love’s Labour’s Lost/Robin Hood (Guildford Shakespeare Company); The Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and 3/4 The Musical (The Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); The Play that Goes Wrong (West End); A Christmas Carol and A Midsummer Nights Dream (Scoot Theatre); The Wind in the Willows (Jermyn Street Theatre/Guildford Shakespeare Company); The Last of the Pelican Daughters (The Wardrobe Ensemble/Complicte/Bristol Old Vic); A Christmas Carol and The Emperor and the Nightingale (Theatre by the Lake); For Services Rendered (Jermyn Street Theatre); Shadowlands (Chichester Festival Theatre); A Christmas Carol and Twelfth Night (RSC); Footprints on the Moon (Finborough Theatre) and Singin’ In the Rain (Bolton Octagon/Salisbury Playhouse/New Vic).
Chris Coxon
Tinman
Training: Arts Educational Schools, London.
Theatre credits include: Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (Leicester Curve/UK Tour); A Christmas Carol (European Tour); Frankenstein: The Pantomime (Brighton Fringe); The Muddy Choir (UK Tour); Buddy (Brookside Theatre); Beauty and the Beast (Alexandra Theatre, Bognor Regis); A Midsummer Night's Dream (International Tour); Willy Wonka (DUCTAC, Dubai); Dreamboats and Miniskirts (UK Tour); Aladdin (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds); Alice in Wonderland (Lichfield Garrick Theatre); Save the Last Dance for Me (UK Tour); The Machine Gunners (Polka Theatre); Dreamboats and Petticoats (UK/Ireland Tour); Rock & Roll Aladdin (Shaw Theatre); SpongeBob SquarePants (Hammersmith Apollo/UK Tour); Spamalot (Palace Theatre, West End); Good Thing Going - Simply Sondheim (Cadogan Hall) and Peter Pan (The Anvil, Basingstoke). Chris also performs regularly with The Pantaloons theatre company in shows that have included Comedy of Errors, Jekyll & Hyde, The Tempest, Bleak House, Sense and Sensibility, Treasure Island, The War of the Worlds and the Bleak House radio-play which he also co-produced.
Film and television credits include: The Little Stranger (Film4); The Real Story of Hacksaw Ridge (ITV Studios); Things Not to Say to Someone with Tourette's Syndrome (BBC Three) and Sherlock Holmes (The Asylum). Chris also appeared in the Emmy nominated #WeThe15 campaign video, shown at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games opening ceremony.
Chris also hosts the radio shows 60s on Sunday and Hot & Cool: The Jazz & Blues Hour for Durham OnAir. He has lent his voice to dozens of audiobooks, animations and videogames and also owns and runs the audiobook production company Winooski Tyne.
James Gulliford
Lionel
Training: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Theatre credits include: The Ladykillers (Frinton Summer Theatre); The Jungle Book (UK Tour); Yeast Nation (Southwark Playhouse); Cinderella (Hall for Cornwall); Hobson’s Choice (Theatre on the Coast); The Gunpowder Plot and War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience (Site Specific); The Talking Room (Tristan Bates Theatre); Salad Days (UK Tour); Iolanthe (UK Tour); Labyrinth (Hampstead Theatre); The Stripper (The Other Palace); Father God (Brighton Fringe); Broadway and Beyond (UK Tour); Pentecost (Derby LIVE); West Side Story (Victoria Warehouse); The Dreaming and The Ragged Child (Rose Theatre Kingston).
Workshop credits include: Soho Songs (Crazy Coqs); Benny/Alice (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Tainted (White Bear Theatre); Luna Park (Tristan Bates Theatre); Bedbug and Feather Boy (National Theatre) and The Wall (Complicite).
Signe Larsson
Glenda / PA / Dance Captain
Signe is making her professional debut at The Watermill Theatre after recently graduating from the BA Actor Musicianship course at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Theatre credits include: The Wild Party (Robin Karlsson Production, Stockholm) and Vinegar Tom and Once (Mountview).
Signe enjoys collecting unusual instruments, such as the theremin, the handpan drum and the musical saw.
Annabel Marlow
Dot
Training: Royal Central School of Speech & Drama and LAMDA.
Theatre credits include: Public: The Musical (Vault Festival & Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023) and Six (Original Edinburgh Fringe Festival Cast).
Workshop credits include: Babies (Crossroads Live & Indigo Productions).
Annabel is also a Musical Comedian and was awarded 3rd place in the UK Musical Comedy Awards 2023. Her one-person show ‘Annabel Marlow... is this okay??’ premiered at the Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023, presented by Stamptown.
Halcyon Sheen
Understudy
Training: Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts
Theatre credits include: Alice in Wonderland, Vinegar Tom and Once (Mountview) and The Eclipse of Charlie O’Leary (Bad Habit Theatre) Halcyon graduated from the BA Actor Musicianship Course at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts this year and is now making her professional debut at The Watermill Theatre.