Battersea Square Area Guide

31 Dec NEW YEAR'S EVE - please note this show starts an hour earlier than our regular shows at 7:30pm and your ticket includes the NYE party after the show Marcel Lucont The John Bishop Show, Live at the Comedy Store, Wonderful French wit.His elegant, sardonic turns of phrase are an utter joy. Time Out, Sikisa Live at the Apollo, Comedy Central Live, "A sparkling comedy party." Guardian, Eleanor Tiernan The News Quiz and Just A Minute, The fastest-rising comedy talent in the country. Irish Times and MC Ben Van der Velde

PANEL DESCRIPTION If you're an emerging playwright, director or theatre creative looking for insight on how you can get your work into the hands of a producer, this panel discussion is for you. In this course we will be demystifying the job of a producer - what they do, how they do it, the different types of producing, how to find them, how to pitch to them and more. With Producers Simon Castle (Grey Castle Productions), Mwansa Phiri (Visual Sauce), Benjamin Alborough (Liebenspiel) and Alex Critoph (Women's Writes), hosted by Drayton Arms Theatre Artistic Director Audrey Thayer (Lost Girl Productions). Bring a notebook, pen and your questions! PANEL DETAILS This panel will run 7pm-9pm, including a Q&A at the end. YOUR PANELISTS Simon Castle is a queer, new writing producer. Through his production company, Grey Castle Productions, he develops and stages original new work which platforms bold LGBTQIA+ talent, on and off stage. Producing credits include: Is the WiFi Good in Hell? (Underbelly, Off West End Award finalist) Dead Dad Show (Soho Theatre/UK Tour); Two Tribes (Leeds Playhouse, Shortlisted for both the Tony Craze and Charlie Hartill Awards); lenny. (Omnibus Theatre, Fringe Theatre Award-nominated) Simon was also the engagement producer on Positive (Southwark Playhouse) and on All Of Them, Dead (Everyman Cheltenham, Pegasus Theatre, Prime Theatre). Currently developing: DYBBUK (artsdepot) Simon is an alumnus of The National Theatres Playwriting Programme, Soho Theatres Writers Lab and Soho Theatres Alumni Group, The PappyShows Mentoring Programme and The North Wall Arts Centres Catalyst Residency. Mwansa Phiri is a multi-award-winning creative producer and theatre-maker, and a recent nominee for Best Producer at the 2025 Black British Theatre Awards. An alumna of Stage Ones Bridge the Gap and Tamashas Digital Producers programmes, she is also a BAFTA Connect member and Stage One bursary recipient. Mwansa is the founder of Visual Sauce, a multi-disciplinary production company creating critically acclaimed work that amplifies impactful and underrepresented stories across theatre, film, and immersive productions. Alex Critoph is a freelance producer whose credits include Salt-Water Moon at the Finborough Theatre, named One to see in London by The Times, featured as Lyn Gardners Pick of the Week, and awarded nine four-star reviews, including from The Stage. She produced Five Characters in Search of a Good Nights Sleep at Southwark Playhouse, directed by the acclaimed Mike Alfreds, praised as a showcase of the very best of acting (London Living Large, 5-stars). Other work includes Well Dance on the Ash of the Apocalypse at The Park Theatre's Come What May Festival. She has also produced multiple ACE-funded play development periods, including in partnership with Liverpool Everyman, The Bush and Oxford Playhouse. Through her company Womens Writes, championing female-identifying and non-binary playwrights, Alex has produced work at VAULT Festival, The Arcola, and an ONCOMM-nominated online festival during lockdown. Womens Writes has been named Socially and Politically imperative by London Theatre, Redressing the balance by The Stage and Empowering by DIVA Magazine. Benjamin Alborough is a theatre producer and programmer and recipient of the 2022 Stage One bursary award. As a freelancer he manages tour bookings and general management for a wide range of clients across both the subsidised and commercial sectors. Recent shows include a sell-out national tour of The Pirates of Penzance, opening at the Chichester Festival Theatre. With his company Liebenspiel, he helps develop new comedy and cabaret formats and programmes seasons of work in existing venues and acts as a consultant for venue programmers and live promoters, in addition to programming comedy and cabaret for international music festivals - seasons include at the Brighton Spiegeltent, Bedlam Theatre, King's Head Theatre and music festivals like Camp Wildfire. Liebenspiel is a recipient of the Keep it Fringe fund and a nominee for a Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality. Previous work includes Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story at Jermyn St Theatre (6x Offie noms, 2x Offie wins), a national tour of hit Fringe show ...Earnest?", touring improvised comedy Locomotive for Murder and avant-garde interactive theatre show The Faustus Project. Benjamin has been producing since 2014, acting as Associate Producer for Islingtons Hope Theatre and Head of Programming for RED Entertainment. Over the course of the last five years, Benjamin has placed over 800 performances of just over 60 productions in approximately 300 venues around the UK Audrey Thayer is a freelance producer, dramaturg and Artistic Director of the Drayton Arms Theatre. She graduated in 2015 from Chapman University after earning degrees in both Theatre Studies and English Literature. Previously Audrey worked as a Resident Assistant Producer at Theatre503, after which she began freelance producing before taking over as Artistic Director of the Drayton Arms Theatre in November 2016. Since then she has programmed over 500 productions, with roughly 83% of those productions being brand new work. Over the past several years, productions at the Drayton Arms Theatre have achieved 9 Off West End Award nominations, 5 finalists for the London Pub Theatre awards as well as 1 win, plus countless additional nominations over the past several years. Works produced by Audrey's theatre company Lost Girl Productions include The Lesson (Theatre503), Midnight Tattoos (Drayton Arms Theatre). Works produced freelance or in association include A Sacred Place (rehearsed reading, Drayton Arms Theatre), Tenderfoot (Drayton Arms Theatre), The Laundry (Drayton Arms Theatre), You're Human Like the Rest of Us (Finborough) and Top Trumps (Theatre503). Spaces are limited! For any further questions please email [email protected] All participants get 50% off a meal downstairs in the Drayton Arms pub

PizzaExpress Live in partnership with the Hampstead Jazz Club, brings you the incredible works of Astor Piazzolla performed by the BAIRES CONNECTION – A female Argentinian Trio that encapsulate all that is to love about the Argentine Tango and beyond!

The singer-songwriter, known as lead singer of the BBC Strictly Come Dancing band brings his pop material to the stage.

Friday 16 January / market opens 5pm / show 8pm(ish) / party til 2.30am Join us for a non-stop Dragstravaganza! January is conventionally the time when we all come together in a massive celebration of drag... And this year it’s happening Grand-style Think independent queer market x drag extravaganza with a huge club night to top it all off! The Dragstravaga-Market Join us early evening for a gorgeous market of stalls & photobooths from some of our fave queer collectives & fabulous Drag Race UK queens! Socialise with a room of drag lovers, fill up on all the tote bags, tshirts, badges & fans you could ever wish for and, of course, get a few cheeky photos with our drag stars! Our bars will be open & our DJs will be playing all day. Our first wave of drag stallholders are Gallifrey Cabaret, Ham It Up, Magic Dyke, SlayStation, & The Brummie Bastards with plenty more TBA... The Dragstravaganza Extravaganza ★ It’s show time, baby! Later in the evening we’ll be hosting a drag show made up of drag queens, kings & things showing off their Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve & Talent just for you Our show will be packed out with everything from Drag Race girls deathdropping to kings serenading & queens paying ridiculous tributes to the most iconic moments in pop culture... The Dragstrava-Dance You all know what a club night looks like at the Grand - there’s balloons, confetti, dancers, pop-up performers and this time our dance floor will be covered in all you stunning drag lovers dancing the night away... If you have any questions please scroll down to the FAQ section below. Presented by The Clapham Grand. This is an 18+ event

James Acaster is one of comedy’s most original voices. A whimsical master, he has received acclaim from around the world, including a record breaking 5 consecutive nominations for ‘Best Comedy Show’ at the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festivals.