Formed in 1963 and named after Richard Parkes Bonington, a painter of the English school who was born and raised in Arnold, the Bonington Players is now one of the leading amateur theatre groups in Nottinghamshire.
They began with performances at the Old People’s Welfare Centre on Nottingham Road, since renamed Arnold Community Centre and the group still uses this as a rehearsal venue, workshop and storage facility however the Players became the resident theatre company at the Bonington Theatre when it opened in 1982.
The group had campaigned hard for a theatre in Arnold to replace the original Bonington Theatre which dated back to 1912 but which was closed in 1957 and later demolished. The new Bonington Theatre was eventually built as part of the new Arnold Leisure Centre complex in the centre of the town and it offers the very best experience for present day theatregoers with comfortable seating, excellent sight-lines, a friendly licensed bar and ample adjacent free car parking.
Lindsey Hemingway from The Bonington Players said “We continue to offer our patrons three productions a season with a wide choice of theatre from serious drama to rip-roaring farce, from classic plays to modern pieces, and with occasional forays into musical theatre and pantomime.
“Over the years we have performed the works of William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, JB Priestley, Agatha Christie, Philip King, Alan Ayckbourn, Michael Frayn, Alan Bennett, Joe Orton, Ray Cooney, John Cleese, Nicolai Gogol, Georges Feydeau, Jean Anouilh, Arthur Miller, Neil Simon and many others.”
The Bonington Players is a long-standing member of NANDA which exists to support and promote all aspects of amateur theatre within the county. In this years awards evening at the NANDA Play of the Year awards. Wayne Hill received the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance of Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley and Tony Tomlinson won the award for Best Set Design for I am a Camera. There were also Special Mentions for acting for Sheila Millington, Lindsey Hemingway, Chris Gardner, Adrian Bacon and Jenny Adams, and Adrian Bacon got another Mention for his costumes for Vicar of Dibley.
Lindsey added “We regularly win awards in their festivals for acting, directing, set design, costumes and stage presentation. We pride ourselves on staging the very best of amateur theatre in Arnold and earning a reputation for the high professional standards that we achieve. ”
Next up for the Players is The Rule of Three by Agatha Christie which runs from Wednesday, October 18 to Saturday, October 21. This triple bill of one-act murder mysteries combines: the light-hearted comedy Afternoon at the Seaside, in which a detective attempts to find a priceless emerald necklace and the culprit who stole it; The Rats, a dark and chilling tale in which a pair of adulterous lovers find themselves lured to a flat, trapped like rats and framed for murder; and finally, The Patient, a tense thriller in which a woman has been hospitalised after seemingly falling from her balcony.
Tickets can be purchased from The Bonington Theatre Box Office or online HERE.
More information including contact details about The Bonington Players can be found on their social channel HERE or via their website HERE.
