THEATRE Royal Winchester is looking forward to welcoming in 2020 with an exciting programme of shows and events that will intrigue and excite regulars and audiences new to the theatre.

As always there is dance, drama, comedy, music, family and community performances lined up, talks by well-known personalities – and now, with the opening of the venue’s new Cafe Bar, jazz nights and free events, which showcase the very best in local and emerging talent.

The new year kicks off with music and Graffiti Classics: The Comedy String Quartet (Friday January 31) breaking down elitist boundaries with an all-singing, all-dancing musical comedy show that features everything from Mozart to Elvis and Saturday Night Fever.

Families will adore stage adaptations of best-selling children’s books, Raymond Briggs’ The Bear (February 1 and 2) and The Tiger Who Came to Tea (April 17 to 19 and Peppa Pig (March 7 to 8) is back, for her ‘best day ever’!

Big kids will remember Sooty (Monday April 13), and there are an additional two magic shows from Britain’s Got Talent act, and Winchester-raised, Ben Hart (Wednesday April 29 and Wednesday May 13) after he performed two sell-out dates late last year.

Stand-up comedy comes from the extraordinary Alexei Sayle (February 3 and 4), Edinburgh Fringe sell-out, Phil Wang (February 8), Father Ted star Ardal O’Hanlon (February 14), Mark Thomas (April 18), who combines stand-up with storytelling and subversion; plus others.

There is intense drama in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (March 19 to 21) about an orphan girl’s journey from a childhood of loneliness and cruelty, to life at Thornfield Hall and a relationship with the mysterious Mr Rochester; and chills in The Black Veil (February 28 and 29), based on Charles Dickens’ Victorian thriller about a mysteriously-veiled elderly woman who begs a newly-qualified doctor to visit a nameless patient – only for him to find himself embroiled in a web of lies and deceit that ends in death.

Crime comes in the form of Revenge (March 12 to 14) – about an MP who finds his party agent has been killed in a tragic accident (or was it?), directed by Louise Jameson (Eastenders, Doctor Who). Then Crimes, Camera and Action (April 15 and 16), set in golden-era Hollywood, tells of a Humphrey Bogart-esque spy who investigates the death of a screen starlet, stabbed as a result of a prop mix-up on set.

Featuring a cast of four, taking on multiple roles! Next, Alan Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular (April 21 to 25) – directed by Michael Cabot and brought to the stage by one of the UK’s leading touring companies, London Classic Theatre – is a story about social climbing in 1970s suburbia, about a small-time tradesman and his wife who throw a Christmas party for their wealthy neighbours, before the tables turn and cracks in the other couples’ marriages begin to show. Another book adaptation – featuring stars from TV’s Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Holby City – Helen Forrester’s million-selling By The Waters Of Liverpool (April 30 to May 2), sees a family in the 1930s lose their wealth and treat their daughter Helen as an unpaid slave. Desperate to escape, things look up for Helen when she falls in love with a handsome seaman.

The theatre’s Cafe Bar will play host to Jazz Nights – in conjunction with Winchester Jazz Festival; as well as free music events showcasing the talent of local performers.

To book tickets, visit theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk or call 01962 840 440.