HISTORY
1957 TO PRESENT
The Abbots Langley Players have been entertaining the village since 1957 with the Abbots Langley Barn playing a pivotal role in it's development after it was bought by Dr Peter Tomson (a keen amateur actor and a founder member of the Abbots Langley Players) in 1955.
The Barn started to be used for storage of ALP scenery alongside general storage for the house. In 1963, after repairs to the roof, members of the ALP worked to clear out the south end of the space and create a clubroom, adding a ceiling above the lower beams and partitioning off the northern half. It was then the stated intention to convert The Barn into a small theatre.
During the early 1980’s the Abbots Langley Players staged most of their productions in The Barn, seating an audience of 40 or 50. However, as their audience figures increased, they returned to staging their main productions in the Henderson Hall in 1985.
During the 1990s The Abbots Langley Players staged occasional productions in the Barn as well as their continued use for twice-weekly rehearsals.
Like most companies, Abbots Langley Players suffered during the Covid pandemic of 2020/21. The last performance just the week before the first lockdown saw a much diminished audience of only twelve for "My Mother said I Never Should". Things were furthur complicated by the sale of the Abbots House and barn which involved disposing of 50+ years of accumalated costumes and props under Covid conditions. Fortunately the new owners of the barn, the Mitchell family, have been very generous in allowing us to continue using their valuable space.
As Covid restrictions lifted in late 2021 a "Little Grimley" duo of plays was performed with social distancing. Then in March 2022 ALP spectacularly returned to normal with the successful award winning production of "No Time for Fig Leaves".
Here below, you can see a list of all the productions the group has performed each year.
2024: Deck Chairs 2/ Regina Monologues/Last Tango in Whitby
2023: Quartet / Tea With Mrs Pankhurst / Murder in Little Grimley / Old Folk
2022: The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society MURDER MYSTERY / Entertaining Angels / No Time for Fig Leaves (two NODA awards)
2021: Last Tango/Panto in Little Grimley
2020: My Mother Said I Never Should
2019: The Actress / The Children / Ladies in Lavender (two NODA awards)
2018: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe / Middle Age Spread / Lettice and Lovage
2017: Someone who’ll Watch over Me (NODA award) / Life and Beth / Summer End
2016: Curtain Up / The Face of Shakespeare
2015: Death by Fatal Murder / The Regina Monologues / The Herbal Bed (part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Stages project)
2014: Abigail’s Party / Pygmalion / A Letter from the General
2013: The Herbal Bed / Party Piece
2012: Tea in a China Cup / Playhouse Creatures / Out of Order
2011: Over the River and through the Woods / Summer Shorts: Can you Hear the Music? / Last Panto in Little Grimley / Say Something Happened / Losers / Night Must Fall
2010: Lucky Sods / Daisy Pulls it Off / Visiting Hour / Gaslight
2009: Humble Boy / Fairway to Heaven
2008: Who Goes Bare / Kindertransport / The Shell Seekers
2007: Hay Fever / The Merry Wives of Windsor / Separate Tables
2006: A Touch of Danger / Our Country’s Good / Post Horn Gallop
2005: Snake in the Grass / One-act Plays: Movers / Five Kinds of Silence / Riders to the Sea / Sitting Pretty
2004: Katherine Howard / Experiment with an Air Pump / Guards! Guards!
2003: Dancing at Lughnasa / It Runs in the Family
2002: You’re Only Young Twice / A Midsummer Night’s Dream / The Cemetery Club
2001: The Exorcism / One-act Plays: Plum in the Mouth / Body in the Attic / A Dog’s Life / Murdered to Death
2000: Two Planks and a Passion / Under Milk Wood / Dead Guilty
1999: Bazaar and Manage / The Accrington Pals
1998: Habeas Corpus / One-act Plays: Gosforth’s Fete / A Talk in the Park / Plaster / Steel Magnolias
1997: Not Now Darling / One-act Plays: The Housewarming / The Lovers / Absurd Person Singular
1996: Waters of the Moon / One-act Plays: Can you Hear the Music? / Cecily / A Respectable Funeral / Basinful of the Briny
1995: The Forsyte Saga / One-act Plays: Streuth / Drinking Companion / Company Come / Suddenly at Home
1994: Curious Savage / The Donahue Sisters / Cat’s Cradle
1993: The Heiress / She Stoops to Conquer / But Yesterday / Celebration
1992: There Goes the Bride / Two Summers / The Paragon
1991: A Chorus of Disapproval / One-act Plays: Shop for Charity / I Never Thought it Would be Like This / David’s Birthday / Trespass
1990: Local Affairs / The Last Time I Saw Paris / Juno and the Paycock
1989: Season’s Greetings / Hero / See How They Run
1988: Rain / One-act Plays: My Pyjamas are Missing / The Window / Martyred Wives / Deadly Nightcap
1987: When We are Married / One-act Plays: A Shot in the Dark / After Magritte / Vacant Possession / Sequence of Events / The Farndale Avenue Townswomen’s Guild “Macbeth”
1986: Heaven and Charing Cross Road / One-act Plays: Mother’s Day Out / Edward / Barefoot in the Park
1985: Fish Out of Water / The Space Between the Years / One-act Plays: Fifteen-minute Hamlet / I Never Thought it Would be Like This / The Fire Raisers
1984: The Wooden Dish / One-act Plays: Still Life, Dragons in the Caves / Joking Apart
1983: Book of the Month / Angels in Love
1982: The Diary of Anne Frank / Time and Time Again
1981: The Exorcism / No Time for Fig Leaves
1980: Waters of the Moon / Table Manners
1979: They Came to a City / White Queen / Red Queen / Out of Thin Air
1978: One-act Plays: I Spy / When the Bough Breaks / Duet for Two Hands
1977: The Enquiry / The Killing of Sister George
1976: Breath of Spring / Fresh Fields
1975: Spring and Port Wine / The Murder of Maria Marten / The House on the Cliff / Squat Betty / Rookery Nook
1974: Separate Tables / One-act Plays: Ritual for Dolls, Liberation / Blithe Spirit / A Day’s Mischief
1973: A Murder has been Arranged / Pools Paradise / The Love of Four Colonels
1972: The Boy with a Cart / Hot Summer Night / Waltz of the Toreadors
1971: The Chalk Garden / Loot / Oliver Twist
1970: The Importance of Being Earnest / Two’s Company / Three’s a Crowd / Man Alive / Johnny Belinda
1969: All in Good Time / Night Must Fall / Hobson’s Choice
1968: Romeo and Juliet / The Hollow
1967: The Noble Spaniard / Look Back in Anger / Cat among the Pigeons
1966: A Letter from the General / The House by the Lake / One-act Plays: St Patrick’s Day / The Sponge Room
1965: Relative Values / The Teahouse of the August Moon
1964: Gaslight / The Devil was Sick / I’m Talking About Jerusalem
1963: When We are Married / Charley’s Aunt / Black Tulip
1962: The Lady’s Not For Burning / Trespass / Dry Rot
1961: See How They Run / Book of the Month / Bonaventure
1960: Twelfth Night / Mad about Men
1959: Someone Waiting / Haul for the Shore / The Heiress
1958: On Monday Next / Treasure on Pelican
1957: George and Margaret / The Happiest Days of Your Life