You must be a Member of Ealing u3a to take part in an Interest Group

The Play Reading Group meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 10:00am at a member's house in West Ealing.

The group reads plays together with discussion to explore aspects of the plays of interest to members. Plays are written to be performed and aspects of a play to be considered might include: context, acting (movement, voice, body language), set (lighting is perhaps a more specialised topic), costume and make-up, sound / music, directing. It is therefore expected that a typical play will be considered over several meetings to allow time for both reading the play together and discussion. Members will need to source their own copy of the play.

Plays are chosen after discussion within the group. Plays considered so far have been:

• Sept to Nov 2023 Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” (in English translation)
• Jan to Mar 2024 Alan Bennett “An Englishman Abroad” and “A Question of Attribution” two plays about cold war spies Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt; performed as a double bill “Single Spies” at Questors Theatre in March 2024
• Apr to June 2024 Tennessee Williams “A Glass Menagerie”- performed at Alexandra Palace Theatre in May 2024
• Jul to Nov 2024 Timberlake Wertenbaker “Our Country’s Good” – performed at The Lyric Hammersmith in September / October 2024
• Jan to Apr 2025 Brian Clark “Whose life is it anyway?”
• May to July 2025 Alan Ayckbourn “Table Manners” (the first play in the trilogy of plays “The Norman Conquests” – as the plays are often sold together as the trilogy, the group is currently intending to read more than one of the plays, possibly with a break after each play to read something different). This play was performed at the Questors Theatre 12 to 19 July 2025.
• Aug to Nov 2025 Caryl Churchill “Top Girls”.
• Jan to April 2026 Arthur Miller “All My Sons”.
• June 2026 onwards Mike Leigh “Abigail’s Party” – being performed at Richmond Theatre in July 2026, click on the link to purchase tickets.

This group is currently full. If you are interested in joining this Group, please contact the Convenor to be added to the waiting list. If there are enough people waiting to join, we may be able to start a second group.

Group Convenor: (Mrs) Wei Hei Kipling: email through the Group email link above on this page.