New season brings new attractions to Delph’s Millgate

A SADDLEWORTH arts centre has been selected as a venue that will show productions by the National Theatre.

Delph’s Millgate will now screen the action as actors tread the boards in London after being nominated.

Friday, September 13 will see the first National Theatre event, which will soon be announced, beamed to Saddleworth after the agreement.

An exciting season lies ahead for Saddleworth Players at Millgate Arts Centre.

A spokesperson for Millgate said: “We are delighted to have been selected by National Theatre Live to be part of their independent cinema group.”

And Andrew Mann, of Millgate and Saddleworth Players, outlined hopes as the new 2024/25 season was revealed.

He said: “It’s a great opportunity for people in Saddleworth to see some more really good theatre, this time from the National Theatre.

“We’ve just finished our latest production, which was really well received, but also changed the way we work and run ourselves.

“We’re now getting a much wider group of people involved. At our production of Lizzie, Darcy and Jane, six of the eight actors had never acted on this stage before.

“We’ve also done a lot of training among teams in things like vocal coaching, props and stage management. We’ve made sure we’ve got the right people and invested to make sure we’ve got the technology right.

“That means we can encourage better people to be on stage or be part of the technological team and give the audience a better experience.”

Saddleworth Players’ five plays for 2024/25 start with Clue, from September 21-28 and as the name suggests, it is a murder mystery.

Guests were taken behind the scene at the theatre ahead of the season launch. Cllr Max Woodvine was found in the costume department

Haunting Julia, a ‘real spine tingler’ by Alan Ayckbourn, follows on November 16-23 before the season goes nuclear with drama The Children.

A familiar tale in Then Rise and Fall of Little Voice, which featured in a 1998 film starring Jane Horrocks, will be at Millgate from April 5-12 before it is rounded off with Bleak Expectations – think an ‘anarchic journey’ featuring Charles Dickens’ Bleak House and Great Expectations – on May 10-17.

Millgate is also home to Saddleworth Players’ Youth (SPY), which will put on two shows featuring a growing group of 14-18-year-olds.

Andrew described them as ‘the next generation of people who will be running here.’

Saddleworth Film Society will announce the first half of its season of 10 films on August 1 while Saddleworth Musical Society begins its stint with A Few Of Our Favourite Things, a celebration of the works of Rogers and Hammerstein, on October 12 and 13.

Saddleworth Concerts Society, which is putting on a show featuring music written by the late Roger Tanner, will also hold performances by the Alexander Gagatsis Jazz Septet on Wednesday, October 16 and piano trio Bristol Ensemble on Wednesday, November 27, with more to come in 2025.

The theatre at Millgate is also receiving visiting shows, including a production of Hancock’s Half Hour – The Lost TV Episodes on Sunday, October 20 while on Saturday, January 25, Paterson Joseph – familiar as Arthur Slugworth in the film Wonka – brings Sancho and Me to Delph.

Millgate Arts Centre Delph

That tells the story of Charles Ignatius Sancho, who was born on a slave ship on the Atlantic Ocean in 1729 and became a writer, composer, shopkeeper and respected ‘man of letters’ in 18th century London.

He was the first man of African Heritage to vote in Britain.

And one season would not be complete without its pantomime, which this year will be Mother Goose, which has been given an extended run from Saturday, December 7 to Sunday, January 5.