Exciting updates from fEAST Theatre.
Latest News and Announcements

Earlier this year, we had an incredible time rehearsing and touring  across Norfolk and Suffolk with Rob John’s new play, “Tales from the Motherland,” during March and April. 

You can read more about the tour and fEAST in an interview for Everything Theatre with Artistic Director Dawn Finnerty Interview: Taking A Tour of East Anglia

https://everything-theatre.co.uk/2025/03/interview-taking-a-tour-of-east-anglia/

 We greatly appreciate the overwhelmingly positive response from audiences and are sincerely thankful for the invaluable assistance provided by our supporters, including Des Reynolds and Karen Reed from The Seagull Theatre, as well as Simon Daykin for Wells Maltings. As a small company, this production was made possible through their generous support. 

 Since that time, we have been engaged in securing funding and returning to research and development activities across multiple projects. First up, we’re thrilled to share news that a tour for The Peggottys by Robin Mcloughlin is scheduled for June/July 2026, starring Owen Evans as Dan Peggotty,

The Peggottys

The Personal History of the Peggottys of Yarmouth is a new play by Robin McLoughlin that imagines the lives of Dickens’ beloved beach-dwelling characters Dan, Clara and Ham Peggotty and their friend Mrs Gummidge before the events of the novel David Copperfield. Set in the shadow of the Napoleonic wars, in the Naval town of Yarmouth, the play asks how this eccentric family came to be living together in an abandoned barge on the beach and how ‘events and miscasualties of time and history’ forged Dan Peggotty into a man ‘as good as gold and as true as steel’ as seen in the novel. The play sees his evolution from a misanthropic shut-in to a kind and caring man, through his experiences with betrayal, death, the sea, the wars going on around him, and, most importantly, his family members and companions. Written in a unique Norfolk dialect, with songs and humour throughout, The Peggottys promises to be a theatrical experience that will appeal to both fans of Dickens and those who are new to the Copperfield story. It is a play set in the past with one eye firmly on contemporary issues and with a few Dickensian twists and turns to keep you on your toes.

Writer Robin McLoughlin and director Dawn Finnerty, who worked together on Salt in 2018, are excited to reunite for The Peggottys, a show blending local history, social commentary, live music, and literary adaptation into an ambitious production. Prepare to be entertained!

The project will include community outreach through partnerships with the Norfolk museum service, local history groups, and youth drama.

Other News

Alongside our plans, the core members of fEAST have collaborated on multiple projects with other organisations. Co-founder Rob John was commissioned by the INK festival to write a play for young people addressing the topic of suicide. “The Drummer Boy” received funding from the Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership and Suffolk Public Health, and toured schools and colleges in Suffolk during the Summer term. To read more about this, click here. 

Rob John is also running a scriptwriting course in Autumn, funded by INK and hosted by Norwich Theatre Royal.

Robin Mcloughlin has worked as a dramaturg for The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, contributing abridged versions of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Dawn Finnerty appeared in the comedy “Ladies’ Day” by Amanda Whittington at Sheringham Little Theatre’s Summer Rep.

Back to fEAST, along side The Peggottys we currently have two new plays in development, with plans to launch an expanded tour in the future. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us this year. We will be back! Keep posted for updates, see you soon.
Dawn Finnerty, Artistic Director.

Successful and strong relationships Feast have built

In fourteen years of touring we are proud to have built strong relationships with many of the regions theatres and communities. In these challenging times we are grateful for the support and encouragement which these venues continue to offer us. Here are some things they’ve had to say about fEAST Theatre.

Sheringham Little Theatre & St Georges Theatre Yarmouth

The Little Theatre is honoured to have been involved from the beginning of the incredible fEAST Theatre journey in 2010. I knew it was something special, because of the people and their artistic ethos. Every show has been of the highest standard and they have built up such an eclectic mix of work. We always need to book extra shows in, as they sell out in Sheringham and are so popular.  I programme them into St. George’s Theatre in Great Yarmouth and they are building audiences there too. People look forward to what their next venture will be and so do I!

Debbie Thompson
Director

Wells Maltings

The relationship between Wells Maltings and fEAST goes back many years; since we reopened in 2018 their work has been a central pillar of our live theatre programming. fEAST’s creative process is second to none, they are a joy to work with, and their ethos matches our own exactly. Their touring work has been supplemented by commissions for Christmas shows every year since 2019, too. We value our relationship with fEAST hugely – the company is part of the Maltings’ family.

Simon Daykin
Director

The Seagull

The Seagull has been proud to work with fEAST Theatre for a number of years and have always been impressed with both the quality and breadth of the productions produced. As a community focused venue we are always keen to bring high quality drama into our town, and as such fEAST have been an important partner in being able to delivery a very high standard of artistic quality alongside a reasonable and affordable ticket price. This combination of quality and value for money has been a touchstone of fEAST theatre and has helped them to grow their reach within our deprived community.

Des Reynolds
Director

Westacre Theatre

Westacre Theatre is always proud and eager to present whatever fEAST have on offer. Their productions are always of the highest standard, and our audience loves them to the extent that we can almost guarantee to sell out. Our relationship with this excellent touring theatre company began in 2015 and we very much hope it continues long into the future, fEAST are always welcome here at Westacre!

Sadie Grist
Director

Southwold Arts Centre

We have had several excellent productions by fEAST at Southwold Arts Centre in the last few years, including Dulcie and Walter, Rosa Mendoza and Canada Boys.  All have been characterised by very original scripts with a local connection, excellent production and outstanding acting. They are one of the best touring theatre groups in East Anglia. We look forward to welcoming their next production to Southwold.

Michael Rowan-Robinson
Chair of Trustees, Southwold Arts Centre

Sedgeford Village Hall

Sedgeford Village Hall is the only venue in west Norfolk that hosts professional theatre and we’ve been at it now for around a decade. We first met fEast in 2016 and have seen six of their plays since then, all of which have been to the same high standard. The Company always prompts a great reaction from our audience and selling tickets is easy when people appreciate what they’re in for.

On a personal note I aim to book a slot with fEAST without knowing what their play is about or having to consider whether it will go down well…it will, and always does! The Company is approachable (nice people), and I’m delighted to say they love playing Sedgeford… we can’t wait for their next one.

Dave Carter
Entertainment Manager

Corn Hall Diss

We have only had the opportunity to programme two fEAST productions so far – Dulcie & Walter in July 2021 and The Canada Boys in February 2022 – but were blown away by the quality of the work presented on both occasions. The company is a dream to work with too which is no small thing when times are tough. They’re efficient, have good marketing and are lovely to boot. As a venue programmer I would gladly include any fEAST production in my programme, indeed I have been in touch to make sure I am part of their next tour.

It’s not only the quality of the writing, acting and general production values that make fEAST Theatre’s work so important, it is the fact that their work has real local resonance and generates a genuine and heartfelt response from the audience. Nothing demonstrates the vital importance of live performance better than that.

Angela Sykes
Programme Manager

Corn Hall Contd.

This review of Canada Boys by one of our regular, and often hard to please customers expresses this much more eloquently:

Rescheduled over the last couple of years due to Covid, we had to wait a long time to see fEAST Theatre’s production of The Canada Boys. Fortunately, it proved to be well worth the wait. Rob John’s fictionalised account of the J &J Colman’s sponsored emigration to Canada was one the finest productions seen at the Corn Hall for a very long time.

At the beginning of the last century, eighteen men were offered the chance to start a new life in Canada, rather than face the impending unemployment that was sweeping across Norfolk.

From the bare bones of these facts, fEAST Theatre have created a moving and absorbing tale of two brothers, torn between responsibilities at home and opportunity abroad. The play was certainly an education – it was fascinating to learn of the Colman family’s philanthropy – but this was no hagiography. On the contrary, the dramatic tension between the brothers, arguing over the motives of their employers, provided the backbone to what was essentially a domestic drama about familial conflict.