Lakeside Theatre alumni on tour this summer

August is a quiet month for the Lakeside Theatre, but it’s also festival month! While we are quiet, we’ve got word of Lakeside Theatre alumni shows which are must-see this summer... and beyond!

A Two Woman Hamlet

Did you miss A Two Woman Hamlet at the Lakeside in March? Four amazing women will be taking A Two Woman Hamlet to Camden Fringe on 12, 13 and 14 August!

It's Hamlet, but not as you know it. Two women (and a skull) take on 23 roles between them in 75 minutes, in a spectacularly fun and surprisingly moving theatrical event. 

Starring Essex student and staff alumni (and students) Sharmila Peake, Deanna Strasse, and Lolly Taylor as a rotating cast. Directed by Nora Williams.

Get your tickets.

Two Come Home

The epic Two Come Home took over our main stage back in March 2024 before winning Best LGBTQ+ Show at Colchester Fringe in October 2024! You can see this moving and beautifully scored play again as it transfers to The Cockpit Theatre in London from 2 to 13 September.

A decade after a dramatic split, star-crossed lovers reunite at the worst time. Guilt, rage, and love collide in this award-winning new play with music.

It’s winter in an isolated rural town where ex-prisoner and recovered addict Evan leads a solemn and solitary existence, until some old ghosts return to unbury a decade’s worth of pain.

Joe Eason’s new play with music sets an unflinching gaze on cycles of poverty, addiction, and homophobia in rural communities. Directed by Essex alumni Isobel Sheard.

Get your tickets.

Semi-Automatic SmokeShow

The wickedly funny Delaney Conway will be taking her one-woman Semi-Automatic SmokeShow to Edinburgh Fringe from 18 to 23 August!

Produced by the Lakeside Theatre’s very own Marina Cusi Sanchez, Semi-Automatic SmokeShow is fun, fashion and firearms: the American dream! 

Your favourite influencer has just been selected by the new tech oligarchs to sell propaganda – I mean, beauty products, via live stream. What could possibly go wrong?

This one-woman dark comedy combines clowning, choreography, horror and humour to imagine an unhinged American landscape that definitely would never happen and certainly isn’t happening right now!

Get your tickets.

Colchester Pride

Not theatre, but plenty of LGBTQ+ love, laughs and more at Colchester Pride on Saturday 16 August!

Hosted by the incredible Shar Cooterie who stole the show at the Lakeside Theatre back in February 2024, head to Firstsite for a mixture of indoor and outdoor activities including the Main Stage, featuring local and national acts and the wonderful Market area, with a variety of food, drink, information and sellers! 

Get your tickets.

Stories in the Dark

East 15 Alum Ben Haggarty performs Stories in the Dark, folk stories for adults, in Garon Park in Southend on Sea on 18 September.

Step out of time and into a moment of wild uncertainty.

Come with us into the unmapped terrain of stories told in absolute darkness, shot through with enchantment, transformation, things lost, things found, grown-up fairytale and weird myth. With stories told by Ben Haggarty & Steph Brittain and music by Sheema Mukherjee, your ears will be your guide, and anything you see will be in the cinema of your imagination.

Follow us into the dark...

Get your tickets.

Shrek the Musical

Looking ahead to the autumn and winter, East 15 and Lakeside Alum Joseph Rawlings has been cast as Shrek in the upcoming Shrek the Musical at the Colchester Charter Hall in December!

Joseph performed his one-man show, Hide My Porn, at the Lakeside Theatre in January 2025 as a Colchester Fringe Encore after winning Pick of the Fringe (Local) award.

This award-winning musical brings to life the world of Shrek live on stage in an unforgettable production to melt hearts of all ages. Dreamwork’s spectacular musical is based on their much-loved Oscar winning animated film.

See the original story live on stage, join Shrek and Donkey on their daring quest to rescue the feisty Princess Fiona. Meet a fire breathing Dragon, a Gingerbread man with attitude, Pinocchio and a whole bunch of fairy tale misfits who’ll leave you in stitches.

Get your tickets.