Welcome to Hook Players
Hook Players was formed by a bunch of amateurs in 1986, so we thought we’d celebrate our 40th Birthday by staging A Bunch of Amateurs by Nick Newman and Private Eye editor / Have I Got News for You! panellist Ian Hislop this summer!
Keen to boost his flagging career, fading Hollywood action hero Jefferson Steele arrives in England to play King Lear in Stratford – only to find that this is not the birthplace of the Bard, but a sleepy Suffolk village. And instead of Kenneth Branagh and Dame Judi Dench, the cast are a bunch of amateurs trying to save their theatre from developers. Jefferson’s monstrous ego, vanity and insecurity are tested to the limit by the enthusiastic am-dram thespians. As acting worlds collide and Jefferson’s career implodes, he discovers some truths about himself – along with his inner Lear!
Evening performances will be on Thursday 9th, Friday 10th & Saturday 11th July, with an additional afternoon performance on the Saturday. Watch this space for more information!
This amateur production of ‘A Bunch of Amateurs’ is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk
Hook Players is a member of
Recent Facebook Posts
A reminder of next week’s AUDITIONS for Alan Frayn’s HANSEL & GRETEL pantomime.
Dates: Tuesday 1st September &
Thursday 3rd September
Time: 7:30pm till 10pm
Venue: Elizabeth Hall, Hook RG27 9HH
Directors: Trevor Bonnin-Barkham & Hazel Bonnin-Barkham
Producer: Jonathan Blackburn
Stage Manager: Paul Teuma
If you’re thinking about joining the cast, there are a few important dates you’ll need to keep free.
Final Rehearsal Weekend:
Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd November
These will be important rehearsals as we head into our first performance weekend.
Performance Dates:
Friday 27th November – Evening performance
Saturday 28th November – Matinee & evening performances
Friday 4th December – Evening performance
Saturday 5th December – Matinee & evening performances
That’s six performances across two weekends, so please make sure you can commit to the performance and final rehearsal dates if you’re planning to audition.
The main roles include:
Hansel & Gretel – our two young heroes; warm, likeable and central to the story.
Fritz – their kind but rather hen-pecked father.
Hildegard – their wonderfully horrible stepmother, with lots of comic potential.
Peggy Pumpernickel – the main Dame; larger than life, bargain-obsessed and gloriously ridiculous.
Wally – Peggy’s silly son and one of our main audience-interaction characters.
Heather – Peggy’s bright, warm-hearted daughter and principal girl.
Prince Johann – our traditional romantic Prince.
Wolfgang – the Prince’s Equerry and another lovely character role.
Nut-Meg & Basil – a daft forager and gamekeeper forming a classic panto comedy double act.
Bluebell – the good Fairy of the Forest.
Nightshade – the wonderfully wicked Witch of the Woods.
Klaus – an enthusiastic circus ringmaster.
Russell & Sheryl – Nightshade’s two mischievous crow assistants.
Otto – a snowy owl with an unfortunate tendency to put “hooo” into absolutely everything!
And importantly, we’re not going to be precious about gender when casting. Come and audition for the characters you think you could have fun with! Some of these roles could be absolutely brilliant played very differently from the traditional expectation.
There are also villagers, lumberjacks, circus performers, Nightshade’s minions, gingerbread people, forest creatures and lots more, so please don’t think you need to want a principal role to come along. There are loads of opportunities to get involved without having pages and pages of lines.
🔨 And we need people offstage too!
Panto is enormous fun backstage because you really get to stretch your wings and your imagination – and with our MORE IS MORE approach, we definitely want to!
We’d love to hear from anyone interested in set design and building, painting, lighting, sound, costumes, props or front of house – whether you already know exactly what you’re doing or haven’t got the faintest idea where to start.
If you’ve always had a yen to have a go, we have experienced people who can help and guide you through it. And if you’ve done theatre backstage in the past and have been itching to get involved again, now is the time to scratch that theatre itch!
If you’d like to be involved but can’t make either audition night, just comment below and let us know or email us at – we’ll sort something out.
Please LIKE & SHARE this post with anyone whom you think might be interested.
Dates: Tuesday 1st September &
Thursday 3rd September
Time: 7:30pm till 10pm
Venue: Elizabeth Hall, Hook RG27 9HH
Directors: Trevor Bonnin-Barkham & Hazel Bonnin-Barkham
Producer: Jonathan Blackburn
Stage Manager: Paul Teuma
If you’re thinking about joining the cast, there are a few important dates you’ll need to keep free.
Final Rehearsal Weekend:
Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd November
These will be important rehearsals as we head into our first performance weekend.
Performance Dates:
Friday 27th November – Evening performance
Saturday 28th November – Matinee & evening performances
Friday 4th December – Evening performance
Saturday 5th December – Matinee & evening performances
That’s six performances across two weekends, so please make sure you can commit to the performance and final rehearsal dates if you’re planning to audition.
The main roles include:
Hansel & Gretel – our two young heroes; warm, likeable and central to the story.
Fritz – their kind but rather hen-pecked father.
Hildegard – their wonderfully horrible stepmother, with lots of comic potential.
Peggy Pumpernickel – the main Dame; larger than life, bargain-obsessed and gloriously ridiculous.
Wally – Peggy’s silly son and one of our main audience-interaction characters.
Heather – Peggy’s bright, warm-hearted daughter and principal girl.
Prince Johann – our traditional romantic Prince.
Wolfgang – the Prince’s Equerry and another lovely character role.
Nut-Meg & Basil – a daft forager and gamekeeper forming a classic panto comedy double act.
Bluebell – the good Fairy of the Forest.
Nightshade – the wonderfully wicked Witch of the Woods.
Klaus – an enthusiastic circus ringmaster.
Russell & Sheryl – Nightshade’s two mischievous crow assistants.
Otto – a snowy owl with an unfortunate tendency to put “hooo” into absolutely everything!
And importantly, we’re not going to be precious about gender when casting. Come and audition for the characters you think you could have fun with! Some of these roles could be absolutely brilliant played very differently from the traditional expectation.
There are also villagers, lumberjacks, circus performers, Nightshade’s minions, gingerbread people, forest creatures and lots more, so please don’t think you need to want a principal role to come along. There are loads of opportunities to get involved without having pages and pages of lines.
🔨 And we need people offstage too!
Panto is enormous fun backstage because you really get to stretch your wings and your imagination – and with our MORE IS MORE approach, we definitely want to!
We’d love to hear from anyone interested in set design and building, painting, lighting, sound, costumes, props or front of house – whether you already know exactly what you’re doing or haven’t got the faintest idea where to start.
If you’ve always had a yen to have a go, we have experienced people who can help and guide you through it. And if you’ve done theatre backstage in the past and have been itching to get involved again, now is the time to scratch that theatre itch!
If you’d like to be involved but can’t make either audition night, just comment below and let us know or email us at – we’ll sort something out.
Please LIKE & SHARE this post with anyone whom you think might be interested.
📣 📣📣📣📣📣📣📣📣📣📣📣
🌟2026 AUTUMN PANTOMIME ✨✨
Our recently elected committee are pleased to announce that we have selected Alan Frayn's HANSEL AND GRETEL as our pantomime for this autumn.
We do have members interested in directing but if any new talents out there would like to put their names forward as Director, Producer or production crew, please do get in touch with us by 22nd August.
Audition dates for panto cast:
Tuesday 1st September, 7.30pm to 10pm
Thursday 3rd September, 7.30pm to 10pm
@ The Elizabeth Hall, Hook, RG27 9HH
For potential crew and cast, the performances will be held on:
Friday 27th November (evening),
Saturday 28th November (matinee & evening),
Friday 4th December (evening)
Saturday 5th December (matinee & evening).
@The Elizabeth Hall in Hook.
We hope to see you at the auditions.
#HPH&G
🌟2026 AUTUMN PANTOMIME ✨✨
Our recently elected committee are pleased to announce that we have selected Alan Frayn's HANSEL AND GRETEL as our pantomime for this autumn.
We do have members interested in directing but if any new talents out there would like to put their names forward as Director, Producer or production crew, please do get in touch with us by 22nd August.
Audition dates for panto cast:
Tuesday 1st September, 7.30pm to 10pm
Thursday 3rd September, 7.30pm to 10pm
@ The Elizabeth Hall, Hook, RG27 9HH
For potential crew and cast, the performances will be held on:
Friday 27th November (evening),
Saturday 28th November (matinee & evening),
Friday 4th December (evening)
Saturday 5th December (matinee & evening).
@The Elizabeth Hall in Hook.
We hope to see you at the auditions.
#HPH&G
Hook Players aren’t just about staging productions. We have a Social Secretary who arranges activities for members when we’re not busy with productions. One such activity held every year is the BBQ & Garden Party. Members had a wonderful time last Saturday, 1st August, catching up over food, drinks and games. Thanks very much to Trevor and Hazel for hosting and Warwick for organising.
Everyone is welcome to join Hook Players.
Full Membership with voting rights is only £15 a year.
Associate Membership with no voting rights is FREE!
https://hookplayers.co.uk/join-in-the-fun/
#HPBBQ2026
Everyone is welcome to join Hook Players.
Full Membership with voting rights is only £15 a year.
Associate Membership with no voting rights is FREE!
https://hookplayers.co.uk/join-in-the-fun/
#HPBBQ2026
