4 February 2027 – 19 January 2028
The Mill at Sonning has revealed its 2027 season, with five very different productions ranging from P.G. Wodehouse comedy to Cole Porter and a brand-new musical based on Victoria Hislop’s bestselling novel The Island. It is an ambitious programme for one of Britain’s most distinctive theatres.
1. The Island is the big new production
The centrepiece of the season is the world premiere of The Island, running from 10 June to 15 August 2027. Victoria Hislop’s bestselling novel is being turned into an actor-musician musical, telling a story of family, love, resilience and hope against the backdrop of Crete.
The production will be directed by Joseph Pitcher, who also directed The Mill’s award-winning Gypsy and its recent production of My Fair Lady. The ambition does not stop in Sonning either: The Mill hopes the musical could tour the UK in 2028 and ultimately reach much larger stages.
2. Jeeves and Wooster start the year
Jeeves and Wooster: Perfect Nonsense runs from 4 February to 21 March 2027.
Adapted from the stories of P.G. Wodehouse, it is a fast-moving comedy packed with character changes, theatrical tricks and wonderfully eccentric British humour. Sally Hughes will direct the production.
3. Bob Barrett will perform alongside his daughter
Neil Simon’s I Ought To Be In Pictures runs from 8 April to 23 May 2027.
Bob Barrett, well known as Sacha Levy in BBC One’s Holby City, will appear alongside his real-life daughter Francesca Barrett. The play follows an estranged father and daughter trying to reconnect after years apart, giving the production an interesting extra dimension.
4. There is a thriller for the autumn
From 9 September to 31 October 2027, The Mill turns to something rather darker with Peter Colley’s I’ll Be Back Before Midnight.
Set in an isolated farmhouse, what begins as a peaceful retreat gradually develops into a psychological thriller. It should provide a very different atmosphere from the musicals and comedies elsewhere in the season.
5. Kiss Me, Kate provides the big musical finale
The year finishes with Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, running from 19 November 2027 to 19 January 2028.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the musical mixes romance, backstage rivalry and comedy with songs including Too Darn Hot, Another Op’nin’, Another Show and Brush Up Your Shakespeare.
The 2027 programme feels like an important one for The Mill. Following its first UK tour with Death Comes to Pemberley in 2025, the theatre is looking beyond Sonning while continuing to offer the intimate combination of theatre, dinner and riverside setting for which it is known.
Find out more at millatsonning.com.
