Theatre Absolute

20/10/2025

An empty space, yet for a brief moment we shared a story, The Walking Man.
Thank you to everyone who came to the shows and for all the good wishes, it was a wonderful way to close the company.
Keep writing, keep sharing your stories.

Love Chris & Jules xx
Theatre Absolute
(1992 - 2025)

16/10/2025

What an epic stage 😍. Thank you to all who joined us tonight for our second night of The Walking Man at Coventry Cathedral - our audiences have been fabulous. Can’t believe tomorrow night is the final performance 💖😭

Photo by Andy Moore

16/10/2025

16/10/2025

We had some wonderful BBC Coventry & Warwickshire coverage yesterday on radio, website and TV. Grateful for the support the BBC team have shown us over the years - see below for various interviews with Julia and Chris x 🎧

Catch us on Midlands Today on iPlayer at 19:50 mins in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002kx1t/midlands-today-evening-news-15102025

And on Vic Minett's CWR radio show at 23 mins on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002k948

Also on the BBC website 🙌 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqx3jxy7z4lo

Vic has great stories, great guests and The Rewind.

15/10/2025

Tonight marked an incredible opening night of The Walking Man at Coventry Cathedral - with a hypnotic performance by Clare Corbett to powerful, ambitious writing by Chris O’Connell under the careful direction of Erica Whyman. Thank you to our wonderful supportive audience. Excited for the next two sold out nights of shows! ✨✨

Thank you also to Tom Langford for the beautiful lighting, Derek Nisbet for operating and Bungle for his work as sound engineer for Chris’ soundscape. 🙌

Photo by Andy Moore

15/10/2025

Thank you so much to The Stage for this story 💔

Coventry-based Theatre Absolute is to close after more than 30 years, with its founders warning that running an independent company is becoming “harder and harder”.

Read more 👇

15/10/2025

Many thanks for sharing our story BBC Coventry & Warwickshire and inviting us on Vic Minnet’s radio show this morning. We will share the episode via BBC Sounds when available xx

Article on BBC website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqx3jxy7z4lo

A theatre company that has been operating in Coventry for more than three decades says its last ever show will be a very "special goodbye".

14/10/2025

Julia’s super pleased with herself for operating the lighting board 😀😉

The Walking Man starts tomorrow and is SOLD OUT! 🎉 If you managed to grab a ticket, see you there ✨

13/10/2025

We are so delighted that the esteemed Erica Whyman has been guiding us by directing The Walking Man, working closely with performer Clare Corbett and writer Chris O’Connell. Read her wonderful bio below or in the slide. And see you all this week for our three (sold out) performances of The Walking Man at Coventry Cathedral ❤️✨

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Erica Whyman is a theatre director and a creative leader. Most recently she directed Ben and Imo by Mark Ravenhill at the RSC and the Orange Tree, Hamnet by Lo**ta Chakrabarti from the novel by Maggie O’Farrell for the RSC and the West End, and Finding the Spindleberry by Natty Marks for the Leys Festival. She will revive Hamnet for a US tour in 2026. She had a long career leading theatres as Artistic Director of Southwark Playhouse, Artistic Director of The Gate Theatre Notting Hill, Chief Executive of Northern Stage, Newcastle and Deputy and later Acting Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. She first met Chris and Julia almost 20 years ago when Theatre Absolute toured to Northern Stage. She was Chair of Theatre503 for ten years and is now Chair of Improbable.

Her work on stage has included new plays by Alice Birch, Tom Morton-Smith and Hannah Khalil, a musical of the life of Joan Littlewood by Sam Kenyon and groundbreaking Shakespeare productions including Romeo and Juliet starring Bally Gill and Karen Fishwick, and Midsummer Night’s Dream; A Play For The Nation created with 14 amateur companies across the UK and a professional cast.

In 2021 she was Deputy Chair of the City of Culture, and she collaborated with Chris and with Chino Odimba and Jen Davis to co-create a two-day event FAITH with multiple communities in Coventry including directing four site-specific plays. The Return, by Chris, was performed in the ruins of the Cathedral.
She led the RSC out of the pandemic and her programme included the Olivier award-winning My Neighbour Totoro and Cowbois by Charlie Josephine. She is now freelance, and amongst other projects she is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford where she co-creates a summer festival with the community in Blackbird Leys.

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📷 Erica's portrait by Topher McGrillis

10/10/2025

It’s getting real … 👀

Coventry Cathedral with Clare Corbett and Erica Whyman. Photos by Chris

09/10/2025

Polaroids from rehearsals at The Nest, Talking Birds this week! Julia, Chris, Clare Corbett and Erica Whyman

Thrilled to share that all three of our performances of The Walking Man next week at Coventry Cathedral have now sold out! Thank you all SO MUCH for booking to join us 😘😘 See you soon!

Pics by Adele Mary Reed