Mercury Theatre, led by Executive Director, Steve Mannix, Executive Producer, Tracey Childs and Creative Director, Ryan McBryde, today announce their programming into 2023.

The season opens with Run Rebel in a co-production between Mercury and Pilot Theatre, the award-winning company that brought Noughts and Crosses and The Bone Sparrow to the Colchester stage. Tessa Walker directs the world première adaption of Manjeet Mann’s Carnegie Medal-winning young adult novel, combining physical theatre and visual effects, and opening 2 March, with previews from 25 February, running until 4 March.

Opening next is a new Mercury Production of They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!, Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Dario Fo’s Sotto paga? Non si paga!. Directed by Ryan McBryde, this ferociously funny political farce asks what lengths people will go to when they’re desperate to survive. The production opens on 22 March, with previews from 17 March, and runs until 31 March.

Next, Mercury Creatives alumni Mia Jerome brings a new Mercury Original to the stage in her uplifting children’s show The Instrumentals. As part of a UK tour, the show features soulful music, seventies grooves and innovative puppetry. Drawing on inspiration from the African-Caribbean diaspora, The Instrumentals celebrates the way people hold memories, running in Mercury’s Studio Theatre from 30 May to 3 June.

Derren Brown’s astounding new production Unbelievable is Mercury Theatre’s summer spectacle, directly ahead of the show’s West End run. A cast of seven will bring magic to the Colchester stage, in a show created by the Olivier Award-winning illusionist, whose five-star sell-out production of Showman is currently playing in the West End. Unbelievable begins previews from 28 July and runs until 26 August.

Creative Director Ryan McBryde said today, “At the Mercury, our aim is to provide exhilarating, shared experiences for our community and our 2023 Spring season is a programme of new shows that promise great nights out like no other. We’re tackling the cost-of-living crisis head on with Dario Fo’s side-splitting satire, They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay! as we work with Deborah McAndrew to bring the show right up to date with current events. We’re delighted to be launching Pilot Theatre’s electrifying new adaptation of Manjeet Mann’s Carnegie Medal-winning novel Run Rebel as it tours the country with our co-production partners. Colchester audiences will be the first to exclusively access a new work from master illusionist Derren Brown, who will be conjuring up a brand-new show, Unbelievable. And finally, our Studio continues to provide a platform for ground-breaking new work including The Instrumentals, a new Mercury Original family musical full of soulful sounds and seventies grooves written Mia Jerome, one of our alumni from the ground-breaking Mercury Creatives scheme. I can’t wait to share all this work with our audiences, along with a few more surprises up our sleeves in 2023.”