Programme for the play on a reed mat

Have you been to the cinema lately? it’s not cheap. Before cinema, there was theatre, repertory theatre, and am-dram.

While many theatres of all types have perished and decayed since their heyday, some few have survived, and one of these is The Little Theatre on Grange Road West, in Birkenhead - home to The Carlton Players.

For a little theatre, it’s a pretty big building, and although you may not notice it when walking past, The Little Theatre is actually a converted church - and not an especially small one.

You wouldn’t notice it from the inside, either. It’s former purpose is unrecognisable, and once past the box office, you can proceed downstairs to the bar, or upstairs to the theatre proper.

The play we saw last night was “Same time, Next Year” by Bernade slade - a Tony nominated comedy about adultery, which has a an identically named and similarly Oscar nominated screen adaptation.

The premise is simple: a man and a woman, each married to other people have a one-night stand in a hotel in 1951, and each year return to the same room in the same hotel to meet up again and once again, to cheat on their spouses.

The production, which runs from February 11th to 14th February 2026, is a two-hander starring JD Justice and Emma Lucas as Doris.

From the start, I didn’t like the characters. Each of them has three children and is a cheater. George, in particular lies to Doris on their first meeting, but I found myself warming to them with each subsequent encounter as they update each other with the details of their normal lives, spouses, tragedies, and triumph. We see them evolve as people, with their situations and goals shifting over time. It’s funny, sharp, and emotionally shattering in places.

Lucas and Justice (I’m reliably informed that Justice is actually his middle name) had a hesitant start in the first act, with occasional missed lines, repeated dialogue and a few jokes that fell flat (watch out for the Peter Pan joke - it’s Chekov’s grim humour).

Once the curtain came up for the second act, though, the performance was tight. Timing was excellent, and I fully believed in the characters, their antics, politics, views, and their arcs through to the late 1970s. Rock solid - even if Justice’s long ponytail and bushy beard didn’t quite suit his character’s role as an accountant in the post-war period.

Aside from the acting, we were kept updated as to the period with popular songs from the era between acts, with the music creeping ever closer to the present day. It would have been nice to have had some early Queen in there.

The one constant, even as the music grows younger and George and Doris grow older, is the hotel room. The set takes up the whole of the stage and is a sensible reprensentation. It doesn’t distract, but has everything it should have, arranged in such a way as to make maximum use of the space. Set design is an often overlooked feature, but from the bedroom door to the window, the piano, and balcony window (with the sky growing darker in each scene), the designers nailed it.

7/10 would watch again - and it was barely more expensive than a cinema ticket.

You can see what’s on at the Little Theatre and Book tickets here.