The Audience (National Theatre Live screening)
Written by Peter Morgan, who also wrote the hit TV series 'The Crown', The Audience (play) centres on the weekly meetings or 'audiences' that Queen Elizabeth II (played here to great acclaim by Helen Mirren) had with her Prime Ministers - everyone from Winston Churchill to Tony Blair. Critical reviews were overwhelmingly four and five star.
"Helen Mirren is so good as Queen Elizabeth II in 'The Audience' that the star of stage, film and TV never needs to worry about a scene being stolen from her".(Ben Brantley - NYT).
Mirren's portrayal is "tartly humorous and profoundly human" and "makes The Audience a right-royal great night out" (Libby Purves- The Times).
Whatsonstage.com: ….praised Mirren's "magnificent performance" and the play's "imaginative range, incisive intelligence and lack of sentimentality".
When: Friday 27th February, 2026
Time: 7.30pm (doors and bar open 7pm)
Where: Combe Community Hub
Tickets: £13.01 (incl. Bk fee) £12 on the Door (if available)
The Penguin Lessons
A 2024 comedy-drama film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Steve Coogan and Jonathan Pryce. Based on a true story: in the 1970s writer and teacher Tom Mitchell rescued an oil-covered penguin and smuggled it across the border to his school class in Argentina. The film explores the impact the penguin had on him and his students during a turbulent time in Argentine political history. The film scores an outstanding 4.8 in viewers' reviews. Steve Coogan is, in every sense. outclassed by the (real) penguin.
"a quirky true-story heart warmer, in which an adorable penguin is apparently supposed to redeem not merely the human hero’s personal heartbreak but maybe even the agony of Argentina during the 70s junta" (Guardian review).
"This is a really sweet little movie telling a story about people struggling to deal with a range of adverse situations. Pathos & comedy nicely mixed, albeit sometimes a shade too sweet" (Audience review).
Cert 12A. Film will be shown with subtitles.
When: [TBD], 2026
Time: 8pm (doors and bar open 7.15pm)
Where: Combe Community Hub
Tickets: £5 on the Door