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Gallery Players were proud to present …

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 & 3/4 – The Musical!

book and lyrics by Jake Brunger, music & lyrics by Pippa Cleary

(Past show – July 2022)

Life’s pretty hard when you’re a 13¾ year-old misunderstood intellectual living in a cul-de-sac in 1981. With dysfunctional parents, ungrateful elders and a growing debt to school bully Bertha Kent, Adrian Mole’s life simply couldn’t get any worse. So when luminous new girl Pandora joins Adrian’s class, things look set to change for our hapless hero. She immediately captures his heart, only for his best friend Nigel to steal hers…

Based on the classic bestselling novel by Sue Townsend, this critically acclaimed West End musical brought Britain’s best-loved spotty teenager’s story to life for a new generation of theatregoers. Directed by Wade Ablitt (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Gutenberg!) and featured a cast of Suffolk’s finest performers, The Gallery Players were very proud to be present one of the first productions of this hilarious and charming British musical since it’s 2019 West End production.


Book & Lyrics by Jake Brunger

Music & Lyrics by Pippa Cleary

Based on the hit book series by Sue Townsend

Lyn Gardener in The Guardian wrote that Mole was “… a show constantly paying neat homage to previous British musicals and the traditions of the TV sitcom, and yet always staying distinctive and true to its source material… a quaint, unassuming little charmer.”

Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph wrote that “this all-singing, all-dancing Mole comes up trumps … the evening does that rare thing: it makes you laugh, tugs at your heart-strings and honours the spirit of the original while being playfully inventive… this fresh, funny, stirring spin on a Thatcher-era classic may be around for a long time to come.”

Dominic Maxwell in The Times wrote “it’s no small achievement to make this first musical version such a lively, evocative pleasure… amusing and affecting enough to leave you glowing… a thoroughly charming evening: faithful to the book but with a tenderness of its own.”

Here’s a little taster of this wonderful show courtesy of the trailer for the recent West End show!

When and Where?


Past Show – July 2022


The Gallery Studio Theatre,
St George’s Street
Ipswich,

Suffolk,
IP1 3NF