Our House

The 2023 show for Leamington & Warwick Musical Society was Our House, the Olivier Award-winning musical featuring the songs of Madness, and written by Tim Firth, the writer of Calendar Girls.

The Leamington Courier described our opening performance as "a bold and rumbustious delight". Elementary What's On called it "unexpected and delightful".

Our six-show production run was from 14–18 March 2023 at the Royal Spa Centre. Tickets cost between £17–20. Under-16s paid only £10 for any seat, when accompanied by an adult, and seats with restricted view were the same price.

With a cast of over 30, featuring 300 costumes, and 32 costume changes from our leading actor alone, you'd have been mad to miss it!

About the show

Explore the themes of love, family values, growing up, responsibility and dealing with losing the people that shape us, in a musical which echoes Willy Russell's Blood Brothers and the 1998 romantic comedy film Sliding Doors.

Based in 1980s Camden Town, Our House tells the story of London lad Joe Casey, who, on the night of his sixteenth birthday, takes Sarah, the girl of his dreams, out on their first date. In an effort to impress her with bravado, he breaks into a building site overlooking his home on Casey Street. The police turn up, at which point Joe’s life splits into two: the Good Joe, who stays to help, and Bad Joe, who flees...

Featuring a collection of Madness hits including House of Fun, Baggy Trousers, Driving in my Car, It Must Be Love and, of course, Our House, the show is a very British musical! It was a witty, moving, high-energy show, full of character, song, and dance, perfect for a talented amateur ensemble company like LWMS, which had recently brought popular shows like Cats and Evita to life in Leamington with rave reviews.

Director Stephen Duckham
Musical Director Matt Flint
Choreographer Emily Lewis
Wardrobe Manager Sandy Weaver

production & publicity photos: Helen Ashworth, rehearsal photos: Alec Brown

This amateur production was presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International. All authorised performance materials were also supplied by MTI. Our House was first produced at the Cambridge Theatre, London on 28 October 2002, by Tiger Aspect Productions, Rupert Lord, Andre Ptaszynski and Phil McIntyre in association with Madness.