29 Jun 2026
If you are looking for two hours of unadulterated laughs, then The Company of Ten in St Albans are standing by to deliver.
They will be staging the contemporary dark comedy Sheila’s Island next month in the Abbey Theatre Studio. Scripted by Calendar Girls playwright Tim Firth, it tells of the comic goings on when four female workmates on a corporate teambuilding exercise in the Lake District get stranded on a tiny island in Derwentwater with little hope of rescue any time soon.
Suddenly their carefully managed office lives turn into a scramble for survival, where friendships fray, secrets emerge, alliances shift and each woman must confront who she really is. The island may be small, but the emotional stakes are huge.
The play explores the absurdity of competition, the messiness of female bonds and how far people will go when stripped of routine. The question the play asks is: When groups of individuals face extreme adversity how can they survive if they don’t work as a team?
Director Rosemary Goodman said: “Sheila’s Island will prove a welcome relief from all the distressing news we hear every day on the media. Audiences will be able to enjoy a much-needed couple of hours of silliness and laughter.
“Our main challenge is how to turn our Studio into an island, giving the actors actual water to wade through. I want to give our audiences the opportunity to believe they are sitting at the water’s edge watching the four hapless women come to terms with the terrain and the freezing cold temperatures. The challenge for the actors may be having to use all their acting skills if there is another heatwave during the run!”
Performances take place on Friday July 3 to Saturday July 4 at 8pm, Saturday July 4 to Sunday July 5 at 2.30pm, and Tuesday July 7 to Saturday July 11 at 8pm. Please note there is no performance on Monday July 6. Book tickets at www.abbeytheatre.org.uk.
