The Epsom Playhouse is Epsom's local theatre. Located at the back of the Ashley Centre complex, it…read morehas good parking facilities nearby as well as access to the collection of restaurants and pubs on South St if you don't fancy eating at the theatre's own cafe. Typical for a local theatre, there's a lively collection of different types of shows, ranging from professional productions to local scout groups' gang shows. Over the years, I've enjoyed laughing to Greg Proops (from Whose Line is It Anyway), singing and gesturing along merrily to Sing-a-long Sound of Music, watching box office films and attending ballet and orchestra performances. If you plan to attend regularly, you can become a member and get reduced ticket prices. Local theatre is always worth a look

went to see lee evans here, one of the funniest stand ups ive seen, so had a brilliant night…read more drinks were a bit pricey at the bar, and service a bit slow. ticket price was very reasonable, and the show last for around 3 hours including the break

Being The Thespian as my nickname I recall going to this Theatre when Sir Harry late of the Goons…read morewas still with us!

The Secombe Theatre is under the the umbrella of Sutton theatres which includes the Charles Cryer…read moreStudio Theatre. The Secombe is based in the heart of Sutton and within easy reach of the train station. The theatre is very family friendly and mainly hosts musical theatre type productions. There is a small bar on site that is open before and after productions.

This venue has been around forever, well forever in my lifetime…read more They always house a variety of different events from the usual Christmas pantomime to Swan Lake. They have a couple of bars in there depending on what shows are on will affect which bars they open. Sometimes the staff are not sure which one is open until told by the evening supervisor. Speaking of bars I was at the venue for a show and with my ticket you were meant to get a discount on wines, beers and spirits, however the bar staff were oblivious to this and it was not until a supervisor came along they knew what was going on. I have been to several productions in this venue from school performances to performances from seasoned actors and have always enjoyed them. They often have art exhibitions in the upper part of the venue and sometimes these are free to view but not always. What I like about the venue is that they have, what I consider to be a friends of Fairfield Halls work force. These people look as though they are retired (apologise if they are not and I am doing them a disservice) who man the stairs and lobby areas directing people to the right areas of the venue for there activity. In terms of parking there is limited parking at the front of the venue which is £5 for an evening stay and I have no idea about the prices during the day. I would say that East Croydon station is a 5/10minute walk dependant on your speed and it is also served by good public transport out front. There is a car park below the venue and I believe you can get discount for parking their when you buy something from one of the concessions within the food area, but I cannot remember which it is, sorry. A good venue to see a show or a tribute band or the local schools production, my it be around forever, as long as I am anyway.

A useful venue with a large hall or two and a variety of smaller rooms.read more

Braithwaite Hall is part of the Croydon Clocktower. It is one of the few places in Croydon where…read moreyou can find slightly off the wall, fringe theatre and it's a perfect venue for this sort of thing. It's quite a small space - which means it's intimate - and the seating can be arranged in a variety of ways to suit the performances. I've been to see several shows here in the last few months, ranging from circus acts to jazz/blues fusion via a one man physical performance and puppetry - all very different and slightly strange. Sometimes, when the houselights are up, you can still see the booklined walls of the gallery and the dark wood panels where they haven't quite curtained everything off properly. The Croydon Clocktower is very well placed in Croydon, being close to East Croydon station and even closer to bus and tram stops. If you've got a bit of time to spare before or after a performance there is always some kind of exhibition that you can peruse and, just outside the Braithwaite Hall (and David Lean cinema) is a cosy cafe where you can happily kill some time. All this inside the Clocktower - as well as the library which is quite large. This is a true pearl in Croydon amidst the naff nichtclubs and bland high street shops that are around the corner.

At a time when it costs over £20 for a family to go to the movies I am a real fan of Empire Cinema…read morein Sutton. On Tuesdays and Thursdays all tickets for all films are priced at £3.95 which makes it affordable again. Seats are a bit tired and need new covers, perhaps now not as plush as some cinemas but who cares only there for a couple of hours. Thank you Empire!

The good news is that, as the theatre industry dies, you can get a good seat almost any day for…read morealmost any film. Since they're not that popular any more, they're not as roughly treated by the populace. And since theatres are trying to improve their image and retain customers, they tend to be nicer seats, better kept, and more comfortable. Of course the food is an utterly outrageous rip-off. And the advertisements before the film are so bad that they literally run for about 20 minutes. I routinely plan to be 15 minutes late. I still get a good seat and I skip most of the ads. And they want £10 for the pleasure of seeing it once. It's only £20 to own it on the day it comes out. Theatres are like living museums. A testament to a bygone era when your home TV or theatre system sucked and the theatre was an amazing place. You know what theatres don't have? A pause button. My TV does. Why does this matter? The trend in filmmaking is ever longer run-times. Blockbusters like Star Wars and Indiana Jones were 90 minutes. Today blockbusters are 120, or even 180 minutes. If you're selling me a 2 litre bottle of coke for £8.00, i'm probably going to need the loo in the next 3 hours. My friends can come to my house, we can eat our own food, we can pause the film to talk about something, we can pause the film for a bio break, we can rewind and hear that bit of dialog that we missed. Seriously, though. if you have a family of 4 you can rent a film in your own house and order out pizza for the same or less than the admission and parking costs. Add in buying even a modest amount of food at the theatre, and the theatre wastes more time (driving, sitting through ads), gives you less food, and makes you miss some of the film if you go to the toilet. And who are the big drivers for going to films? Kids: people who famously need the toilet a lot more often than grown-ups do. Anyways, that's enough of a rant. This theatre is like all the others: it's main attraction is you can see the film before it is released to DVD. Otherwise, it is overpriced and wastes lots of extra time.