THE Nuffield Theatre’s spring season bursts into life with a magnificent line-up to tempt all tastes! A fantastically-varied programme with a truly international flavour includes classics and new plays, theatrical circus, riotous comedy, a busy season of Studio theatre, cutting edge stand-up, children’s shows and workshops for all ages.

The new season begins in the Studio Café Bar with the magical-realist fantasy White Rabbit from January 13 – 17, written by former member of the Nuffield Writer’s Group, Fiona Mackie. A teenage girl revisits her younger self in an attempt to explore the reasons for her parents’ divorce and, in doing so, discovers the suffering of a seemingly careless father and the cruelty of a system that has kept them apart.

The Convict’s Opera, from February 17 to 21, comes from visiting company Out of Joint and marks the start of the new season in the Main House. Featuring a cast of stunningly- talented actor-musicians drawn from Britain and Australia, this fantastic re-imagining of the classic musical comedy The Beggar’s Opera is brimming with infamy, intrigue, fun and romance!

Oscar Wilde meets international espionage in the seriously silly Spyski! (Or The Importance of Being Earnest) from March 24 – 28. Peepolykus are rehearsing The Importance of Being Earnest when they are distracted by the appearance of a strange surveillance officer. Suddenly they are plunged headlong into a daft global conspiracy involving poisoned Russian spies and state secrets which guarantee to bring an end to the world as we know it!

Circo de la Sombar on April 4 and 5 get the Easter holiday off to a flying start with their mischievous interpretation of the traditional travelling circus show. Try to resist the temptation to run away with the circus as six of the finest acrobats from Spain, France and Italy create a breathtaking world of charming characters, super slap-stick, stunning skills and ace acrobatics, leaving reality and gravity far behind!

Aisha waits behind twenty bolts and a stuck down letterbox for the killer she knows will inevitably find her in Peeler (May 27 – 30).

Don’t miss this excellent gripping new thriller from Southampton writer Maggie Nevill.

The wind-swept Haworth Moor will be replaced by the scorched desert landscape of Rajasthan as Brontë goes Bollywood in Tamasha’s Wuthering Heights between June 2 and 6. This sumptuous musical interpretation of Emily Brontë’s classic and tempestuous story of passion, jealousy and revenge will captivate theatregoers of all ages.

Other Main House highlights include a rare opportunity to see Racine’s Andromaque (March 18 – 21) in French with English surtitles, a spectacular, bizarre and eventful evening of mystery and magic in Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness (February 26 – March 7), Federico Garcia Lorca’s passionate and disturbing drama The House of Bernarda Alba (April 23 – May 9) and one of the late Harold Pinter’s best-loved and most accessible plays Betrayal (May 14 – 23).

Other plays in the Studio include: the hilarious one-woman show Gusset (February 23 – 25) and the surreal Edinburgh Fringe Festival sell-out Paperweight (March 31 – April 2). Brighton’s legendary contemporary vaudeville company, Voodoo Vaudeville (April 3) return with a whirlwind cabaret of extreme acts, bizarre characters and fabulous music following sell-out performances in April and November 2008, and Stan’s Café present Home of the Wriggler (May 12 and 13), a playful production set in the year 3006.

The critically-acclaimed Russell Kane heads up a packed comedy season in The Comedy Bar’s Big Gig (January 17) with support from cult comedy legend Simon Munnery and top musical stand-up Rob Deering.

Other main house stand up this season includes the gloriously funny John Shuttleworth (February 15), the first solo stand-up show from Simon Day (March 1) and one of Britain’s most talked about comedians Mark Watson (March 8). Acts in the Studio include Russell Kane (February 8), Jon Richardson (February 22), Mitch Benn (March 15), Paul Foot (April 26) and the award-winning Ivan Brackenbury (May 3).

Among the children’s productions this spring are The Emperor and the Nightingale (January 24), Rome – The Empire Strikes Back (March 14 and 15) and Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late (May 9).

Tickets are available from 023 8067 1771 or nuffieldtheatre.co.uk