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In December 2025, The Theatres Trust, in partnership with the Wolfson Foundation, awarded the Criterion £12,000 from its “Theatre Improvement Scheme” to support the journey towards reducing our environmental impact.
Find out more about our environmental sustainability aims here
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Popcorn
A play adaptation of the best-selling 1996 novel of the same name by well-known comedian and author Ben Elton.
Set against the glimmering backdrop of Hollywood, Popcorn follows acclaimed film director Bruce Delamitri on the night of his Oscar triumph. His celebrations are cut short when two violent intruders — fans who claim his movies inspired their crimes — invade his home.
A sharp, darkly comic thriller, Popcorn interrogates the relationship between art, celebrity, and responsibility in a culture addicted to spectacle and violence.
When Popcorn was first written, it was asking, do violent movies create a violent society? Can minds be corrupted by images and ideas presented in films? In the era of social media this has perhaps more potency: do platforms which are often unregulated, cause any damage and desensitise minds?
'Sugar-coated fury: Ben Elton's hit delivers big laughs and a brutal message" The Evening Standard
"Popcorn is a blast... A breath of fresh air " London Theatre Guide
"Ben Elton tries to tackle a massively controversial subject and succeeds in a script that makes you think incredibly hard about the morals of modern media." The Stage
"An exhilarating, exhausting and relentless comic indictment of a society out of control" The Herald
In line with our EDI policy, we undertake an EDI impact assessment of all our artistic programming. This play has no central diversity message. On the character notes, there are indications where specific playing gender identifications are called for and there are also recommendations of approximate playing ages. Otherwise there can be flexibility around casting with regard to ethnicity, age and disability.
Turning the Criterion Green
Turning the Criterion Green
Since 1961, the Criterion Theatre has entertained audiences from its home on Berkeley Road South, Earlsdon. For many years it has been recognised that our wonderful building needs modernising to take it into the future and to support all our users and visitors.
Thanks to an incredible gift left by Chris Murly (one of our founding members) and generous donations over many years we have been able to complete the Front of House redevelopment which officially opened in December 2025.
But that is just the start of our plans, with our sights now set on:
- Air conditioning in the auditorium and dressing rooms to remove the reliance on the Victorian heating system and improve our green credentials
- Investing in roof and wall insulation to make the building easier and cheaper to heat and cool
- Adding solar panels to our roof to generate electricity and support our net-zero challenge
- Replacement of the remaining Tungsten lights
As a volunteer-led, charitable theatre company we rely on the generosity of our volunteers, audience members and donors to continue a tradition that stretches back 70 years. If you feel you can help via a one-off donation, a regular contribution or playing the Criterion Lottery, please contact Barbara Sowerby at fundraising@criteriontheatre.co.uk to discuss how you can help or alternatively via our Just Giving page