Month: September 2015

Through the Mill, a new play by Ray Rackham chronicling the life of Judy Garland, will get its world premiere in a three-week season at London Theatre Workshop from Tuesday 1st December to Saturday 19th December, 2015.

Taking place during three significant and distinct moments in Judy Garland’s career, Through the Mill charts her rise from teenager to MGM movie star, from “has-been” to concert hall darling and her short-lived career as a television personality.

On film, on stage or in people’s living rooms every Sunday evening, Garland was, and continues to be, one of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s golden age. As conflicted as she was celebrated, Through the Mill gives the audience an opportunity to go beyond the rainbow and witness the life of a woman destined for greatness, one who is as loved today as she was when she made her way along the yellow brick road.

Featuring a hit list of Garland greatest standards performed live by a cast of 12, Through the Mill will delight Garland aficionados and audiences new to her extensive catalogue of work.

Cast to be announced.

Through the Mill is written by Ray Rackham, Artistic Director of London Theatre Workshop and librettist lyricist of last year’s smash Christmas musical, Apartment 40C; which originated in the December 2014 slot at LTW and later transferred to St James Studio in April 2014

Through the Mill is directed by Max Reynolds (Ushers: The Front of House Musical at the Arts Theatre) and produced by London Theatre Workshop, whose recent productions include the critically acclaimed, sell out musicals Parade and Apartment 40C.

Produced by Skye Crawford for London Theatre Workshop.

 

 

WEST END MUSICAL PHENOMENON JERSEY BOYS COMES TO SHEFFIELD

 

Seen by over 20 million people worldwide, Jersey Boys, the internationally acclaimed hit musical telling the remarkable true story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons’ rise to fame, comes to the Lyceum Theatre from Tuesday 7 – Saturday 17 October.

Discover how four New Jersey boys from the wrong side of the tracks invented their own unique sound, were inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of fame and became one of the most successful bands in pop history in this sensational musical.

 

With spectacular performances of all of their hits, including Beggin’, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like A Man, Let’s Hang On (To What We’ve Got) and December, 1963 (Oh What A Night), Jersey Boys is the electrifying true life story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons; the mob, the heartaches, the triumphs and the music.

 

Firmly established as one of London’s longest running and most popular shows and the winner of 55 major awards, this dazzling production promises to thrill and delight music lovers of every age.

Jersey Boys is at the Lyceum Theatre from Tuesday 6 – Saturday 17 October.  Tickets can be purchased from Sheffield Theatres’ Box Office in-person, by phone on 0114 249 6000 or online at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk and are priced from £22.00 – £58.00 (a transaction fee of £1.50 (£1.00 online) applies to all bookings made at the Box Office, excluding cash), and discounts are available.

 

The Wintershall Nativity – bringing families together in the telling of the most famous story in the world

From 16-20 December at the Wintershall Estate in Surrey, families will flock to hear of how the hopes and fears of all mankind rest on birth of a baby, in a remote village on a cold night. The story of a baby born in an occupied country whose parents then become refugees as they flee a genocidal tyrant. This is the story of the Nativity.

The Wintershall Nativity has been performed in this picturesque place for over 25 years, growing in size and spectacle and becoming a firm favourite for families who want to celebrate Christmas in a traditional manner. The Hutley family and members of the community come together every year to bring the oldest and most treasured story of our time to life, ensuring it lives on for another generation.

‘Whatever your faith, or lack of it, it’s a moving narrative. It also provides a refreshing antidote to the rampant glitz of most seasonal theatre’.

Michael Billington, The Guardian

The familiar story begins with Mary and Joseph’s difficult journey to Bethlehem, and the appearance of Angel Gabriel to the shepherds in the fields, heralding the good news of the Messiah’s Birth. Songs and music accompany the arrival of the wise men on horseback, travelling to seek out the newborn.  The threat of King Herod builds and only a miracle will save the Holy Family from the approaching soldiers.

The Nativity features a cast of over 50 people including a choir, flocks of real sheep and donkeys (playing themselves) and all set to an especially composed score.  Directed by Kathy Longbottom, the production includes the 89 year old founder of Wintershall Peter Hutley as Simian, the elder in the temple, his great grandchild as the baby Jesus and James Burke-Dunsmore, who plays Jesus in the Passion Play on Good Friday in Trafalgar Square, as the Archangel Michael. The rest of the company are volunteers from in and around London and the South East.

Charlotte de Klee producer  of the Wintershall Nativity says ‘Christmas is about peace, acceptance and tolerance, so what  a privilege to be producing the oldest but forever new, life changing story of the birth of Jesus. Christmas in the true sense of the word. Putting the real meaning back into our rather exhausted, commercialised lives.’

As well the Nativity, the Wintershall Players has performed its famous passion play to tens of thousands of people at Wintershall and since 2012 in Trafalgar Square. The highlight each summer is The Life of Christ, a five hour open air play performed in the grounds of the Wintershall Estate.

Listings information:

Wintershall Nativity

Wintershall, Bramley, Surrey GU5 0LR
NB Come warmly dressed with boots/appropriate footwear. The ‘inn’ opens for tea, coffee and mince pies about an hour before each 90-minute performance.

Dates:             Wednesday 16, Thursday 17 and Friday 18 December at 4.45 pm and 7.30 pm, Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 December at 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm

Tickets:          £16.50 (adults), £8.50 (children)
Box Office:     www.wintershall-estate.com
Groups:          Please call 01793 418299 to book for groups larger than 10

LAST CHANCE TO SEE ORIGINAL CAST OFSUNNY AFTERNOON

CURRENT CAST’S FINAL PERFORMANCE ON 3 OCTOBER 2015

CURRENT CAST INCLUDES OLIVIER AWARD-WINNERS JOHN DAGLEISH AND GEORGE MAGUIRE

NEW CAST START ON 5 OCTOBER 2015

This week is the last chance for audiences to catch the original cast of Sunny Afternoon in the multi-Olivier Award-winning hit British musical which tells the story of the rise to fame of The Kinks.  Their final performance will be on the evening of Saturday 3 October.

The new cast will have their first performance on Monday 5 October and includes Danny Horn(Doctor Who; The Dead Dogs), who will play Ray Davies, with Oliver Hoare (Antony and Cleopatra, Chichester) as Dave Davies, Tom Whitelock (Times Square Angel, Union) as bassist Pete Quaife and Damien Walsh (Dreamboats and Petticoats) as drummer Mick Avory. At certain performances, the role of Ray Davies will be played by Ryan O’Donnell (Romeo and Juliet, RSC;Quadrophenia). Sunny Afternoon is currently taking bookings until 16 April 2016.

Much of the current company have been with the production since the sold-out run at Hampstead Theatre in 2014 including the Olivier Award-winning leads John Dagleish (Best Actor in a Musical) and George Maguire (Best Supporting Actor in a Musical).

With a book by Joe Penhall, music and lyrics and original story by Ray Davies, and directed by Edward Hall, Sunny Afternoon has established itself as a firm favourite with audiences and critics alike since it opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in October 2014.

Sunny Afternoon was the best performing show at this year’s Olivier Awards, winning four awards.  The production won Best New Musical, John Dagleish won Best Actor in a Musical, George Maguire won Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, and Ray Davies of The Kinks won for Outstanding Achievement in Music.

Forty-nine years ago this year, The Kinks were sitting at Number One in the UK charts with their single ‘Sunny Afternoon’. The band’s popularity has not faded since the 1960s, with crowds of all ages filling the Harold Pinter Theatre night after night.

Featuring some of The Kinks’ best-loved songs, including You Really Got Me, Waterloo Sunsetand Lola, Sunny Afternoon shows the music of The Kinks is still as popular as ever, more than 50 years since the band’s rise to fame.

Following a sold-out run at Hampstead Theatre, this world premiere production, with music and lyrics by Ray Davies, new book by Joe Penhall, original story by Ray Davies, direction by Edward Hall, design by Miriam Buether and choreography by Adam Cooper, opened at the Harold Pinter theatre on 28 October 2014. Lighting is by Rick Fisher, sound by Matt McKenzie and the Musical Supervisor and Musical Director is Elliott Ware.

The official cast recording album, produced by Ray Davies at his Konk studios, is released on BMG Chrysalis and is available to buy at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunny-Afternoon-The-Kinks/dp/B00NH8O7LU.

Sonia Friedman Productions commissioned Joe Penhall in 2011 to write the book based on Ray Davies’s original story. The company developed the production over the next four years, assembling the creative team and cast that presented Sunny Afternoon last year at Hampstead Theatre under the direction of Edward Hall, and now at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

Ray Davies is an influential and prolific rock musician and was co-founder and lead singer and songwriter for rock band The Kinks, and later a solo artist. He has an outstanding catalogue of hits from the earliest 1960s to the present day with estimated record sales in excess of 50 million. He has also acted, directed and produced shows for theatre and television.

Joe Penhall is an award winning playwright and screenwriter. Plays include Some Voices (Royal Court), Blue/Orange (National Theatre and West End), winner of Best New Play at the Evening Standard Awards, Olivier Awards and at the Critics Circle, and Dumb Show, Haunted Child andBirthday (all Royal Court). Screenplays include Enduring Love and The Road.

As Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre, Edward Hall’s productions include Wonderland,Sunny Afternoon, Raving, Chariots of Fire, No Naughty Bits, Loyalty and Enlightenment. As Artistic Director of Propeller, his work has toured worldwide, played the West End and Broadway and has won numerous awards both in the UK and overseas. Other theatre work includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (National Theatre), Edmond with Kenneth Branagh (National Theatre), Macbeth with Sean Bean (Albery), The Constant Wife(Apollo), Julius Caesar (RSC), Henry V (RSC) and The Deep Blue Sea (Vaudeville). Television work includes Downton Abbey, Spooks and Kingdom.  Edward is an Associate of the National Theatre and the Old Vic.

 

 STRICTLY COME DANCING
THE LIVE TOUR

RETURNS FOR A FAB-U-LOUS NINTH YEAR
WITH BRAND NEW HOST, STAR OF THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF……
MEL GIEDROYC

SHEFFIELD ARENA
TUESDAY 26^TH – WEDNESDAY 27^TH JANUARY 2016

Tickets for the 2016 Strictly Come Dancing Live UK Tour went on sale today, swiftly followed by the announcement of a brand new tour host – star of The Great British Bake Off and Strictly super fan, Mel Giedroyc. Mel will bring her hugely popular sense of humour and passion for all things Strictly to the live tour for the first time.

Mel Giedroyc said: “I’ve been a huge fan of Strictly Come Dancing for many years, so am thrilled to be hosting the 2016 UK Live Tour. The celebrity dancers and their professional partners will make for a sequin-tacular time on stage. (Note to self – must rent a pair of sparkling white dentures for January/February…). Who knows I might even shake a leg myself – as long as Strictly provide me with a surgical corset!

BBC One’s popular entertainment show Strictly Come Dancing returned to TV screens on Friday night for an exciting new series, with another amazing line up of famous faces from the worlds of show business, music, sport and television.

Tickets for the 2016 Strictly Come Dancing Live UK Tour, which stops off at Sheffield Arena Tuesday 26^th & Wednesday 27^th January 2016 are now on sale.

Tickets purchased by telephone on 0114 256 5656 or online at www.sheffieldarena.co.uk are priced £38.50 – £71.50 (including booking fee).

Tickets purchased in person at the Arena Box Office are priced £36.75 – £68.25 (including booking fee)

Judges from the TV series Len Goodman, Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli, will be back together again as they are reunited for the 2016 dates! Craig Revel Horwood will also direct the tour for the sixth year in a row. With all of the showbiz sparkle, breathtaking choreography and incredible live music that Strictly is famous for, audiences can experience everything that they love about the TV show live on stage.

Head Judge Len Goodman said: “It’s going to be great to be back on the tour watching some of the best dancers from the TV series out on the road. I can’t wait to find out who will be joining Craig, Bruno and myself – it’s going to be a lot of fun! We’ll be pulling out all the stops, with a terrific line up of celebs and their dance partners.”

Bruno Tonioli said: “It’s going to be fantastico! Who would believe that we’re on to our thirteenth series of Strictly and our ninth live UK tour? I can’t wait to see all those beautiful people in the arenas and all the passion on the dance floor.”

Craig Revel Horwood added: “I am very pleased to have my fellow amigos Len and Bruno back on tour with me! I’m extremely excited to be directing the show again and have lots of new surprises up my sleeve. It’s going to be another fab-u-lous extravaganza for the whole family to enjoy.”

This super-sized spectacular arena tour features many of the celebrities and professional dancers from the hugely anticipated thirteenth series, as they take to the dance floor and recreate their most popular TV dance routines. Details of celebrities and professional dancers appearing on tour will be announced over the next few months.

As with the television show, the judges will provide their invaluable wisdom, advice and scores at each performance. But not only are the celebrities and their dance partners competing for the judges’ scores, they will also be battling to win votes from the arena audiences, who can text vote via their mobile phones and ultimately have the power to decide who wins the prized Glitterball Trophy at the end of each performance.

The 30 show spectacular will visit the biggest entertainment venues across the UK including Sheffield Arena.

The tour has received rave reviews since it began in 2008 and the 2015 shows were no exception. The Daily Telegraph heaped praise on the production and gave it a 4 star review, saying: “the infectious atmosphere is hard to resist, proving that a dash of Strictly magic does a lot of good”.  The Daily Express and Sunday Express agreed, both awarding glowing 4 star reviews. The Daily Mirror said: “A show full of spectacle, with a great live band and singers”, while Metro said: “The perfect tonic for those winter blues, the live show features all the best elements from the TV series”.

Last December an audience of over 11 million viewers tuned in to watch the nail-biting Strictly Come Dancing Grand Final on BBC One, when TV presenter Caroline Flack was crowned the winner with her professional dance partner Pasha Kovalev.  The television format,  internationally known as Dancing with the Stars, is one of the most successful TV formats ever created and has been sold into over 50 countries around the world.

Tickets for the Sheffield Arena dates are now on sale, in person at the Arena Box Office, by telephone on 0114 256 5656 or online at www.sheffieldarena.co.uk.

London’s annual celebration of contemporary visual theatre

LONDON INTERNATIONAL MIME FESTIVAL

Saturday 9 January to Saturday 6 February 2016

www.mimelondon.com

 

‘Among the most exciting, eclectic and jaw-dropping theatre you are likely to see on a British stage’

– Sunday Times

The London International Mime Festival, directed by Helen Lannaghan and Joseph Seelig, is a unique event in the theatre calendar, a once a year chance to see the very best and newest contemporary visual theatre, including cutting edge circus-theatre, animation and puppetry, mask, physical and object theatre.

Over 29 days, 18 invited companies will give 112 performances of productions that are almost all UK or London premieres, at the Barbican, Central Saint Martin’s Platform Theatre, Jacksons Lane, Soho Theatre, Southbank Centre, The Peacock, and, for the first time, Tate Modern. Artists from Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Spain and Sweden will be joining some of Britain’s fast emerging talents as well as established names.

 ‘The aesthetic outlook of the London International Mime Festival, founded in 1977, remains evergreen, varied and vital. The works of physical/ visual theatre programmed by its astute co-directors enliven the typically bone-chilling post-holiday doldrums’  – The Times

The 2016 festival opens at the Shaw Theatre on Saturday 9^th January with Marcel performed by Complicité original members, Jozef Houben & Marcello Magni, produced by Peter Brooks’ famous Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris. A tender and witty exploration of how to get round ageing, these two distinguished performers revisit their early days with Complicité in celebrating the art of physical comedy and the beauty of the ‘gag’.

As a special festival highlight, Jozef Houben reprises his acclaimed performance-demonstration The Art of Laughter, explaining and illustrating what makes people laugh.

At The Pit, Barbican, Belgium’s BabaFish combines circus, dance theatre and ingenious stage design inExpiry Date, a heartwarming story about the passing of time and the fading of passion. BabaFish was a winner at Europe’s prestigious Jeunes Talents Cirque competition. Dark Circus by France’s Stereoptik is cinema created in front of your eyes using a live sound-score and the simplest everyday objects: paper, charcoal, sand and ink. In this unfortunate circus, every act ends in tragedy; the trapezist slips, the lion eats his tamer, the human canon-ball disappears into space. A collaboration between Pef, author and illustrator of The Prince of Motordu,  and numerous other children’s books, and performers Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Maillet this is highly skilled, multi-media live animation that is beautiful, and fun to watch. Then, from Germany, Figurentheater Tübingen, three expert puppeteers present Wunderkammer, a wondrous cabinet of curiosities inhabited by disembodied hands, flying fish and all manner of alluring objects and marionettes.

At The Barbican Theatre, Australia’s world-famous acrobatic troupe Circa re-imagines Il Ritorno, Monteverdi’s great opera about loss, war and the longing to return home. This spectacular fusion of show-stopping physicality, live opera and the ancient Greek story of Ulysses was created by circus visionary and artistic director of Circa, Yaron Lifschitz, with composer/arranger Quincy Grant. He Who Falls (Celui Qui Tombe) by Compagnie Yoann Bourgeois from France is an award-winning show of huge invention, skill and daring. Six superb dancers and circus artists seek to maintain their balance on board a vast suspended platform as it pivots, tilts and spins in space.

At Jackson’s Lane, Glasgow-based Al Seed, winner of a 2015 Total Theatre Award, performs Oog. Delving deep into the fractured mind of a shell-shocked soldier, this is an intensely physical and poetic exploration of the trauma of conflict and violence, and the psychological damage it inflicts. In Aneckxander, Belgian performerAlexander Vantournout rewrites the autobiography of his own body. The extraordinary result is a raw self-portrait in which the naked body both exposes itself to, and tries to escape from, the prying eyes of those looking on. Directed by Bauke Lievens, the show was a winner at Circus Next 2014.

 

It’s all beehive hairdos and 45s, mistaken morals and broken hearts in Vamos Theatre’s  The Best Thing, a bitter-sweet, ‘swinging sixties’ story of unconditional love, from the UK’s leading full mask theatre company.

 

Svalbard Company is an exciting, new, circus-theatre group from Sweden that wowed audiences at Glastonbury this year. In All Genius All Idiot it explores the internal conflict every human has between animalistic, primeval instincts, and human rational intellect. High tech meets nature, caveman meets science.

At The Peacock the Jakop Ahlbom Company from Holland offers a spine-tingling homage to the horror movie genre with Horror.  Ingeniously gruesome, genuinely scary and frequently very funny, it references Gothic classics and more contemporary frighteners like The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.Fresh from their recent Edinburgh success, Berlin based masters of mask theatre, Familie Floez return to LIMF with Infinita a roller-coaster visual comedy about birth, sex and getting older, with a cast of larger-than-life characters. It’s in our first and last moments that the greatest miracles occur.

Ockham’s Razor (UK) at the Platform Theatre give the London premiere of Tipping Point. Poles are balanced on fingertips, hung from the roof, lashed, climbed, swung from and walked along, they become forests, crossroads and pendulums, whilst the performers balance, climb and cling to this teetering world, supporting each other as they wrestle with the moment when things begin to shift. They must decide whether to rail against the chaos, struggling to exert order on a disordered world, or ride it out, allowing life to tilt towards the tipping point. 

 

New Zealand’s Trygve Wakenshaw returns to Soho Theatre, this time with his 2015 Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated show Nautilus. A tour-de-force of high-octane mime and the eagerly anticipated follow-up to last year’s sell-out physical comedy hit, Kraken. Why did the chicken cross the road? Trygve Wakenshaw has the definitive answer.  Inspired by the world of The Snowman and The Red Balloon, Kite by award-winning Devon based theatre company The Wrong Crowd is a play without words, with specially composed music, dance, puppetry, and of course kites. A poignant love-song to the wind, freedom and the joy of play.

At Southbank Centre, Xavier Bobés (Spain) creates an intimate salon setting for Things Easily Forgotten (Cosas Que Se Olvidan Facilmente). A brief history of Spain in the second half of the twentieth century, for five people at a time, the show unfolds in a powerful sequence of sensory experiences that invokes old memories and invents new ones.

Tate Modern is the venue for Spanish performer David Espinosa’s My Great Work

(Mi Gran Obra). Featuring 300 actors, a military orchestra, herds of animals, cars, helicopters and a rock band, Espinosa creates his “great work” on a white tabletop with the help of miniature figurines, proving that you don’t need a stadium-sized production to create significant works of art.

The Festival line-up will be complemented by workshops, films and artists’ talks.

Full programme details, including workshops and after-show discussion dates will be available online atwww.mimelondon.com from Friday 9^th October.

London International Mime Festival is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

 

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC_®

The UK’s No 1 live concert tribute show to ABBA and the Bee Gees

Saturday 7^th November 2015 ~ 7.30pm

Grand Opera House York

Cumberland Street, York, YO1 9SW ~ Tickets: £23.50

BoxOffice: 0844 871 3024  www.atgtickets.com/york

Facebook.com/ThankYouForTheMusicShow  Twitter.com/TYFTMShow

  

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC OUTLASTS ABBA IN THEIR PRIME!

Claiming to present the world’s longest-running ABBA concert show, the cast of Thank You for the Music – which comes to town in the coming weeks – are celebrating the trade-marked show’s 22^nd anniversary this year.

The production’s Lycra-tight harmonies and superb musicianship have been delighting live music fans for longer than Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida did during the 70s and 80s, according to its producer Michael Taylor.

“Combining literally scores of million-selling hits from both ABBA and the Bee Gees,” says Michael, “an extra-special sequin-spangled spectacular takes to the road in 2015.

“Entertaining the nation for longer than ABBA in their prime, the international smash-hit show’s all-star cast has delighted the world for longer than ABBA in their prime!”

An all-star ABBA revue is joined on stage by the UK’s No1 Bee Gees show, inviting music fans to enjoy a night of non-stop hits: Mamma Mia, Stayin’ Alive, Dancing Queen, Night Fever, How Deep is Your Love, Super Trouper; Bee Gees-penned smashes Islands in the Stream, Grease and If I Can’t Have You. . . and more.

“Seen the record-breaking movie?” says Michael. “Taken in the smash-hit West End musical? Bought the chart topping albums and singles?

“Now experience the UK’s No1 concert show Thank You for the Music!”

Now recognised as the leading ABBA and Bee Gees concert show – the trade mark for the name Thank You for the Music has been registered by the show’s producers.

 

TOP 10 ABBA HITS FROM THE SHOW:

1 Dancing Queen

2 Super Trouper

3 Mamma Mia

4 Waterloo

5 Thank You for the Music

6 Take A Chance on Me

7 The Winner Takes It All

8 Chiquitita

9 I Have A Dream

10 Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

Chart compiled from customer questionnaire

 

TOP 10 BEE GEES HITS FROM THE SHOW:

1 Night Fever

2 Stayin’ Alive

3 How Deep is Your Love?

4 Islands in the Stream*

5 Massachusetts

6 Jive Talkin’

7 If I Can’t Have You*

8 Tragedy

9 Grease*

10 Chain Reaction*

Chart compiled from customer questionnaire. *Songs written by the Gibb brothers and performed in the show

 

It has been announced that stars including John Hannah, Elaine Paige and Matt Lucas have been cast in the upcoming BBC One adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The 90-minute drama includes Paige as Mistress Quince, Lucas as Bottom, Hannah as Theseus, and Hamlet actress Maxine Peake as Titania.

Adapted by former Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies, the 90-minute drama will also star Richard Wilson and Bernard Cribbins, alongside Eleanor Matsuura, Hiran Abeysekera, Fisayo Akinade and Javone Prince.

They will be joined by Prisca Bakare, Paapa Essiedu, Kate Kennedy and Matthew Tennyson as the play’s four young lovers.

Commenting on the casting, Davies said: “This is such an exciting range of actors from stage and screen, from wild comedy to high drama, and some making their first ever appearance on camera. The dream is coming to life like never before.”

The one-off drama will be directed by David Kerr with choreography by Arlene Phillips.

The adaptation is due to air on BBC One in 2016 as part of the BBC’s Shakespeare season, which will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death.

Author J.K. Rowling has announced that the stage show based on her world famous wizard, Harry Potter, will be staged in two parts.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, written by Rowling and Jack Thorne and directed by John Tiffany, will receive its world premiere at the Palace Theatre next year.

Talking on fansite Pottermore, director Tiffany said:

“[The Cursed Child] shares a scale and ambition with all the Harry Potter stories so in order to do this justice we have decided to present the play in two parts.”

Writer, Thorne added:

“Obviously I loved it when we decided to tell this story in two parts because I got to spend more time with the characters and what an honour that has been.”

Tickets for the production, which opens in the summer next year, are due to go on sale before the end of the year.