The Boy Who Cried Wolf Review

York Theatre Royal (Studio) – until Saturday 12 October 2019

Review by Zoe Giles

4****

The Boy Who Cried Wolf written by Mike Kenny, with stage manager Kirsty Smith, York Theatre Royal and working with Tutti Frutti once again managed to put together a delight of story telling, music, dance and acting to re-tell this well known classic tale.

On entering the studio we were met by the characters: Silas – Alex Wingfield, Mum – Florence Russell and Grandad – Guido Garcia Lueches, busy knitting away which instantly made the younger members of the audience feel at ease and part of the production.

Although the set was very limited and some might say basic, clever use of lighting and props along with movement around the stage area lead us to believe we were joining Grandad and Silas up high in the mountains or all warm and cosy at home with all the family knitting away for the all important jumper of the year competition! We were even treated to snow through clever use of prop’s and lighting.

The children in the audience especially seemed to like the “sheep” my own son included who found them hilarious, they were dancing around, giving high five’s and even “flossing” hearing the children laughing must have been music to the actor’s ear’s knowing their intended audience were enjoying themselves.

The play itself lasts approximately an hour which for the younger children it’s aimed at is the perfect time, I took my ten year old son with me, thankfully he really enjoyed it and found it funny but in truth I would personally recommend for slightly younger children and preschooler’s as an introduction to the theatre.

A nice touch was the actor’s speaking to the children after the show as they left the studio and engaging them in conversation about the story and encouraging them to draw, paint and do art’s and craft.

Over all a delightful performance from all involved and I would recommend to all with little one’s.

Mother of Him Review

Park Theatre – until 26 October 2019

Reviewed by Claire Roderick

4****

How deep is a mother’s love for her child? Are there limits to that love when the child has committed a heinous crime? Evan Placey’s intense play is based on a real incident involving past schoolmates and features a powerhouse performance from Tracy-Ann Oberman as Brenda Kapowitz, a formidable single mother raising her two boys.

Matthew Kapowitz’s (Scott Folan) crime is not revealed at first, instead we see younger brother Jason reluctant to leave the house to go to school. The flashes and shouts as he opens the front door from the media scrum signal the seriousness of the crime, along with his mother’s reactions as she talks about Matthew. Matthew is under house arrest as he awaits sentencing for rape and lawyer and family friend Robert (Simon Hepworth) is trying to ensure that 17-year-old Matthew is sentenced as a child.

Written around the time when Madeleine McCann disappeared, Placey’s play focuses on the press and public interest in the mother, and their voracious and salacious appetite for finding fault and blame. Oberman prowls around the house as if she is in a 1940s melodrama, passionate, angry and magnificent. Folan as Matthew is almost monosyllabic about his crime and the consequences, only relaxing and becoming more human when around his little brother, until he suddenly returns to reality and almost phases out – a strong and convincing performance. Jason is played by Matt Goldberg and Hari Aggarwal, with Matt Goldberg wonderfully natural as the effusive eight-year-old struggling to cope with the situation. The other characters don’t make much of an impression (despite solid performances from the cast) as their roles are to present and confront Brenda with new problems, allowing Oberman to shine – just light the fuse and retreat to a safe distance. The play takes place over Hanukkah, but this Jewish family are having a Hanukkah from hell and trying not to tear each other apart. The scene where Jason insists on lighting the first candle of Hanukkah will make you laugh and cry as he cajoles Brenda and Matthew into doing everything properly. The ridiculous visuals soon melt behind tears as Matthew sings like an angel and the frightened child behind the sullen teenager shines through. Oberman’s emotional journey plumbs the depths of a mother’s soul, and after all the amazing histrionics, it is her quiet and shattering account of meeting one of Matthew’s victim’s mother that hits hardest, as she realises that the woman is the only one who truly understands what she is going through.

Lee Newby’s set is monotone grey – milk cartons, TVs, phones – everything is grey, signalling that this family’s home has already become a prison. The multifunctional set is like an IKEA fetishist’s dream, with blocks being rearranged to create various rooms in the house. This is ingenious but a little time consuming, so radio interviews and Vox pops are played over the scene changes, ramping up the pressure on Brenda as the public sit in judgement on her and her perceived failings as a mother.

Mother of Him is an intense and powerful drama, with Tracy-Ann Oberman at her very best.

EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE EXTENDS BOOKING TO SATURDAY 29 AUGUST 2020 AND LAUNCHES NATIONAL SEARCH FOR THE NEXT JAMIE NEW

EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE

EXTENDS BOOKING TO SATURDAY 29 AUGUST 2020

AND LAUNCHES NATIONAL SEARCH FOR THE NEXT JAMIE NEW

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the award-winning feel good musical sensation, today announces the opening of a new booking period until Saturday 29 August 2020. Dazzling audiences at London’s Apollo Theatre since November 2017 the musical celebrates its 2nd Birthday in the West End on Wednesday 6 November beginning its 3rd joyful year. 

As Layton Williams, the current star, sets off from the Apollo to lead the first national tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the Producers are launching a national search for an outstandingly talented undiscovered young performer to play schoolboy Jamie at the Apollo theatre from January 2020. Open auditions will be held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on 8 October and at the Apollo Theatre, London on 10 October. 

For more information about open auditions please visit: www.EverybodysTalkingAboutJamie.co.uk.

Nica Burns, Producer, said:

Thanks to our fantastic audiences, we are delighted to be extending and playing our third year at the Apollo.  We have found some fantastic young performers to join Layton Williams and Shane Richie on tour.  In the spirit of this musical, we are opening the doors to unknown talent alongside today’s young professionals in the search for our new Jamie.

The first national tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie opens in Sheffield on 8 February 2020 and starsLayton Williams as Jamie New and Shane Richie as Hugo / Loco Chanelle who both reprise their roles from the West End.

Jamie New is sixteen and lives on a council estate in Sheffield.

Jamie doesn’t quite fit in.

Jamie is terrified about the future.

Jamie is going to be a sensation.

Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight. With catchy songs by lead singer-songwriter of The Feeling, Dan Gillespie Sells, and book and lyrics by writer Tom MacRae, this funny, fabulous, feel-good, musical sensation has been wowing audiences and critics alike. Sixteen: the edge of possibility. Time to make your dreams come true.

Watch the Everybody’s Talking About Jamie trailer here.

Music by Dan Gillespie Sells

Book and Lyrics by Tom MacRae

From an idea by Jonathan Butterell

Directed by Jonathan Butterell

Design by Anna Fleischle

Choreography by Kate Prince

Lighting design by Lucy Carter

Sound design by Paul Groothuis

Casting by Will Burton

Musical Supervisor Theo Jamieson

Musical Director Richard Weeden

Video Design Luke Halls

Yorkshire theatre company Pilot Theatre nominated for two awards at prestigious UK Theatre Awards

Yorkshire based Pilot Theatre nominated for two awards at prestigious UK Theatre Awards

Pilot Theatre are delighted to announce that their critically acclaimed production, with Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre Colchester and York Theatre Royal, of Malorie Blackman’s award winning novel Noughts & Crosses has been nominated in the Best Show for Children and Young People category at the prestigious UK Theatre Awards 2019.

The other nominated productions in the category are Billionaire Boy the Musical (Nuffield Southampton Theatres in association with Belgrade Theatre, Coventry) and Tale Trail to the Wind in the Willows (New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme). In 2008 the company won  in the same category for their production of Looking for JJ.

The York based theatre company have also been nominated in the category of Excellence in Touring alongside Northern Ballet and the National Theatre of Scotland.

The UK Theatre awards, the biggest of their kind outside London, are the only nationwide Awards to honour outstanding achievement in regional theatre throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Amanda Smith, Executive Producer and Joint Chief Executive of Pilot Theatre said:

We are delighted to be nominated twice at the UK Theatre Awards. Half of the audience for Noughts & Crosses were young people, so it is great to see the production and the tour celebrated in this way.” 

Noughts & Crosses was the first co-production between Pilot Theatre, Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre, Colchester and York Theatre Royal who last year formed a new partnership to develop theatre for younger audiences. From 2019-2022 the consortium will commission and co-produce an original mid-scale production each year. Each production will play in all the consortium venues as well as touring nationally.  Schools workshops and outreach projects, along with free digital learning resources, will be available alongside each of the productions. In Feb the consortium will premiere at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Emteaz Hussain’s new adaptation of Alex Wheatle’s award winning novel Crongton Knights

The UK Theatre Awards 2019 winners will be announced on October 27 at London’s Guildhall.

Halfway to Paradise Review

Grand Opera House York – Wednesday 25 September 2019

Reviewed by Michelle Richardson

3***

Back in the sixties Billy Fury enjoyed success, with several hits in the charts. With some two dozen hit singles he was frequently referred to as “Britain’s Elvis”. Though painfully shy off stage, he had a magnetic on stage presence, blessed with good looks, a great voice and a mix of sexual rebel and a vulnerable little boy, a killer combination. Unfortunately, with this winning formula he was plagued with ill health, due to contracting rheumatic fever, which curtailed his career. Ultimately this saw his premature death in 1983, at the age of 42, just as he was about to release some new music.

For Halfway to Paradise, a celebration of his music, his backing band from the 1970’s, Fury’s Tornados, wanting to keep his music alive, has teamed up with Colin Gold. Gold appeared in Stars in Their Eyes 23 years ago as Fury, and has been touring with this show ever since. Playing most of his songs, it was a couple of hours of a song packed show.

Though older than Fury was, Gold takes on his persona, strolling onto stage with his gold jacket, collar up and hair quiff. Each of the band Charlie Eston, Chris Raynor, John Raynor and Graham Wyvill provide solid support for Gold, each member having their own spotlight moment. What made the show more interesting were the stories told by the band of Fury, and their experiences with him. Another plus was the big screen behind with photos, and tales of the time.

I’m not sure why I chose to see this particular show, I suppose I thought I knew Billy Fury’s music, but I didn’t. I only really knew one song, the title piece, and I suppose as a result I did find it quite hard to get fully immersed into the show. Even though I did not know the tunes, they were quite easy to pick up and I was jigging along in my seat and “silently” singing along to the songs, luckily for those sat near me.

The audience seemed happy enough with the cheer at the end. An evening of celebration and nostalgia, but probably suited to certain generation, who certainly remember a talent who could have been so much more, if only his health had held out. Today, the day after the show I was speaking to a friend, who is the next generation up from me, and she had actually been to see the real Billy Fury in his heyday. She was full of praise and talked about his stage presence and what a looker he was, so I suppose it is only right that we are still celebrating his contribution today.

Casting announced for Robert Chesley’s ‘Jerker’ at The King’s Head Theatre

King’s Head Theatre announces casting for

Robert Chesley’s Jerker:

A pornographic elegy, returning to London for the first time in 29 years

King’s Head Theatre and Making Productions are pleased to announce casting for Robert Chesley’splay Jerker, which returns to London for the first time in 29 years. Tibu Fortes will play Bert and Tom Joyner will play J R, directed by Ben AndersonJerker runs at the Kings Head Theatre between 30 October and 23 November 2019.

Jerker has been described as “one of the most important pieces of gay theatre ever created” (Los Angeles Times). It also has the dubious reputation of triggering stricter broadcast indecency guidelines in the US, after excerpts of the play were aired on KPFK Pacific Radio in Los Angeles in 1986. The one and only previous staging of Jerker in London, was directed by Stephen Daldry at the Gate Theatre in 1990.

As the AIDS epidemic intensifies in the early 80’s, Bert and J.R. begin having phone sex. They’ve never met, never seen each other and never touched, but together, they explore their wildest fantasies and the contours of their lonely souls. Both erotic and tender, this intimate two-hander will leave you breathless before breaking your heart. 

In addition to its erotic nature, Jerker embodies a deeper social importance. It reflects one of the worst periods in gay history, where the stigma of AIDS hung over the gay community, heightening public prejudice. The fear and silence around this subject was broken by a new wave of plays that began to emerge on the topic, acknowledging the crisis, humanising lives and encouraging the need for a personal response.

In Robert Chesley’s script notes, he says: “I can only hope that Jerker has done and will continue to do some good, with its message of pride in gay identity and honesty about sex.”

Tibu Fortes plays Bert

Tibu trained at the Drama Centre London. Recent theatre credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe); Passage to India (Park Theatre); Coconut (Ovalhouse); The Point of It(RADA Fest); Henry V (New Generation Festival); Satyagraha (Improbable) and L.O.V.E. (Volcano Theatre). Recent TV and Film credits include: The Capture (BBC); Johnny English Strikes Again,EastendersThe Reluctant Landlord (Sky Comedy); People Just Do Nothing (BBC) and Requiem (Netflix).

Tom Joyner plays J R

Tom Joyner graduated from Drama Centre London in 2018. He made his professional debut in Maurice(Above The Stag). His TV credits include: The Trial of Christine Keeler (BBC); Bounty Hunters (Sky One),Alex Rider (Sony TV); Waiting (Comedy Central). Credits while training include: The Mercy SeatLungs;The Effect.

Directed by Ben Anderson

Ben is a Junior Associate of the King’s Head Theatre. Directing credits include: Keys (Lion and Unicorn Theatre), Steep Themselves in Night (The Other Palace), A Bench at the Edge (Hen & Chickens Theatre, The King’s Arms Theatre). Associate credits include: Trainspotting Live (The Vaults and Edinburgh Fringe). Assisting credits include: Creep (Theatre Royal Plymouth), Le Nozze di Figaro (Britten Theatre), (sorry) (Assembly, The Box); In The Locked Room/ The Lighthouse (Britten Theatre); Sex With Robots and Other Devices, King Tut: A Pyramid Panto, Tosca and Outlaws to In-Laws (all at The King’s Head Theatre).

Written by Robert Chesley

Robert Chesley was born March 22, 1943 in Jersey City, New Jersey and was raised in Pasadena, California. After receiving his B.A. in Music from Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 1965, he spent ten years teaching at a private school in upstate New York. During this period, he also composed prolifically.  From 1965 to 1975 Chesley composed the music to over five dozen songs and choral works, chiefly to texts by poets such as Emily Dickinson, Willa Cather, James Agee, Walter de la Mare, Gertrude Stein and Walt Whitman.  His instrumental works include the score to a 1972 film by Erich Kollmar.

In 1976, he came out as a gay teacher and moved to New York City. During the next few years, his essays and theatre criticism appeared in Gay Community News, The Advocate, Gaysweek, The San Francisco Review of Books, The Bay Guardian and The New York Native.

Chesley began writing for gay theatre in 1980. In that year his first play, a one-act titled Hell, I Love You was produced by Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco. Productions of his subsequent plays followed in San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles, as well as in cities throughout the United States and in Toronto and London. Night Sweat became the first produced full-length play to deal with the AIDS crisis, when staged by Meridian Gay Theatre, New York City in 1984. Jerker or the Helping Hand had its premiere at the Celebration Theatre, Los Angeles in 1986. A subsequent radio broadcast by KPFK-Los Angeles of excerpts from the play prompted the Federal Communications Commission to attempt broadcast censorship for the first time since 1975. Jerker has since become Chesley’s most performed play.

Chesley moved to San Francisco in the early 1980s. He resided there for most of the remainder of his life and there, on December 5, 1990 he succumbed to an AIDS-related illness after a battle of almost three years. Dog Plays (a trilogy of one-acts) and Private Theatricals: Morning, Noon and Night, written during these final years, have both been performed posthumously.

Robert Chesley leaves a literary legacy of 10 full-length plays and 21 one-acts, as well as short stories, novels, an opera libretto, and the text for a dance-theatre piece. The catalogue of his music lists more than 60 works composed between 1964 and 1976, and includes songs for solo voice, choral pieces and instrumental works. Major plays produced during his lifetime have all been published: Stray Dog Story by JH Press, Jerker in both the Grove Press anthology Out Front and in the Alamo Square Press collection Hard Plays/Stiff Parts: The Homoerotic Plays of Robert Chesley (with Night Sweat and Dog Plays). In 2005 Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. published a collection of his plays which includes Stray Dog Story, Jerker, and Dog Plays.

Robert Chesley was a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Society of Gay and Lesbian Composers.

Danielle Bird and Nichole Bird to lead the cast in Theresa Heskins (The Worst Witch, West End) new adaptation of Mark Twain’s The Prince and The Pauper – New Vic Theatre -16 November 2019 to Saturday 25 January 2020

Casting announced for spellbinding new adaptation of The Prince and The Pauper at New Vic Theatre

Casting has been announced for the premiere of the New Vic Theatre’s spectacular new Christmas adaptation of Mark Twain’s enchanting tale The Prince and The Pauper.

Directed and adapted by the New Vic Theatre’s Artistic Director Theresa Heskins (The Worst Witch, West End), the title roles of the Prince and the Pauper will be played by real-life twin sisters Danielle and Nichole Bird. Danielle Bird’s theatre credits include the role of Mildred in The Worst Witch (Vaudeville Theatre), as well as roles in Richard Bean’s The Hypocrite (Hull Truck/Royal Shakespeare); Alice’s Adventures Underground (Les Enfants Terribles); Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre) and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Birmingham REP). Nichole Bird’s theatre credits include The Wits (Shakespeare’s’ Globe / Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); The Rakes Progress (Theatre de Complicité / DNO); You Me Bum Train (You Me Bum Train); The Woman Before (SOHO Theatre).

Joining the sisters will be David Ahmad (The Kite Runner, Playhouse Theatre, West End; Potted Potter, Little Shubert Theater, New York/Melbourne International Comedy Festival); Kieran Buckeridge (The Secret Adversary and Pinafore Swing, Watermill Theatre); Gareth Cassidy (Treasure Island, The 39 Steps, both at the New Vic Theatre and We Are Three Sisters, Northern Broadsides); Matthew Ganley (Around The World In 80 Days, New Vic Theatre; Once – the Musical,Phoenix Theatre, London and The Duchess of Malfi, Shakespeare’s Globe/Sam Wanamaker Festival); Elliot Gooch (Once on This Island, Southwark Playhouse); Jasmin Hinds (Summer and Smoke, Duke of Yorks); Sufia Manya (Miss Littlewood, Royal Shakespeare Company and 101 Dalmatians, Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Faz Shah (Astley’s Astounding Adventures, New Vic Theatre);Tom Richardson (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Storyhouse, Chester and Elton John’s Glasses ,Watford Palace Theatre); Margit van der Zwan (The Bacchae, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and High Tea in Wonderland, Manchester International Festival) and Joss Wyre (Vassa Zheleznov, Southwark Playhouse).

Prepare for a tale full of heart, filled with imaginative storytelling, music, humour, swashbuckling derring-do and festive magic as the award-winning New Vic Theatre stage a brand-new adaptation of Twain’s tale about a chance meeting between two boys that will change their lives forever.

Bringing together the same creative team who brought to life the theatre’s adaptations of The BorrowersTreasure Island and the UK Theatre award-winning The Snow Queen, this year the New Vic Theatre will bring to life another classic adventure story in their stunning trademark style.

The Prince and the Pauper will run at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lymefrom Saturday 16 November 2019 to Saturday 25 January 2020.         

For further information and tickets for The Prince and The Paupercall the New Vic Theatre Box Office on 01782 717962 or visit newvictheatre.org.uk.

Smash hit musical SIX extends its run at The Lowry this Christmas.

Smash hit musical SIX extends its run at The Lowry this Christmas

The international smash hit musical SIX has extended its run at The Lowry until Saturday 11th January. Beginning in The Lowry’s Quays theatre on 3rd December the hugely popular pop musical will head to the Lyric stage on 7th January for a week long run to end its Christmas Season.

The Lowry will also host a Sing-A-Long performance on Friday 10th January at 8.30pm, where audience members are invited to sing-a-long with the show’s immensely popular soundtrack. Racking up over 50 million streams and adding 300,000 daily, the musical’s songs have already proved to be chart storming sensations. Ann Boleyn’s song ‘Don’t Lose Ur Head’ alone has been shared over half a billion times on the TIK TOK app.

From Tudor queens to pop princesses, SIX sees the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their own personal tales, remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st century girl power.

Two years to the day since the show premiered as a student production at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, SIX announced its Broadway transfer to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York following sold out runs in Chicago and Boston. Back in London where SIX continues to sell every seat for every performance at the Arts Theatre, the show was nominated for five 2019 OIivier Awards, including Best New Musical, Best Choreography and Best Costume Design. The show will open at the Sydney Opera House in January and is due to reopen in Chicago next summer. Productions are being planned for China, Japan, South Korea and Canada. 

New pop princesses will take on the famous roles at The Lowry featuring, Lauren Drew (Catherine of Aragon), Maddison Bulleyment (Anne Boleyn), Lauren Byrne (Jane Seymour), Shekinah McFarlane (Anna of Cleves), Jodie Steele (Katherine Howard) and Athena Collins (Catherine Parr), with Alternates Jennifer Caldwell, Cassandra Lee and Harriet Watson. The cast are backed by the show’s all-female band, The Ladies in Waiting. 

SIX
Tue 3 December – Sat 11 January
Singalong – Friday 10 January 8.30pm
Tickets: £23.50 – £43.50
https://thelowry.com/six-returns-to-the-lowry/

As You Like It Review

Lowry Theatre, Salford – until 5 October 2019

Reviewed by Niamh Holleran

5*****

When I went in to the theatre to see As You Like It, I began frantically reading the program to try and gain some understanding about what I was seeing, being unfamiliar with the play. I panicked when I didn’t understand the summary and wondered whether I would be lost and confused for the next few hours. However, by ten minutes in, I was fully engaged with the story.

The set was fantastic and made great use of lighting and music to set the scene so the audience felt fully engaged. Lucy Phelps as Rosalind, the principal character who later disguises herself as a man was fantastic, her many asides to the audience hilarious and authentic. The night I attended, the role of Orlando was played by the understudy, Aaron Thiara and his performance was outstanding – he had a natural charm that drew the audience to him, meaning when he invited spectators up on stage with him to reveal a secret, it felt surprising yet comfortable. The audience felt involved throughout, especially when the lights were turned on for the forest scenes as though we were in there with them.

Finally, I must mention the inclusion of British Sign Language actress Charlotte Arrowsmith as Audrey, which was phenomenal. The use of sign language was excellent and seamless – it was hard to imagine the character not being deaf and added to the allure of the endearing relationship between her and the Fool.

All in all, an excellent way to spend an evening.

LOCKWOOD PRODUCTIONS AND FOOLS & KINGS ANNOUNCE THE FULL CAST OF THE GREEN FAIRY STARRING JULIE ATHERTON

LOCKWOOD PRODUCTIONS AND FOOLS & KINGS ANNOUNCE THE FULL CAST OF THE GREEN FAIRY

STARRING JULIE ATHERTON

Lockwood Productions and Fools & Kings present

The UK première of

THE GREEN FAIRY

by Jack Sain and Stephen Libby

Director: Jack Sain;Musical Director: William Bullivant

Dramaturg & Associate Writer: Hannah Hauer-King; Set and costume designer: Katharine Heath

Wednesday 30 October – Saturday 23 November

Lockwood Productions and Fools & Kings today announce the full company of The Green Fairy.Jack Sain directs Julie Atherton (Jo), Harry F Brown (Toby), Georgina Hellier (The Green Fairy), Emma Kinney (Wendy), David Perkins (Daniel) and Emma Whittaker (Young Jo). The Green Fairy opens at the Union Theatre on 4 November, with previews from 30 October, and runs until 23 November.

“Come into my world, for just a minute, and cast all your doubts aside…”

Tonight, Jo saw her daughter Wendy sing for the first time in the pub where she used to work – they don’t seem to have a relationship. Jo doesn’t seem to have a relationship with anyone really, and the Green Fairy wants to know where it all went wrong…

Memories start to surface of Jo’s adolescence and early adulthood in 1990s London. Together, they explore Jo’s relationship with her ex-girlfriend, ex-husband and eventually her daughter.

An ode to queer parenting and overcoming anxiety, The Green Fairy is an pub musical following one woman’s struggle to take back control of her own life before it’s too late. 

Julie Atherton plays Jo. Her previous theatre credits include Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward Theatre), Pure Imagination (St James Theatre), Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith), Sister Act (UK tour), Avenue Q (Noël Coward Theatre), Tick, Tick… BOOM!The Last 5 Years (Duchess Theatre), Fame (Aldwych Theatre/UK Tour), Love You, You’re Perfect, Now ChangeLittle by LittleMrs Gucci (Arts Theatre), Tempting Fate (The Other Palace), Christmas in New York (Palace Theatre), The Grinning Man (Trafalgar Studios), West End Recast (Phoenix Theatre), The Hired Man (Curve, Leicester), Thérèse Raquin (Finborough Theatre/Park Theatre), Lift (Soho Theatre), Ordinary Days (Finborough Theatre/Trafalgar Studios), The Opinion Makers (Derby Theatre), You’ll Never Walk Alone (Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch), Just SoOut of this World (Chichester Festival Theatre), Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi (Liverpool Everyman) and Charlotte’s Web (Polka Theatre). Television credits include Monty & CoPiratesShakespeare and HathawayThe Sound of Music LiveOtherworldBarbara and Brainiacs.

Harry F Brown plays Toby. His previous theatre credits include The Band (UK tour) and Dogfight (Southwark).

Georgina Hellier plays The Green Fairy. Her previous theatre credits Dorothy (Bunker Theatre), Something to Tell You (Arcola Theatre) and The Buried Moon (Theatre Royal Winchester).

Emma Kinney plays Wendy. The Green Fairy marks her professional stage debut.

David Perkins plays Daniel. His previous theatre credits include The Bridges of Madison County (Menier Chocolate Factory), Spring Awakening (Transfer Productions), The Rose Tattoo, The Life of Galileo, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Coast of Utopia and The Voysey Inheritance (National Theatre). For film his credits include Laura’s Star.

Emma Whittaker plays Young Jo. Her previous theatre credits include Chaplin – The Charlie Chaplin StoryThe Snow Spider (UK tours) and Merlin’s Apprentice (The Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton). For film her credits include How to Not Disappear Completely and Love Lost.

Jack Sain directs. His previous theatre credits include Beatrice di Tenda (Bel Canto Opera Festival), How I Learned to Drive (Southwark Playhouse), Four Play (The Old Vic) and Crossing Over (The Other Palace). He was the resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse in 2016, where his credits include Welcome Home, Captain Fox!ElegySaint JoanOne Night In MiamiLimehouse and Faith Healer. Other assistant director credits include Killer Joe (Trafalgar Studios), Jonah and Otto (Park Theatre) and Present Laughter (Gate Theatre Dublin).

The Green Fairy                                                                                                                               Listings    

Union Theatre

OLD UNION ARCHES, 229 UNION STREET, LONDON, SE1 0LR

Box Office:

http://uniontheatre.biz/the-green-fairy.html

Friday 30 October – 23 November

Performance Schedule

Tuesday- Saturday: 7.30pm

Saturday & Sunday matinees:                     

2:30pm

Tickets: from £15

Concessions available via Box Office