Month: August 2020

RIVERSIDE STUDIOS’ HOSTS BRAND NEW FILM AND THEATRE

ALSO ANNOUNCED TODAY, BAR & KITCHEN RELAUNCHED WITH NEW ALL-DAY MENU

Riverside Studios is now fully open to the public, announcing a brand new film and theatre programme for the first time since the building closed in March. From 26 August, Riverside will screen Christopher Nolan’s hotly anticipated sci-fi epic film Tenet. The film is breaking new ground, being one of the first major new releases since lockdown, and in a first, will open in territories outside the US.

The theatre spaces will reopen their doors for the first time, for Riverside Reads – a season of world première play readings by leading actors. Curated and directed by Hugh Wooldridge, these monthly events will present brand new work which can be streamed online, and also experienced live for a socially distanced audience. The season opens on 1 September with The Last Broadcast by Carey Crim.

Also announced today, Riverside Studios Bar and Kitchen relaunches with a new all-day menu offering a great variety of tempting dishes catering for all dietary requirements.

Creative Director, Rachel Tackley of Riverside Studios says “With the building open and already welcoming the public, it’s huge joy to bring theatre back to the heart of Riverside with Riverside Reads. As we remerge post the Covid-19 lockdown we have a responsibility to give voice new talent, and we’re delighted this season opens with three world premières by Carey Crim, Megan van Dusen and Laura Tisdall. This, coupled with the first major cinematic release since March of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and a new fresh menu at the Bar & Kitchen, marks the start of a return to fuller programming across all our spaces, and as restrictions are eased enable us to begin to explore the full potential our brand new building.”

TENET [12A]

26 August – 10 September

Director: Christopher Nolan

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY, INCEPTION AND DUNKIRK…

Armed with only one word – Tenet – and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Caine

Wednesday 26 August
SCREEN 1            12:30     16:00     19:30
SCREEN 2            12:00     15:30     18:50

Thursday 27 August
SCREEN 1            12:30     16:00      19:30
SCREEN 2            12:00     15:30      18:50

Further dates/times to be announced shortly

Duration: 150 mins         Distributor: Warner Bros

Riverside are putting customer safety and well-being at the forefront of their reopening measures, and, as a result, the cinema capacity has been reduced from 200 to 68. This means that audiences will be unable to pre-book specifics seats, and these will be allocated in advance to ensure at least 1m+ social distancing.  Audiences are encouraged to book in advance to ensure the best experience possible. As a courtesy to others, Riverside would ask that face masks are worn – staff will likewise be wearing face masks.

Further details, and to book: https://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/book/cinema

3 WORLD PREMIÈRES TO TAKE PLACE AT RIVERSIDE STUDIOS

AS PART OF NEW SERIES RIVERSIDE READS

Riverside Reads launches, a new programme of monthly first read throughs and discussions of new plays, hosted by Riverside Studios and curated and directed by Hugh Wooldridge, with Sir Michael Codron as patron. The first Riverside Reads season begins on 1 September 2020, with these new readings streamed globally online and in person, every first Tuesday of the month at 2pm BST.

The first Riverside Reads play in the 2020 – 2021 Season opens with The Last Broadcast by Carey Crim – the cast is Sarah Alexander (Caroline Willis), Eleanor Crowe (Hannah Willis), Sandra Dickinson (Helen Bush), Patrick Robinson (Ian Carter), with Madeleine Gray (stage directions). Scattered by Megan van Dusen will be performed in October; and in November, The In-Between, a fantasy musical by Laura Tisdall. The first season end in February 2021 with a play-through of StarBoy, a dazzling new musical by Ray Shell and Christopher Van Cleave. The full schedule for the season will be announced shortly.

Riverside Reads aims to find new scripts, new writers and a new audience, and give both the newcomer and the regular theatregoer at the opportunity to experience the magic of a first read through.

Each play is rehearsed in one day and will be streamed from one of several new spaces at Riverside Studios. A limited number of tickets will be available to watch the reading in person, adhering to social distancing rules, and audience members will be required to wear masks except where they are medically exempt. Following each reading there will be an opportunity for the audience to discuss the play with the playwright, actors, and director.

Tickets available from £15

RIVERSIDE STUDIOS BAR & KITCHEN RELAUNCHED WITH NEW ALL-DAY MENU

All-day dining and extensive drinks choices are the new offering at the Riverside Studios Bar & Kitchen which is newly reopened following lock down. Open to all, and adhering to social distancing guidelines, it has been created as a hub for people to get together – whether that be for a coffee in the morning or for that well-deserved drink at the end of the day. With a seasonal food and drinks menu, the options will remain appealing for regulars and locals as well as first time visitors.

The new healthy, accessible, internationally influenced menu has been crafted to satisfy all visitors and cater to all dietary requirements. There is a brunch offering from 10am alongside artisan, hand roasted coffee and a wide variety of teas. The menu then showcases seasonal ingredients with plenty of healthy dishes and vegetarian and vegan choices alongside some Riverside classics, including an All Day Breakfast, a variety of small, large, and sharing plates, and a selection of sweet desserts.

As well as the updated wine list – a fine selection of wines which can partner well with the food or be enjoyed on the riverside tables, overlooking Hammersmith Bridge – the Bar also boasts Meantime’s Brewery Fresh London Lager that is delivered by Meantime’s tankers direct from the maturation tanks at the brewery, into another custom-engineered tank above the bar. It’s a unique way of serving beer, and the difference can be tasted right away: a smoother lager, with enhanced aromas and well-rounded flavours.

The full menu can be found at https://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/visit/food-drink. 

DIVE IN MEMBERSHIP:

Dive In membership offers resident local to the venue enhanced and unique opportunities to engage with the Riverside Studios artistic programme and the building in general.

For further details, please see here: https://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/community/dive-in-membership

WISE CHILDREN ANNOUNCE THAT THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED

ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS WILL BE PERFORMED AND BROADCAST LIVE FROM BRISTOL OLD VIC

★★★★

“Romantics Anonymous is a multi-faceted gem, chock-full of love, generosity and joy”

The Guardian

Wise Children, Bristol Old Vic & Plush Theatricals present
Romantics Anonymous
Book by Emma Rice, Lyrics by Christopher Dimond, Music by Michael Kooman
Based on the film Les Émotifs Anonymes written by Jean-Pierre Améris and Philippe Blasband

Directed by Emma Rice

Wise Children, Bristol Old Vic and Plush Theatricals announce that Emma Rice’s critically-acclaimed musical adaptation of Romantics Anonymous will be performed at Bristol Old Vic, and broadcast live, direct to audience’s homes nationally and globally. The show will be available to stream as a ‘digital tour’ between Tuesday 22 and Saturday 26 September, following the cancellation of its US tour due to Covid-19 and tickets are available at www.wisechildrendigital.com

In a wonderful act of industry solidarity, partner theatres across the world will sell tickets for different nights of the week. Each night will be tailored to audiences in different parts of the world, and there’ll be a sprinkle of local flavour added before each stream begins. Partner theatres include Belgrade Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, Bristol Old Vic, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Curve Theatre Leicester, Derby Theatre, Eden Court Highlands, Exeter Northcott, HOME, Lighthouse Poole, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Marlowe Theatre, New Zealand Festival, Norwich Theatre Royal, Oxford Playhouse, Royal & Derngate, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Spoleto Festival USA, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Storyhouse, The Festival Theatre, The Lowry, The Old Vic (where Wise Children are a Company in Residence), Theatr Clwyd, Theatre Royal Bath, Theatre Royal Nottingham, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, York Theatre Royal

The world premiere of Romantics Anonymous was originally produced by Shakespeare’s Globe for the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse by special arrangement with Radio Mouse Entertainment

Add a few ingredients
Bold and brave and new
Don’t you love how chocolate is so unlike you?

Angélique is a gifted chocolate maker crippled by social anxiety and Jean-René is the boss of a failing chocolate factory. Angélique is so timid, she faints when people look at her; Jean-René so awkward he relies on self-help tapes and is prone to embarrassing sweating. When Angélique takes a job in Jean-René’s struggling factory, a fragile love affair unfolds. 
 
Funny, tender and painfully awkward, Romantics Anonymous is a delicious love story about breaking the mould and finding the courage to be happy.

Many of the cast will be reprising their roles with full details to be announced shortly. Following approved sport and film production guidance, the company will each have a coronavirus test before forming a bubble in Bristol. These rigorous measures mean that they will be able to perform the entire show without social distancing.

Emma Rice today said, “I have devoted my life to the live experience and the collective imagination – things that have proved impossible over the last few months. Whilst nothing will be able to replace the thrill of a night out at the theatre, this live broadcast is going to be as close to that delicious experience as we can possibly make it! Live, fresh, fun and intimate, this will remind us of what it is to share stories, hear music and, if true love has its way, even kiss. Imagine that! We are taking the utmost care to protect all of our valued team and, for one week only, we can all experience a live performance again, get lost in a wonderful love story and remember what it was to be socially intimate!”

Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic, Tom Morris added “Theatre has to reinvent itself in order to survive. That’s always true, of course, and one of the great pioneers of theatrical reinvention over the last 20 years has been Emma Rice. And now she’s at it again. A purely live fully streamed full scale musical for a live audience sitting at home all over the world. It’s so bold it turns your mind into a honeycomb. We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to be hosting the experiment in our beautiful theatre, and there is no company more suited to rekindle the fire of live performance that inspires us all than Wise Children.”

Captioned and audio-described versions of the production will be available.

Emma Rice is the proud and excited Artistic Director of her new company, Wise Children. She adapted and directed the company’s first two productions, Angela Carter’s Wise Children (The Old Vic/UK tour) and Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers (Bristol Passenger Shed/UK tour). For the ENO she directed Orpheus in the Underworld. As Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe (2016/18), she directed Romantics Anonymous, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales). For the previous 20 years, she worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director. Her productions for Kneehigh include The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Tristan & Yseult, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler’s Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages), and Steptoe and Son. Other work includes the West End production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Oedipussy (Spymonkey), The Empress (RSC), and An Audience with Meow Meow (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). She was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre at the 2019 UK Theatre Awards.

Michael Kooman (music) and Christopher Dimond (lyrics) are a stage and screen writing team. They currently serve as songwriters for Vampirina, an animated musical TV series on the Disney Channel and Disney Junior, reaching over 100 million viewers in 115 countries. Their theatre credits include The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes (Village Theater), Orphie & The Book of Heroes (The Kennedy Center), The Enlightenment of Percival Von  Schmootz (Adirondack Theatre Festival), Judge Jackie: Disorder in the Court (Pittsburgh CLO), Dani Girl (Exit, Pursued by a Bear), Golden Gate (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Homemade Fusion (Ambassadors Theatre/Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Junior Claus (Orlando Repertory Theatre). Kooman and Dimond have received the Fred Ebb Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award, the Samuel French Next Step Award, the Burton Lane Award and the Harold Adamson Award.

ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS LISTINGS

SCOTLAND, THE NORTH OF ENGLAND & WALES:

Tuesday 22 September, 7.30pm

Eden Court Inverness

Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

York Theatre Royal

HOME

The Lowry

Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse

Storyhouse

Theatr Clwyd

MIDLANDS:

Wednesday 23 September, 7.30pm

Derby Theatre

Nottingham Theatre Royal

Belgrade Theatre

Royal & Derngate

Theatr Clwyd

Oxford Playhouse

Curve Theatre Leicester

SOUTH WEST:

Thursday 24 September, 7.30pm

Bristol Old Vic

Exeter Northcott

Theatre Royal Plymouth

Theatre Royal Bath

Lighthouse Poole

LONDON & THE SOUTH EAST:

Friday 25 September, 7.30pm

Brighton Dome

Norwich Theatre Royal

Marlowe Theatre

The Old Vic

USA:

Saturday 26 September, 9pm BST / 1pm PST / 4pm EST

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, LA

Berkeley Rep

Shakespeare Theatre Co, Washington DC

Spoleto Festival, Charleston

St Ann’s Warehouse, NYC

Chicago Shakespeare Theater

OTHER:

Date TBC

Singapore Repertory Theatre

New Zealand Festival

Barn Theatre | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website

FIRST LOOK AT THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND CAST IN REHEARSALS

• REHEARSAL PHOTOS HAVE BEEN RELEASED FOR THE BARN THEATRE AND PIERS COTTEE-JONES’ OUTDOOR PRODUCTION OF THE AWARD-WINNING KANDER & EBB MUSICAL REVUE THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND

• THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND RUNS FROM 24 AUGUST – 5 SEPTEMBER AS PART OF BARNFEST – OUTDOOR THEATRE FESTIVAL

• THE PRODUCTION IS DIRECTED BY KIRK JAMESON WITH MUSICAL DIRECTION BY NICK BARSTOW.

The Barn Theatre in Cirencester and Piers Cottee-Jones have released rehearsal photos for their new outdoor production of the Kander & Ebb musical revue The World Goes ‘Round.

The revue, which features songs from Kander & Ebb’s hit musicals including Chicago and Cabaret, will run for two weeks during the Barn Theatre’s Summer outdoor theatre festival BarnFest from 24^th August to 5^th September.

The World Goes ‘Round,conceived by Susan Stroman, David Thompson & Scott Ellis,

follows five individuals as they find themselves careening through the world of love, babies and coffee. From Cabaret to Chicago, the Drama Desk award-winning revue features unforgettable gems, including “Mr. Cellophane”, “Maybe This Time”, “Cabaret” and “New York, New York”, seamlessly interwoven into a passionate, harmonious, up-tempo evening of musical theatre.

The cast for The World Goes ‘Round are George Arvidson (The Outpost, Les Miserables), Jenny Fitzpatrick (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Ghost), Nick Barstow (Zorro, Just So), Rosalind Ford (Once, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Ryan Carter (Motown The Musical, The Boy Friend).

The production will be directed by Kirk Jameson with musical direction by Nick Barstow. The pair have previously collaborated with the Barn Theatre on their 2018 revival production of the Stiles & Drewe musical Just So. During lockdown they have both been collaborating with Alice Fearn on her digital concert series Intermissions.

The theatre will be adhering stringently to all government guidelines during the festival and have released further details and information regarding the venue and procedures to keep audiences, staff and performers safe on their website here: https://barntheatre.org.uk/barnfest/bfyoursafety

Areas will be divided into pods which individuals or families can purchase. Pricing for pods begins at £40 for up to 4 people with disability and premium options are also available. There are also 5 limited two-person pods per performance at a reduced price.

BarnFest, which runs until 5 September, marks the theatre’s first live theatre performances since the start of the year and includes Aaron Sidwell (EastEnders, Wicked), Tricia Adele-Turner (Dear Evan Hansen) & Max Hutchinson (The Woman in Black) in Scoot Theatre’s reimagined production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (29-30 August).

NEW CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET AND BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY THEATRE LAUNCHED WITH NEW SOCIAL DISTANCED BALLET FOR LIVE AUDIENCES

WORLD PREMIERE: CARLOS ACOSTA COMMISSIONS NEW BALLET INSPIRED BY ‘SOCIAL DISTANCING’. LAZULI SKY CHOREOGRAPHED BY WILL TUCKETT USES AUGMENTED REALITY AND TECHNICAL INNOVATION AS PART OF A TRIPLE  BILL WITH LIVE MUSIC

WORLD PREMIERE: CITY OF A THOUSAND TRADES WILL CELEBRATE THE DIVERSITY, INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE, AND MULTICULTURAL CREATIVITY OF THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM IN 2021

A brand-new partnership has been confirmed between Birmingham Royal Ballet and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, which will see the two established companies combine creative ingenuity to stage new dance works in the heart of Birmingham city centre. The partnership will be launched with four shows for live audiences in October, following the recent announcement by the government allowing socially distanced performances to happen in theatres.  

The world premiere performances of Lazuli Sky, choreographed by Will Tuckett, as part of a triple bill of ballet with live music from the Royal Ballet Sinfonia will take place at The REP on 22 – 24 October, with 150 tickets on sale to the public for each of four shows. The show will also be filmed at The REP for broadcast in November via ‘pay per view’ media to audiences unable to attend the live shows.

This new partnership has enabled Birmingham Royal Ballet and The REP to work together to find a way to entertain audiences and help revive Birmingham’s cultural life after lockdown.

Carlos Acosta, Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, says:

‘After joining Birmingham Royal Ballet at the beginning of the year, I set about making new friends in the city, knowing that collaboration was key to a successful and creative art form. Sean Foley, also new to the job of Artistic Director of The REP, and I spoke about an exciting cross-sector partnership, using the best of our creative networks in theatre and in dance to develop new work. It became clear that we shared a vision and commitment to making Birmingham the greatest city in the Arts.

This year, Birmingham Royal Ballet celebrates 30 years of working in the heart of Birmingham. Whilst the Company continues to enjoy strong bonds with its home venue, Birmingham Hippodrome, our work to bring back large-scale, classic ballets with them is not yet complete, and will require government approval. The new partnership between Birmingham Royal Ballet and The REP will complement the relationship with Birmingham Hippodrome, and enhance creative development throughout this great city.

Sean Foley, Artistic Director of The REP says:

Carlos Acosta and I are both honoured to be leading amazing cultural institutions in a great international city. It is part of our job to amplify, celebrate, and create work about that city, delivering excitement and artistic excellence for the people of Birmingham and wider afield – both nationally, and internationally.

Particularly now, in order to survive and thrive, the Arts must find new and inventive ways to collaborate and create new works. The REP has an unrivalled pioneering history in UK theatre – from staging the world’s first modern dress Shakespeare, to being a national leader in community development and creative learning, it has always been a theatre that seeks the cultural collisions that make extraordinary art for ordinary people. This is the beginning of an exciting partnership that will encompass full-scale productions, and new ways to create audiences together. Combining The REP’s own history with Birmingham Royal Ballet’s reputation for world-class ballet gives us both hope that we can help establish Birmingham as the very best city for theatre, for dance and the creative arts.

LAZULI SKY

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Autumn Mixed Bill will be staged at The REP from 22 – 24 October, with tickets on sale via birmingham-rep.co.uk, before heading to Sadler’s Wells in London from 29 – 31 October, with further information and booking details available in mid-September from sadlerswells.com.

Family groups will be able to sit together, but will be protected by taking neighbouring seats out of commission.

The performance will be filmed at The REP for broadcast in November, with more information to be confirmed soon.

World Premiere of Lazuli Sky, choreographed by Will Tuckett

Lazuli Sky will be the first one-act ballet to be commissioned and presented by Carlos Acosta as Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, a role which he started in January 2020 shortly before the COVID-19 crisis hit. At the beginning of lockdown, Carlos turned to British choreographer Will Tuckett and asked him to create a new work for Birmingham Royal Ballet that is inspired by, and utilises, ‘social distancing’.

In response to the evolving way in which dance and live performance can once again be staged, Tuckett and his fully collaborative team, including designer Samuel Wyer and projection designer Nina Dunn, are creating a unique piece set to Shaker Loops by John Adams, which will be performed live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Paul Murphy. The ballet will be performed within a projected environment and will use architectural forms as part of the costuming that will help ‘socially distance’ the 12 dancers. In addition, an augmented reality experience is being created in collaboration with James Simpson to provide an alternate to the ‘live’ experience, using elements of volumetric capture and a digitally altered version of sections of the choreography.

The deep, speckled blue of the treasured Lapis Lazuli gemstone formed the base for the most precious and expensive of colours in the Renaissance painter’s palette. It created the beautiful expanse of Leonardo da Vinci’s sky. During the recent period of lockdown, the creative team has been drawn to the open clarity of sky, wind-shaped landscapes, and birdsong, without the distractions of normal everyday living. These form the inspiration and backdrop to this outward looking, hopeful and regenerative piece.

Our Waltzes, choreographed by Vicente Nebrada

To be performed by ten dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet, this Latin infused collection of neo-classical work celebrating love and romance by Venezuelan choreographer Vicente Nebrada has been performed for over 40 years. Filling the stage with fluid movements, love, romance and passion, Our Waltzes was created for the International Ballet of Caracas in the late 1970s and has since appeared in the repertory of many international companies.

The score for Our Waltzes draws together music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries by a Who’s Who of Venezuelan composers of the period: Teresa Carreño, Salvador Llamozas, Manuel Guadalajara, Isabel de Maury, Sofia Limonta, Ramon Delgado Palacios and Heraclio Fernández. 

Liebestod, choreographed by Valery Panov

Wagner’s powerful music from Tristan and Isolde inspires emotive and dextrous dance in choreographer Valery Panov’s visceral solo piece. Little movements grow to explosive athleticism before subsiding to stillness. 

NEW WORK IN DEVELOPMENT: City of a Thousand Trades

World Premiere performances at Birmingham Repertory Theatre will be on 6, 7 & 8 May 2021; on sale details to be announced.

To celebrate the 30^th anniversary season of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s move to the City in 1990, Birmingham Royal Ballet and The REP are delighted to reveal initial details for City of a Thousand Trades, a new one act abstract ballet in development, inspired by and celebrating the richly diverse cultural and industrial heritage of Birmingham.

Commissioned as part of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s ‘Ballet Now’ programme which, under the new direction of Carlos Acosta, seeks to find exciting, diverse, international creative talent, City of a Thousand Trades will be brought to stage by choreographer Miguel Altunaga, with music by Mathias Coppens, designs by Guilia Scrimieri, and lighting by Michael Lee-Woolley.

Birmingham became known as the City of a Thousand Trades at the height of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, thanks to the exponential growth of businesses using the central location and vast water network for transport and manufacturing. As the city grew into the second largest in the UK, highly skilled workers and tradespeople migrated to the city from throughout the Commonwealth including Ireland, India, the West Indies, and from all over the world, creating a melting pot of cultures.

The international creative team of City of a Thousand Trades is using pre-recorded interviews with a cross section of the Birmingham community as a reference, to make connections and to tell its residents’ stories. Their voices and opinions, tone, music and ambitions will greatly influence this work: Where have they come from? Where are they now? What are their hopes and desires for the future of the great city of Birmingham?

Havana-born choreographer Miguel Altuanaga has created work for Rambert, The Royal Ballet (as part of the Deloitte Ignite Festival 2014), Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Tate Modern, and for bands Simply Red and The Zutons, and for Raindance an award-winning film Love Tomorrow, and previously for Carlos Acosta (Memoria). As a performer he is twice winner of the Cuban Best Male Solo Award, and a Critics’ Circle of London National Dance Award nominee.

Truth to Power Café

‘No Borders World Tour’ launches

with events in

USA, London and Singapore

In October Truth to Power Café opens its No Borders World Tour 2020/21 with live and streamed events in three countries, offering people of all ages, experiences and backgrounds the chance to speak their truth to power before a global audience. This internationally acclaimed performance event and digital platform is inspired by the political and philosophical beliefs of Harold Pinter and his Hackney Gang.

• In the run up to the US elections the tour opens on 10^th October with the North American premiere streaming from Montgomery College Cultural Arts Centre situated 10 miles from the White House on what would have been Harold Pinter’s 90^th birthday.
• One week later on 16^th October Truth to Power Café streams from London’s Conway Hall while simultaneous events take place in Singapore as part of Power Play 2020: Invisible Lines.

Truth to Power Café World Tour 2020/21

“It is theatre at its simplest and most direct, using the shared space as a forum in which people can speak out… this is a chance to have your say. Take it.” Lyn Gardner, Guardian

Jeremy Goldstein’s Truth to Power Café is a theatrical reflection on loss, hope and resistance, told through memoir, image, poetry, music, and live testimony from participants with stories to tell in response to the question: WHO HAS POWER OVER YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY TO THEM? Is it to your parents, a sibling, politician, lover, landlord, neighbour, religious leader, boss, banker, or simply your best friend? It’s time to tell them the truth, before it’s too late. Since its premiere in 2018, over 300 participants of all ages, beliefs and backgrounds have taken part in this internationally acclaimed performance event and digital platform.

Truth to Power Café is a long-term project inspired by the political and philosophical beliefs of Nobel Prize Winning Playwright Harold Pinter and his Hackney Gang. For sixty years The Hackney Gang maintained their belief in speaking truth to power and remained firmly on the side of the occupied and the disempowered and their allies. It is these people who are invited to appear in the show. The Gang included Jeremy Goldstein’s later father Mick, and Henry Woolf, who at 91 is the sole surviving member of the Gang.

As a theatre maker Jeremy Goldstein is the founder and director of London Artists Projects and an HIV+ activist with ACT UP London. As artist, producer, and activist he has championed underrepresented voices and new forms of artistic and political expression for over three decades. He says: “Truth to Power Café is conceived as a love letter to the memory of my father Mick Goldstein and his friends of sixty years Henry Woolf and Harold Pinter. It’s a call to self-expression, and an opportunity to name what might be unconscious or tough to acknowledge, whilst challenging ideas of who can take to the stage and have a voice in the process”.

No Borders World Tour opens with the North American premiere streaming from Montgomery College Cultural Arts Centre. On the eve of the US elections, the event unites Truth to Power Café with Venezuelan/US multidisciplinary artist Migguel Anggelo’s visionary new stage work English with an Accent, now in development, and up to10 community participants speaking truth to power from within a dozen miles to the White House.  This one-of-a-kind streaming event is a unique transatlantic meditation on time, place and community and takes place on what would have been Harold Pinter’s 90^th birthday.

One week later, Truth to Power Café will form part of Power Play 2020: Invisible Lines Singapore and stream the live show from London’s Conway Hall with 10 UK participants.  The Conway Hall event marks the start of a two-year residency for Truth to Power Café at Conway Hall.Dr. Jim Walsh, CEO of Conway Hall says: “Conway Hall is the oldest freethought organisation in the word.  We nurture community locally, nationally and internationally and our work spans politics, art, music, science, ethics, philosophy, and literature. The Hackney Gang hung out there in the 1950’s and Harold Pinter himself spoke from the stage on numerous occasions. We are proud to be the London home of Truth to Power Cafe.” 

Facebook: truth2powercafe | #TruthToPowerCafe | www.truthtopower.co.uk

Company information

Created written and performed by: Jeremy Goldstein for London Artists Projects            

Director: Jen Heyes     Verse: Henry Woolf   

Banners: Ed Hall                     Music: David Bowie, arranged and sung by Sven Ratzke

Lighting: Nigel Edwards          Video: Conor MacMahon

Photography: Sarah Hickson and Darren Black (UK) Kate Holmes (Australia)

Associate Producer: Nick Sweeting

Listings information

Touring 10 October 2020 to 30 May 2021 with more dates to be announced

10 Oct 20                    Streaming from Montgomery College Cultural Arts Centre, USA

                                    7995 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, Maryland, MD 20910, USA

                                    7pm EST USA

www.montgomerycollege.edu/cac

16 Oct 20                     Streaming from Conway Hall London presented by Bloomsbury Festival

in association with London Festival of Architecture, UK

25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL

4pm BST

Welcome

16-18 Oct 20               Power Play 2020: Invisible Lines, Singapore

curated and produced by Jaxton Su and A’shua Imran with Arts House Singapore

Full programme announced shortly

21 Jan 21                     The Howard Hall JW3 as part of Holocaust Memorial Day, UK

341-351 Finchley Rd, London NW3 6ET

7.30pm

www.jw3.org.u

28 Feb 21                    Conway Hall in association with Bloomsbury Festival, UK

25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL

3pm

Home

8 Apr 21                      The Lawrence Batley Theatre, UK

Queen’s Square, Queen Street, Huddersfield HD1 2SP

7.30pm

https://www.thelbt.org

28 Apr 21                    Norwich Arts Centre, UK

                                    St. Benedict’s Street, Norwich NR2 4PG

                                    8pm

https://norwichartscentre.co.uk/

30May            21                    Conway Hall in association with Bloomsbury Festival, UK

25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL

3pm

Home

ENGLISH TOURING THEATRE LAUNCHES

F**KED UP BEDTIME STORIES (for adults)

English Touring Theatre today launches their brand-new podcast F**ked Up Bedtime Stories (for adults) – a series of short stories for adults performed by Paapa Essiedu and Amber James.

Directed by Jennifer Bakst with sound, music and editing by Max Pappenheim, F**ked Up Bedtime Stories explores the weird and wonderful world of dreamscapes and nightmares and the impact that lockdown has had on our sleep cycles. Featuring seven short stories written by Alissa Anne Jeun Yi, Dipo Baruwa-Etti, Tim Crouch, Vivienne Franzmann, Matilda Ibini, Amy Jephta and Anthony Neilson, the project is available through acast, Spotify, apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

English Touring Theatre today said, “Bedtime stories is a digital offering for a f**ked up world. In a time when sleep has never been harder to come by, we asked 7 brilliant and provocative writers to tackle the strangeness of our night-time imaginings and twist the familiar form of bedtime stories into something uncanny, dark and surreal.”

Writers:

Alissa Anne Jeun Yi is a writer and performer. Her debut show Love Songs premiered in 2018 (developed through the Soho Theatre) and was shortlisted for the Tony Craze and two Edinburgh awards; for radio her credits include Avocado Fried Rice (BBC Radio 3). After an attachment with BBC Writersroom Drama Room 2020, Alissa is developing new work for audio, film and TV; whilst continuing to work on her next drag, comedy and performance art show. 

Dipo Baruwa-Etti is a playwright, poet, and filmmaker. Currently Channel 4 playwright on attachment with Almeida Theatre, his debut play An Unfinished Man was due to premiere at The Yard Theatre in 2020, published by Faber & Faber. For screen, he is developing several projects including a short film as writer-director with BBC Drama and BFI, and a TV pilot with Duck Soup Films as part of BBC’s TV Drama Writers Programme. 

Tim Crouch is a writer, director and performer. As a writer his credits include Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation (Royal Court Theatre/National Theatre of Scotland), I Cinna (The Poet) (RSC/Unicorn Theatre) and Adler & Gibb (Royal Court Theatre/Unicorn Theatre); and for TV credits include, Don’t Forget The Driver (BBC 2).

Vivienne Franzmann’s previous theatre credits include The IT (Connections, National Theatre), Bodies, Open Court, The Witness (Royal Court Theatre), The Snow Queen (Bristol Old Vic), The Most Horrific Theatre Uncut (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/UK tour), Pests, (Royal Court Theatre/Royal Exchange Theatre), Sounds Like An Insult (UK tour), Scars (International tour) and Mogadishu (Royal Exchange Theatre/Lyric Hammersmith).  

Matilda Ibini is a bionic playwright and screenwriter. Her theatre credits include Little Miss Burden (Bunker Theatre), Choice and Control (The Old Vic), Muscovado (UK tour); and for TV her credits include Unprecedented (Headlong/Century Films/BBC4).

Amy Jephta’s previous theatre credits include This Liquid Earth: A Eulogy in Verse (Royal Court Theatre/Edinburgh Festival Fringe), All Who Pass, Shoes (Royal Court Theatre), Kristalvlakte (The Fugard Theatre), Flight Lessons (Jermyn Street Theatre/Theatre503/Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Free Falling Bird (Bush Theatre).  

Anthony Neilson is a writer and director. His previous theatre credits include The Menu, The Tell-Tale Heart (National Theatre), The Prudes, Unreachable, Narrative, Get Santa!, Relocated, The Lying Kind (Royal Court Theatre), Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Realism (The Edinburgh Lyceum), The Haunting of Hill House (Liverpool Playhouse), God In Ruins (Soho Theatre), The Wonderful World of Dissocia (The Edinburgh Lyceum/ Theatre Royal Plymouth/Royal Court Theatre/UK tour), Stitching (Traverse Theatre/ Bush Theatre). His TV credits as a director includes, I Hate Suzie (Sky) starring Billie Piper.

Performers:

Paapa Essiedu’s theatre credits include Pass Over (Kiln Theatre), TheConvert (Young Vic),Pinter One (Harold Pinter Theatre), Hamlet, King Lear (RSC, Kennedy Center and Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York – Ian Charleson and UK Theatre Award winner for Best Actor), Racing Demon (Theatre Royal Bath), The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Mouse and his Child (RSC), You For Me For You (Royal Court Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Tobacco Factory), King Lear (National Theatre), Black Jesus (Finborough Theatre), Outside on the Street (Pleasance Theatre), and Dutchman (Orange Tree Theatre). For television, his work includes I May Destroy You, Gangs of London, Press, The Miniaturist, Black Earth Rising, Revolting, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kiri, Not Safe for Work and Utopia; and for film, Murder on the Orient Express and Women at the Well (Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2017).

Amber James’s theatre credits include Snowflake (Kiln Theatre), Vassa (Almeida Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (ETT), Antony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus and Dido, Queen of Carthage (RSC), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare’s Globe & International tour), Much Ado About Nothing (Queen’s Theatre) and The Gathered Leaves (Park Theatre). For television, her work includes Doc Martin and Ransom.

Creative associate at English Touring Theatre, Jennifer Baskt is a director and dramaturg. She was previously New Work Associate at Kiln Theatre. Her theatre credits as a director include Dear Future Generation (Kiln Theatre), Armstrong’s War (Finborough Theatre) and her theatre work with young prisoners for the Synergy Theatre Project. Her credits as an associate director include Handbagged (Tricycle Theatre/59E59 New York) and The Great Wave (National Theatre).

Max Pappenheim is a composer and sound designer. His theatre credits include The Tempest (Theatre Royal Bath/Jermyn Street Theatre), Othello (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Waiting For Godot (Sheffield Theatres), Beckett Triple Bill (Jermyn Street Theatre), Hogarth’s Press (Rose Theatre), The Ridiculous Darkness (Gate Theatre), The Gall (Hull Truck Theatre), CommonWealth (Almeida Theatre), New Jibla (Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Centre), Mrs Lowry and Son (Trafalgar Studios), Amsterdam (Orange Tree Theatre/UK tour), The Night of the Iguana (Noël Coward Theatre), Crooked Dances (RSC), One Night In Miami (Nottingham Playhouse), My Cousin Rachel (Theatre Royal Bath/UK tour), Macbeth (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse), The Children (Royal Court Theatre/ Samuel J Friedman Theatre) Dry Powder, Sex with Strangers, Labyrinth (Hampstead Theatre), Humble Boy (Orange Tree Theatre), The Habit of Art, Monogamy, Teddy, Toast, Fabric and Invincible (UK tour). 

Intercultural Roots offers innovative online classes to get well and get active

• Get Active Online! offers weekly classes in to promote health in body and mind – free to those who can’t afford them
• Constellations is a 36 session, artist-run course for practitioners to discuss and create art in relation to activism, city and health
• The classes are run by specialists from across the world, drawing on a wide range of practices from Taoism to physical theatre

@InterculturalR | interculturalroots.org

Starting on 16^th March as an emergency response to Covid-19, Intercultural Roots have been offering free online classes to help people cope physically and mentally with the incredible lifestyle shift that the pandemic has forced upon everyone. From 76 participants in the first week, they reached over 2,500 people in four months. For the next six weeks, they will roll out a new round of these classes which draw on techniques including Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taoism, movement and physical theatre.

The classes and courses are run by experts from all over the world, including Dr Alex Feng from Guangzhou/California, a multi-discipline expert who was instrumental in the legalisation of acupuncture in California. The company is also offering an artist-led workshop series, Constellations, discussing ideas around the relationship between art and three key themes: activism, city and health, starting with Art and Activism. The classes range from £3 to £6, or are free for those who cannot afford them.

The weekly classes include NIA Dance taught by Artistic Director Dr Andrea Maciel.NIA, which could be described as a middle ground between yoga and Zumba, provides aerobic conditioning, body toning, and strength building by using martial art, yoga and dance. Alongside Adriana La Selva, Andrea will also be teaching Bodies in Expression, a session for womenaimed at using physical theatre techniques such as body engagement, and breathing and vocal exercises to increase confidence and self-esteem.

Executive director Dr Alex Boyd will be teaching Daoyin’ Taoist Whole Body Breathing, a breathing practice that strengthen muscles and the whole respiratory system. Alex and Andrea will also be teaching Qigong Dance together, a technique which draws from Taoism and Laban technique.

Other classes include A Traditional Chinese Medicine Approach to Boosting the Immune system, run by renowned teacher Dr Alex Feng, a California based practitioner who was born in Guangzhou. As well as TCM, his extensive practice includes Taoism and a black belt in Judo and Jujitsu.

Dr Andrea Maciel said “This difficult pandemic time has taught us that it has never has been so important to invest in physical, spiritual and mental self-care. Over the last four months, we at Intercultural Roots have been witnessing how art and movement are the most powerful tools to connect people to their own creativity, physical wellness and mental balance”

Executive Director Dr Alex Boyd said “We’re delighted to be able to offer such a diverse range of arts practices made possible thanks to the London Community Response Fund. Our new activities will benefit the artistic community and the broader public creating opportunities for people to connect online in interesting ways even though traditional venues are still closed.”  

Intercultural Roots is a registered charity. Their aims are:

• To advance the education of the public on the subject of traditional and indigenous embodied arts and to promote research for the public benefit in all aspects of that subject and to publish the useful results
  To advance the cultural heritage of traditional and indigenous embodied arts to benefit peoples throughout the world through research, preservation, sustainment and dissemination
• To relieve hardship in indigenous communities worldwide, either generally or individually, including through the provision of grants, goods or services.

Listings information

Get Active Online!

WEEKLY CLASSES

From 17 Aug to 25 Sept

FREE – £6

For full detail and to book, visit https://www.interculturalroots.org/getactiveonline/

Monday                        NIA Dance with Andrea Maciel           

7pm – 8pm

Designed to provide total body conditioning, and bring the positive vibration on your upper body. NIA provides aerobic conditioning, body toning, and strength building by using martial art, yoga and dance art expressive movements in a safe, effective workout suitable for all ages and all levels of ability.

The focus of this class is the sensation of joy dancing and listening to the music. Connect to the sensation of joy as life force, and to use this sensation as stimulation to flood your whole body with vitality and healthy energy.

Tuesday           A Traditional Chinese Medicine Approach to Boosting the Immune System           

5pm – 5.45pm

This class provides a foundation for the practice of Qi gong that is based on TCM – Traditional Chinese Medicine. It includes breathing techniques, self nurturing movements and acupressure techniques. The best defense during these health challenging times is a robust immune system. Dr. Feng will share what is being done in China where Eastern and Western Medicine are combined to promote and maintain health. These are ancient wisdoms developed by Dr. Feng for our modern situation. Participants should wear comfortable clothing that they can move freely in for the practices that can be done from a standing or sitting posture.

Wednesday                  Bodies in Expression

10.00am – 11.30am

Intercultural Roots’ Bodies in Expression group is open to women of all ages and backgrounds. This is a safe environment to welcome and harmonize our differences and empower female energy. 
Adriana and Andrea, who have an extensive background in theatre, performance and therapeutic practices, will facilitate a series of six live & online sessions, within an empathetic, safe and encouraging atmosphere. These will include breathing and vocal exercises, acting games, body engagement, trust and confidence building. Movement and vocal techniques will enable empowerment and expression, developing a sense of inner strength, self-trust & self-projection. Bodies in Expression is a partnership with the art therapy working group comm’on.

Wednesday                  Daoyin’ Taoist Whole Body Breathing

7pm – 8pm

This weekly breath workshop introduces you to Chinese Taoist (Daoist) breathing practices that can be done from a standing or sitting posture. ‘Breath is Life’ and during these challenging times when our respiration is either under threat or in recovery from the virus, very much needed. Daoyin strengthens the whole respiratory system including the muscles that are internal and you do see – literally your ‘hidden power’.

Thursday                     Quigong Dance

7pm – 8.30pm

Nourish your inner-glow, vitality and essence, and learn how to emanate this feeling through movement. When you use your chi (qi) energy and express this through the energising dynamics of contemporary dance, what emerges is a body with an expanded energetic potential.

You will be guided through dance components drawn from Laban/Bartenieff, cellular breathing, release technique and Taoist Qigong “internal alchemy”, combined to allow the chi to move and for you to be fully present in mind and body.

Each session invites you to immerse yourself in natural dance movement while attuned to the continual shifting dialogue with your chi (qi) energy and breath.

Friday                          Virtual Lifebelts

5pm – 6pm

You might use a lifebelt to keep yourself afloat/alive in turbulent waters. Our virtual lifebelts will give you buoyancy and the understanding to keep yourself afloat during trying times for mental health.

You can also throw a mental health lifebelt to someone who is struggling and help keep them afloat until further help can be summoned. In this way you might be able to reach out and understand why someone you encounter might be struggling with their wellbeing.

We will give you access to a suite of 5 short (no more than 25 minutes) films, each film will build and develop your knowledge and understanding of wellbeing and mental health. You will also be invited to attend 5 live webinars to discuss the issues that have arisen from each film; you will be encouraged to interact with other participants in a safe and supported environment, short (anonymised) summaries will be available on our private Facebook page soon after each session.

CONSTELLATION I: Art & ACTIVISM

From 17 Aug to 11 Sept

For full detail and to book, visit https://www.interculturalroots.org/getactiveonline/

Sessions Schedule

Alice Motta: Political Imagination- from the body into the space                17 Aug | 5pm-6.15pm

Julia Couto: Applied Theatre and Wellbeing                                            18 Aug | 7pm – 8.15pm

Manuela Benini: Facing Mass Extinction                                     20 Aug | 7pm – 8.15pm

Gabriela Flarys: Movement & Spoken Words: poetics of contradiction      25 Aug | 7pm-8.15pm

Gabriela Flarys: Movement & Spoken Words: poetics of contradiction      27 Aug | 7pm-8.15pm

Almiro Andrade: Collaborative Approaches for Staging Voices                 27 Aug | 5pm – 6.15pm

Alice Motta: Political Imagination- from the body into the space                1 Sept | 7pm-8.15pm

Almiro Andrade: Collaborative Approaches for Staging Voices                 3 Sept | 5pm – 6.15pm

Franko Figueiredo: Audience Call to Action                                             8 Sept | 7pm – 8.15pm

Manuela Benini: Facing Mass Extinction                                                 10 Sept | 5pm-6.15pm

Julia Couto: Applied Theatre and Wellbeing                                            11 Sept | 5.30pm – 6.45pm

Franko Figueiredo: Audience Call to Action                                             11 Sept | 7.30pm – 8.45pm

Details of Constellations II and III: Art and City and Art and Health tbc

For full detail and to book, visit https://www.interculturalroots.org/getactiveonline/

ANTONY SHER, DAVID SUCHET, JULIET STEVENSON, & PATERSON JOSEPH ANNOUNCED AS GUESTS FOR ‘TALKING SHAKESPEARE’ AT THE RSC

The Royal Shakespeare Company has today announced Antony Sher, David Suchet, Juliet Stevenson and Paterson Joseph as the latest guests to take part in ‘Talking Shakespeare’; an exclusive online conversation series lead by RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, in which RSC Alumni, Associate Artists and Honorary Associate Artists discuss their experience of performing Shakespeare at the RSC and beyond.

Other contributors to the series include Judi Dench, Ray Fearon, Harriet Walter, Patrick Stewart, Alexandra Gilbreath, David Tennant, Adjoa Andoh and Simon Russell Beale.

The live, online events series runs weekly on a Monday from 5-6pm and is open to Subscribers, Members and Patrons of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Events are free to attend but with a suggested donation of £10 per session.

All donations received will go towards the Keep Your RSC campaign to help secure the future of the RSC and its mission to transform lives through amazing experiences of Shakespeare and great theatre. 

Antony Sher, 7 September

Antony Sher joined the RSC in 1982 playing the Fool in Adrian Noble’s King Lear, and his most recent Shakespearean role with the RSC was the title role itself in 2016 directed by Gregory Doran in a production that toured to New York in 2018. In between, he has performed for the RSC in Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Titus Andronicus, The Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, Othello, The Tempest, and Henry IV Parts I and II. He is regarded as one of Britain’s leading actors, as well as a respected author and artist, and was knighted in 2000 for his services to acting and writing.

David Suchet, 14 September

David Suchet became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1973 and has performed over thirty roles for the company including Bolingbroke in Richard II, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Orlando in As You Like It and the title role in Macbeth. He played the Duke of York in the BBC’s The Hollow Crown and is perhaps best known for his role as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.

Juliet Stevenson, 21 September

Juliet Stevenson joined the RSC after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and played her debut as Iras in Peter Brook’s Antony & Cleopatra in 1978. She went on to perform in Henry IV, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, Troilus & Cressida and As You Like It. Her most recent Shakespearean role was as Gertrude in Hamlet at the Almeida, and she was nominated for an Emmy in 2019 for Outstanding Narrator in the TV series Queens of Mystery.

Paterson Joseph, 28 September

Paterson Joseph won second prize in the inaugural Ian Charleson Awards for his work at the RSC in the 1990-91 season as Patroclus in Troilus and Cressida, Oswald in King Lear and the Marquis de Mota in The Last Days of Don Juan. He understudied Simon Russell Beale as the King of Navarre in Terry Hands’ 1990 production of Love’s Labour’s Lost and Ralph Fiennes as Troilus in Sam Mendes’ production of Troilus and Cressida. When Ralph Fiennes left the RSC in August 1991, Paterson played Troilus until the production closed in January 1992. Most recently for the RSC, Paterson played Brutus in Julius Caesar, which played as part of the World Shakespeare Festival in 2012.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a charity and our mission is to transform lives through amazing experiences of Shakespeare and great theatre. To make a gift to the RSC, visit https://www.rsc.org.uk/support/make-a-donation/

THEATR CLWYD ANNOUNCES PROGRAMME OF OUTDOOR PERFORMANCES

WITH ALL TICKETS AT JUST £5

Following five months of Covid-19 related lockdown, Artistic Director Tamara Harvey and Executive Director Liam Evans-Ford today announce the first performances back at Theatr Clwyd, with a programmeof outdoor concerts and theatre shows. The series of performances will take place on top of the hill beside the theatre from 27 August to 27 September, with limited capacity audiences and social distancing in line with Welsh Government guidance. Tickets for all events are just £5.

Tamara Harvey, today said, “All that we want – all that we’ve been fighting for and working for day after day through all of this – is to bring people back up our hill for moments of hope and laughter, and to share in a collective joy. This outdoor season means more to us than is possible to express in words; and brings us one step closer to the day when we can throw open our doors and tell stories together again.”

The programme includes a preview of Tim Price’s brand-new comedy English; a collection of Welsh musical theatre stars performing Welsh of the West End: Live; the family show Three; and an evening of spoken word and soul music entitled Orpheus – performed by Alex Wright and Phil Grainger. There will also be live concerts from Tayo Aluko, Kidsmoke, Aleighcia Scott, The Goat Roper Rodeo Band, Tip Top’s Musical Magic,and Mared Williams.

Throughout this period of closure, Theatr Clwyd has continued to support their audiences and local community – encouraging and facilitating creativity amongst young and old and those most isolated through the major creative programme Theatr Clwyd Together, hosting blood donation sessions for the Welsh Blood Service, distributing food packages to vulnerable families, creating digital dance workshops for those with Parkinson’s, and for the last four weeks, becoming a creative hub for the young people most in need during these times.

For tickets and further information, please visit www.theatrclwyd.com 

FULL SUMMER PROGRAMME:

• Musical theatre star Mared Williams performs her original music, a fusion of folk, soul, and pop – 27 August, 7pm
• Tayo Alukoshowcases his baritone voice in An Evening with Tayo Aluko – 28 August, 7pm.
• Vikki Stone and Natasha Barnes move through a history of women being hilarious in musicals; from Sondheim to Streisand, in Funny Gals – 29 August, 7pm
• Orpheus tells a tale of ancient gods and late-night karaoke through spoken word and soaring soul music – 4-5 September
• A preview of Welsh playwright Tim Price’s brand new comedy English – 6 September, 6pm.
• Welsh trio The Goat Roper Rodeo Band perform their cosmic ‘Country Blues’ – 18 September, 7pm
• Steffan Hughes presents an evening of performances by Welsh musical theatre stars in Welsh of the West End: Live – 19 September, 7pm
• Three weaves together fairy tales in a spellbinding musical play for children aged 3+ and their families – 20 September, 11am and 2pm
• Singer-songwriter Aleighcia Scott blends soul, R&B and gospel into her reggae music – 25 September, 7pm
• Kidsmoke perform their brad of dreamy indie-pop – 26 September, 7pm
• The Tip Topsingers present a celebratory night of musical theatre with Tip Top’s Musical Magic – 27 September, 7pm

.

ABOUT THEATR CLWYD

The award-winning Theatr Clwyd is Wales’ biggest producing theatre. Since 1976 Theatr Clwyd has created exceptional theatre from its home in Flintshire, North Wales. Driven by the vision and dynamism of award-winning Artistic Director Tamara Harvey and Executive Director Liam Evans-Ford, Theatr Clwyd pushes theatrical boundaries creating world-class productions.

Theatr Clwyd’s recent partnership with the National Theatre led to the creation of Home, I’m Darling which won Best New Comedy at the Olivier Awards and was nominated in five categories including Best Set Design and Best Costume Design. Other projects of note include the UK Theatre Award-winning musical The Assassination of Katie Hopkins, the site specific, immersive Great Gatsby and the Menier Chocolate Factory co-production of Orpheus Descending.

Theatr Clwyd is one of only four theatres in the UK to build sets and props, make costumes and paint scenery in-house. Their impressive team of workshop, wardrobe and scenic artists, props makers and technicians ensure the skills vital to a vibrant theatre industry are nurtured right in the heart of Wales, developing the theatre makers of the future. In addition to this, Theatr Clwyd hosts an artist development programme, trainee technicians’ scheme and an eighteen month traineeship for directors, to develop the Artistic Directors of the future.

Theatr Clwyd works in the community across all art forms and is recognised as a cultural leader for its cross generational theatre groups, work in youth justice and diverse programme of arts, health and wellbeing. Award-winning Community Engagement projects include Arts from the Armchair, in partnership with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which uses theatrical making skills to help people with early onset memory loss and their carers, and Justice In A Day, working in schools and the law courts to help at risk children to realise the consequences of crime.

Theatr Clwyd has completed the public consultation period for a major Capital Redevelopment Project which will reimagine the theatre’s public spaces and create a greener, more efficient and sustainable building where world-class art can thrive and social action is rooted for generations to come.

During the Covid-19 pandemic the theatre has been active in helping its community, from hosting blood donation sessions and distributing food to vulnerable families to creating digital dance workshops for those with Parkinsons and sharing creative packages and activities with those most isolated.

www.theatrclwyd.comTwitter: @ClwydTweets
Facebook.com/TheatrClwyd  

SELLADOOR’S QUEEN’S THEATRE SUFFERS FLOOD DAMAGE AFTER DANGEROUS FLASH FLOODING DEVASTATES BARNSTAPLE TOWN CENTRE

Queens Theatre Barnstaple has suffered damage after torrential rain flooded Barnstaple Town Centre.  The flash flooding has seen crews from the emergency services helping to pump water out of the affected homes and businesses with over 60 emergency calls in the last 24 hours.

The Queen’ Theatre has been closed to the public since March due to COVID regulations, and this is a further knockback to the venue operators at a time where these lengthy closures have hit the theatre industry hard. Selladoor confirms that despite this set-back they still have plans to work towards building a bridging program which they are hoping to launch in October following recent news that annual pantomime would be postponed until 2021.  This programme will aim to maintain the crucial connection between audiences and artists with imaginative programming and engagement work.

The damage to the theatre is being fully assessed, with most impact in the substage and technical store. Technical equipment is believed to have been damaged. The roof, which has only recently been repaired, has also sustained damage following the downpour that locals described as ‘apocalyptic’.

Stuart Shanks Director of venues at Selladoor says “On Monday the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple suffered damage due to flooding from the horrid weather. This is a significant blow to this wonderful theatre which comes on top of the enormous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our venue team, led by Debi Summers and JJ Powell have been working tirelessly over the past 24 hours assessing, testing and repairing the damage which the building has suffered so as to make sure it is back to its regal self as quickly as possible”

“Everyone at the Queen’s Theatre and The Landmark would like to send thanks for all of the messages of support over the past couple of days, and we all cannot wait to welcome our loyal audiences back into their theatres as soon as we possibly can”

David Hutchinson CEO for Selladoor says “We’re dismayed that our beautiful Queen’s Theatre has been damaged by the flooding yesterday in Barnstaple, and our hearts go out to all the many homes and businesses in Barnstaple Town Centre also damaged by yesterday’s downpour”

“This unexpected emergency comes at a particularly sensitive moment for the Queens and the wider organisation, as we prepare our North Devon bid for Recovery Support from the Government after 6 months of closure due to Covid. Our incredible team in North Devon, and venues leadership will focus on ensuring we repair the damage as quickly as we can and ensure this 68 year old building, with origins dating back to 1435, is brought back full health so we can continue to focus on re-emerging from lockdown to serve the people of North Devon with a thrilling theatre offering”

“2020 has been challenging. But our team, the incredible and supportive audiences in North Devon and the local authority and MP – have all been right behind us – and we’re focusing on the future and all we have to offer as a cultural destination in Barnstaple.”

Selladoor continues to offer opportunities for local audiences to support them. The  Quarterdeck Café at sister venue The Landmark in Ilfracombe is open seven days a week where customers can take advantage of the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme and will also play host to an outdoor summer festival this month, presenting a programme of live performances between Thursday 27 and Monday 31 August.   There are also membership opportunities and seat naming options available at both venues. For more visit www.queenstheatre-barnstaple.com .