Month: July 2021

Corrie McGuire Management presents:

Myra DuBois: Dead Funny

The most fun you’ll ever have at a funeral

MYRA DUBOIS TO TAKE TO THE STAGE IN A NATIONAL TOUR ACROSS THE UK IN SEPTEMBER 2021 

WITH: HER DEBUT WEST END SOLO PERFORMANCE AT THE GARRICK THEATRE

‘A Comedy Powerhouse” – David Walliams, Britain’s Got Talent, 2020

PRAISE FOR DEAD FUNNY – EDINBURGH FRINGE 2019

“genius character comedy [makes] the blissful joy of this unpredictable hour” **** Broadway Baby

“incredibly quick-witted and frequently caustic” **** The Scotsman

“Inappropriate yet merry, vicious yet charming” **** The List

“Easily one of the sharpest tongues at the Fringe” **** Edinburgh Festivals Magazine

Myra is dead; long live Myra! Realising that she stands to miss out on the most attention she’ll ever receive, Myra DuBois brings forward her own funeral to make sure people get it right. After postponement for over a year due to the pesky pandemic, Myra DuBois, songbird of the North, is finally able to take her smash hit Edinburgh Festival show on the road.

Not that Myra let her skills go to waste in lockdown.  Our charming chanteuse has gone from strength to strength, making it to the Semi Finals of Britain’s Got Talent 2020 and taking to theWest End stage in Death Drop. Combine all this with her star turn inthe upcomingmovie version of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and it’s clear to see that our Myra’s star is spectacularly on the rise.

The tour kicks off with six nights at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 9^th  – 15^th  August and then September will see the acid-tongued Myra present her irreverently sardonic side-eye at death, dying and the theatrics of grief to AdMyras all the way across the UK, including her debut West End solo performance at the Garrick on 6^th September.

The show will be scored with songs by Richard Thomas (Jerry Springer The Opera), all wrapped up in Myra’s trademark acid-tongued wit — an evening packed with so many laughs, you’ll R.I.Pee yourself.

Myra will be supported by her Yorkshire’s #1 funnyman (according to his late mother), misogyny apologist, and inevitable sex symbol Frank Lavender. She’s not pleased about it, but that’s what you get when your creator has more than one character.

Unpredictable, intelligent character comedy, the self-declared siren of South Yorkshire works the room, sparing no-one her sharp tongue, and yet somehow keeping everybody affectionately on-side. 

The Lawrence Batley Theatre has today announced its autumn season featuring world premieres from Gary Clarke and its annual Community Production

The Huddersfield theatre will open its autumn season with a brand-new commission by award-winning choreographer Gary Clarke titled Chronicles. This world premiere work will combine live dance, projection, music and spoken word – using the building’s facade as the backdrop for the multi-art form experience which will take audiences through the decades unearthing the rich histories and untold stories of the theatre’s iconic 200-year-old building. Chronicles will premiere on Wed 1 September for a limited five performance run.

British musical comedy duo Frisky & Mannish will kick off the theatre’s first indoor production of its season with two live performances in September and later return with Lawrence Batley Theatre digital commission PopCorn, which sees the duo draw on pop-culture film references combined with their distinctive comedic music style in a world premiere digital extravaganza available to stream 1 – 14 November.

The 24 Hour Plays is back in the UK after a 10-year hiatus, with six writers, six directors, six producers and 24 actors from all corners of the UK coming together in Huddersfield to write, rehearse, stage and perform six brand new short plays to a live audience on Sat 2 October. The participants have received mentoring from leading industry voices including Olivier award-winning actress Sheila Atim MBE; In The Heights producer Paul Taylor-Mills; critically acclaimed playwright Amanda Whittington; Fleabag producer Francesca Moody; and Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides, Laurie Sansom.

The theatre’s annual community production hits the Main House with an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth written and directed by Olivia Race (Front Room Productions). The show will bring together over 90 members of the community from across the Kirklees district for three performances from Thu 7 – Sat 9 October.

A host of touring productions will visit the theatre including: Fascinating Aida (Tue 28 September), LUNG Theatre’s Who Cares (Tue 12 October), Proper Job Theatre’s The Trial (Tue 26-Wed 27 October) and Nobody by Motionhouse (Tue 25 January).

Families with young children can enjoy, Spontaneous Potter Kidz (Sun 26 September), The Tiger Who Came to Tea (Tue 19 – Wed 20 October) and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Mon 1 November).

Those looking for some light-hearted fun can enjoy a wealth of comedy performances kicking off with Sindhu Vee’s Alphabet (Sat 11 September), monthly instalments of Comedy Cellar bosting line-ups including; Daliso Chaponda, Lost Voice Guy and Karen Bayley, and, voice of Love Island Iain Stirling brings Failing Upwards to the theatre (Thu 28 October).

For its festive offering the Lawrence Batley Theatre will not only produce its annual pantomime which this year is Robin Hood, but also premiere its one-elf show Alfie the Elf’s Christmas Rescue created for children aged four to 11.

Henry Filloux-Bennett, CEO & Artistic Director of the Lawrence Batley Theatre comments; “We are utterly thrilled to be welcoming audiences back for live indoor performances for the first time in almost a year. Our autumn season is bigger and better than ever, with our refreshed auditorium playing host to a series of world premieres and touring productions – as well as our digital channels offering original online shows for those to enjoy from home.”

The autumn season will see the Lawrence Batley Theatre programme its first full season of work in almost 18 months and its first live indoor performances since October 2020. Tickets are now on sale at thelbt.org.

Theatres Trust and The Linbury Trust help 14
theatres face the future post-pandemic with
Small Grants Programme

Theatres Trust has awarded over £69,000 from its Small Grants Programme, supported by The Linbury Trust, to 14 theatres across the UK to support them post-pandemic. The theatres will use the grants, which are from the first round of funding, to carry out small capital works to improve their accessibility, sustainability and viability, allowing them to welcome back audiences old and new after the devastating period of closure.

Expanding their work following initiatives started during the pandemic, Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, and Theatr Brycheiniog will purchase new technology to improve their digital infrastructure, allowing them to deliver a wider programme of work and reach new audiences.

A Changing Places toilet, which is best practice in accessibility standards, will be installed in Malvern Theatres’ new studio extension for its creative learning programme, making its expanding programme accessible to even more of its audiences. From installing assistive technology to making changes to front and back of house, five other theatres will also make vital access improvements with their funding: Lawrence Batley Theatre, Pateley Playhouse, Stanley Arts, Tower Theatre Folkestone and Worcester Swan.

Taking an environmentally sustainable approach to support their long-term viability, Romiley Little Theatre and Trinity Theatre will use funding to upgrade to more efficient heating systems with lower running costs. Angles Theatre, Finborough Theatre, Stables Theatre and Theatro Technis will carry out essential repairs to their electrics, safety equipment and toilets respectively.

Jon Morgan, Director of Theatres Trust, comments, There will be tough times ahead for theatres following the worst year in living memory for the sector, so we are pleased to be able to support these treasured theatres to make positive changes that will help them thrive.

Stuart Hobley, Director of The Linbury Trust, comments, From support to improving accessibility, to helping redevelop digital infrastructure, these small grants are going to make a big difference to local theatres and the wide range of people who enjoy them.

The Small Grants Programme has been made possible thanks to the generous support of The Linbury Trust, as well as donations from Judy Craymer CBE and Charles Michael Holloway Charitable Trust.

The second round of the Small Grants Programme is currently open for applications with grants of up to £5,000 available for not-for-profit theatres. The closing date is Monday 8th November 2021

Jacksons Lane announces 10 UK tour dates
for new Circus production Luminosa
Touring from September 2021

Jacksons Lane, with leading circus ensemble Lost in Translation, have announced UK touring dates for new show Luminosa – at a time when there are very few new touring circus shows in the UK, this major production offers high quality, accessible circus in the form of a brand-new circus cabaret for the 21st Century. The production, directed by Adrian Berry (Artistic Director of Jacksons Lane) and Massimiliano Rossetti (Artistic Director of Lost in Translation) will tour to venues including Worthing, Bristol and Manchester

A sizzling, scintillating night of daring feats with fun and fantastic performance, Luminosa is a ‘don’t miss’ night out with aerial, acrobatics, Chinese pole, live music by Peter Reynolds and more. Expect cutting-edge dance in the sky, jaw-dropping juggling, tipsy hoop swirling and laughter in this feel-good show from some of the very best of British and international circus artists.

Opening in the newly redeveloped Jacksons Lane building following its £4.5 million capital development, the company will work with Extraordinary Bodies and Upswing to employ a revolving cast of freelance circus artists and creatives throughout the tour. Keeping the show adaptable and relevant, local guest artists will join the core cast of seven for each venue giving it a bespoke edge. Luminosa will take many guises on tour, also offering family-friendly weekends, evening cabarets and experimental late nights with post-show DJs.

Artists will lead free circus outreach programmes in areas of social deprivation throughout the tour.

Cast to be announced shortly!

FOLLOWING PHENOMENAL DEMAND

FOURTH WALL LIVE ANNOUNCES AN ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE OF

BONNIE AND CLYDE IN CONCERT

STARRING LAURA OSNES AND JEREMY JORDAN

AT THE THEATRE ROYAL DRURY LANE

MONDAY 17 JANUARY 2022 AT 7.30PM

Fourth Wall Live is delighted to announce an additional performance of BONNIE AND CLYDE IN CONCERT starring Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Monday 17 January 2022 at 7.30pm following phenomenal demand during the pre-sale period for the originally announce Tuesday 18 January performance. Tickets will be made available on Thursday 29 July at 10.00am to those signed up to the initial pre-sale, who will receive an email from LW Theatres shortly, tickets will be available on general sale from Friday 30 July at 10.00am. www.bonnieandclydeconcert.com

BONNIE AND CLYDE IN CONCERT has a book by Ivan Menchell (Blended [movie], The Cemetery Club, The Prince and The Pauper Musical), music by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde, The Scarlett Pimpernel), lyrics by Don Black (Tell Me On a Sunday, Sunset Boulevard, Mrs Henderson Presents) and is directed by Nick Winston (Rock of Ages, Fame, Chess in Concert, Royal Variety Performance) with musical direction by Katy Richardson (SIX, Rent, Jersey Boys). BONNIE AND CLYDE IN CONCERT is produced by Fourth Wall Live and co-produced by DLAP Group, Jason Haigh-Ellery and David Treatman Creative.

LIVING THE DREAM – EXPLORING THE FUTURE FOR AUDIENCES AND LIVE THEATRE

#DreamOnline21

Over 65,000 people across 92 countries watched the premiere of Dream during the ten live performances in March.  Created by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in collaboration with Manchester International Festival (MIF), Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) and Philharmonia Orchestra the performance used motion capture as the culmination of a major piece of cutting-edge research and development (R&D) exploring how audiences could experience live performance in the future. 

A recorded version of Dream is now available to view on the dream.online platform, which was created for the Audience of the Future project. Audiences explore the world of the virtual midsummer forest and the production harnesses live performance, virtual production and gaming technology. Under the shadow of gathering clouds at dusk, lit by the glimmer of fireflies, Puck acts as the guide as audiences take an extraordinary journey into the eye of a cataclysmic storm. The pioneering collaboration explores how audiences could experience live performance in the future in addition to a visit to a performance venue. Audience reaction to the live premiere included:

“Something very different and very cool. I could tell a lot of thought, hard work, and love went into it.” 

“Exciting to imagine the future prospects for this kind of work.”

“It was a phenomenal experience. I felt connected to the rest of the audience even though I could not see anyone physically.”

Created under strict Covid protocols the company of seven actors worked alongside motion capture specialists, special audio designers, 3D Houdini artists and movement director to make Dream. The project is one of four Audience of the Future Demonstrator projects, supported by the government Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund which is delivered by UK Research and Innovation. A major piece of research runs throughout the project led by i2media research at Goldsmiths, University of London and NESTA.  One focus of the research is the potential for making similar online performances financially viable for the arts sector.  All findings and research are currently being analysed and will be released in September and shared with the wider UK cultural sector.

Cast and creatives: Robin McNicholas – Director, Pippa Hill – Script Creation, Robin Mc Nicholas & Pippa Hill – Narrative, Esa-Pekka Salonen – Music Director & Composer, Jesper Nordin – Composer, Interactivity Designer and Creative Advisor, Music, Sarah Perry – Movement Director 

Maggie Bain (Cobweb), Phoebe Hyder (Understudy Puck and Mustardseed), Durassie Kiangangu (Moth), Jamie Morgan (Peaseblossom), Loren O’Dair (Mustardseed), EM Williams (Puck), Edmund Wood (rehearsal assistant, Understudy Moth, Cobweb & Peaseblossom).

Cast announced for new BSL-integrated
musical The Princess and the Pauper
Mowlem Theatre, Shore Road, Swanage, BH19 1DD
Tuesday 17th – Saturday 28th August 2021

The cast has been announced for the exciting new family musical, The Princess and the Pauper. Leading this fully BSL-integrated production will be Rhiannon Jones (Silent Witness, BBC) as Tess Canty and Hannah Brownlie (The Offenders, Amazon) as Bess Tudor. They will be joined by David King Yombo (The Visit, National Theatre), Alex Scott Fairley (Blood Brothers, West End and UK tour) and Julie Wood (Radio Sea Breeze, TV).

Tess Canty and Elizabeth Tudor may look alike, but their lives could hardly be more different. Elizabeth is Princess and heir to the throne; Tess is a miserable pauper. That is, until one day fate intervenes. For a while, each must see how the other lives. This exciting new production enhances the magic and musicality of the story with British Sign Language and incorporates deaf* and hearing actors, BSL-inspired choreography and sign song. Suitable for the whole family, this is an entertaining and rollicking tale of mistaken identities.

In-keeping with the story which interrogates a society plagued by inequities, Hordern Ciani has worked to create an equal experience through the production. By gender swapping the title roles and by including a deaf actress among the small cast of five, the company has created more equality on stage. The inclusion of an integrated interpreter and the choreographing of all songs with sign song has created an equal experience for deaf and hearing audiences.

Katherine Mount, producer with Hordern Ciani, comments, As a professional actress and singer with a deaf child, I was profoundly affected by my initial belief that Ethan would never be able to access music. Alongside advice to keep background noise to a minimum to encourage listening skills, when Ethan was still a baby, I stopped playing music and found singing an emotional impossibility for years. But when sign song came along, it was life changing. Ethan joined The Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf and Hearing Children at the age of six and it was a revelation. Not only did he discover music for the first time, he also gained a new form of expression and had opportunity to perform in amazing venues, culminating in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics 2012 and his very own CBBC documentary. After many years of struggling to find accessible shows to take my son to watch, producing theatre myself and experimenting with the use of British Sign Language in song, the idea for a fully integrated musical was developed and The Princess and the Pauper was born.

Director Robert Marsden adds, I am delighted to be returning to direct for Hordern Ciani once more. Reframing the Mark Twain story with a re-gendered approach and setting it in Elizabeth I’s reign allows for a fresh telling. The piece is about survival, and the fear that comes with seemingly not being able to survive outside of your own world, class, and environment, which of course these characters learn that they are able to do. Our production goes back to the origins of storytelling: our six actors, including deaf and hearing actors and integrated signers, tell the story of these two young girls, thrust into new situations, aiming to return to their original habitats, forging new friendships as they come of age and understand the world around them.

Producing company, Hordern Ciani, is grateful for its support from Arts Council England and the Culture Recovery Fund.

• The company uses the term deaf to include individuals with all levels of deafness.

Hampstead Theatre, London – until 28 August 2021

Reviewed by Alun Hood

4****

It’s not absolutely essential to carry out some background reading about tortured genius Tennessee Williams before exposing yourself to this late-career play, revived at the very theatre where it had it’s world premiere in 1967… but it would probably help. At times grim, at others downright rollicking, The Two Character Play was regarded with great affection by the author himself, who claimed it was his most beautiful work after A Streetcar Named Desire but also noted that he was hurtling towards mental breakdown during the decade it took him to write it.

Set in an unspecified theatre as a brother-and-sister acting team struggle to mount a performance of an unnamed script (a doomy Southern Gothic affair that’s almost a parody of Williams’s own work at it’s most overwrought) on an unfinished set, with no props or costumes, deserted by the rest of the cast, technical crew and, increasingly, their own sanity, the atmosphere is of creeping unease, suddenly shot through with flashes of blind panic. It’s not an easy play to grasp; the tone is wildly uneven, the Beckett-like inertia sitting strangely alongside the languid, poetic misery of vintage Williams and more strangely still alongside the Noël Coward-esque theatrical bitchery  the siblings descend into during lighter moments, and the plot of the play-within-a-play bleeds in and out of the actor’s real lives to bewildering effect.

And yet, despite all that, The Two Character Play proves oddly compelling and haunting, like a theatrical fever-dream that never fully wakes up. It may be too strange and just plain hard work for some theatregoers, but it is impossible to write off.

Director Sam Yates has thrown everything bar the kitchen sink at it in technical terms, from Lee Curran’s evocative lighting, Daniel Balfour’s threatening sound design, to ingenious, occasionally terrifying video work by Akhila Krishnan and an inspiredly jumbled set by Rosanna Vyze that renders the  Hampstead stage simultaneously cavernous and claustrophobic, and the overall effect is pretty astonishing. This is an intensely theatrical experience right up to the almost apocalyptic conclusion where we glimpse just how desperate and lost the central characters actually are.

Far from being overwhelmed by such thrilling, all-encompassing theatricality, actors Kate O’Flynn and Zubin Varla deliver vivid masterclasses in gallows humour and lightning fast transformation between characters, and succeed in building a complex, utterly convincing relationship, rich in mutual loathing and adoration (but mainly loathing!), between these flailing yet self-regarding thespian siblings. Varla gives Felice a sweaty desperation shading into bitter resignation that becomes really moving. O’Flynn delivers her theatrical asides like a young Maggie Smith, and impressively contrasts the gamine-like vitality of the character Clare performs in the ‘Play’ with the dead-eyed despair of Clare herself. Both actors acquit themselves magnificently.

It may seem like an obvious thing to say, but this is the sort of experience you can only have in a theatre. Yes it’s wilfully obscure at times (thanks, Tennessee!) but it also has a boldness and immediacy that would be impossible to replicate in any other medium. The Two Character Play will seldom, if ever, be spoken of in the same breath as, say, The Glass Menagerie or Cat On A Hot Tin Roof – it’s too unwieldy, too esoteric – but Yates and his cracking team make the most persuasive case imaginable for it here.

EAST IS EAST

BY Ayub Khan Din

FULL CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT

FOR THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION

SOPHIE STANTON AND TONY JAYAWARDENA WILL TAKE ON THE ROLES OF ELLA AND GEORGE AND BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY THEATRE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR IQBAL KHAN WILL DIRECT

PLAYING AT THE REP FROM 3-25 SEPTEMBER.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW AT WWW.BIRMINGHAM-REP.CO.UK

Birmingham Repertory Theatre is excited to announce the full casting for its 25th anniversary production of East Is East, the classic comic family drama of the British-Asian experience.

The cast is led by Tony Jayawardena as George and Sophie Stanton as Ella. The rest of the cast  is completed by Amy-Leigh Hickman as Meenah; Irvine Iqbal as Mr Shah/Dr; Adonis Jenieco as Saleem; Rachel Lumberg as Annie; Noah Manzoor as Sajit; Joeravar Sangha as Maneer; Gurjeet Singh as Tariq and Assad Zaman as Abdul.

George Khan wants to raise his family the proper Pakistani way but hasn’t counted on the distractions of 70s Salford. Abdul and Tariq aren’t ready to be married off, Saleem is pushing artistic boundaries, Meenah’s skirt is too short and Sajit just wants to hide in his parka. Can mum Ella keep the family together? 

Since premiering on The REP’s stage in 1996, East Is East has sold out three London runs, been adapted into a BAFTA Award-winning film and become a modern classic of comic-drama. The smash-hit comedy-drama now returns home for its 25^th anniversary before going onto the National Theatre.

The full creative team has also been announced today, with the previously announced Director Iqbal Khan being joined by Bretta Gerecke (Set, Projection and Lighting Design), Susan Kulkarni (Costume Design), Felix Dubs (Composer), Jon Nicholls (Sound Design), Stuart Burt CDG (Casting), Natasha Kathi-Chandra (Associate Director) and Max White (Video Associate).

East Is East will play at Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 3-25 September. Tickets are from £12.50 and are on sale now at www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

In line with current Government regulations, The REP is now open to full capacity, but we continue to take a number of carefully managed steps and precautions to help audiences feel safe and enjoy their chosen performance. The wearing of masks is encouraged throughout the building, additional cleaning will continue and some performances will still have socially distanced seating.

York Theatre Royal – until Saturday 31 July 2021

Reviewed by Marcus Richardson

4****

Ralph Fiennes is a seasoned British actor, a name most of us know from his cinematic roles. I got the opportunity to see him perform in person, at the York Theatre Royal with Four Quartets. An adaptation of T.S. Elliot’s work, which he created during World War Two, with themes of existentialism and time. The performance lasts for around an hour and twenty minutes.

Fiennes was incredible to watch, the dedication to both the written material and the performance itself was inspiring. He was the only performer onstage and had so much text to get through, so he certainly had such a burden to carry. While his performance was outstanding and I can’t find any fault in it, the material is a different story. Whilst Elliot is a renowned and popular poet, the whole performance seemed to be really heavy and hard to take in.

The stage itself was fairly simple, with a table, two chairs and two giant blocks which could spin, it did give a lot more focus on Fiennes and the text itself, which is what the performance is about. I should note that I’m using performance rather than play for this show as it was poetry being performed, rather than a play about poetry.

I do have some conflict in this show, as I’ve said that Fiennes is an amazing performer and it’s certainly something to witness. But I would say you’d have to be over 18 just to understand some of the performance, though it is technically suitable for all ages. If you want to see an amazing performance and learn what it means to be a great actor, then I would suggest this in a heartbeat. A fantastic opportunity to see a stellar, world renowned craftsman in action. It will be at the York Theatre Royal until July 31st