Category: Uncategorized

Theatres Trust protects and promotes
theatres in the post-pandemic world

Theatres Trust, the national public advisory body for theatres, has set out the key issues for the theatre sector post-pandemic and how it will continue to support all the UK’s theatres. Following the toughest two years in living memory for theatres, the sector remains in a precarious position, with theatres facing a range of challenges including depleted reserves, the need to modernise buildings and to respond to the climate emergency.

Research for Theatres Trust by leading consultancies AECOM, Avison Young, Bristow Consulting and Buro Happold revealed that more than £1bn is needed to make the UK’s theatre buildings resilient, sustainable and suitable for modern and future audiences. Theatres face difficulties in modernising buildings with depleted reserves following lockdowns and theatre closures, funding shortfalls and increasing operating costs. Theatres Trust is advocating for further investment in theatre capital projects to help theatres make changes to their buildings and ensure buildings are fit for purpose.

Responding to the climate emergency is imperative for the theatre sector. Theatres Trust is a lead partner on the innovative Theatre Green Book project, along with the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) and Buro Happold, led by architect Paddy Dillon. Beta versions of all three volumes – Productions, Buildings and Operations – have now been published and Theatres Trust will continue to promote the project across the sector. The Theatre Green Book sets common standards for theatre sustainability, and many theatres including National Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland and National Theatre Wales have all committed to making their shows to the Theatre Green Book standards for sustainability.

Theatres Trust has welcomed the government’s Levelling Up agenda, which aligns with Theatres Trust’s arguments that culture can be a catalyst for regeneration and reignite civic pride. Of the 41 theatres on its Theatres at Risk list in 2022, three-quarters are either located in the 20% most deprived areas in the country or in the top priority areas (band 1) for Levelling Up. Putting these buildings at the heart of Levelling Up plans could have a hugely positive impact for those communities. Theatres Trust is engaging with national and local government on Levelling Up and cultural place-making, and will continue to make the case for the cultural, social and economic value of theatre buildings in all parts of the UK in a way that protects the theatre ecosystem.

Local authorities are the biggest funder of culture in the UK, contributing £1bn a year in England alone according to Local Government Association (LGA) figures, but with increasing demands on their budgets, many are reducing their spending in this area, a trend that has worsened since the pandemic. Theatres Trust helps local authorities to appreciate the long-term value of their theatre buildings as cultural and community spaces and as drivers of vibrant local economies. The Trust is working closely with the LGA, including contributing to its Commission on Culture and Local Government to promote the role of theatres in the pandemic recovery and in levelling up communities across the country.

Alongside these issues Theatres Trust continues its ongoing work as the only charity that supports every theatre in the UK, historic or modern, commercial, subsidised or voluntary. This includes:
• A free advice service to promote the best use of theatre buildings, including advice on
capital projects, planning applications, building maintenance, business planning and
fundraising.
• Responding to all planning applications involving or impacting a theatre building in its role
as a statutory consultee in the planning system.
• Commenting on local planning and culture policies to ensure they safeguard and promote
culture and sustainable theatre.
• Running two grant schemes offering funding to improve theatres’ resilience, sustainability
or accessibility.
• Assisting community groups campaigning to save or revive their local theatres, particularly those on the Theatres at Risk Register.
• Publishing advice notes to support theatre owners, operators, campaign groups and local
authorities with common issues relating to theatre buildings.
• Submitting and supporting heritage listing applications for buildings of particular
architectural and cultural merit to give them greater protection.

Theatres Trust Director Jon Morgan says, Theatres can play a significant role in supporting their local communities’ economic and social wellbeing. Unfortunately, Covid is casting a long shadow over the theatre sector and its full recovery is by no means guaranteed. As well as supporting individual theatres, Theatres Trust’s work to advocate for the long-term value of theatres and importance of investment in theatre buildings is now more crucial than ever before

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE
WILL TOUR THE UK AND IRELAND, VISITING 29 TOWNS AND CITIES FOR 40 WEEKS FROM DECEMBER

The National Theatre’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE will tour the UK and Ireland later this year, direct from the West End, visiting more than 29 towns and cities for a total of 40 weeks. Directed by Katy Rudd (Camp Siegfried) and adapted by Joel Horwood (Skins, I Want My Hat Back), the first major stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s work is a thrilling adventure of fantasy, myth and friendship, which blends magic with memory in a tour-de-force of storytelling that takes audiences on an epic journey to a childhood once forgotten and the darkness that lurks at the very edge of it.

Featuring an ensemble cast of 17, the tour will open at The Lowry in Salford where it will play over Christmas (12 December 2022 – 7 January 2023), before visiting New Victoria Theatre, Woking (24 – 28 Jan); Leicester Curve (31 Jan – 11 Feb); Theatre Royal Plymouth (14 – 25 Feb); Sunderland Empire (28 Feb – 4 March); Theatre Royal Bath (7 – 18 March); Grand Opera House, Belfast (21 – 25 March); Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin (28 March – 1 April); The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (4 – 8 April); New Wimbledon Theatre (11 – 15 April); Edinburgh Festival Theatre (18 – 22 April); Liverpool Empire (2 – 6 May); Sheffield Lyceum Theatre (9 – 20 May); The Alexandra, Birmingham (23 – 27 May); Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff (30 May – 3 June); Nottingham Theatre Royal (6 – 17 June); New Theatre, Oxford (20 – 24 June); Milton Keynes Theatre (27 June – 1 July); Mayflower Theatre, Southampton (4 – 8 July); Newcastle Theatre Royal (11 – 22 July); Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (25 – 29 July); Cliffs Pavilion, Southend (8 – 12 Aug); Bristol Hippodrome (15 – 19 Aug); His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen (22 – 26 August); King’s Theatre, Glasgow (29 August – 2 Sept); Norwich Theatre Royal (5 – 9 Sept); Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent (12 – 16 Sept); Hall for Cornwall, Truro (19 – 23 Sept) and Wolverhampton Grand Theatre (26 – 30 September).

Check individual venue websites for full details of on sale dates and assisted performances across the tour. Visit oceanonstage.com for the full touring schedule.

Returning to his childhood home, a man finds himself standing beside the pond of the old Sussex farmhouse where he used to play. He’s transported to his 12th birthday when his remarkable friend Lettie claimed it wasn’t a pond, but an ocean – a place where everything is possible…

Plunged into a magical world, their survival depends on their ability to reckon with ancient forces that threaten to destroy everything around them.

Touring for a total of 40 weeks, this is the largest tour mounted by the National Theatre since before the COVID-19 pandemic. It follows a celebrated six-month run of The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the Duke of York’s Theatre in the West End, which opened in November 2021 after the production received its world premiere in the Dorfman Theatre in late 2019.

Writer Neil Gaiman said: “The Ocean at the End of the Lane is about memory, magic, family. It’s about who you were and who you are. It’s not like anything else I’ve ever been involved in. It’s not like anything else you’ll ever see at the theatre. The Ocean at the End of the Lane has its own theatrical magic. It’s why happy people tell you that they cried while watching it, it’s why it becomes a dreamlike experience in memory, it gets bigger the further inside you follow it. Like a duck pond that contains an ocean that holds the universe…” 

Director Katy Rudd said: “When Neil Gaiman gave the National Theatre his blessing to stage his novel The Ocean at the End of
the Lane we knew that this book was treasured across the world by Neil Gaiman’s legions of fans. The writer, Joel Horwood and I wanted to be faithful to the novel and at the same time create a big, bold, visual show with more than just a little bit of magic. Thanks to our amazing creative team we found ways to fit an ocean into a bucket, and bring huge mythical creatures like the Hunger Birds to life on stage….but at its heart, Ocean is a human story about a family and a young boy growing up, experiencing real emotion and real pain, and finding a way to get through it with the help of his friends. We hope we have created something that is both profound and visually exciting that will appeal, not only to regular theatre audiences, but also to younger people from the ‘Netflix generation’ who might not have been to the theatre before. It is a beautiful, rich, multi-faceted story and as this production goes on tour we are still adapting and evolving it and finding new meaning in its depths. That is the magic of live theatre and we can’t wait to share it with our audiences.”

National Theatre Director Rufus Norris said: “That Joel Horwood, Katy Rudd and their formidable creative team have managed to wrestle Neil Gaiman’s incredible imagination and the worlds which spring from it onto a stage is magic in itself. We’re so proud to tour this work around the UK and Ireland, to share this beautiful story with audiences nationally, and to visit so many gorgeous theatres which, like ours, have recently been dark for too long.”

Neil Gaiman is known for his graphic novels, including The Sandman series (with a major new Netflix series scheduled for release in 2022); his novels for adults and children including Stardust, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book; and multiple film and television projects including Good Omens and Anansi Boys. The Ocean at the End of the Lane was the winner of the Book of the Year at the 2013 National Book Awards and has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane introduces audiences to Gaiman’s magical world and the much-loved characters that inhabit it, fully realised on stage. An award-winning creative team join Katy Rudd and Joel Horwood; with set design by Fly Davis (Beginning; Caroline or Change) and costume and puppet design by Samuel Wyer (The Boy in the Dress; 2022 Best Family Show Olivier Award winner for Wolf Witch Giant Fairy). Movement direction is by Steven Hoggett (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), composition by Jherek Bischoff (LA based composer and multi-instrumentalist whose collaborators include David Byrne, Amanda Palmer, and Regina Spektor), lighting design is by Paule Constable (5 times winner of the Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design, including for The Ocean at the End of the Lane in 2020), sound design by Ian Dickinson for Autograph (Angels in America; Small Island; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), magic and illusions direction and design by Jamie Harrison (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and puppetry direction by Finn Caldwell (2022 Olivier Award winner for Life of Pi; War Horse). Tour casting is by Sarah Hughes CDG. Cast to be announced. 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is suitable for ages 12+. 

Salisbury Playhouse – until 14 May 2022

Review by Nicky Wyatt

3***

Jim Cartwrights 30 year old play about a poverty stricken family surrounded by grief is a clever if slightly dated show. The casting for this latest revival brings it together and they work really well together.

Sara Perks cleverly designed set is brilliant. The family home complete with crackly electrics is perfect for the era.

Mari (Shobna Gulati) takes the role of a sad, lonely, jealous mum to a whole new level. Her brash clothes and heavy drinking do little to mask her sadness of being widowed and left with a daughter that had more in common with dead husband than she did. She has little time, affection or compassion for her young daughter and sees her as hindrance to her own life, which is a constant round of drinking, partying and unsuitable men. Her biggest excitement is the installation of a telephone , oh and the telephone man.

Mari leans heavily on her slightly awkward friend Sadie (Fiona Mulvaney). Sadie is always there to listen, support and help her friend. She is the butt of many jokes but also delivers some amazing humour herself.

As Mari drinks her way through life upstairs in her bedroom is LV ( Little Voice), Christina Bianco, so named because she is shy, timid, grieves for dad and frankly can’t get a word in around her mum. She sits and plays her fathers records and has the most amazing talent to be able to mimic her idols. When she does ‘it’s not Little Voice but what a voice!’

She is develops her one true friend when the family telephone is installed , the slightly awkward Billy (Akshay Gulati). He sees a kindred spirit in her and a proper caring friendship blossoms, unlike the manipulative one that happens when Mari brings home her latest squeeze club promoter Ray Say (Ian Kelsey).

Ray desperately wanting to hit the big time and make it rich overhears LV singing in her room and sees the ££signs in his eyes. He cajoles, manipulates and persuades LV to perform in the club. Stage fright ensues and LV flops much to her Rays disappointment and Mari’s wrath. The only one on her side is Billy who genuinely cares for her. Not one to give up on a give Ray persuades her to one more night and we are treated to a 10 minute ensemble of Christina’s amazing voice.

Sadly her daughters success is to much for Mari and years of bitterness pour out of her and she is left all alone.

There are some great set changes in this show, brilliant one liners , also a lot of shouting and strong language, see through that and the show is great

Boundless Theatre launch new drama
club network for early career and
young theatre makers across the UK
If you’re starting out, start here!

Boundless Theatre have launched the Boundless Drama Club – an online membership-based creative community for 15–25-year-olds and early career creatives, with exclusive content, masterclasses, mentoring, work and funding opportunities alongside real time connections to the Boundless team and artists. The Boundless Drama Club will appeal to those interested in making theatre, offering a new and unprecedented level of support for early career theatre makers.

The Boundless Drama Club will introduce members to theatre making and creative skills; it offers a safe space for collaboration for young adults. Making the most of online learning, real time, digital experiences and creative commissions as well as financial support for work, the Boundless Drama Club will sit at the centre of the company’s artistic development and creative community work. The platform will be live and community-led, constantly evolving and developing based on the needs of its members, including in-time real world meet ups and resources to facilitate members setting up their own activities where they live.

At launch members can engage from home but eventually as part of the real-life clubs set up independently and around the UK. The Boundless Drama Club will show that theatre making can happen anywhere and at your own pace by taking part in self-guided creative challenges or making work that can then be shared around the country with other members in the network. Young adults will experience a new way of highly social theatre-making on their own terms, even in places with little or no existing theatre provision.

During the first year of the Boundless Drama Club, memberships will be offered free for young creatives to explore the platform as it develops and have a say in its direction and growth. After this point, individual memberships will cost £2 a month, with support for those who cannot afford to join. All memberships will be directly invested back into the Boundless Drama Club, paying for direct costs and to resource a creative fund.

Boundless Drama Club members will have access to exclusive guided creative challenges and resources; real-time online events and masterclasses; on demand content such as creative talks and articles; exclusive and early access to paid creative work, commissions and opportunities; networking with peers across the UK; and access to a creative fund for own work (paid for by membership fees). The first opportunity members have to apply for funding is the Boundless Accelerator fund, the scheme that was instrumental in developing Ryan Calais Cameron’s critically acclaimed For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy.

On launch, Boundless will concentrate on growing its community and learning how best to support diverse creatives around the UK with masterclasses, real time creative events and mentoring. The format will develop to offer more support for real life clubs, enabling individual members to form collectives and pre-existing groups to benefit from dedicated resources and creative challenges that act as starting points for productions or more complex projects. This will all culminate annually in a Boundless Summit for members, a hybrid digital and in person event to showcase creative work, discuss future support for 15–25-year-old creatives, and celebrate the creative community. The summit will be led by young people, discussing the industry and what needs to change, looking at lessons and achievements from the previous year.

Rob Drummer, Artistic Director of Boundless Theatre, comments, The team have been working hard on planning and getting ready to launch the Boundless Drama Club over the past two years. We’ve learnt so much from our existing creative community around the UK and wanted to create new ways to share space with them and others. The Boundless Drama Club is intended to be an evolving response to the amazing creativity young people demonstrate daily and will connect all of our commissioning, creative development and skills and training work. In time we’re excited to see physical clubs appear all over the UK and to get more money and other resources directed exactly where they’re needed, to those starting out.

FIRST LOOK AT AMY ADAMS AS AMANDA WINGFIELD 

REHEARSAL IMAGES RELEASED FOR THE GLASS MENAGERIE 

• AMY ADAMS WILL MAKE HER WEST END DEBUT IN THIS NEW REVIVAL OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’S CELEBRATED MEMORY PLAY, DIRECTED BY JEREMY HERRIN. 
• PAUL HILTON, TOM GLYNN-CARNEY, LIZZIE ANNIS AND VICTOR ALLI WILL ALSO STAR. 
• FIRST PREVIEW IS ON 23 MAY AND OFFICIAL OPENING ON 31 MAY
• TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW AND THE PRODUCTION WILL RUN AT THE DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE UNTIL 27 AUGUST 2022 WWW.THEGLASSMENAGERIEWESTEND.COM​

Second Half Productions has today released rehearsal images for The Glass Menagerie, a new production of Tennessee Williams’s celebrated memory play, directed by award-winning director Jeremy Herrin. The production will run for 14 weeks at The Duke of York’s Theatre from 23 May 2022 with Opening Night on 31 May 2022. 

Jeremy Herrin’s bold new staging explores the fragility and fallibility of memory in Tennessee Williams’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece. Six-time Academy Award nominated and two-time Golden Globe winning actress Amy Adams takes on the role of one of Williams’s most iconic matriarchs Amanda Wingfield, a former Southern Belle living precariously with her two children, Tom and Laura, in a space between past and present. Tony award-nominee Paul Hilton and Tom Glynn-Carney will both play Tom – at different stages of the character’s life –  with Lizzie Annis and Victor Alli as Laura and Jim O’Connor.

The Glass Menagerie is designed by Vicki Mortimer with lighting design by Paule Constable, video design by Ash J Woodward and is cast by Jessica Ronane CDG. Completing the creative team are costume designer Edward K. Gibbon, composer and sound designer Nick Powell, and design associate Choy-Ping Clarke-Ng. 

The Glass Menagerie is the debut production from Second Half Productions, a new entertainment company founded by Jeremy Herrin, Alan Stacey and Rob O’Rahilly, creating innovative work by world-leading artists for stage and screen, breathing new and unexpected life into classic stories and championing extraordinary writing from new and established voices. 

DENZEL WESTLEY-SANDERSON, WINNER OF THE

RTST SIR PETER HALL DIRECTOR AWARD 2021,

TO DIRECT THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

It was announced yesterday at a special Royal Theatrical Support Trust (RTST) ceremony that the winner of the RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award 2021, Denzel Westley-Sanderson, will direct a new production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest – in a co-production between English Touring Theatre (ETT), Leeds Playhouse and Rose Theatre.

Oscar Wilde’sgenius humour meets contemporary culture in this theatrical rollercoaster packed with chart-toppers, shade, wit, and plenty of gags.

Award-winner Denzel Westley-Sanderson breathes fresh new life into Wilde’s sharpest and most outrageous comedy: The Importance of Being Earnest.  

This vibrant retelling brings warmth, relevance, and unique insight to this classic satire about dysfunctional families, class, gender, and sexuality.

Denzel Westley-Sanderson’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest will tour in Autumn 2022, with dates and venues to be announced.

Richard Twyman, Artistic Director of ETT and Holly Gladwell, Executive Producer (Maternity Cover) of ETT, commented, “We’re extremely excited to begin work on Denzel Westley-Sanderson’s RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award-winning production this Autumn. This is ETT’s fourth year collaborating with the Royal Theatrical Support Trust; an award which opens up national stages to a director at a crucial point in their career, giving them the opportunity to share work with audiences across the country. This is a unique award which has led to some of the most thrilling work we’ve made at ETT, and we’re delighted to be working with Denzel on his production, in partnership with Leeds Playhouse and the Rose Theatre. He’s an intuitive, playful, and visionary director and we can’t wait to see what he will do with this iconic text.”

Denzel Westley-Sanderson commented, “I’m honoured to have received the RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award. Touring is such a vital part of the theatre industry, and I’m excited to be a part of that, and to open the season at Leeds Playhouse with The Importance of Being Earnest. Expect all the sass, shade, and wit this play has to offer.”

Denzel Westley-Sanderson is a Theatre Director and workshop facilitator based in London; Denzel trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts on the MA theatre directing course graduating in 2017.  After graduating, Denzel was a part of the Resident Directors’ pool at the Almeida Theatre in 2017-2018.

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Denzel has worked across several different genres and styles of performance, working with new writing, musicals, opera, devising and dance theatre, working alongside the CTC Dance Company as the company’s director. In 2019, Denzel directed the show Identity, which won the award for ‘Exciting New Work’ at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Denzel has previously worked with the participation team at the Donmar Warehouse on a number of schools project across London. In 2020, Denzel co-directed Jesus Christ Superstar – The Concert at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. In December 2020, Denzel was the Associate Director on Dick Whittington at the National Theatre and in 2022 he was Associate Director on Small Island, also at the National Theatre.

SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS WINS

BAFTA FOR BEST SINGLE DRAMA FOR TOGETHER

Sonia Friedman Productions received a BAFTA for Best Single Drama for its co-produced television drama Together starring James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan. Written by Dennis Kelly and co-directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, the piece was originally conceived for the stage but adapted for television during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The drama beat stiff competition from Death of England: Face to Face, Help and I Am Victoria.

The one-off film from Shoebox Films, Sonia Friedman Productions and BBC Film broadcast on BBC Two in June 2021. It focuses on a family in the midst of the pandemic, like so many, who found a way to survive – together. It’s the hilarious and heartbreaking story of a husband and wife who are forced to re-evaluate themselves and their relationship through the reality of lockdown.

Collecting the award on behalf of the producers was scriptwriter and executive producer Dennis Kelly who read a letter from the campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, calling for a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic.

The letter included: “The government’s response has gone from strange to careless to negligent – our loved ones’ lives treated as expendable, collateral damage. The government was too busy partying to spare us a thought, even daring to tell us they were too busy to meet with us, or to start an inquiry promptly. We may never know how many of our loved ones’ lives could have been saved if things had been done differently, but we will not rest until we know that everything possible has been done to ensure others are spared this heartbreak and pain.”

The letter finished with a direct call to action for Boris Johnson: “Prime Minister, if you are listening, start the Covid inquiry now so we can learn lessons and save lives.”

Together is a Shoebox Films and Sonia Friedman Productions film for BBC Two and BBC Film. Executive producers are Dennis Kelly; Rose Garnett, director BBC Film; and Gaynor Holmes for the BBC. Deals were negotiated by Clare Hardwick of Grey Seal Media on behalf of production and Geraldine Atlee for the BBC.

This was one of two BAFTA nominations Sonia Friedman Productions received this year – the second was for Short Form Programme for its co-produced People You May Know.

JAMES BEENY AND GINA GEORGIO OF

TOY SOLDIER PRODUCTIONS

ARE DELIGHTED TO PRESENT

BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT

CHORAL SENSATIONS

THE FRONTLINE SINGERS

James Beeny and Gina Georgio, the musical theatre writing and producing duo behind Toy Soldier Productions are delighted to present The Frontline Singers, who appeared on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent on Saturday 7 May to the acclaim of both the audience and judges.

Created during the national lockdown, The Frontline Singers is a group of over 20 frontline workers from all backgrounds with a shared passion for music, brought together by James Beeny and Gina Georgio. James and Gina wrote an original song for the group, ‘Strange Old World’, which they recorded remotely with The Frontline Singers during the first national lockdown. The song raised funds for the NHS, doubling its fundraising target within its first week online. James and Gina recruited the members of the group through an online search, and by approaching frontline workers they knew personally, including Gina’s father Demi Georghiou, a Police Community Support Officer from Sussex. In the Autumn of 2021, the group sang together in person for the first time and are now thrilled to have performed on Britain’s Got Talent, receiving four ‘yes’ votes from the judging panel.

The Frontline Singers also includes West End performers Paul Wilkins, Sam O’Rourke and Devon-Elise Johnson who each adapted during the pandemic working night-shifts in supermarkets, volunteering in the community with vulnerable people and working in a pharmacy respectively. 

Watch the video for Strange Old World here: https://youtu.be/oWLMjK_Sw9U

Watch The Frontline Singers performance on Britain’s Got Talent here: https://youtu.be/RXDxiBwfjxc

James and Gina said, “It has been an honour to bring this talented group of frontline workers together to perform on Britain’s Got Talent. What they do for this country is heroic and inspirational, and we are incredibly proud of their journey as a vocal group.”

Toy Soldier Productions is a British production company, founded in 2020 by musical theatre partnership James Beeny and Gina Georgio to develop and produce new, original work. With a background in the music industry, guitarist James and pianist Gina made their theatre debut with new British musical The Dreamers, which was staged for four workshop performances at Abbey Road Studios in 2018. They are now developing their second musical Lady M, based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth.  Lady M recently underwent a workshop in London featuring George Blagden, Kerry Ellis, Jamie Muscato, Maiya Quansah-Breed and Karl Queensborough.

https://www.toysoldierproductions.com/

THE SECRET GARDEN
In Concert

• PRODUCERS LAMBERT JACKSON ANNOUNCE A ONE-OFF CONCERT PRODUCTION OF TONY-AWARD WINNING MUSICAL THE SECRET GARDEN ON 28th AUGUST 2022 AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM
   
• THE CAST WILL INCLUDE MARK FEEHILY (WESTLIFE), HADLEY FRASER (PIRATE QUEEN), MAIYA QUANSAH-BREED (SIX), ALEX THOMAS-SMITH (&JULIET), EMMA WILLIAMS (HALF A SIXPENCE) PLUS MANY OTHERS
   
• TICKETS GO ON SALE ON FRIDAY 13TH MAY AT 10AM VIA LONDON PALLADIUM WEBSITE AND TICKETMASTER, WITH VENUE PRESALE ON THURSDAY 12TH MAY

Tony award-winning musical, The Secret Garden, based on the 1911 novel of the same name, returns to the West End for a one-night-only concert celebration.

In a lonely manor house on the Yorkshire Moors, Archibald Craven (Hadley Fraser) is stifled by his manipulative brother (Mark Feehily) and yearns for his beautiful, late wife (Emma Williams), all the while becoming more isolated and remote from his crippled son (Isaac Lancel-Watkinson). But their quiet routine is turned upside down when young Mary Lennox (Darcy Jacobs) is sent to live with them following the death of her parents in India. She finds a secret walled garden hidden in the grounds and with the help of a few friends (Alex Thomas-Smith and Maiya Quansah-Breed) releases the magic and adventure locked inside it, changing their lives forever.

Lambert Jackson said: “After two cancelled shows due to the pandemic, we’re thrilled to finally be bringing this beautiful concert musical to the London Palladium. The Secret Garden has a special place in many people’s hearts. Be it as a musical, a novel, or a film, the enduring story has a way of staying with you with the timely message to live life to the full.”

Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett with book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon, this concert production will be directed by Nick Winston (Bonnie & Clyde, Rock of Ages, Beauty and the Beast) with music direction by Adam Hoskins (Doctor Zhivago, Camelot in Concert, Songs For A New World). Featuring an ensemble cast lead by Mark Feehily (Westlife), Hadley Fraser (The Pirate Queen), Maiya Quansah-Breed (Six), Alex Thomas-Smith (&Juliet), Emma Williams(Half a Sixpence), the show also features performances by Darcy Jacobs as Mary, Isaac Lancel-Watkinson as Colin, Michael Riseley as Captain Albert Lennox, Linda John-Pierre as Mrs Medlock, Grace Mouat as Alice, Aleyna Mohanraj as Ayah, Johndeep More as Fakir, Glain Rhys as Rose and Howard Scott Walker as Ben Weatherstaff with narration by Lucy Drever. Students from Trinity Laban Musical Theatre will be joining the cast as the ensemble.

Lambert Jackson are presenting this one-night-only concert with a creative team comprising Nick Winston (Director), Adam Hoskins (Musical Director), Jonny Dickie and Joshua Robins (Sound Design), Joseph Thomas (Lighting Design) and The Digi Creative (Social Media).

Tickets can be found at: lwtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/the-secret-garden-in-concert/

Soho Theatre – until 14 May 2022

Reviewed by Claire Roderick

4****

Juniper and Jules is a fast and funny show about queer relationships. Juniper (Stella Taylor) and Jules (Gabriella Schmidt) first encounter on a dancefloor is equal parts charming and cringeworthy, setting the tone for their relationship.

Juniper is a proud lesbian, happily declaring her hatred of men, while Jules has a boyfriend and “doesn’t even KNOW any lesbians.” After spending the night with Juniper, Jules is ecstatic about her sensations and feelings, and realises that her estate agent boyfriend is not enough. The pair begin a relationship, and we watch this evolve from the first delirious moments to dissatisfaction in short order. Stephanie Martin’s clever writing has the audience assuming Juniper is controlling and pulling all the strings at first, painting Jules as carefree and compliant as she explores her sexuality, unwilling to give herself a label. As the relationship continues, it is clear that Jules is not as compliant as she appears, convincing/manipulating Juniper into situations she might not be comfortable with in order to continue the relationship. Unable to follow the rules they have established without hurting each other, the power shifts feel natural and illuminate the characters’ fears and needs without becoming melodramatic until the couple eventually discover how to thrive in their open relationship.

Director Bethany Pitts’ dynamic approach keeps things pacy but allows the sensitive and soul-searching moments time to settle. The short scenes usually deal with preparation for, or the fallout from, encounters with other people, but they are never seen. The family backgrounds are mentioned briefly, but that is more than enough to explain each woman’s approach to life, but the rest of the world – their friends, work and families – are merely hinted at through jokes and anecdotes as the actors move around a pink platform, highlighting the intensity and focus of the relationship beautifully. Their arguments are invariably settled with a joke or a hug, which could be unsatisfactory were it not for the actors utterly convincing portrayal of the characters’ need for each other. Arguments by text are also read aloud, with punctuation used as a devastating weapon.

Gabriella Schmidt is bubbly and full of charm as Jules, but impressively shows her character’s steel between the smiles and daft jokes. Stella Taylor portrays Juniper’s vulnerability beneath her measured and confident mask skilfully, and the two actors have a sizzling chemistry on stage.

A sharp but sensitive portrayal of two vastly different queer women, Jules and Juniper is laugh out loud funny and a real treat.