Today RADA’s Council announces that Niamh Dowling will become the new Principal of RADA.
Niamh Dowling is currently Head of Postgraduate School of Performance, Design and Technical Arts at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in London, prior to which she was Head of School of Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her extensive career as a teacher has been international, including partnerships with arthaus.berlin, National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Centre in Connecticut, with Song of the Goat in Wroclaw, Poland, as well as extensive work with the British Council. Following her training in Wales, London, Paris and New York, she has, over many years, developed a unique approach to working with a range of performers, technicians, designers, directors, writers and managers for which she has been selected as one of the practitioners on the online Routledge Performance Archive.
Niamh Dowling said: “I am so delighted to be joining RADA as Principal. RADA’s reputation as a world leader in the field of actor, technical, design and performer training is outstanding. It has been a difficult couple of years for the sector and the industry and we are all learning at such a fast pace. With talented students and alumni, and experienced, knowledgeable and dedicated staff, RADA is perfectly positioned for conversations and collaborations in the UK and internationally about training that is relevant and representative of 21st-century Britain and beyond. I am looking forward to those conversations and leading RADA as this next phase unfolds.”
Marcus Ryder, Chair of RADA Council, said: “This is an important moment in RADA’s history, and arguably a seminal moment for conservatoires in the UK. Niamh Dowling was appointed following a long and rigorous selection process by RADA Council involving staff and the student body. I am confident that Niamh is a brilliant appointment to meet the current challenges and help shape the future of the teaching of the dramatic arts at RADA, nationally and internationally. I look forward to working with Niamh and giving her the support she needs to ensure RADA strengthens its position as a world leading drama school producing the best technical and acting talent.”
UK Theatre launches biggest ever 2-for-1 ticket offer for National Lottery players through Love Your Local Theatre campaign
Over 100 theatres nationwide have signed up for the new campaign, for which The National Lottery is providing up to £2 million to subsidise over 150,000tickets
Throughout March, National Lottery players can get 2-for-1 theatre tickets for performances of shows including Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Blood Brothers, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Jersey Boys, Abigail’s Party, Magic Goes Wrong and Peppa Pig
Supported by TV presenter, Girls Aloud singer and star of the stage Kimberley Walsh, the campaign encourages the public to support local theatres as they recover from the pandemic
Today (Tuesday 1 February), UK Theatre is launching Love Your Local Theatre,a new campaign encouraging the public to support their local theatres as they begin to recover from the impact of Covid. Over 100 theatres UK-wide have come together to join in on the effort and offer the biggest ever 2-for-1 ticket offer to National Lottery players who attend a show during the month of March.
The campaign, run by leading theatre membership body UK Theatre and made possible by the support of The National Lottery, is providing up to £2 million to subsidise an estimated 150,000 tickets nationwide. National Lottery players are being offered the chance to buy one ticket and get another free for participating shows as a thank you for the £30 million they raise every week for Good Causes, including support for the performing arts and theatres during the pandemic.
From classic musicals and beloved plays to family shows, comedy, dance and more, Love Your Local Theatrehas brought together local theatres from Southend to Scarborough, Cornwall to Cardiff and Newcastle to Norwich, to give players the chance to experience the magic of live entertainment for less this spring, whilst giving back to their local entertainment communities.
In addition to the strong support from theatres across the UK, Love Your Local Theatre is also being supported by TV presenter, singer and Girls Aloud star, Kimberley Walsh, who has enjoyed performing at theatres and entertainment venues around the UK, many of which have received funding from The National Lottery.
Stephanie Sirr, President of UK Theatre, said: “We are delighted to be working with The National Lottery on Love Your Local Theatre, the first time UK Theatre members across the country have united for a ticket promotion of this scale. We should be hugely proud in this country to have such an extensive, vibrant and diverse range of regional theatres, all of which play a vital role in the theatre landscape of the UK and beyond. After such a turbulent two years, we want to shout about the fact that theatres are open and ready to reward audiences for their patience and loyalty – please visit your local theatre and help them continue to make brilliant creative work!”
Kimberley Walsh, TV presenter, Girls Aloud singer and star of the stage, said: “We are so privileged to have so many incredible theatres and entertainment venues across the UK. I have been lucky enough to perform in many of them. Without our local theatres, the face of UK entertainment would look very different and it’s amazing The National Lottery is providing £2 million to support them. The entertainment industry was particularly impacted by the pandemic, and that’s why the Love Your Local Theatre campaign is so important in supporting their recovery.”
Sir Matthew Bourne, Choreographer and Artistic Director of New Adventures, said: “My dance-theatre company New Adventures prides itself on being truly national, and touring is built into the fabric of what we do. As we continue on our current UK tour of Nutcracker!, visiting theatres across the country, I am reminded of how vitally important it is that we celebrate and protect our much-loved regional venues, especially during this crucial time for the theatre industry as it begins a long recovery from the ravages of the pandemic. I support the Love Your Local Theatre campaign, and hope it helps bring as many people as possible back to their local theatres for the thrill of live performance.”
Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, said: “I’m delighted that The National Lottery is offering 2 for 1 tickets so that people can support their local theatre while enjoying an afternoon or evening out. As well as being great fun, a trip to the theatre can have an inspirational impact on people’s lives – which is why we want everyone, no matter where they are from, to have better access to the arts. The Government has supported theatres throughout the pandemic, with more than £280 million in grants and loans from our Culture Recovery Fund, and initiatives such as ‘Love your Local Theatre’ can only help encourage audiences to get out and enjoy some brilliant productions.”
Nigel Railton, CEO of National Lottery operator Camelot, added: “The UK’s entertainment industry is world-class thanks to the huge variety of venues and projects across the four nations. National Lottery players raise £30 million a week to help fund Good Causes, many of which lie in the entertainment industry. The National Lottery is proud to have teamed up with UK Theatre to launch the Love Your Local Theatrecampaign, giving local theatres the support they need to get on the road to recovery following the pandemic, whilst saying thank you to National Lottery players who have helped support many theatres during the last two years.”
The Love Your Local Theatre promotion is available to anyone who is a National Lottery player and possesses a National Lottery ticket. From 1 February, players can purchase tickets at available performances taking place during the month of March. Keep checking the website for more venues being added each day.
THE INTERNATIONAL SMASH HIT MUSICAL SIX ANNOUNCES NEW CAST FOR THE UK TOUR
The multi award-winning musical phenomenon SIX, written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, today announces a new cast for the UK tour. The current company will play their final performance on Sunday 6 March with the new company taking over from Tuesday 8 March at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford. The new touring Queens will be played by Chlöe Hart (Catherine of Aragon), Jennifer Caldwell (Anne Boleyn), Casey Al-Shaqsy (Jane Seymour), Aiesha Pease (Anna of Cleves), Jaina Brock-Patel (Katherine Howard) and Alana M Robinson (Catherine Parr). Grace Melville, Leesa Tulley and Natalie Pilkington (Dance Captain) will be joining the cast as Alternates, with Super Swing Harriet Caplan-Dean. The cast are backed by the show’s all-female band, The Ladies in Waiting.
SIX follows the six wives of Henry VIII as they take to the mic to tell their own personal tales, remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st century girl power.
Since its early days as a student production in a 100-seat room at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the show has fast become a global musical phenomenon. SIX currently has productions playing on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and at the Sydney Opera House prior to an Australian and New Zealand tour, with a major US tour coming soon. Meanwhile, back on home turf, the London production is now enjoying its third royal residence in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre and the UK tour continues its nationwide sold-out reign, now booking through to 2023.
SIX was nominated for five Olivier Awards including Best New Musical. It won the BBC Radio 2 Audience Award for Best Musical at the Whatsonstage Awards and was invited to perform on the results show of ITV’s ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ and BBC’s ‘Children in Need Appeal Show’. Celebrating the global success of its songs with over 300 million streams and over 3 billion views on TikTok, the original studio album of SIX has officially turned Gold, marking over 100,000 sales in the UK and will be released on vinyl next month.
Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, SIX is co-directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, featuring choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille. The design team includes Emma Bailey (Set Design), Gabriella Slade (Costume Design), Tim Deiling (Lighting Design) and Paul Gatehouse (Sound Design). The score features orchestrations by Tom Curran with music supervision and vocal arrangements by Joe Beighton. Musical Director Jennifer Deacon and UK Musical Supervisor Katy Richardson. Casting is by Pearson Casting. SIX is produced by Kenny Wax, Wendy & Andy Barnes and George Stiles.
Mikron Theatre Company announce productions for 50th anniversary tour
· Mikron Theatre to celebrate 50 years of touring 66 new plays by travelling 34,000 hours by river and over 545,000 by road to over 436,000 people
· Tour to feature the World Premiere of Lindsay Rodden’s new play Red Sky at Night and a revival of the company’s hugely successful 2015 production of Raising Agents
· This year the company will tour to over 140 venues by river and road
· Productions will tour from 7 April till 22 October 2022
50 years of Mikron Theatre
130 venues, four actors, two plays, one van, one narrowboat
Mikron Theatre, one of the country’s most versatile touring theatre companies, is delighted to announce that from April it will commence its celebrations of 50 years of touring on the river and by road with the premiere of Red Sky At Night, Lindsay Rodden’s new play about the nation’s obsession with the wild and wonderful world of weather, and a remount of the acclaimed Yorkshire theatre company’s hugely successful 2015 production of Maeve Larkin’s play about the Women’s Institute- Raising Agents.
Based in the village of Marsden, at the foot of the Yorkshire Pennines, the company are like no other. For starters, over the last 50 years they have toured 66 productions on board a vintage narrowboat and spent over 34,000 boating hours on the inland waterways. Secondly, they perform their shows in places that other theatre companies wouldn’t dream of; a play about growing-your-own on an allotment; a play about bees performed next to hives, a play about fish and chips to audiences in a fish and chip restaurant, as well as plays about hostelling performed in YHA Youth hostels and the RNLI, performed at several Lifeboat Stations around the UK. Over the last 50 years the company has performed 5200 times to over a staggering 436,000 people.
Mikron Theatre’s Artistic Director Marianne McNamara said:
“We are so blooming chuffed to have reached our golden jubilee year, half a century. There have been times that we did not think we would make it; funding challenges, boat stoppages and a pandemic have been hurdles along the way. The reason we are still here is because of the incredible support that we have received from our friends and supporters up and down the country. We are so grateful to them.”
Featuring music written by Mikron’s Marsden neighbours, the acclaimed folk duo O’Hooley and Tidow (Gentleman Jack, HBO/BBC), the 50th anniversary tour will start with Maeve Larkin’s Raising Agents which tells the story of Bunnington Women’s Institute, a down-at-heel WI with memberships dwindling and who can barely afford the hall, let alone a decent speaker. So, when a PR guru becomes a member, the women are glad of new blood.
Initially, the milk of WI kindness begins to sour when she re-brands them as the Bunnington Bunnies. They are hopping. With stakes higher than a five-tiered cake stand, a battle ensues for the very soul of Bunnington, perhaps the WI itself!
On the threshold of one century into the next, this tale of hobbyists and lobbyists asks how much we should know our past, or how much we should let go of it.
Playwright Maeve Larkin said:
“I am so thrilled that Mikron Theatre will be restaging Raising Agents for their 50th Anniversary tour. As with the WI’s old paradoxical motto ‘Grave and Gay’, it aims to transcend the sum of its parts by celebrating the timeless principles of community, activism and sisterhood.”
Touring alongside Raising Agents, the company will premiere Red Sky At Night, Lindsay Rodden’s (Here, Northern Stage and Curious Monkey co-production and The Story Giant, Everyman Theatre Liverpool) new play about the nation’s obsession with the wild and wonderful world of weather.
Through the chronicles of history, people have gazed up and marvelled at the mysteries of the weather. Generations have tried to master the elements and understand the magic of the skies.
Hayley’s sunny, beloved dad was the nation’s favourite weatherman. He could make a typhoon sound like a tickle. Hayley is now following in his footsteps, to join the ranks of the forecasting fraternity. Or at least, local shoestring teatime television.
When the pressure drops and dark clouds gather, Hayley is melting faster than a lonely snowflake. She has seen the future’s forecast, but will anyone listen?
Playwright Lindsay Rodden said:
“Through an incredible half-a-century, whatever the weather, Mikron have travelled the country, chronicling our histories, our struggles, our passions and our lives. I am over the moon to write just one of these stories, and say Happy Birthday Mikron, fighting fit and fifty years young!
Raising Agents will be touring nationally from 7 April and Red Sky At Night from 14 May with both shows ending on 22 October.
Producer Tanya Truman is pleased to announce that Little Sausage, a new musical, is coming to The Other Palace Studio in March 2022. Tickets for Little Sausage are on sale now!
After three years of development – and a few national lockdowns – creative team of this brand-new musical are thrilled to premiere the full hour-long version of Little Sausage in a work-in-progress showcase at The Other Palace Studio.
Directed by Annabelle Hollingdale(From Here, Spring Awakening), Little Sausage is a new verbatim musical about the nation’s most controversial sausage. It uses the real words of ‘real’ men to explore toxic masculinity, plant-based dating, and the game-changing Gregg’s vegan sausage roll.
Little Sausage is a new verbatim musical about the relationship between veganism and masculinity.
With music and lyrics by Joshua Fowley and book Deborah Vogt, Little Sausage follows a Yorkshire lad and how his relationship with friends and family changes during his journey from cheese addict to animal activist!
With words and lyrics comprised entirely of interviews with everyone from an Australian activist to a non-vegan who grew up in farming communities in Northern England, Little Sausage uses real words and folk-pop music to explore the myth that meat equals manliness.
Tickets are available now via The Other Palace website. Casting to be announced soon.
Following the cancellation of VAULT Festival, it is today announced that the world première production of Ella Dorman-Gajic’s Trade will open at Omnibus Theatre on 15 February to 19 February, as one of 11 productions rescheduled at the venue. Directed by Maddy Corner the cast is Tanya Cubric (Jana), Ojan Genc (Stefan/Nikola) and Eleanor Roberts (Katarina/Elena). Set in Serbia, Bosnia and the UK, Trade is a thought-provoking, unflinching new play exploring morality and power within the European sex-trafficking industry.
Trade was shortlisted for the 2020 Snoo Wilson Award and Slam Soaps New Writing Competition (out of 1,500 entries). It was developed at Drama Centre London and streamed online to an overwhelmingly positive response. All performances will also be captioned in English and Serbian.
10% of all ticket sales will go to Unseen, a leading UK charity fighting modern slavery.Today, over 20 million people are trafficked around the world. That number is higher than in all of history. 70% of those are female. This brave new play puts a brutal underground world centre stage.
A post-show discussion will take place on 19th February at 3.30pm. This will be with playwright Ella, Tanya and 2 people from the linked charity Unseen, Olivia Charlton and Eva Daly who are from the support services team, and work directly with survivors at Unseen.
‘I could tell you I had no choice. I could tell you I’m innocent. But I know that wouldn’t be completely true’
Jana is on the cusp of adulthood; she’s started dating her first boyfriend and is getting ready to leave war-torn Serbia, to provide for her family. However, when she wakes up in a basement in Bosnia, it becomes clear to Jana that life doesn’t always follow the plans we make for it.
Ella Dorman-Gajic is a playwright, poet and performer of Serbian and Austrian heritage. Her writing has been described as “impassioned” by The Guardian. She is a member of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective, alumna of Apples & Snakes Writing Room, New Writing South’s Young Writers and was Broken Silence Theatre’s first Writer in Residence. Her work has been staged at the Arcola Theatre, Camden People’s Theatre, The Old Red Lion and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This is her debut full-length play.
Tanya Cubric plays Jana. For theatre her credits include XOX (Cambridge Junction), A Splintered Woman (Theatre503), Extra Terra (BAC/Monofest, Izmir), The Chemsex Monologues (Oscar Wilde Theatre, Berlin); and for television Bloods, We Hunt Together, Automat and The Tunnel.
Ojan Genc plays Stefan, Nikola, Man 1 & 2 and this will be his professional stage debut. His television credits include Angela Black, Hollyoaks and A Touch of Cloth.
Eleanor Roberts plays Katarina, Elena, Girl & Minna. For theatre her credits include The Lesser Bohemians (Zabludowicz Collection).
Maddy Corner is a director and theatre-maker from South London. Her work is inherently political, with a strong emphasis on female experience and telling underrepresented stories. Her theatre credits include SHE. (theSpace, edinburgh),and Mother [singular] (Director, Platform Southwark), Do You See Me? (Assistant Director to Kane Husbands), This Restless House (Assistant Director to Owen Horsely).
Serbian captions are translated by Zorica Agbaba.
LISTINGS
TRADE
Omnibus Theatre
1 Clapham Common North Side, London SW4 0QW
15 – 19 February 7pm and 2.30pm matinee on Saturday
Photo credit: Top row: Amanda Wilkin, Benedict Lombe, Chiara Atik, Daniella De Jesús, & Lauren Whitehead Bottom row: Kae Tempest, Sonya Kelly, Zora Howard, Joanna Murray-Smith, & Sarah Hanly
New York / London (January 31, 2022) – The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize today announces 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights – now in its 44th year . Chosen from a group of over 160 plays submitted from around the world, the 2022 Finalists are:
Chiara Atik (US) Poor Clare
Daniella De Jesús (US) Get Your Pink Hands Off Me Sucka and Give Me Back (FKA Columbus Play)
Sarah Hanly (Ireland) Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks
Zora Howard (US) BUST
Sonya Kelly (Ireland) The Last Return
Benedict Lombe (UK) Lava
Joanna Murray-Smith (AU) Berlin
Kae Tempest (UK) Paradise
Lauren Whitehead (US) The Play Which Raises the Question of
What Happened in/to Low Income Black Communities between 1974 and 2004 And Hints at Why Mass Incarceration is Perhaps a Man-Made Disease
And Highlights the Government’s General Lack of Empathy for Poor People of Color
And Dispels the Notion that Our Condition is Our Fault
And Helps Make Visible Why We Riot When We Mourn
And also Tells the Story of Anita Freeman
& her Kids
Amanda Wilkin (UK) Shedding a Skin
The Winner, to be announced in April, will be awarded a cash prize of $25,000, and will receive a signed print by renowned artist Willem de Kooning, created especially for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Each of the additional Finalists will receive an award of $5,000.
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is awarded annually to celebrate women+ who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre. Women+ includes women, transgender, and non-binary playwrights. Each year, artistic directors and prominent professionals in the theatre are invited to submit plays. Each script receives multiple readings by members of an international reading committee that selects the finalists. An international panel of six judges then selects the winning play.
Judges for the 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize are: star of stage and screen, actor/writer /producer Adjoa Andoh (UK); noted playwright and associate artistic director of Center Theatre Group, Luis Alfaro (US); writer, director, and artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre, Justin Audibert (UK); winner of multiple Olivier and Tony Awards for lighting design, Paule Constable (UK);); stage, film and television star Saidah Arrika Ekulona (US); and Obie and Lilly award-winning director, actor and musician, Whitney White (US).
Leslie Swackhamer, Executive Director of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, said, “this has been a phenomenal year for new voices in playwriting. Two of our finalists are debut plays, and nine are first-time finalists for this Prize. All of the plays are highly theatrical and probe the burning issues of our times.”
Since the Prize’s founding in 1978, over 470 plays have been honored as Finalists. Many have gone on to receive other top honors, including Olivier, Lilly, Evening Standard and Tony Awards for Best Play. Eleven Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist playwrights have subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. The Prize has also fostered an interchange of plays between the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and other English-speaking countries.
Past winners of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize include Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s Cullud Wattah, Lynn Nottage‘s Sweat, LucyPrebble’sA Very Expensive Poison, Jackie Sibblies Drury‘s Fairview, Annie Baker‘s The Flick, Caryl Churchill’s Fen and Serious Money, Marsha Norman’s ‘night,Mother, Paula Vogel‘s How I Learned to Drive, Julia Cho’s The Language Archive, Katori Hall‘sHurt Village, Wendy Wasserstein‘s The Heidi Chronicles, Chloe Moss’s This Wide Night, Sarah Ruhl‘s The Clean House,Judith Thompson’s Palace of the End, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti‘s Behzti (Dishonour), Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, Naomi Wallace’s One Flea Spare, and Moira Buffini‘s Silence.
ABOUT THE FINALIST PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS
Chiara Atik (US) Poor Clare
Submitted by New York Theatre Workshop
Poor Clare tells the story of a rich girl in 1211 Italy, who happily spends her days concocting elaborate hairstyles and dutifully going to church. But everything changes when a lunatic named Francis starts ranting in the town square. Based on the true stories of Saint Clare and Saint Francis of Assisi, Poor Clare asks the question: why do some people have so much, and some have so little? And what are you willing to do about it? Poor Clare premiered at the Echo Theater in Los Angeles in the Fall of 2021.
Daniella De Jesús (US) Get Your Pink Hands Off Me Sucka and Give Me Back (FKA Columbus Play)
Submitted by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Solandra, a modern Dominican-American student is alone in the throne room of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand when their portraits come alive, poking and prodding and ready to party like it’s 1492. Meanwhile, on the island of “Hispaniola,” Higuamota and her family prepare for her cousin Nana’ni’s hair-cutting ceremony, when they spot a fleet of “spacecrafts” carrying pink-skinned ghosts headed towards them. As Higumota struggles to save her community from invasion, Solandra contends with her racial identity and attraction to white men in this dark comedic exploration of the insidiousness of colonization.Get Your PinkHands Off Me Sucka and Give Me Back (FKA Columbus Play)is the winner of the 2020Burman New Play Award.
Sarah Hanly(Ireland) Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks
Submitted by the Royal Court Theatre
Saoirse Murphy moves from one chaotic world to another. From her Catholic school in County Wicklow to a new exciting life in London. She’s had a taste of freedom and she’s making the most of it; but underneath it all she’s struggling to manage big secrets, and there’s only one person she can talk to. Hanly’s debut play, Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in October 2021. The Sunday Times praised it as “a searingly frank account of female sexuality and shame”. The play in which the playwright also starred, is for a solo performer, and is co-produced by the Royal Court Theatre, London, and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It will open at the Royal Court Theatre in February 2022, again starring Hanly.
Zora Howard (US)BUST
Submitted by the Flea Theater and Ojai Playwrights Conference
Retta and Reggie are enjoying their usual evening on the porch not minding their own business when Poof! Mr. Woods, a longtime neighbor, disappears into thin air… Or does he explode? The story goes viral. Panic ensues. Why are these Black people going missing all willy-nilly? And when they go, are they gone for good?
Someone in this play should likely try to figure that out.
Sonya Kelly (Ireland) The Last Return
Submitted by The Druid Theatre
Once upon a dreary night, five desperate strangers wait in line for a last-minute ticket to the final performance of Oppenheimer’s sold-out smash hit, Return to Hindenburg, the hottest show in town. All they have to do is cross their fingers, be patient and wait their turn. But with more people waiting than tickets available, this is no time for patience, this is time for war. Who will triumph? Who will fail? And who will receive… The Last Return? A searing commentary on conflict, peace, and the pursuit of territory at any cost, The Last Return was developed by Druid Theatre. A full production has been postponed a number of times due to Covid restrictions, with plans to reschedule ongoing.
Benedict Lombe(UK) Lava
Submitted by Bush Theatre
When a woman receives an unexpected letter from the British Passport Office, she is forced to confront an old mystery: why does her South African passport not carry her first name? Playful and lyrical, moving from Mobutu’s Congo to post-Apartheid South Africa, Ireland and England. A one-woman play, Lava is a story about unraveling the patterns of chaos across history – questioning nationhood, narratives, and the process of naming the unnamable. Lava premiered at the Bush Theatre in Summer, 2021. The Arts Desk praised this “incendiary debut play…a full-bodied poem of red-hot protest, carefully modulated with humour to grip and persuade”.
Joanna Murray-Smith (AUS) Berlin
Nominated by Melbourne Theatre Company
An intense contemporary two-hander set in a Berlin loft. When a young Jewish foreigner and a captivating German waitress spend a night together, they discover that as they fall in love and lust, the ghosts of history must be confronted. Funny and volatile, the play explores the dangerous territory of whether a line can be drawn in the present regarding crimes of the past. Lauded as “vital, intimate and sexy” (The Sydney Morning Herald), Berlin premiered in the Spring of 2021 at the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Kae Tempest (UK) Paradise
Nominated by National Theatre
A dynamic reimagining of Sophocles’ Philoctetes, Paradiseis set on a ravaged island whose residents make their lives amidst the rubble of civil war, extreme weather events and un-recyclable refuse. A wounded solider, abandoned in this wreckage and left alone for a decade, is suddenly required to rejoin the fight. A young soldier is tasked with bringing the outcast home – if they don’t succeed, the war is lost. Featuring an all-female cast of 13, Paradise premiered at the National Theatre in 2021.There are currently planned productions in translation in Italy and France.
Lauren Whitehead (US)The Play Which Raises the Question of
What Happened in/to low Income Black Communities between 1974 and 2004
And Hints at Why Mass Incarceration is Perhaps a Man-Made Disease
And Highlights the Government’s General Lack of Empathy for Poor People of Color And Dispels the Notion that Our Condition is Our Fault
And Helps Make Visible Why We Riot When We Mourn
And also Tells the Story of Anita Freeman
& her Kids
Nominated by Sundance Institute Interdisciplinary Program (FKA Theater Program)
It’s just the story of a Black american mother tryin to keep her kids safe during the War on Drugs in the Midwest, USA. Anita tries everything to keep her family well fed and free but despite her efforts, she still loses everything, and the story ends in the most american way: with loss, destruction and unbridled rage.
Amanda Wilkin (UK) Shedding a Skin
Nominated by Soho Theatre
Shedding a Skin is a one-woman play about finding kindness in unexpected places. A play about connecting with what our elders can teach us – new skin honouring old skin. A play about joy, healing, and protest. And having a good belly laugh. Winner of the Verity Bargate Award, Shedding a Skin was performed by the playwright for its premiere at Soho Theatre, opening to 4* and 5* reviews in summer 2021. It is being revived in March 2022 and the playwright is currently developing the script for television.
Spellbinding dark fantasy adaptation of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber on tour Spring 2022 Wednesday 23rd March – Saturday 14th May 2022
Award-winning Proteus Theatre will embark on a UK tour this Spring with their lauded adaptation of Angela Carter’s collection of short stories The Bloody Chamber (and Other Stories). An erotic, heady and feminist re-telling of Angela Carter’s dark fantasy fairy tales, the production is performed using aerial circus, visual physical theatre, gothic design and a haunting soundscape. The Bloody Chamber is a visually decadent and surprisingly funny reimagining of some of the most famous folk and fairy tales in Western culture. These are the stories our mothers told us. And all the ones they didn’t dare…
Following a successful run in Worthing last June, this adaptation translates Angela Carter’s feverdream style to the stage. Step into wonderland with this surreal and poetic fantasy world, empowering women through discussions of sexuality and fearlessness.
Leading the cast will be Rosie Rowlands (Red Palace, Shotgun Carousel; The Little Mermaid, Metta Theatre), Megan Brooks (Squeezy Green’s Compendium of Games, The Wardrobe Theatre; Igloo, Bristol Old Vic), Ashley Christmas (Crimes on the Coast, tour; The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Hull Truck Theatre), Anesta Mathurin (Aida, ENO; The Way Out, BBC4) and Lorraine Moynehan (Devisor: Nights at the Circus, Kneehigh; Trapeze, English National Ballet)
Proteus Theatre are working with leading figures in the circus industry to choreograph the piece including Mimbre’s Silvia Fratelli, Charlotte Mooney from Ockham’s Razor and Tamzen Moulding, the Artistic Director of Inverted Theatre. The Bloody Chamber also features an original soundtrack with musical direction, arrangements and sound design by Max Reinhardt (BBC Radio 3 Late Junction) and original composition by Paul Wild who worked with Proteus on Macbeth.
Director Mary Swan comments, Like so many female writers Angela Carter has long been overlooked in the canon of great British literature, but happily this is finally beginning to change. Using circus as the chief physical language of the piece enables us to create the surreal, Eschertype worlds of the castle in The Bloody Chamber, the landscapes of Wolf Alice and the nightmarish home of the vampire in The Lady of the House of Love. Her work is sadly more relevant now than ever; the advice contained in the tales to young women is all too reminiscent of the list published by the Metropolitan Police in 2020 following the murder of Sarah Everard. The Reclaim the Night movement started in the late 1970s when Carter was writing The Bloody Chamber, prompted by outrage at the murder of women on Britain’s streets, and that we are still marching in 2022 is a depressing validation of all the warnings contained within these tales.
Infused with comedy, acrobatic spectacle, and an incredible message for all those watching (★★★★★, West End Best Friend).
A diverse mix of vaudeville, burlesque and circus, but essentially a celebration of women (Theatre South East).
Pulse Records Limited in association with Bill Elms present
HELEN FORRESTER’S SMASH-HIT
‘TWOPENCE TO CROSS THE MERSEY’
RETURNS IN A BRAND
NEW STAGE PRODUCTION
UK Premiere Tour to visit 14 venues nationwide during Autumn 2022
The brand new stage production of Helen Forrester’s Twopence To Cross The Mersey is embarking on its first major UK national tour this Autumn.
Twopence To Cross The Mersey UK Premiere Tour 2022 will open on Tuesday 6 September at the New Brighton Floral Pavilion in Wirral and then go on to tour a further 13 venues nationwide through to mid-November.
The tour will visit venues in Rhyl, Stockport, Crewe, St Helens, Blackpool, Warrington, Darlington, Halifax, Croydon, Coventry, Bolton, and Southport, before closing in Liverpool.
The new touring production of Twopence To Cross The Mersey is produced by Rob Fennah and Lynn McDermott for Pulse Records Limited in association with Bill Elms and Directed by Gareth Tudor Price. Full cast to be announced.
About the show –Twopence To Cross The Mersey is a stunning period drama set in the early 1930s in the midst of the Great Depression.
In 1931, Helen’s spendthrift father was declared bankrupt forcing the family to leave behind the nannies, servants, and beautiful middle-class home in the gentler South West of England. With nothing more than the clothes they stood up in, the family of nine took the train to Liverpool where they hoped to rebuild their shattered lives. It came as a terrible shock to find the thriving, wealthy port Helen’s father remembered as a boy, the place his own father made his fortune, had long since gone.
While 12-year-old Helen’s inept parents searched unsuccessfully to find work, she was taken out of school to look after her six younger siblings and the full burden of keeping house fell on Helen’s young shoulders. Having never had to manage a family budget in their previous life, the Forresters found themselves relying on meagre hand-outs from the local parish, charity organisations, and the kindness of strangers.
At the age of 14, Helen had finally had enough of her miserable existence and so began a bitter fight with her mother and father to attend evening school in an effort to educate herself and make her own way in the world. But Helen’s parents had no intention of releasing their unpaid slave. They had other plans for their selfish daughter.
Millions of people around the world know Helen Forrester’s life story told through her best-selling volumes of autobiography,Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Liverpool Miss, By The Waters Of Liverpool, and Lime Street At Two.
Helen’s literary achievements were celebrated in 2020 when an iconic Blue Plaque was unveiled at the late author’s family home in Hoylake, a place which featured heavily in her work.
Playwright and producer Rob Fennah explained: “In 2020 we embarked on a UK Tour of By The Waters Of Liverpool – sister show to Twopence – which was brilliantly received, but we were forced to cancel after just two weeks due to the pandemic. We tried to reschedule but Covid restrictions kept getting the better of us. It was during this period I decided to rework the Twopence To Cross The Mersey script, include some new scenes and give it a fresh look.
“Helen’s army of loyal readers will be interested to know that, when she was still with us, Helen and I shared many letters and lengthy telephone conversations about her life story. There were some real gems in amongst those conversations which I have now written into the new scenes – fascinating memories of the late author that didn’t find their way into her books.”
Helen Forrester’s son Robert Bhatia said: “The partnership between playwright Rob Fennah and my mother Helen, and her legacy, has been outstanding. I saw the play during its last tour and the portrayal of my mother was utterly convincing.”
Co-producer Bill Elms added: “Twopence To Cross The Mersey is one of those very special pieces of theatre which is just a real pleasure and absolute privilege to be part of. Helen Forrester’s books are gritty but so heartwarming at the same time. Her life story really captures audiences and we are incredibly excited to take the play on its very first national UK tour. Theatregoers who may have seen earlier versions can look forward to the new production and set, and we’ll be announcing the cast very soon. For fans who have never experienced the play, this is a chance to really feel Helen’s words brought to life from the page to the stage.”
Co-producer Lynn McDermott concluded: “This new adaptation of Twopence To Cross The Mersey also features a sizeable chunk from Liverpool Miss, Helen’s second volume of autobiography, so newcomers to Helen’s story will get a complete picture of her early years in Liverpool.”
This year’s nationwide tour of Twopence To Cross The Mersey will be followed by a tour of By The Waters Of Liverpool in Spring 2023.
Adapted by Rob Fennah · Directed by Gareth Tudor Price
Produced by Pulse Records Limited in association with Bill Elms
Runaway international hit, THE CHOIR OF MAN’s limited season at The Arts Theatre in London’s West End will play its final performance on Sunday 3 April 2022.
THE CHOIR OF MAN’s West End season follows three sell-out seasons at the Sydney Opera House and multiple sold-out US and European tours.
THE CHOIR OF MAN is the best trip to your local you’ll ever have, featuring amazing reinventions of folk, pop, Broadway and rock chart-toppers from artists including Guns ‘N’ Roses, Fun!, Adele, Avicii, Paul Simon, Sia and many more. It’s a party, it’s a concert and it’s a lock-in like no other.
The cast of nine multi-talented guys combine beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping singalongs with world-class tap dance and poetic meditations on the power of community. This is a riotously feel-good homage to that gathering place we’ve all missed so much over the past year: the pub, complete with a real working bar on stage.
The cast stars Tom Brandon as the Hard Man, Miles Anthony Daley as the Romantic, Daniel Harnett as the Joker, Alistair Higgins as the Maestro, Freddie Huddleston as the Handyman, Richard Lock as the Beast, Mark Loveday as the Barman, Ben Norris as the Poet and Tyler Orphé-Baker as the Pub Bore. Also in the cast are Matt Beveridge and George Bray.
The band features Jack Hartigan as guitarist, Zami Jamil plays the violin, Emmanuel Bonsu as drummer and Caleb Wilson as bassist.
THE CHOIR OF MAN is created by Nic Doodson and Andrew Kay, directed by Nic Doodson, with musical supervision, vocal arrangements and orchestrations by Jack Blume, movement direction and choreography by Freddie Huddleston, monologues written by Ben Norris, scenic design by Oli Townsend, lighting design by Richard Dinnen, costume design and associate scenic design by Verity Sadler, sound design by Sten Severson, casting by Debbie O’Brien. Associate Choreographer is Rachel Chapman and Associate Musical Director is Hollie Cassar.
The show is produced by Immersive Everywhere, Nic Doodson, Andrew Kay, Wendy & Andy Barnes and AK Theatricals.
