Month: April 2016

A Developing Artists, Refuge Productions and Young Vic co-production

 

QUEENS OF SYRIA

A MODERN ADAPTATION OF EURIPIDES’

ANTI-WAR TRAGEDY

THE TROJAN WOMEN

 

A CAST OF SYRIAN REFUGEES WILL PERFORM

ACROSS THE UK FROM 5 JULY

‘I have a scream I want the world to hear’

Developing Artists presents Refuge Productions’ Queens of Syria, an adaptation of Euripides’ great anti-war tragedy, first staged in Amman in 2013 and the subject of an award-winning documentary.

An all-female cast of Syrian refugees skilfully amalgamate their own narratives of ferocious war and bitter exile with the ancient Greek text. Their experience of displacement and turmoil brings fresh relevance to Euripides’ tragedy.  The powerful stage play is fused with scenes from the documentary to create a piece of extraordinary multimedia theatre.

Opening at the Young Vic Theatre in London from 5 – 9 July 2016, then visiting Oxford, Brighton, Liverpool, Leeds and Edinburgh, Queens of Syria comes to the UK for just three weeks.  This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the refugees themselves, and a revelatory experience for British audiences who will hear first-hand the harsh realities of life as a refugee.

Louise Chantal, Director of Oxford Playhouse, said, ‘It’s a privilege to be working with Developing Artists and Refuge Productions to help bring this important project to Oxford, both on film and on the stage.  I can’t help thinking that The Queens of Syria might be the most important theatre project of the year.”

Cast members share their experiences of being involved in the original production:

“We came into a new society, a new way of life: we were isolated. Doing this play helped us break the ice; we started to connect with others and make friends. It gave us the courage we needed to talk about our problems frankly and clearly. We feel that we can do something for Syria, and the Syrian people, by sending a message to the whole world – hopefully someone can help us end this tragedy.” KHAULA

“Doing the play impacted our lives in so many ways – now we are all Trojan.”  MAHA

West End star ROSEMARY ASHE to lead British Cast Premiere of THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL at Waterloo East Theatre

 

There’s a new tenant at Armadillo Acres – and she’s wreaking havoc all over Florida’s most exclusive trailer park. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, arrives and comes between the Dr. Phil-loving agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth-collector husband Norbert. – the storms begin to brew!

 

The Great American Trailer Park Musical with music and lyrics by David Nehls and book by Betsy Kelso, is a musical comic fable exploring the relationships between the tenants at the exclusive Armadillo Acres Trailer Park in Florida.

 

 “A delicious new musical. The joint is jammed and jumping with raucous laughter. It’s like The Honeymooners meets The Best Little Whorehouse in Urinetown.” — NY Post

 

“Joyful and unashamedly vulgar, Betsy Kelso’s comic fable about women in a Florida trailer park and their no-account men is more fun than a chair-throwing episode of Jerry Springer set to music.” — The New Yorker.

 

The show premiered at the first annual New York Music Theatre Festival in 2004 and transferred to The Dodger Stages off-Broadway in 2005, it has since played throughout the USA, Australia and Europe. This will be its British cast Premiere.

 

 

Original UK cast includes;

 

Rosemary Ashe – (The Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, Oliver, Les Miserables, The Witches of Eastwick– for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for best supporting  Actress in a Musical)

Sabrina Aloueche – (We Will Rock You, Les Miserables)

Jemma Alexander – (Sound of Music Live Wicked, Rent)

Jodie Steele – (Rent, War Of The Worlds, Jesus Christ Superstar, Legally Blonde)

Michelle Bishop – (Sunset Boulevard, Bend it Like Bekham, Jersey Boys, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Adam Vaughn – (Sunset Boulevard, From Here to Eternity, Billy Elliot)

                                                                                                                       

Director – Kirk Jameson (The World Goes Around, I Love you You’re Perfect, Suessical, Dames at Sea, Once Upon a Mattress)
Choreographer – Rebecca Howell – (American Psycho – Funny Girl)
Musical Director – James Taylor – (Sound of Music Live)

 

Presented by Garry Lake & Waterloo East Theatre by arrangement with JOSEF WEINBERGER LIMITED.

 

Listings Information:

 

11^th May to 5^th June 2016 – Press Night May 17^th at 7.30pm

Tues to Sat at 7.30pm. Sun at 4pm (No Monday performances)

Running time approx 110 mins with an Interval

Tickets: £20 / £18 (Cons) Previews: May 11^th to 15^th All tickets £15

No Booking Fees (All seating is unreserved) Age16+

Waterloo East Theatre Brad Street London SE1 8TN

Book Online www.waterlooeast.co.uk  Box Office 0207 928 0060

THE QUIET HOUSE

A FUNNY AND GUT-WRENCHINGLY HONEST NEW PLAY

INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS

 

STARRING OLIVIER NOMINATED OLIVER LANSLEY,

MICHELLE BONNARD, ALLYSON AVA-BROWN AND

TOM WALKER – AKA YOUTUBE SENSATION ‘JONATHAN PIE’

 

PRODUCTION TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY ‘FERTILITY FEST’ –

TWO ONE DAY ARTS FESTIVALS WHERE

FERTILITY COMES UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

HOPE, HEARTACHE AND HORMONES…

 

The Quiet House, a blistering and honest new play about a couple’s journey to start a family by award-winning writer, Gareth Farr, will play at Park Theatre from 7 June – 9 July, with a press night on 8 June, following its world premiere at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 26 May – 4 June. The Quiet House is Gareth Farr’s second play following his Bruntwood Prize-winning debut, Britannia Waves The Rules which premiered at the Royal Exchange Manchester in 2014. A funny, moving and unswervingly honest love story, The Quiet House was inspired by Gareth and his wife, Gabby’s own experience.

Jess and Dylan are in love. They want a family. That’s all they have event wanted. This ordinary couple find themselves on an extraordinary journey when they enter the world of IVF. Forced to fight for the family they so desperately want, they put their faith in science and their relationship through the ultimate test.

The cast includes Michelle Bonnard as ‘Jess’, with actor and comedian Tom Walker, aka YouTube sensation Jonathan Pie, as ‘Tony’, Allyson Ava-Brown as ‘Kim’, and Oliver Lansley (Artistic Director of Olivier nominated company Les Enfants Terribles) as ‘Dylan’.

Accompanying the production will be a one day Fertility Fest at each venue (Saturday 28 May in Birmingham and Saturday 11 June at Park Theatre) both curated by Jessica Hepburn – author of the bestselling book The Pursuit of Motherhood, and bringing together over twenty of the country’s leading writers, visual artists, theatre-makers, film directors and composers for a day of discussion and debate about making (and not making) babies in the modern way. Topics under the artistic microscope include facing the diagnosis of infertility, IVF, donation, surrogacy, the male experience, egg freezing, involuntary childlessness and alternative routes to parenthood.

Tessa Walker, Associate Director at Birmingham Repertory Theatre directs The Quiet House following her recent productions of Tom Wells’ Folk (The REP, Hull Truck and Watford Palace Theatre), Steven Camden’s Back Down (UK tour) and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (The REP). Tessa was previously the Literary Director at Paines Plough and a Literary Associate at the National Theatre of Scotland.

Gareth Farr said, “I didn’t write this play as a form of therapy. I wrote it on the back of four years of fertility treatment during which I became interested in writing about something which people – particularly men – just weren’t talking about. This play is about hope. It’s about anyone who has focused so fiercely on the notion of hope, and clung to it so tightly, that it either breaks or it hardens and becomes a tangible thing.”

Jessica Hepburn said, “Fertility Fest will be a unique and uncompromising look at the pursuit of parenthood in the modern world. I think the thing that thrills me most is the number and breadth of acclaimed artists that have agreed to be involved including those who have already made work on this subject as well as others that are putting their interest in it into the spotlight for the first time. It’s a topic that has to be talked about more because despite affecting so many people it’s still a taboo. I hope Fertility Fest 2016 will begin to change this because I fundamentally believe that great artists tell it like it is and this is a subject that the world needs to hear more about.”

Sharing the stage with the festival artists who include the Liverpool Art Prize-winning artist Tabitha Moses; the multiple award-winning poet Julia Copus and West-End theatre director Matthew Dunster will be some of the country’s foremost medical experts including Professor Geeta Nargund, Medical Director at CREATE Fertility, Allan Pacey, Professor of Andrology at the University of Sheffield School of Medicine and Laura Witjens, Chief Executive of the National Gamete Donation Trust.

The full programme for Fertility Fest 2016 can be found at www.fertilityfest.com

TRIPLE BILL OF DANCE

Phoenix Dance Theatre presents a triple bill of intense, funny and beautiful works at Darlington Civic Theatre on Wednesday 4 May.

To celebrate their 35th year, Phoenix Dance Theatre presents three contrasting works at Darlington Civic Theatre.

Shakespeare’s timeless themes of desire, duplicity and unrequited love are brought to life in Kate Flatt’s Undivided Loves. Undivided Loves is based on the iconic material of Shakespeare’s most romantic sonnets. The main character, the Reader, interacts with two imagined lovers who inhabit his dreams conjured up in his intimate and private thoughts. The chosen sonnets 18, 128, 43, 129 and 36 explore the emotional landscapes of love, duplicity and betrayal and are played out in a dreamlike world. Percussionist Adriano Adewale’s music, with its Brazilian roots, transports the literary form to a more universal territory. The cultural diversity of the remarkable Phoenix dancers has enabled fresh invention of the sonnets danced here in a contemporary, global context.

In contrast, Dutch/Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili reworks his piece, Until.With/Out.Enough, which explores the concept of the enclosed space that exists within our minds. Until.With/Out.Enough is an emotional, abstract journey filled with intimacy, athletic power and tension.

To complete the bill, Bloom by award-winning choreographer Caroline Finn explores the darkly comic expressions of life and humanity.

Until.With/Out.Enough is a co-commission between The Royal Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre. Undivided Loves is co-commissioned with Watford Palace Theatre. Phoenix Dance Theatre gratefully acknowledges support from PRS for Music Foundation. Bloom is commissioned in partnership with the New Adventures Choreographer Award.

Phoenix Dance Theatre comes to Darlington Civic Theatre on Wednesday 4 May.

Tickets* £17 – £18.50, concessions £11 & £12.50

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk

*All prices include a £1 restoration levy

CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR

A VIEW

FROM ISLINGTON NORTH

 

AN EVENING OF POLITICAL SATIRE

DIRECTED BY MAX STAFFORD-CLARK

 

COMPANY INCLUDES BRUCE ALEXANDER, SARAH ALEXANDER,
ANN MITCHELL, KATHRYN O’REILLY, JOSEPH PROWEN

STEVE JOHN SHEPHERD AND JANE WYMARK

 

WITH WORLD PREMIERES FROM ALISTAIR BEATON AND DAVID HARE,

THE FIRST FULL PRODUCTIONS OF NEW PIECES BY CARYL CHURCHILL AND STELLA FEEHILY,

AND MARK RAVENHILL’S THE MOTHER

WITH MUSIC BY BILLY BRAGG

“Politics has become too serious a matter to be left to politicians”

TS Eliot

Casting has been announced for A VIEW FROM ISLINGTON NORTH, an evening of imaginative, provocative and hilarious political satire from some of the UK’s most celebrated playwrights, directed by Max Stafford-Clark, playing at the Arts Theatre in London from 18 May until 2 July, with a press night on 24 May.

The company includes Sarah Alexander (Smack the Pony, Coupling, Armstrong and Miller), Ann Mitchell (extensive screen and stage credits, most recently series regular ‘Cora Cross’ in EastEnders), Bruce Alexander (A Touch of Frost, Love and Marriage), Steve John Shepherd (‘Michael Moon’ in Eastenders, Jo in This Life) Jane Wymark(Midsomer Murders, Poldark), Joseph Prowen and Kathryn O’Reilly.

In THE ACCIDENTAL LEADER by Alistair Beaton (Feelgood, Not the Nine O’Clock News, A Very Social Secretary), Jim, a backbench MP in the party of Her Majesty’s Opposition is attempting to orchestrate a very British coup. But trouble comes in the shape of Nina, Deputy Chair of the party’s grass roots organisation…‘Impetus’

 

In HOW TO GET AHEAD IN POLITICS by Stella Feehily (This May Hurt A Bit, Bang Bang Bang, Duck), The Chief Whip practices his dark arts on an MP, who doesn’t stand a chance…

In AYN RAND TAKES A STAND by David Hare (The Moderate Soprano, Stuff Happens, The Judas Kiss ) members of the current government, feeling their ideology fall apart, receive a bracing visit from Ayn Rand, the high priestess of the free market.

In TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE, Caryl Churchill (Love and Information, Escaped Alone, Top Girls) imagines a world where even language is sponsored.

And in The MOTHER, Mark Ravenhill (Shopping and Fucking, Mother Clapp’s Molly House, Candide) eyes the cost of our military adventures, as a soldier’s mother does all she can to avoid hearing the news she dreads.

THE TRIAL OF JANE FONDA
    by Terry Jastrow

 

·        NEW PRODUCTION TO MAKE ITS LONDON DEBUT AT PARK THEATRE

·        STARRING ANNE ARCHER

·        DIRECTED BY JOE HARMSTON

 

Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning actress Anne Archer will return to the UK to star as ‘Jane Fonda’ in a brand new production of THE TRIAL OF JANE FONDA, written by seven-time Emmy award-winner Terry Jastrow, and directed by Joe Harmston, opening at Park Theatre on 13 July until 20 August, with a press night on 14 July.

1972. North Vietnam: Driven to halt the slaughter of young lives, iconic movie star Jane Fonda travels to Vietnam where she is photographed laughing and clapping, astride an anti-aircraft gun, designed to shoot down American planes. Overnight the soldiers’ sexy pin-up becomes ‘Hanoi Jane’; traitor to her country and betrayer of those very young men. 1988. Waterbury, Connecticut: Bitter demonstrations by veterans halt filming on a movie co-starring Fonda and Robert De Niro. Determined to stop her past dictating her future, Jane requests a meeting and enters a room full of angry men for whom the war still rages. The content of the meeting is never divulged. Having retraced Fonda’s steps, interviewed her guides, dozens of veterans and Fonda herself, Terry Jastrow’s powerful drama conjectures the battles which were fought in that encounter; battles which are as much to do with the ability of recorded images to dictate our memories as they are to do with truth.

 

The most famous actress of her time, Jane Fonda was vocal in her opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1972 she went to the capital city of North Vietnam, Hanoi, to call worldwide public attention to the Nixon administration’s cover-up of US policy of deliberately bombing the country’s vital system of irrigation dikes. During that trip she made radio broadcasts denouncing as a war crime the US use of antipersonnel bombs banned by the Hague Convention, and visited US POWs. On the final day of her trip, she was photographed laughing and clapping astride a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. This activity by Fonda caused enormous controversy and galvanized a huge hate campaign amongst the US military and supporters.

ANNE ARCHER was nominated for an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe and the British (BAFTA) Academy Award for her role opposite Michael Douglas in Adrian Lyne’s thriller Fatal Attraction.  Other key roles include her Golden Globe-winning performance in the ensemble cast of Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and for playing Harrison Ford’s beleaguered wife in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. She made her West End debut as ‘Mrs Robinson’, receiving rave reviews, in The Graduate; other theatrical credits include A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking (Off Broadway), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Williamstown  Theatre Festival), The Poison Tree (Mark Taper Forum), and The Vagina Monologues (LA). In 2014 she starred in The Trial of Jane Fonda at the Edinburgh Festival. Throughout her motion picture career, she has starred opposite some of Hollywood’s most dynamic and respected leading men, including Gene Hackman in Narrow Margin, Donald Sutherland in Eminent Domain, Sylvester Stallone in Paradise Alley, Tommy Lee Jones In Rules of Engagement and Man of the House and in the romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends    Past with Mathew McConaughey, and most recently the feature filmLullaby, with a powerful ensemble cast of Garrett Hedlund, Richard Jenkins, Amy Adams, Jessica Brown Finley, Jessica Barden, Jennifer  Hudson, and Terrance Howard. Television credits include It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, starring opposite Danny DeVito and Ghost            Whisperer on CBS as the mother of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Privileged (The CW) and the Fox Series The Grinder starring Rob Lowe and Fred Savage. In 2013 she co-produced her first feature film The Squeeze, written and directed by Terry Jastrow. In 2006 she founded Artists for Human Rights (AFHR), which brings the full force of artistic expression to bear in the human rights arena by working hand-in-hand with effective human rights advocates and leading organizations worldwide to raise awareness and eradicate the most egregious human rights abuses.

Writer Terry Jastrow has produced and/or directed the television coverage of some of the world’s most important sporting events including six Olympic Games, The Super Bowl, 62 major championships of golf including the Open Championship. The plays he has written and directed include As if it Matters at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, Eight One Acts over Two Nights at The Acting Center, Hollywood, California, andTheVaginal Lock at the Skylight Theatre, Los Angeles. More recently, Terry wrote and directed a feature film, The Squeeze, which was released in April 2015, and is available on-demand.

Joe Harmston’s career began 23 years ago directing the critically-acclaimed King James’ Ear by Rod Dungate at The Old Red Lion.  Since then highlights have included directing Harold Pinter in his own plays, particularly The Lover and The Collection at The Donmar and his long associations with other writers including Sir Ronald Harwood, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Sir David Hare and Sir Peter Ustinov.  He was Associate Director of Chichester Festival Theatre and Artistic Director of the Agatha Christie Theatre Company and is still a Creative Associate Director of the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. He was last at Park Theatre directing Paul Herzberg’s The Dead Wait.

The Trial of Jane Fonda’s Set Design is by Sean Cavanagh, Composer & Sound Designer is Matthew Bugg, Video Projection Designer is Louise Rhoades-Brown, Lighting Designer is Tony Simpson and Costume Designer is Roberto Surace.

 

www.thetrialofjanefonda.com

Facebook: TrialOfJaneFonda

Twitter: @janefondaplay

Soul

A new play by Roy Williams

Directed by James Dacre

Royal & Derngate, Northampton – Friday 20 May to Saturday 11 June; Press Night: Tuesday 24 May 7pm

Hackney Empire – Wednesday 15 June to Sunday 3 July

Cast, creative and choirs announced for Roy Williams’Soul

This summer, Royal & Derngate Northampton and Hackney Empire will co-produce the world première of Soul, a new play by Roy Williams about the family life of soul legend Marvin Gaye. Directed by James Dacre and designed by Jon Bausor, Soul takes to Northampton’s Royal stage from Friday 20 May to Saturday 11 June, before its run at Hackney Empire from Wednesday 15 June to Sunday 3 July.

Full cast: Adjoa Andoh, Leo Wringer, Petra Letang, Mimi Ndiweni, Nathan Ives-Moira, Keenan Munn-Francis, Abiona Omonua.

On April Fool’s Day 1984, hours before his 45th birthday, Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father in the shared family home they called the ‘Big House’. What happened there has since been shrouded in mystery.

Revealing the events that took place during Marvin Gaye’s haunting final days and exploring his extraordinary life, Soul is a parable about an American family crushed by fame – a searing portrait of the dark side of the American dream.

Written by award-winning Roy Williams (Sucker Punch, Days of Significance) in close collaboration with members of Marvin Gaye’s family, this play with music will feature Royal & Derngate’s and Hackney Empire’s celebrated community choirs. Original instrumental music has additionally been composed and recorded for the production by Marvin Gaye’s close musical collaborator Gordon Banks, widely considered to be one of soul music’s great guitarists.

Adjoa Andoh (Invictus, Adulthood, Julius Caesar, RSC) and Leo Wringer (As You Like It, National Theatre; Blackta, Perseverance Drive, Young Vic) play the central roles of Marvin’s parents, Alberta and Marvin Gay Snr.

Petra Letang (Holby City, EastEnders and leading roles at the National Theatre, Royal Court and Young Vic) and Mimi Ndiweni (Mr Selfridge; Warner Bros’ The Legend of Tarzan; Wendy and Peter, Taming of the Shrew, RSC) will play Marvin Gaye’s sisters Jeanne and Zeola Gay.

Rising stars Nathan Ives-Moiba (As You Like It, National Theatre; Our Country’s Good, Out of Joint) and Keenan Munn-Francis (The Scottsboro Boys, The Lion King) play the role of Marvin Gaye as an adult and teenager respectively. Abiona Omonua (The Colour Purple, Menier Chocolate Factory;Legally Blonde, West End) will play Tammi Terrell.  

Soul is directed by Royal & Derngate’s Artistic Director James Dacre, whose recent productions include Peter Whelan’s The Herbal Bed, Dawn King’s Brave New World, Arthur Miller’s The Hookand Shakespeare’s King John. The Designer is RSC Associate Artist Jon Bausor, who designed the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games and the critically acclaimed historic trilogy The James Plays for National Theatre of Scotland and the National Theatre. Video design is by BAFTA-winning Tal Rosner, whose credits include The BRIT Awards, The Pet Shop Boys’ The Most Incredible Thing, Everyman (National Theatre) and X (Royal Court). Lighting design is by Mark Howland (The Christians, Gate Theatre; Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, Hampstead Theatre) and sound design is by Fergus O’Hare (Tiger Country, Hampstead Theatre; Richard II, Hamlet, The Entertainer, Old Vic).

Anna Morrissey (Constellations, Royal Court; King Charles III, Almeida and West End) is Movement Director, RC-Annie (Cleansed, National Theatre; The James Plays, National Theatre of Scotland and National Theatre) are Fight Directors and Hazel Holder (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Les Blancs, National Theatre) is Voice and Dialect Coach.

The Musical Director is Joseph Roberts (Rudy’s Rare Records, Birmingham Rep and Hackney Empire) and the production features the Royal & Derngate Community Choir in its Northampton performances and the Hackney Empire Community Choir for its London run.

Soul was commissioned by Bob Blagden and Barbara Cole. The play was inspired by Jeanne Gay’s memoir Bitter Sweet, interviews with Jeanne and Zeola Gay amongst many others and further extensive research.

The production is recommended ages 14 and upwards.

#UntoldSoul

DIRTY DANCING – THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE

FRESH, YOUNG & SEXY CAST ANNOUNCED FOR

WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON

 

HITTING THE ROAD WITH A BRAND NEW PRODUCTION FROM AUGUST 2016 – IT’S BACK AND SEXIER THAN EVER!

 

Producers Karl Sydow and Paul Elliott are delighted to announce casting for the UK and Ireland tour of the brand new production of Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage. The classic story of Baby and Johnny, featuring the hit songs‘Hungry Eyes’, ‘Hey! Baby’, ‘Do You Love Me?’ and the heart stopping ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life’, returns to the UK this summer, following two blockbuster West End runs, two hit UK tours, and various sensational international productions.

 

Lewis Griffiths will star as ‘Johnny Castle’, one of the most iconic roles in popular culture. Lewis has had a prolific career in musical theatre, most recently starring as ‘Nick Massi’ on the UK tour of Jersey Boys. Other roles in UK tours include Ghostand Legally Blonde, and West End credits include Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Rent and Whistle Down the Wind.

 

Katie Hartland will make her professional musical theatre debut carrying the watermelons as she takes on the role of ‘Baby Houseman’, having graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2015.

Carlie Milner will star as ‘Penny Johnson’. Carlie is part of the Dirty Dancing family; starting as a member of the ensemble in 2014, she covered and subsequently took over the role of ‘Penny’ in 2015.

 

Joining Lewis, Katie and Carlie will be Julian Harries as ‘Jake Houseman’, Simone Craddock as ‘Marjorie Houseman’, Roger Martin ‘as Max Kellerman’, Jo Servi as ‘Tito Suarez’, Lizzie Ottley as ‘Lisa Houseman’, Michael Kent as ‘Billy Kostecki’, Greg Fossard as ‘Neil Kellerman’, Tony Stansfield as ‘Mr Schumacher’, and Daniela Dobega as ‘Elizabeth’. Also joining the company are Gabby Antrobus, Imogen Brooke, Simon Campbell, Robert Colvin, Katie Eccles, Beth Highsted, Megan Louch,Ashley Rumble, Callum Sterling, Austin Wilks and Karl James Wilson.

 

Full of passion and romance, heart-pounding music and sensationally sexy dancing, the record-breaking show has been reconceived in an all new production created by an innovative new creative team; directed by Federico Bellone, choreographed by Gillian Bruce and with design re-imagined by top Italian set designer Roberto Comotti. The production premiered in Milan in July 2015, subsequently packing out the 15,000 seat Roman Arena in Verona, and has played a season in Rome, and will shortly be embarking on a major Italian tour.

 

Tour Dates for the UK production are as follows, Blackpool Opera House (11- August 2016), Theatre, Dartford (1 – 10 September), Grand, Swansea (12 – 17 September), Aylesbury Waterside (19 – 24 September), New Theatre, Wimbledon (26 September – 1 October), Palace Theatre, Manchester (10 – 15 October), Grand Opera House, York (17 – 22 October), Carlisle Sands Centre (24 – 29 October), Northampton Derngate (31 October – 5 November), Regent Theatre, Stoke (7 – 12 November), Kings Theatre, Southsea (14 – 19 November), Reading Hexagon (21 – 26 November), and Wolverhampton Grand Theatre (28 November – 3 December). Southend Cliffs Pavilion (10 – 21 January), Belgrade Theatre Coventry (30 January – 4 February), Dublin Bord Gais Theatre (6 – 11 February), Millennium Forum, Derry (13 – 18 February), Grand Opera House Belfast (20 – 25 February), INEC Killarney (27 February – 4 March), Ipswich Regent (20 – 25 March), Cardiff New Theatre (27 March-1 April) [on sale in June], Wycombe Swan (3 – 8 April), Leicester De Montfort Hall (10 – 15 April), Hall for Cornwall Truro (17 – 22 April) [on sale soon], Milton Keynes Theatre (24 – 29 April), Birmingham Alexandra (29 May – 3 June).

Be Prepared

• PLAYWRITING DEBUT FROM IAN BONAR PREMIERES AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE

• THE PRODUCTION WILL PLAY AT BIG BELLY, COWGATE FROM 4TH AUGUST

• TICKETS ON SALE AT 9AM ON THURSDAY UNDERBELLYEDINBURGH.CO.UK

The Corner Shop Events today announces that Be Prepared will premiere at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of the first season of Underbelly Untapped. Be Prepared is the first full-length play from actor and writer Ian Bonar, and has been developed at The RSC’s studio theatre The Other Place.

By turns poignant and gut-wrenchingly funny, Be Prepared is based on Bonar’s own experiences and includes verbatim extracts of his grandfather’s memoir. The production is directed by Rob Watt and features a blistering central performance by Bonar himself. Lighting design is by Elliot Griggs and sound design by Alex Crispin.

‘Imagine seeing all the stuff that you’ve done played out in your head in glorious fucking technicolour… and then opening your mouth to speak and all that comes out is mixed-up nonsense and spit and dribble.’

Tom’s dad is dead. Mr Chambers needs a funeral director. Tom is not a funeral director.

Conversations become confused. Mr Chambers’ mind begins to disintegrate. As their memories intertwine and unravel, Tom connects to his father in ways he had never expected.

A heartbreaking, hilarious new play about one man struggling to remember while another tries to un-forget.

Ian Bonar’s acting credits include Interlude in Prague, New Blood, Black Mirror, Southcliffe, Spectre and Atonement, as well as stage work such as The Witch of Edmonton and the Roaring Girls season (RSC), The Blackest Black (Hampstead Theatre) and Brilliant Adventures (Royal Exchange). He is a member of the Orange Tree Writers Collective and his second play, St Anthony, was recently longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize.

Rob Watt is a director and theatre-maker who is currently Youth Programme Manager at the National Theatre. His directing credits include Party Trap by Ross Sutherland (Summerhall / Shoreditch Town Hall), A Lie (Soho Theatre / Norfolk & Norwich Festival / Latitude Festival) andStandby for Tape Back-Up (Summerhall / Bush Theatre / Soho Theatre / Shoreditch Town Hall / UK tour).

Ovation presents
A NEW PLAY WITH MUSIC
WALLISa certain person…                                                                                 
Written by Jennifer Selway
Original Music by Simon Slater
Devised and Directed by John Plews

Set between 1931 and 1936, Wallis is a dramatic account of the love affair that led to the biggest constitutional crisis in modern Royal history. Just how did Mrs Simpson, a divorced American,capture and keep the heart of the playboy prince?   What secrets lay beneath the scandal that rocked British Society and threatened to bring down Stanley Baldwin’s Government?

27th May – 26th June 2016

PRESS NIGHT WEDNESDAY 1st JUNE – 7.30pm

                                                       

               Katie Arnstein                 Robert Hazle                Eliza McClelland            Grant McConvey                                                                         
                                               
Emma Odell          Lee Ormsby             Bernard O’Sullivan       Alice Pitt-Carter      Tom Slatter

Taking on the title role is EMMA ODELL who was last seen Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Ovation’s hugely successful production of INTO THE WOODS. Also making welcome returns to Highgate are GRANT MCCONVEY& LEE ORMSBY who were part of Aria productions recent AMERICAN JEWISH SONGBOOK and KATIE ARNSTEIN who was a member of Ovation’s BLONDE BOMBSHELLS OF 1943.  ELIZA MCCLELLAND   takes on the dual role of Lady Cunard and Lucy Baldwin with BERNARD O’SULLIVAN playing the Conservative Prime Minister of the time – Stanley Baldwin.   Also in the cast are ROBERT HAZLE as the piano-playing ‘narrator’,TOM SLATTER recently seen in CLOSE TO HOME at the Finborough and as Lady Thelma Furness, the long-time mistress of the Prince of Wales, ALICE PITT-CARTER.

 

Designer – Emily Bestow

Lighting Designer – Sam Waddington
Casting – Katie Bradley

PRODUCED by KATIE PLEWS for OVATION 

 

Performances: Tuesday – Saturdays at 7.30pm / Sunday Matinees at 4.00pm