Month: October 2017

Twitter: @the_printroom #WintersTale
Facebook: theprintroom
Website: www.the-print-room.org

Print Room at the Coronet presents
Winter’s Tales

CELEBRITY READERS AND MUCH LOVED STORIES ANNOUNCED FOR WINTER’S TALES

• FESTIVE CELEBRATION OF CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY STORIES FOR 6-12 YEAR OLDS AND THEIR FAMILIES
• READERS TO INCLUDE MEL GIEDROYC, EMELI SANDÉ, PENELOPE WILTON, BEN OKRI, TOBY STEPHENS, JAMIE GLOVER, TOM HOLLANDER AND SHAPPI KHORSANDI

Details of Print Room at the Coronet’s Winter’s Tales have today been revealed. A stellar line up of well-known names will read their favourite festive stories. During the first week of December, classic and contemporary tales will be brought to life for children and families in the beautiful and intimate setting of the Coronet.

On Wednesday 6 December Mel Giedroyc, best known as one half of duo Mel & Sue original co-hosts of The Great British Bake Off, will read Agatha Christie’s The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, followed by BRIT Award-winning singer and songwriter Emeli Sandé (7 December) treating audiences to one of her favourite childhood tales. Penelope Wilton (8 December), the Olivier Award-winning actress widely known as Isabel Crawley in Downton Abbey, takes to the stage with select stories from Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne. Poet and novelist, Ben Okri will be performing a new story, written especially for Winter’s Tales (9 December). British actor, Toby Stephens, will end the first week, reading the Roald Dahl classic and family favourite, The Twits (10 December). Completing the lineup will be BAFTA Award-winning actor Tom Hollander, comedian and author Shappi Khorsandi and Jamie Glover.  Further details will be announced shortly.

Tickets for all events can be found here,

Winter’s Tales is supporting Give a Book, a local charity gifting books to a wide range of people who might otherwise not have access to them in schools, prisons and other organisations. 20 free tickets per performance will also be offered to local schools, via Give a Book, particularly those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

Winter’s Tales will also help to raise funds and awareness for the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation Grenfell Tower fund. The K&C Foundation is an independent local charity and 100% of the money it receives for the fund will support the residents who lived in Grenfell Tower and others affected from the local community.

Mel Giedroyc shot to fame in the 1990s as one half of comedy duo Mel and Sue. She presented The Great British Bake Off for seven years and has recently graced our screens on Pitch Battle for BBC, Let’s Sing and Dance for Comic Relief and Let it Shine also for the BBC.  She can be heard through the radio waves on Magic FM.

Jamie Glover is currently starring in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre), further theatre includes: What’s In A Name? (Birmingham Rep); The Rehearsal, An Ideal Husband, If Only (Chichester Festival Theatre); Donkey’s Years (Rose Theatre Kingston) and Noises Off (Old Vic/Novello). Film includes: Woody Allen London Project, These Foolish Things, Sacred Life andClosing Numbers.

Tom Hollander has worked extensively for across stage and screen. His theatre credits includeTravesties (Apollo Theatre), A Flea in Her Ear (Old Vic); Landscape with Weapon (National Theatre), The Hotel in Amsterdam (Donmar); King Lear, Tartuffe and The Government Inspector(Almeida). On screen he’s known for The Night Manager, Rev, The Thick of It and Pride and Prejudice. Tom makes regular appearances on American Dad and Family Guy.

Shappi Khorsandi is an internationally acclaimed comedian. She has appeared on Live At The Apollo, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, The Graham Norton Show, Have I Got News For You and many more TV and Radio Shows.  She has written two books A Beginners Guide To Acting English and the highly acclaimed novel Nina is Not OK both with Ebury Press.

Ben Okri OBE is a poet, novelist and playwright and has published many books, including The Famished Road, which won the Booker prize in 1991. His work has been translated into 26 languages and has won numerous international prizes including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Africa, the Paris Review Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, the Chianti Ruffino Antico Fattore International Literary Prize and the Premio Grinazane Cavour Prize.

The recipient of many honorary doctorates, he is vice-president of the English Centre of International PEN and was presented with the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum for his outstanding contribution to the Arts and cross-cultural understanding in 1995.

Emeli Sandé, MBE, is a Scottish recording artist and songwriter. Her critically acclaimed number one record, Our Version Of Events, was the biggest selling album of 2012 and second biggest selling album of 2013, but it was also certified 7x platinum, spent seven non-consecutive weeks at No.1.. The Aberdonian scored three UK number 1 singles and the track; ‘Next to Me’ was certified platinum in the U.S with over 1.5 million singles sold. Sandé has won numerous accolades including 4 Brit Awards (Critics Choice, Best Album and British Female Solo Artist in both 2013 and 2017) as well as awards from Q Magazine, Elle, Harpers and GQ.  The multi-instrumentalist initially made her mark as a songwriter in the UK urban scene via acts such as Wiley, Giggs, Wretch 32 and Chip, later becoming a highly sought-after writer for a wide array of international acts including Alicia Keys, Rihanna and Katy Perry.

Toby Stephens is an English actor who has recently completed filming Lost in Space for Netflix – playing the leading role of John Robinson. The series is due for launch in 2018.  Previous stage work includes Private Lives (Chichester Festival Theatre and Gielgud Theatre), Danton’s Death (NT), The Real Thing (Old Vic), A Doll’s House (Donmar Warehouse), Betrayal (Donmar Warehouse), Japes (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), A Streetcar Named Desire (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), The Country Wife(Theatre Royal Haymarket), Wallenstein (RSC), Unfinished Business (RSC), Tamburlaine (RSC), The Pilate Workshop (RSC), Hamlet – title role (RSC), Measure for Measure (RSC), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC), Coriolanus – title role (RSC). Recent film work includes 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, The Journey and Hunter Killer (due for release.)

Dame Penelope Wilton was born in Scarborough and has worked extensively for over 50 years in the classical theatre, film and television. Her film career includes roles in The BFG, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Calendar Girls and Shaun of the Dead. Her television acting career included several major TV roles starring opposite Richard Briers in Ever Decreasing Circles, playing Homily in The Borrowers and, more recently, for her role as Isobel Crawley in the ITV drama Downton Abbey. In 2015 Penelope won an Olivier Award for her performance in Taken at Midnight (Theatre Royal Haymarket).

LISTINGS

6 – 10 December 2017
Winters Tales 
Print Room at the Coronet, Notting Hill Gate, W11 3LB
www.the-print-room.org
020 3642 6606

6 December 2017, 6pm
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
Read by Mel Giedroyc
(10-12 years)

7 December 2017, 2pm
Title to be announced.
Read by Emeli Sandé

8 December 2017, 2pm
Stories from Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne 
Read by Penelope Wilton
(5-7 years)

9 December, 6pm
A brand new story – Title to be announced.
Read by Ben Okri
(5-7 years)

10 December 2017, 6pm
The Twits by Roald Dahl
Read by Toby Stephens
(7 – 12 years)

PRICING

Adults                                                                                           £15.50

Child/Concessions                                                                 £12.50

Family ticket

(4 tickets including 2 children, 2 full price adults)               £49

School Groups booking

(For every 10 tickets 1 teacher/adult goes free)                     £8.50

(NB School must provide an accompanying adult per 10 to 15 children)

Graeae Theatre Company presents…
Reasons to be Cheerful
A raucous musical featuring the hits of Ian Dury and the Blockheads, in a new production for 2017 directed by Jenny Sealey. 

• Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn backs new anti-austerity song by members of Ian Dury’s band The Blockheads and Graeae performer John Kelly

• ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’, was written exclusively forReasons to be Cheerful, pioneering disabled-led theatre company Graeae’s musical featuring the hits of Ian Dury and The Blockheads

• The hit show is leading a new protest song movement with over 100 new anti-austerity protest songs being written across UK as part of Graeae’s Community Engagement programme

• You can view the video of the company in rehearsal of the brand new song here.

• The show is currently on tour around the UK and will come to Theatre Royal, Stratford East from 24th October-4th November

Pioneering disabled-led theatre company Graeae has been a proud standard-bearer for protest and disability rights for many years. In conjunction with the final tour of their smash hit musical Reasons to be Cheerful, set in 1979 Thatcher’s Britain, Blockheads  Chaz Jankel, Derek Hussey and cast member John Kelly have written a protest song for 2017, ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’. You can download the song here. As part of Graeae’s Reasons To Be Cheerful extensive community engagement programme, nearly 100 songwriters across the country have written and submitted their protest songs.

Graeae Theatre Company commented: “Thanks to Chaz Jankel and Derek Hussey from The Blockheads, and to John Kelly, the lead singer from our hit show Reasons to be Cheerful, Graeae now has our very own protest song that perfectly sums up how we feel. 

The song: ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’ is performed each night in Reasons To Be Cheerful.

We approached the heads of all of the major UK political parties to comment on our new protest song. We got a response from one:

“This new anti austerity song from Graeae and the Blockheads captures the current mood of the country. It’s lyrics bring people together in a moment of shared experience to challenge the status quo.” Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party.

The song is a rallying cry against the current government cuts; specifically the austerity and cuts directed at the D/deaf and disabled community in the UK and the systematic disintegration of the NHS and the Welfare State. The lyrics of ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’ reflect back to the era Reasons to be Cheerful is set, when Ian Dury and The Blockheads were dominating the charts. Full lyrics can be seen here and streaming details can be provided.

 ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’ will be available as a free download and will be performed exclusively at each show on the tour by the cast and band. The show is on tour now.

LISTINGS

Reasons to be Cheerful
Writer Paul Sirett
Director Jenny Sealey
Designer Liz Ascroft
Associate Director Daryl Beeton
Lighting Ian Scott
Sound Lewis Gibson
Choreography Mark Smith
Musical Director Joey Hickman
Musical Supervision & Arrangements Robert Hyman
Casting Sarah Hughes CDG

Tuesday 10 – Saturday 14 October
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
https://www.wyp.org.uk
0113 213 7700

Tuesday 17 – Saturday 21 October
Liverpool Everyman
https://www.everymanplayhouse.com
0151 709 4776

Tuesday 24 October – Saturday 4 November
Theatre Royal Stratford East
http://www.stratfordeast.com
020 8534 0310
Press night: 24 October

Age recommendation 14+

All performances include creative British Sign Language, captioning and audio description.

Hull New Theatre Celebrates 78th anniversary

Milestone reached following £16m refurbishment

Hull New Theatre celebrates its 78th anniversary on Monday (October 16) when it will mark almost eight decades since opening at the start of the Second World War.

The milestone comes just weeks after the theatre re-opened with a special one-off performance by The Royal Ballet following a major £16m refurbishment.

The original building dates back to the 1800s when it was in use as the city’s Assembly Rooms and was visited by great writers of the Victorian age, including Charles Dickens in 1859 and 1860.

Its transformation into a theatre began in 1924 with the launch of the Hull Repertory Theatre Company which performed next door in a venue known as the Little Theatre.

In 1933, the charismatic Peppino Santangelo joined the company and, having transformed its fortunes, set his sights on moving into the Assembly Rooms.

He knew that the Little Theatre’s other neighbour, Central Fire Station, needed an extension so he agreed a swap – the Little Theatre for the Assembly Rooms and the deal was done for £9,000.

Even the outbreak of the Second World War could not halt his dream and the first show, Noel Gay’s Me and My Girl, played to a packed house on Saturday, October 16 1939.

Performances continued throughout the war with West End productions keen to tour to the perceived safety of the provincial theatres and although Hull was badly bombed, the theatre itself received only one direct hit during the blitz of May 1941.

It also survived declining audiences attributed to the advent of television and an attempt in the 1960s to turn it into a bingo hall when Hull City Council stepped into to ensure it remained a theatre.

Today, the Hull New Theatre is known as one of the finest in the country and continues to attract the best touring productions, including West End hits, drama, opera and dance.

It has maintained founder Peppino’s dream of ‘playing for the people’ and has an exciting programme of forthcoming productions including National Theatre’s Hedda Gabler, the Carole King musical Beautiful and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet.

Writing a ‘swan song’ in a programme to sign-off his time at the theatre after a quarter of a century of service, founder Peppino said: “I end this, my song in the mode of a personal plea: a plea that you will always look upon this lovely theatre as your very own: that your pride in it will be commensurate with your support; that you will ever remain the jealous guardians of its integrity and the custodians of its welfare.”

To celebrate the theatre’s 78th birthday, here are 78 facts about the much-loved venue.

1. The building where the theatre stands today was formerly the city’s Assembly Rooms.

2. The Assembly Rooms opened in 1830.

3. Charles Dickens visited in 1859 and 1860.

4. The theatre actually began life in a building next door known as the Little Theatre.

5. The Little Theatre was the home of Hull Repertory Theatre Company.

6. Hull Repertory Theatre Company was set-up in 1924.

7. Peppino Santangelo joined the company in 1933.

8. Peppino was born in the Channel Islands.

9. After turning around the company’s fortunes, Peppino set his sights on the Assembly Rooms where he wanted to set-up a ‘new’ theatre.

10. He managed to secure the building for £9,000 after swapping the Little Theatre for the Assembly Rooms.

11. The deal was agreed because the Little Theatre’s other neighbours, Central Fire Station, needed room to expand.

12. Despite the outbreak of the Second World War, the theatre opened on October 16, 1939.

13. The first production to be performed was Noel Gay’s Me and My Girl.

14. Performances continued at the theatre throughout the war as provincial theatres were considered safer than those in London so West End shows were keen to visit.

15. The theatre received one direct hit during the war during a heavy period of bombing of the city in May 1941.

16. This claimed the lives of several fireman, destroyed the front row of stalls and all the props and costumes of the visiting Sadler’s Wells Opera Company, now English National Opera.

17. It also survived declining audiences attributed to the advent of television and an attempt in the 1960s to turn it into a bingo hall when Hull City Council stepped into to ensure it remained a theatre.

18. The £16m revamp of the theatre, which re-opened in September, is the biggest in its history.

19. It was funded with £11m from Hull City Council and £5m from Arts Council England.

20. A new entrance has been built on the site where Central Fire Station was extended as part of the original deal done by Peppino.

21. A KCOM van was named after Peppino as part of a project to recognise the city’s cultural icons as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017.

22. 80 tonnes of water were used to hold-up the theatre walls during the revamp.

23. The new fly tower, where scenery is ‘flown’ on and off the stage, is 27m tall.

24. Each of the decorative plaster roses in the main auditorium was painted gold by hand as part of the £16m refurbishment.

25. More than 486 lights were installed on the new dressing room mirrors.

26. 19 tonnes of weights have been installed to operate the counterweight flying system above the stage.

27. More than 1,500 litres of paint were used as part of the revamp.

28. A total of 232 sheets of plywood were installed in the final covering of the stage.

29. The theatre is a Grade II listed building.

30. Audience capacity at the theatre has increased from around 1,150 to 1,330 following its refurbishment.

31. The number of dressing rooms has increased from 13 to 16.

32. On March 5, 1951, the New Theatre was bought by Whitehall Theatre LTD for £78,000 on the condition that founder Peppino Santengelo stayed on for not less than three years.

33. The deal netted shareholders more than £8 for each £1 share.

34. The refurbishment uncovered signatures left by those who built the theatre’s iron safety curtain, dated August 31, 1939.

35. The other side of the curtain is heavily graffitied by the many visiting companies and stars who have performed at the theatre as part of an enduring tradition in receiving houses.

36. Wartime theatre programmes contained the encouraging words ‘the theatre is a safer place than your own home’.

37. In 1989 the theatre celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special week-long production of the Secret of Sherlock Holmes, starring Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke from the ITV series.

38. The theatre shares its birthday with playwright Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) and has staged many of his greatest works, the first of which was Lady Windermere’s Fan in 1947.

39. The theatre is reputed to have its own ghost who is called Charlie.

40. During the floods in Hull in 2007, the dressing rooms at basement level were flooded and four performances of Starlight Express had to be cancelled until the performers could replace their damaged specialist roller skates

41. In the 80s the musical comedy version of A Christmas Carol was interrupted by fire alarm and the performance was completed in Kingston Square. Luckily, it was a false alarm.

42. David Whitfield, whose statue is outside the theatre in Kingston Square, performed at Hull New Theatre twice during his illustrious career.

43. Lost property found over the years includes false teeth, hearing aids, underwear and numerous pairs of glasses.

44. The most common lost item is umbrellas.

45. One of the last public performances by Laurel and Hardy was at Hull New Theatre.

46. In 1989 Russ Abbot came with his show. The set was designed for TV so wouldn’t fit into the theatre. Crew were forced to call a welder early one Sunday morning and cut the set in half in the middle of Jarratt Street

47. Hull New Theatre’s official Twitter account is @newtheatrehull. 48. It’s Facebook page is www.facebook.com/hullnewtheatre.

49. Both social media accounts offer all the latest news on forthcoming shows and often run competitions for free tickets.

50. A Royal Gala attended by Princess Anne took place at the theatre in 1985 to mark the end of a refurbishment project.

51. The theatre offers premium seats in the centre stalls on rows K and L.

52. There are two boxes, one to the right of the stage and one to the left.

53. Margot Fonteyn performed with the Vic Wells Ballet Company shortly after the theatre’s opening in December 1939 and again in February 1940, returning in February 1976 with a one woman show.

54. This year’s pantomime is the high-flying adventure, Peter Pan.

55. It features an unmissable 3D underwater sequence.

56. Northern Ballet’s The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas from October 18 to 21 will star Hull dancer Ashley Dixon as Shmuel.

57. The production is the first telling through dance of the heart-breaking story written by John Boyne and turned into a film in 2008.

58. Opera North are bringing a festival of short operas to the theatre from October 26 to 28 following their sell-out production of Puccini’s Turandot at the theatre’s sister venue, Hull City Hall, earlier this year.

59. One of the most performed productions is Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which has appeared at least 20 times since 1978.

60. The show, starring X Factor winner Joe McElderry, returns to the theatre on October 31.

61. Hull comedian and actress Debra Stephenson stars in new musical Son of a Preacher Man from November 7 to 11.

62. The first touring production to be performed at the theatre following its recent major refurbishment was the National Theatre’s Jane Eyre.

63. The acclaimed company returns to the theatre in November with a new version of the Ibsen classic, Hedda Gabler.

64. The theatre offers an Extras membership scheme which includes benefits such as priority booking, discounts on selected shows and complimentary programmes.

65. The theatre has a Changing Places fully-accessible toilet which was installed as part of the recent revamp.

66. Access performances including captioned and signed performances, relaxed performances, audio description and touch tours are available.

67. The official re-opening on September 16 to celebrate the £16m revamp was curated by The Royal Ballet’s Hull-born director, Kevin O’Hare.

68. More than 5,000 tickets were sold for a live screening of this special event which took place in nearby Queens Gardens.

69. At the end of the performance, the dancers got on a double-decker bus to go to the gardens and surprise the audience there.

70. The theatre hosted the world premiere of a new comedy by John Godber, The Kings of Hull, which was written for Hull UK City of Culture 2017, in September.

71. The fastest-selling show since re-opening so far has been Jersey Boys which arrives in February.

72. Amateur groups such as Hessle Theatre Company perform at the theatre as well as professional companies.

73. A blue plaque on the outside of the theatre commemorates the visits by Charles Dickens to the building when it was the Assembly Rooms.

74. Birmingham Stage Company performed Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain on the theatre’s 75th birthday.

75. Comedian Ken Dodd’s show on November 5 is a sell-out.

76. The final performances of this year’s pantomime, Peter Tan, coincide with the last day of Hull UK City of Culture 2017 on Sunday, December 31.

77. The theatre’s Stage Door on Jarratt Street is where cast and crew enter the building and is often where autograph hunters can be found waiting to see their favourite stars. 78. Theatre tickets can be booked online at www.hulltheatres.co.uk, over the phone by calling 01482 300 306 or in person at the theatre box office or the box office at Hull City Hall.

 

Opera North returns to Hull New Theatre with festival of Little Greats

Performances will be the first by the company at the venue in more than a decade

Following its £16m refurbishment, Hull New Theatre is to host Opera North’s acclaimed festival of short operas, The Little Greats, later this month.

The Leeds company will return to the newly-reopened venue for the first time in more than a decade from Thursday, October 26 to Saturday, October 28, presenting five brand new productions in innovative double bills and a family-friendly matinee.

From red-blooded Italian classics to the jazzy 1950s satire of Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, The Little Greats showcases the incredible breadth of opera, offering the perfect introduction to the art form for newcomers, together with some daring adaptations and rarely-performed gems for aficionados.

Allowing audiences the chance to experience all of the power and passion of opera in a shorter, bite-sized format, there are £5 children’s tickets available for the family matinee of Ravel’s enchanting The Child and the Magic Spells (L’enfant et les sortilèges) and £10 tickets for double bills for anyone aged 19 to 30.

A double dose of Italian passion, violent revenge and tragedy raises the curtain on the season. Staged as a darkly knowing exploration of the fine line between art and life, Pagliacci opens in a rehearsal room as an opera company is preparing for a show. But real-life passions are roiling beneath the greasepaint and as the crowd gathers for the performance the stage becomes the scene of a bloody reckoning.

Mascagni’s gritty drama of betrayal, jealousy and vengeance, Cavalleria rusticana follows, featuring gorgeously lyrical melodies including the famous Intermezzo, familiar from its use in The Godfather and Raging Bull. Young Polish director Karolina Sofulak has transplanted this classic Italian opera to a less familiar setting though: her home country in the late-1970s, complete with an iconic Fiat 126 and echoes of classic Polish cinema.

On Friday, October 27 Bernstein’s deeply moving Trouble in Tahiti takes a look at the dark side of the American Dream with a dazzling fusion of Broadway, Hollywood and jazz steeped in 1950s glamour. An early Gilbert & Sullivan gem, Trial by Jury concludes the evening in hilarious, topsy-turvy style with all of the duo’s trademarks: satirical wit, catchy tunes and an ingenious plot which refuses to turn out quite as expected.

Ravel’s surreal and utterly charming The Child and the Magic (L’enfant et les sortilèges) is performed as a matinee on Saturday, October 28, with acute examinations of the pleasures and pains of growing up, characters including a Grandfather Clock, a Tea Pot and an Armchair — and a heartwarming resolution — all packed into a running time of just 45 minutes. Younger visitors and their families can also get an introduction to the story in a fun, interactive workshop in the theatre’s Circle Bar before the performance.

On Saturday evening, the grown-up excesses of Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana return to the stage to close the run in flamboyant style.

Opera North will also be reaching beyond the stage during their week in Hull, with a free Whistle Stop Opera for audiences of all ages at The Octagon Centre on the Thornton Estate on Tuesday, October 24.

Devised and narrated by John Savournin, the director of Trial by Jury, the performance compresses the power of opera even more tightly into a half-hour packed with laughter, deceit, love and tragedy. Arias featured in The Little Greats, plus classics including Nessun dorma, chart the comic ups and downs of a young couple (soprano Elin Pritchard, who sings the role of Nedda in Pagliacci, and baritone Milo Harries).

The performance will celebrate the start of Opera North’s new partnership with The Goodwin Trust to run regular weekly music-making and singing sessions for residents of the Thornton Estate. Opera North’s Education department has operated groundbreaking community residency programmes in schools in Bransholme since 2013 but this new initiative will allow people of all ages to participate in open access workshops in a long-term arts participation project on one of the city’s largest and most diverse estates.

The Child and the Magic Spells family workshop will also visit the estate on Thursday, October 26, giving residents the chance to find out more about the opera before they attend the matinee on Saturday, October 28.

The Little Greats marks Opera North’s third visit to the city as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017. The Height of the Reeds, the company’s sound walk for the Humber Bridge, ran at full capacity for its entire duration between April and June this year and their concert staging of Puccini’s Turandot sold out at Hull City Hall in May.

Richard Mantle, General Director, Opera North, said: “We’re delighted to be returning to the revitalised Hull New Theatre after more than ten years away and to have the opportunity to present our adventurous new season in the city.

“Following on from an incredibly warm reception for Turandot, The Little Greats is a season which really does demonstrate the diversity of operatic style, and the indomitable company spirit which is at the heart of everything we do.

“Having worked with the very youngest generations in the area for the past few years, we’re excited to return to full scale performance in Hull in the year of the City of Culture.”

Opera North’s season of short operas, The Little Greats, comes to Hull New Theatre from Thursday 26 October. Tickets for double bills are from £16.50 to £44 or just £10 for 19 to 30 year-olds. Tickets for the matinee of The Child and the Magic Spells are available from £10 to £27.50 with children’s tickets just £5.

The Little Greats season is supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation. Opera North’s work in Hull is supported by Arts Council England, Mrs Maureen Pettman and the late Professor Barrie Pettman and the University of Hull. Opera North’s Education programme in Hull is supported by The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation, the Opera North Future Fund, The Whitaker Charitable Trust and the William Jackson Food Group. Opera North’s Little Greats tours to Hull New Theatre as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017.

Blue Elephant Theatre 2017 Winter Season

“The exciting fringe outpost that is the Blue Elephant”

Graham Watts, Dance Tabs

The Blue Elephant continues to offer a wealth of exciting performances by emerging artists across the arts. New writing, family shows and physical theatre feature strongly in the programme, tackling topics from immigration and aging to consent and mental health.

Exciting theatre companies Original Impact, The Dot Collective and Moon on a Stick return to the Blue Elephant this season and their work alone demonstrates the breadth of the programme. Original Impact are a performance collective with a strong actor-musician focus who present new work and contemporary retellings of classics. The Dot Collective creates high-quality work with and for older people, especially those with dementia. Moon on a Stick creates original shows for children, using puppetry and live music.

This is Blue Elephant Theatre’s first season to be announced since learning in June that it is to be added to Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations from April 2018. Blue Elephant Theatre was amongst just five new theatre organisations in London to be added to the portfolio, offering the theatre more stability and greater opportunities to develop its work.

Listings Information:

Venue: Blue Elephant Theatre, 59a Bethwin Rd, Camberwell, SE5 0XT (entrance on Thompson Ave)

Nearest tube: Oval (Northern Line)

Wheelchair accessible

Box Office: 020 7701 0100

www.blueelephanttheatre.co.uk

[email protected]

Twitter: @BETCamberwell

The Vaults 11th October 2017- 13th January 2018.  Reviewed by Jessica Brady

4****

Hair the musical is back for a 50th anniversary run at The Vaults Waterloo with an immersive edge. Hair over the years it’s been produced has at times caused controversy, intrigue and shock and this latest revival ticks all those boxes in a spectacular way (and I’m not just talking about the ‘will they/won’t they get naked? question. I’m not going to ruin it for you either so go see it to find out!).

Set in late 1960’s America, Hair is a culmination of rebellion against the Vietnam War, breaking racial and sexual prejudice and freedom. The Show introduces us to a tribe of hippies who in turn speak to the crowds and share their stories of how they came to be in this drug fuelled, free loving clan. Each tribe member appears to be far removed from the real world from an outsider’s perspective but when you get to the heart of the matter, they are probably more grounded than most of the top flying politicians of the decade whose decisions were leading a nation into crisis.

Hair is a wonderfully psychedelic trip for an audience with a foyer decked out like a hippy festival, colourful and with posters and placards of the times displayed throughout, you soon settle into the vibe that is being created. As you enter the bunker like auditorium at the vaults you see the cast around an incense burner meditating as you make your way to your seats. The set is designed to appear like a grassy knoll with a fence at the back where the live band is based while streams of colourful ribbons are covering the ceiling and walls setting the scene for the experience about to unfold.

The score to Hair has always been a personal favourite of mine, with each song offering something special and unique in its style and lyrics but one thing always the remains, the cast vocals have to be on point, this cast excelled in vocal ability. It’s difficult to single out performers from this 14 strong cast as each member was great in their role and all showed great skill with the inventive choreography that was bursting with energy. I must mention that I couldn’t keep my eyes of Natalie Green as Cassie/Mom as her voice was just INCREDIBLE as was Laura Johnson as Shelia, both these woman were electric and full of the spirit of Hair and I found I was drawn to their performances. The only thing I noticed was occasionally the authenticity of the acting, as it came across a little hammy and stereotypical of a generic ‘hippy’ in parts but I didn’t mind so much as the cast blew me away with their ensemble vocals and the chemistry was powerful with the cast.

I think this revival at The Vaults has set the bar high for the future of Hair The Musical, with great direction by Jonathan O’Boyle, impressive choreography by William Whelton and seamless musical direction by Gareth Bretherton it has all the ingredients to be a success and would urge lovers of this musical not to miss it as you will not be disappointed. As for new audience members who may not know much about Hair, go along and let the sunshine in as it will leave you uplifted and definitely feeling the love!

Northern Ballet brings new adaptation of bestselling novel to Hull New Theatre

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas stars Hull dancer Ashley Dixon in leading role of Shmuel

Northern Ballet returns to Hull for the first time in two years next week with an adaptation of John Boyne’s bestselling novel, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

The heart-breaking new production is the first full-length dance adaptation of the world-famous story and stars Hull dancer and former Northern Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) student, Ashley Dixon.

Ashley will perform the lead role of Shmuel in the show which tells the story of an unlikely friendship blossoming through the disturbing events of the Second World War.

Previously adapted for a 2008 film by Miramax, Northern Ballet’s production is choreographed by the company’s artistic associate, Daniel de Andrade and features an original score by Oscar-nominated composer Gary Yershon.

Daniel said: “I was challenged to develop new storytelling techniques which reflect the first person perspective of the book without shying away from representing the stark reality of the story’s setting.

“I was very conscious of doing justice to the tension between darkness and innocence in the original, without sanitising the awful events at its heart.”

The original storytelling ballet company, Northern Ballet is renowned for creating bold new work which challenges the perceptions of what stories can be told through dance and has a company of exceptional dance actors.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is at Hull New Theatre from Wednesday, October 18 to Saturday, October 21 nightly at 7.30pm. There are matinee performances at 2.30pm on Thursday and Saturday.

Tickets are from £10. Book online at www.hulltheatres.co.uk or use this link. Tickets can also be booked by calling 01482 300 306 or in person at the Hull New Theatre or Hull City Hall box offices.