Month: June 2018

 

TROUPE ANNOUNCES THE WORLD PREMIÈRE OF JOY WILKINSON’S THE SWEET SCIENCE OF BRUISING

AT SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE

 

Troupe presents

The World Première of

THE SWEET SCIENCE OF BRUISING

By Joy Wilkinson

3 – 27 October 2018

Southwark Playhouse

Directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward; Fight and Movement Direction by Alison de Burgh

Designed by Anna Reid; Sound Design and Original Composition by Max Perryment

Troupe today announces the World Première of Joy Wilkinson’s The Sweet Science of Bruising.Directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward, the production opens at Southwark Playhouse on 5 October, with previews from 3 October, and runs until 27 October.

“Place your bets, gents, and raise your glasses for the Lady Boxing Champion of the World.”

London, 1869. Four very different Victorian women are drawn into the dark underground world of female boxing by the eccentric Professor Sharp. Controlled by men and constrained by corsets, each finds an unexpected freedom in the boxing ring. As their lives begin to intertwine their journey takes us through grand drawing rooms, bustling theatres and rowdy Southwark pubs where the women fight inequality as well as each other. But with the final showdown approaching only one can become the Lady Boxing Champion of the World…

Based on historical research into 19^th century women’s boxing, The Sweet Science of Bruising is a fascinating new play by Joy Wilkinson (Verity Bargate Award winner). Featuring an ensemble cast and thrilling up-close boxing matches, this is an epic tale of passion, politics and pugilism.

Joy Wilkinson is an award-winning writer working across theatre, film, television and radio. Her stage plays have been widely produced in the UK and internationally, and she has won prizes including Soho Theatre’s Verity Bargate Award and the International Student Playscript Competition. Her plays include Fair (Finborough Theatre, Trafalgar Studios and National Tour), Now is the Time(part of the Tricycle Theatre’s Olivier Award-nominated ‘Afghanistan’ season which toured the USA and was revived in 2017 by Teatro Elfo Puccini, Milan), Acting Leader (‘Women Power and Politics’ season, Tricycle Theatre) and Britain’s Best Recruiting Sergeant (Unicorn Theatre). She has been awarded two attachments at the National Theatre Studio and is published by Oberon Books and Nick Hern Books. For television, Wilkinson was a graduate of the first BBC Drama Writers Academy, and her screen credits include Casualty, Holby City, Doctors and Land Girls. She also wrote Nick Nickleby, a critically-acclaimed five-part modernisation of Nicholas Nickleby for BBC1. Wilkinson’s extensive work for BBC Radio 4 includes a five-part spin-off from the hit Danish drama Borgen as well as numerous adaptations and original plays.

 

Kirsty Patrick Ward directs. Her credits include Exactly Like You (VAULT Festival Spirit Award at Underbelly Edinburgh and The Vaults), Chef (Scotsman Fringe First Award at Underbelly Edinburgh and Soho Theatre), I’m Not That Kind of Guy (The Vaults and Paines Plough), Mary Louise (The Vaults), Evita (MT4Uth, Belfast), People Like Us (Pleasance London), Snow White (National Tour for The Old Vic), A Writer’s Response to ‘Chavs’ by Owen Jones (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith), Present Tense (Live Theatre), Brave New Worlds (Soho Theatre), Life Support (York Theatre Royal) and Old Vic New Voices: The 24 Hour Plays (The Old Vic). Work as Associate Director includes The Comedy About a Bank Robbery (Criterion Theatre), Brideshead Revisited (English Touring Theatre and York Theatre Royal) and Young Pretender (Underbelly Edinburgh and National Tour). Work as Assistant Director includes Othello and King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe), Our New Girl (Bush Theatre) and Bunny which won a Scotsman Fringe First Award (nabokov, Underbelly Edinburgh and National Tour).

Troupe’s recent production of Rasheeda Speaking by Joel Drake Johnson starred Tanya Moodie and Elizabeth Berrington at Trafalgar Studios and was nominated for five Off West End Awards. Troupe returns to Southwark Playhouse after its critically acclaimed productions of Dear Brutus by J. M. Barrie, which starred Miles Richardson, and The Cardinal by James Shirley, which starred Stephen Boxer and Natalie Simpson for which she won the Ian Charleson Award. It was supported by an inaugural MGCfutures Bursary Award. Troupe’s previous rediscoveries at the Finborough Theatre – Rodney Ackland’s After October, Robert Bolt’s Flowering Cherry and R. C. Sherriff’s The White Carnation, which later transferred to Jermyn Street Theatre – have been nominated for a total of five Off West End Awards.

www.troupe.eu

The Sweet Science of Bruising

Listings

Southwark Playhouse

77-85 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BD

Nearest Tube: Borough/ Elephant and Castle

Wednesday 3 October – Saturday 27 October 2018

Monday to Saturdays at 8pm
Tuesday and Saturday matinees at 3.30pm

 

Box Office: 020 7407 0234

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

 

Twitter:

@Troupe_Theatre

@swkplay

#SweetSciencePlay

Ticket Prices

Previews 3 and 4 October: all tickets £12
From 5 October: £20, £16 (conc.)

New Diorama Theatre – 10th & 11th June

Reviewed by Heather Chalkley

4****

In their latest show, Potter and Wagner present the current focus on modern feminism through the dry wit and honest characters of Wendy (Jo McGarry), Melissa (Helen Potter) and Mavis (Emily Hindle). The reality of life after university has hit them hard, all three ending up back in their hometown, working low paid jobs and reforming an awkward friendship that gives them an outlet to vent their frustrations. Self consumed and listening, often without really hearing each other, the truth plays out in hilarious real life honesty.

The stripped back set meant that all eyes remained on the players and drew you in to the facial expressions and transitions between scenes. All 3 women squeezed every ounce of comedy value out of this focus, to great effect. Even the rewind in one of the scenes that went out of sync was expertly captured into a laugh out loud moment. The clever incorporation of physical theatre, song and dance allowed you to skip between sketches and visualise the surroundings, despite the fact that the only scenery was a bench!

Everything that a young women fears in a man is rolled up into one character, Brian (Will Stuart), who ends up accidentally murdered! Will Stuart had the unenviable task of playing every male character in the play, flipping seamlessly from the arrogant Tarquin to the scarily weird Brian, with great comic timing.

The combination of Helen Potter’s writing and Carissa Wagner’s direction has produced classic British comedy, that is at the same time true and complete nonsense! As they hone their skills I can see this team having a future in their own British sitcom, of the ‘Trollied’ or ‘Citizen Khan’ ilk. Well worth taking an hour out of your day to watch.

Can’t get a ticket for Hamilton…

MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR

THE UK PREMIÈRE OF GERARD ALESSANDRINI’S

SPAMILTON: AN AMERICAN PARODY

The Menier Chocolate Factory presents

SPAMILTON: AN AMERICAN PARODY

Written and directed by Gerard Alessandrini

12 July – 8 September

With the UK première of The Grönholm Method running at the Menier, Travesties running on Broadway and The Color Purple on tour in the US, the Menier Chocolate Factory today announces the cast for UK première of Gerard Alessandrini’s Spamilton: An American Parody which opens at the theatre on 24 July, with previews from 12 July and runs until 8 September. Alessandrini directs Marc Akinfolarin, Jason Denton, Eddie Elliott, Liam Tamne and Julie Yammanee, with special guests Sophie-Louise Dann and Damian Humbley. The production renews Alessandrini’s collaboration with the Menier following Forbidden Broadway which ran both at the theatre and in the West End.

Hamilton – Olivier, Tony, Pulitzer and Grammy Award-winning musical. Very few tickets available.                                                                      

Spamilton: An American Parody – Hamilton and much more. With tickets available…

Gerard Alessandrini brings his singular wit to the all-conquering musical Hamilton – in the words of its creator Lin Manuel Miranda, “I laughed my brains out”. Following the success of Forbidden Broadway, Alessandrini returns to the Menier to lampoon the multi-award-winning Hamilton, with Spamilton: An American Parody, which not only takes target at Broadway’s biggest export, but a host of the theatre world’s biggest names and musicals.

Described by the New York Times as “smart, silly and convulsively funny”, Spamilton: An American Parodymakes its UK debut at the Menier Chocolate Factory, where unlike the Victoria Palace, there are tickets available — at a fraction of the price.

Marc Akinfolarin returns to the Menier, where he previously appeared in Assassins and The Color Purple. His other theatre credits include Spamalot (UK tour), Peter and The Starcatcher (Royal and Derngate, Northampton), Floyd Collins (Wilton’s Music Hall), Jesus Christ Superstar (UK tour), Sweeney Todd (English National Opera), Porgy and Bess (Royal Danish Opera), A Christmas Carol (Birmingham Rep), Soul Man (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Landor Theatre) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (UK tour).

 

Sophie-Louise Dann returns to the Menier where she previously appeared in both productions of Forbidden Broadway. Her other theatre work includes The Girls (Olivier Award nomination), Bend it Like Beckham (both Phoenix Theatre), Oliver! (Grange Park Opera), Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre), Closer than Ever (Jermyn Street Theatre), Hairspray (Curve Theatre, Leicester), The Kitchen Sink (Hull Truck), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Kensington Gardens), Lend Me a Tenor (Gielgud Theatre – Oliver Award nomination) and The Music Man (Chichester Festival Theatre). For television, her work includes Trapped! Forever After, Goodnight Sweetheart, My Summer with Des, Julie and the Cadillacs and Charlie Come Home; and for film, The Phantom of the Opera.

 

Jason Denton’s theatre work includes The School of Rock (New London Theatre), Showboat (New London and Sheffield Theatres), Save The Last Dance For Me (UK tour), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Stephen Ward(both at the Aldwych), Hot Stuff, Hello Dolly!, Piaf (Curve Theatre, Leicester), Britain’s Got Bhangra (UK tour), I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky (Theatre Royal, Stratford East), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (UK tour) and Much Ado About Nothing (Complete Works Theatre Co).

 

Eddie Elliott’s theatre work includes Motown (Shaftesbury Theatre), Dry Cleaned (Intermission Theatre), Cinderella (Hackney Empire), South Pacific (Barbican and UK tour), Five Guys Named Moe (Theatre at the Mill), We Will Rock You (UK tour), The Music Man (Chichester Festival Theatre) and The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre).

 

Damian Humbley returns to the Menier Chocolate Factory having appeared in Merrily We Roll Along (also Harold Pinter Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company, USA), Life of the Party (also TheatreWorks SV – Bay Theatre Award), Forbidden Broadway (also Vaudeville Theatre) and The Last 5 Years. His other theatre work includes Lend Me A Tenor (Gielgud Theatre), The Woman In White (Palace Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Savoy Theatre), Dickens Abridged (Arts Theatre), Putting It Together, Songs for a New World (St James Theatre),Hedda Gabler (Salisbury Playhouse), Company (Sheffield Crucible) and Little Shop Of Horrors (UK Tour).

Liam Tamne’s theatre work includes Working (Southwark Playhouse), The Rocky Horror Show (UK tour), The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), Departure Lounge — the Musical (Perfect Pitch), Hair (Gielgud Theatre), Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre) and Wicked (Apollo Victoria Theatre).

Julie Yammanee’s theatre credits include And the Winner Is (Vaults Festival), Lazarus (King’s Cross Theatre), Priscilla Queen of The Desert (international tour), Here Lies Love (National Theatre), Avenue Q (UK tour), The World Goes Round (Yellow Glass Theatre) and Rapunzel (Theatre Royal Stratford East). For television, her work includes The Sleepover Club.

 

Gerard Alessandrini is best known for creating and writing all 25 editions of Forbidden Broadway in New York, Los Angeles, London and around the world. He features in the original 1982 cast of Forbidden Broadway, and can be heard on four of the show’s twelve cast albums. He also sings on the soundtracks of the Disney classics Aladdin and Pocahontas. Television credits include writing comedy specials for Bob Hope, Angela Lansbury and Carol Burnett. Directing credits include Maury Yeston’s musical In the Beginning, and a revue focusing on Yeston’s songs Anything Can Happen (In the Theatre). Recent musicals which he co-wrote and/or directed include Madame X (NYMF 2011) and The Nutcracker and I (a complete Tchaikovsky score with all new lyrics by Alessandrini). He is the recipient of an Obie Award, two Lucille Lortel Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Drama League and seven Drama Desk Awards – including two for Best Lyrics, and two Special Lifetime Awards. He was also awarded an Honorary Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre.

Choreography is by Gerry McIntyre, set design by Morgan Large, costume design by Dustin Cross, lighting design by Tim Lutkin, sound design by Gregory Clarke and Jonathan Everett, musical arrangements by Fred Barton and musical direction by Simon Beck.

Spamilton is presented in association with John Freedson, David Zippel and Christine Pedi.

 

Listings Information

Spamilton

Venue:                                Menier Chocolate Factory

Address:                             53 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1RU

Press performance:         24 July at 8pm

Dates:                                 12 July – 8 September

Times:                                Tue – Sat 8pm, matinees Sat and Sun 3.30pm

Box Office:                         020 7378 1713 (£2.50 transaction fee per booking)

Website:                        www.menierchocolatefactory.com (£1.50 transaction fee per booking)

Tickets:                               Prices vary, as below from discounted preview tickets to premier seats. With the emphasis on ‘the sooner you book, the better the price’:

                                             Prices from £19.50

A meal deal ticket includes a 2-course meal from the pre-theatre menu in the Menier Restaurant as well as the theatre ticket.

www.menierchocolatefactory.com

Twitter: @MenChocFactory

One Dream, One Vision, One Smash Hit

We Will Rock You Makes Its Hull Debut as part of a UK Tour

The worldwide smash hit musical We Will Rock You by Queen and Ben Elton is coming to Hull for the first time from 13-18 January 2020 as part of a nationwide tour.

The multi-million pound show, which has wowed more than 16 million theatregoers in 19 counties since 2002, features 24 of Queen’s biggest hits delivered with all the scale and spectacle of the band’s legendary live performances.

With hit after glorious hit, including Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Somebody to Love, Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, Don’t Stop Me Know, Under Pressure, Another One Bites The Dust, We Are the Champions and We Will Rock You, this musical phenomenon is not to be missed!

We Will Rock You comes to Hull New Theatre from 13 -18 January, 2020. Tickets on sale now. Book at the Hull City Hall box office or call 01482 300 306. Visit our new website www.hulltheatres.co.uk to book online.

FOLLOWING A CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED & SOLD-OUT RUN AT THE ALMEIDA THEATRE

 

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’

 

SUMMER AND SMOKE

TRANSFERS TO THE DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE

FOR A STRICTLY LIMITED SEASON

FROM 10 NOVEMBER 2018 – 19 JANUARY 2019

 

25% OF TICKETS £25 & UNDER

 

‘Rush to see this now, or live to regret it’ – The Telegraph

 *****

The Times, The Telegraph, Financial Times, Independent, The Sunday Times, The Observer, Metro, Time Out, The Stage, Daily Express & City AM

 

 

The West End transfer of Tennessee Williams’ intoxicating and rarely staged classic, Summer and Smoke, follows a sold-out and critically lauded run at the Almeida Theatre. Directed by the Almeida’s Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall with the full cast reprising their roles for the West End run, this innovative new production of Summer and Smoke has a limited run from 10 November 2018 – 19 January 2019, at the Duke Of York’s Theatre, with press night on Tuesday 20 November at 7pm.

 

Tickets are priced from £15 (£10 in previews) and 25% of all tickets for the West End transfer of Summer & Smoke will be accessibly priced at £25 and under. This includes a special allocation of tickets per performance made exclusively available for young people (aged 25s and under). 

The full cast returning to this production are; Seb Carrington, Nancy Crane, Patsy Ferran, Eric MacLennan, Forbes Masson, Matthew Needham, Tok Stephen and Anjana Vasan.

Summer and Smoke is designed by Tom Scutt, with lighting by Lee Curran, sound by Carolyn Downing, composition by Angus MacRae and casting by Julia Horan. The West End transfer of Summer and Smoke is produced by the Almeida Theatre and Sonia Friedman Productions.

The girl who said ‘no’ – she doesn’t exist anymore, she died last summer – suffocated in smoke from something on fire inside her.

 

Trapped between desire and a life of obligation, Alma meets John and her world turns upside down. 

 

With ‘spellbinding, stripped-back staging’ (Financial Times), this intoxicating classic about love, loneliness and self-destruction evokes the simmering passions of a sweltering summer in small-town Mississippi. 

 

Tennessee Williams, whose plays include The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth, transformed the American stage through his poetic writing and provocative subject matters. Williams was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes and Tony Awards, three Drama Critic Circle Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Rebecca Frecknall (Director) is Associate Director at the Almeida Theatre and was previously on the Almeida’s Resident Director Scheme supported by the Eranda Rothschild Foundation. She worked as Resident Director on Ink at the Almeida/Duke of York’s Theatreand Movement Director on Albion. Prior to the Almeida, she was Resident Director at Northern Stage from 2015-2016 after winning the acclaimed RTYDS Bursary. During this time she directed Idomeneus; What Are They Like?, Educating Rita (for Durham Gala) and Julie by Zinnie Harris. Before taking up this role, she worked as a freelance Director in London and has worked with the National Theatre, RSC and Young Vic. She was the 2012 recipient of the National Theatre Studio’s Resident Director Bursary and was awarded one of the Young Vic’s Jerwood Assistant Director Bursaries in 2011.

Seb Carrington plays Archie Kramer. His theatre work includes Ivanov for the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. His television work includes Doctors, Father Brown and The Crown.

Nancy Crane plays Mrs Winemiller/Mrs Bassett. She previously appeared at the Almeida in Against and Chimerica. Other theatre credits include The Sewing Group, Now or Later, The Sweetest Thing in Baseball and The Strip at the Royal Court; Teddy Ferrara at the Donmar Warehouse; A Lie of The Mind and Next Fall at Southwark Playhouse; The Children’s Hour an the Comedy Theatre; Design For Living at The Old Vic; Love The Sinner and Angels in America at the National Theatre; Chains of Dew and Trifles at the Orange Tree Theatre; The Girl in a Goldfish Bowl and Six Degrees of Separation at the Crucible Theatre; The Price on UK Tour; Habitat at the Royal Exchange, Manchester; and A Wedding Story at Sphinx. Her television work includes Patrick Melrose; Black Earth Rising; Genius; Doctors; Nixon’s The One; Upstairs, Downstairs; Law & Order UK; Cambridge Spies; and Strike Force. For film, her work includes The Current War; Leavey; Megan Leavey; Florence Foster Jenkins; The Danish Girl; Woman in Gold; The Special Relationship; Batman: The Dark Knight; The Road to Guantanamo, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow; and The Machinist.

Patsy Ferran plays Alma. Her theatre credits include My Mum’s A Twat at the Royal Court; Speech and Debate at Trafalgar Studios; As You Like It and Treasure Island at the National Theatre; The Merchant Of Venice at the RSC; The Angry Brigade for Paines Plough; and Blithe Spirit at the Gielgud Theatre. Patsy’s television credits include Will; Guerrilla; and Jamestown (series regular). Film credits include Darkest Hour; God’s Own Country; Tulip Fever; The National Phobia; Association’s Day Out. She won a Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 2014, and was nominated for an Emerging Talent Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2015.

Eric MacLennan plays Papa Gonzales/Vernon. For theatre his work includes Brave New World; 1984 at Creation Theatre; A Tale of Two Cities at Chung Ying Theatre; Government Inspector and Annie Get Your Gun at Young Vic; Henry V at Southwark Playhouse; Half-Life at the National Theatre of Scotland; and Cyrano de Bergerac at Manchester Royal Exchange. His television credits include The Night Manager and The Borgias. For film, his work includes Darkest Hour; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Mindhorn; Anna Karenina and Tale of Tales.

Forbes Masson plays Rev Winemiller/Dr Buchanan. His recent theatre work includes Big Fish at The Other Palace; Boudica at Shakespeare’s Globe; Terror at Lyric Hammersmith;Travesties at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Apollo Theatre; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Theatre Royal Bath; Doctor Faustus at the Duke of York’s; Mr Foote’s Other Leg at Hampstead Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket and The Ruling Class, Richard III and Macbeth at Trafalgar Studios. His television work includes Catastrophe; Shetland: Dead Water; Dead Boss; No Holes Bard; Monarch of the Glen; Supergirly; EastEnders; Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star; and The High Life.

Matthew Needham plays John Buchanan. His previous work for the Almeida includes The Twilight Zone and The Treatment. His other theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing, Imogen, The Comedy of Errors, Titus Andronicus and The Knight of the Burning Pestle at Shakespeare’s Globe; Henry IV Parts I and II, Love’s Sacrifice, The Jew of Malta, Candide and Titus Andronicus for the RSC; Our Country’s Good for Out of Joint; There is a War at the National Theatre; Bingo and The Grapes of Wrath for Chichester Festival Theatre; and Shades at the Royal Court. For television, his work includes Endeavour; The Hollow Crown: Part Two; Monroe; and Sherlock. For film, his work includes The Ritual; and Stutterer.

Tok Stephen plays Roger Doremus/Dusty. He recently graduated from RADA and his professional theatre work includes Boudica at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Anjana Vasan plays Rosemary/Rosa Gonzales/Nellie. Her theatre work includes King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe; Life of Galileo at the Young Vic;Image of an Unknown Young Woman at the Gate Theatre; Dara and Behind The Beautiful at the National Theatre; and Macbeth at Manchester International Festival/Broadway. For television, her work includes Sex Education;  Hang Ups; Ill Behaviour; Black Mirror; Call the Midwife and Fresh Meat. Her film work includes The Children Act; Cinderella; and Jack Ryan.

 

LISTINGS

SUMMER AND SMOKE

DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE

WRITTEN BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

DIRECTED BY REBECCA FRECKNALL

10 NOVEMBER 2018 – 19 JANUARY 2019

 

General On Sale: Wednesday 13 June

Press Night: Tuesday 20 November 2018 – 7pm

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes including a 15 minute interval.

Performances:

Monday – Saturday Evenings – 7.30pm

Wednesday and Saturday Matinees – 2.30pm

Please note preview and Christmas performance schedules may vary. Please visit the website for details.

Ticket Prices: Tickets from £15 (£10 in previews)

25% of tickets £25 and under

25 tickets at £25 for 25s and under at every performance

Address: Duke Of York’s Theatre, St. Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4BG

Box Office: 08448717623*

Group Bookings: 02072061174*

Access Booking Line: 08009126971

*Calls are charged at 7p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge.

Website: www.summerandsmoke.co.uk

Twitter: @SummerSmokePlay

#SummerAndSmoke

MARIANNE ELLIOTT TO RECEIVE OBE FOR HER SERVICES TO THEATRE

It was announced today (Friday 8 June, 22:30 GMT) in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours list that Marianne Elliott, artistic director of Elliott & Harper Productions, is to be recognised for her services to theatre with an OBE.

Marianne Elliott, who is currently in New York for the 2018 Tony Awards, where her production of Angels in America has been nominated for an unprecedented 11 awards, including Best Director and Best Revival, said: “When I was a child, growing up in Stockport, I never thought it was even possible for a young woman to become a theatre director, let alone be blessed with the career I have had. To be recognised in this way is very moving and I hope an inspiration to other young women that anything is possible.”

Elliott & Harper Productions was formed with producer Chris Harper in 2016.  The inaugural production for her new company was the UK premiere of Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle by Simon Stephens followed by a new adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe directed by Sally Cookson which broke box office records at West Yorkshire Playhouse.  Marianne’s next production will be George Furth and Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy, Company, opening at Gielgud Theatre on 26 September 2018.  The cast includes Rosalie Craig in the re-gendered central role of Bobbie, Tony award-winning Patti LuPone as Joanne and Mel Giedroyc as Sarah.

Marianne, the first woman to win 2 Tony awards for direction, was an Associate Director at the National Theatre for 10 years where her work has included Angels in America, the multi-award winning War Horse (co-directed by Tom Morris) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time both transferred to the West End and Broadway, have had major success internationally and on tour, and still continue to tour.  Marianne’s many awards received include the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for both War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the Olivier Award and South Bank Show award for Best Director for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.  Her many other productions for the National Theatre include: Husbands & Sons (a co-production with the Royal Exchange Theatre), Rules for Living, The Light Princess, Port, Season’s Greetings, Saint Joan (Oliver award for Best Revival), Therese Raquin and Pillars of the Community (Evening Standard Best Director Award.)  As Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre her credits included Port, Design for Living, As You Like it and Deep Blue Sea.  Other theatre includes Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic, Little Foxes for the Donmar and Much Ado about Nothing for the RSC.

NATIONAL YOUTH THEATRE’S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PAUL ROSEBY RECEIVES OBE

• The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain is excited to announce that their Artistic Director and Chief Executive has received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list today
• In recognition of Paul Roseby’s services to drama and young people in 15 years at the helm of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain

Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the National Youth Theatre, Paul Roseby, has today become an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and receives the prestigious Queen’s award in recognition of his efforts and achievements at the National Youth Theatre.

Paul Roseby has been Artistic Director of the world’s leading youth arts charity, the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, for 15 years and CEO for five of those years. Over this period he has facilitated over 150,000 creative educational opportunities for young people and raised or generated over £33 million of charitable income to support young British talent. He has produced over 200 productions showcasing Britain’s best young talent and commissioned over 170 new plays or adaptations, predominantly by emerging young writers including James Graham (This House), Sarah Solemani (Aphrodite Fry) and Louise Brealey (Pope Joan). Actors who have worked with Roseby and gone on to international success include Sarah Solemani, Zawe Ashton, Rafe Spall, Susan Wokoma, Daisy Lewis, Sope Dirisu, Joe Cole, Karla Crome, Yolanda Kettle and many more. In less than five years since becoming CEO, he has also achieved record box office receipts and successfully fought to establish financial sustainability for the charity, which historically has struggled with funding, increasing its earned income by over 100% and building a significant reserve to support future development.

As Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the National Youth Theatre, Roseby has championed the diversity and complexity of Britain’s youth in all its forms, working tirelessly to provide access to creative opportunities for young people from social, cultural and economic backgrounds underrepresented in the arts and wider creative industries. Norfolk born, as someone who didn’t go to university but instead pursued a highly successful career as a broadcaster straight from college, Roseby has championed alternative routes into the creative industries for those facing financial or cultural barriers preventing them entering higher education.

New initiatives launched during Roseby’s tenure include the NYT REP Company in 2012 to provide a free alternative route into the industry for those who couldn’t afford expensive formal acting training. Over 90 young actors have benefited from this free alternative to formal training and a West End platform over the past six years which collectively would have cost them over £800,000 to train for a year each at drama school. Over 95% of young people who have benefited from this free initiative have gone on to work professionally in the creative industries.

Over 175 young people have also graduated from Playing Up, NYT’s free targeted programme aimed at young people at risk who are not in education, employment or training and often recently out of the criminal justice or care systems or struggling with addiction, homelessness or mental health issues. The NYT has also significantly grown its Bursary Fund during this time, awarding over £2million worth of support to more than 1,500 young people who wouldn’t have been able to engage in these creative opportunities without financial support.

Roseby has been particularly successful in nurturing young actors of colour, as well as pioneering gender diversity in the arts sector and championing LGBTQ+ representation. More than a quarter of actors who have been in the REP company over the past six years are actors of colour and more than 50% of young people who have been on the Playing Up course are actors of colour. Bucking an industry-wide trend that has seen women underrepresented, over 50% of graduates from the NYT REP have been female, and the organisation has also commissioned a female majority of writers and a 50/50 split of male and female directors. Female writers commissioned by Roseby include Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Sarah Solemani, Stella Duffy, Tanika Gupta, Zawe Ashton, Jamila Gavin, Louise Brealey, Molly Davies, Nessah Muthy and Sophie Ellerby. The NYT has also opened up opportunities to more young people by drastically expanding its work outside of London, quadrupling the number of audition venues it tours to each year, to reach further around the country than any other drama school or youth arts organisation.

Paul Roseby said: ‘“I am very honoured to receive this recognition and would like to dedicate it to the inspiring young talent at the National Youth Theatre, to our generous funders and to all those who continue to volunteer their time and expertise alongside our dedicated staff and associate artists. I grew up in a village in Norfolk and when my English teacher introduced me to the National Youth Theatre it transformed my world, introducing me to people and opportunities that have shaped my life and varied career. I will continue to passionately campaign for more drama in schools and the need for National Arts Days to be celebrated on a par with sports days to help prevent the arts increasingly being treated as a second-class option. No matter how small a town or distant a location they are from or what they can or cannot afford, every teenager must get the chance to find their voice, find their tribe and have their world transformed.”

He has also pioneered a ground-breaking international cultural exchange programme and championed mass-ensemble outdoor arts, which led to the NYT being commissioned to produce the first fully theatrical immersive Olympic and Paralympic Team Welcome Ceremonies at London 2012, which he directed. He also secured the opportunity for the company to perform at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Handover, singing the National Anthem to an audience of over 1.5 billion, and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Roseby has also pioneered free performances in unusual and community settings from a disused warehouse in the Isle of Sheppey to Thomas Heatherwick’s Seed Cathedral at the Shanghai Expo in 2010. Roseby’s passion for cultural exchange was instrumental in launching ground-breaking theatre education workshops in Saudi Arabia and Beijing, involving local young people and NYT members.

Critically acclaimed plays that Roseby has conceived and commissioned include James Graham’sTory Boyz tackling homophobia in Westminster, Evan Placey’s Consensual exploring issues around the age of consent and sex education, Tania Gupta’s White Boy about knife crime in London andOur Days of Rage, written by nine emerging writers. His directing credits also include Story of our Youth – a Diamond Anniversary Gala, Generation Sext for Sky Arts, Relish by James Graham, When Romeo Met Juliet for BBC2, Silence by Moira Buffini and Tom Stoppard’s abridgement of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice at the Royal Opera House and the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, where NYT became the first British Theatre company to perform at the theatre.

“Paul Roseby has made such leaps forward in getting the National Youth Theatre producing in regional venues, and making auditions possible for people across the UK. The first person to ever pay to commission me to write a play was Paul Roseby of the National Youth Theatre. I’m now very lucky to be earning a living doing something I love.”

James Graham, Writer

BROOKE MAUCHLINE PRODUCTIONS AND NICOLL ENTERTAINMENT

PRESENT
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF

A BRAND NEW LIVE SHOW OF THE

THE YOUTUBE SENSATION ‘LITTLE BABY BUM’

 

“LITTLE BABY BUM LIVE”

TO TOUR THE UK THIS SUMMER

OPENING AT THE BASINGSTOKE HAYMARKET THEATRE

ON FRIDAY 22 JUNE 2018

 

Brooke Mauchline Productions and Nicoll Entertainment are delighted to present the World Premiere of a brand new live show of the YouTube sensation Little Baby Bum. “LITTLE BABY BUM LIVE” will tour the UK this summer, opening at the Basingstoke Haymarket Theatre on Friday 22 June 2018. Full tour schedule and listings below.

Combining puppetry, live action and animation, audiences are invited to step into the magical and colourful world of “LITTLE BABY BUM LIVE”. Join Mia, Jacus, Twinkle and their Nursery Rhyme friends on their latest adventure.

LITTLE BABY BUM LIVE is written and directed by Miranda Larson. Her most recent credits include the adaptation of Tom Fletcher’s “Christmasaurus” (Hammersmith Apollo); “The Night Pirates” (Rose Theatre, Kingston); “Cartoon Network Live” (International Tour); “Milkshake Live” (UK Tour).

LITTLE BABY BUM LIVE is designed by Barney George and Timothy Bird, with musical direction from Barrie Bignold, choreography from Matthew Cole, lighting design from Dom Jeffrey and sound design from Julian Butler.

The cast of LITTLE BABY BUM LIVE includes; Charlotte Cooper (Tour Guide, Baby Panda, Betsy, Wise Old Owl, Twinkle), Henry James Cox (Tour Guide, BaaBaa, Stan, Pig), Matthew Liptrot (Understudy, ASM), Jack McNeill (Jacus, Old Mac, Incy) and Rebecca Withers (Mia, Mayor, Daisy).

An online and digital TV sensation, ‘Little Baby Bum’ is the world’s largest educational YouTube channel with over 15 million subscribers and 16 billion views.

‘Little Baby Bum’s’ debut YouTube video, ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ was uploaded on 29 August 2011. Since then the channel has gone on to become the world’s largest educational channel on YouTube, winning several awards along the way and holds the Guinness World record for the most-watched educational video of all time. ‘Little Baby Bum’ can now be viewed across a variety of platforms including YouTube and Netflix.

 

LISTINGS

LITTLE BABY BUM LIVE

More dates to be added. Check website for details.

www.littlebabybumlive.com

FRIDAY 22 JUNE – SATURDAY 23 JUNE

Basingstoke, The Haymarket www.anvilarts.org.uk

ON SALE NOW

MONDAY 25 JUNE – TUESDAY 26 JUNE

Dorking Halls www.dorkinghalls.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

THURSDAY 28 JUNE – SATURDAY 30 JUNE

Bromley Churchill Theatre www.churchilltheatre.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

SUNDAY 1 JULY – MONDAY 2 JULY

Leamington Spa, Royal Spa Centre www.warwickdc.gov.uk/royalspacentre

ON SALE NOW

TUESDAY 3 JULY – WEDNESDAY 4 JULY

New Brighton Floral Pavilion www.floralpavilion.com

ON SALE NOW

FRIDAY 6 JULY – SATURDAY 7 JULE

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre www.grandtheatre.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

TUESDAY 10 JULY – WEDNESDAY 11 JULY

Newcastle Theatre Royal www.theatreroyal.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

THURSDAY 12 JULY – SATURDAY 14 JULY

Northampton Royal and Derngate www.royalandderngate.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

MONDAY 16 JULY – TUESDAY 17 JULY

Southend Palace Theatre www.southendtheatres.org.uk

ON SALE NOW

THURSDAY 19 JULY – FRIDAY 20 JULY

Newbury Corn Exchange www.cornexchangenew.com

ON SALE NOW

SATURDAY 21 JULY – SUNDAY 22 JULY

Salford Lyric Theatre www.thelowry.com

ON SALE NOW

MONDAY 23 JULY – WEDNESDAY 25 JULY

Llandudno Venue Cymru www.venuecymru.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

FRIDAY 27 JULY – SUNDAY 29 JULY

Reading Hexagon Theatre www.readingarts.com

ON SALE NOW

MONDAY 30 JULY – TUESDAY 31 JULY

Rose Theatre Kingston www.rosetheatrekingston.org

ON SALE NOW

TUESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER – THURSDAY 13 SEPTEMBER

Leicester Curve www.curveonline.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

FRIDAY 14 SEPTEMBER – SUNDAY 16 SEPTEMBER

Billingham Forum Theatre www.forumtheatrebillingham.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

FRIDAY 21 SEPTEMBER – SUNDAY 23 SEPTEMBER

Edinburgh King’s Theatre www.capitaltheatres.com

ON SALE NOW

FRIDAY 28 SEPTEMBER – SATURDAY 29 SEPTEMBER

Dartford Orchard Theatre www.orchardtheatre.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

FRIDAY 5 OCTOBER – SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER

Guildford G Live www.glive.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER – SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER

Brighton Theatre Royal www.atgtickets.com/venues/theatre-royal-brighton

ON SALE NOW

MONDAY 15 OCTOBER – TUESDAY 16 OCTOBER

Wycombe Swan www.wycombeswan.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

SUNDAY 21 OCTOBER – MONDAY 22 OCTOBER

Chelmsford Civic Centre www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres

ON SALE NOW

FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER – SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER

Poole Lighthouse Theatre www.lighthousepoole.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

MONDAY 29 OCTOBER – TUESDAY 30 OCTOBER

St. David’s Hall Cardiff www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THE WORLD PREMIÈRE OF

ALEXIS ZEGERMAN’S HOLY SH!T

– THE OPENING PRODUCTION IN THE NEWLY REFURBISHED KILN THEATRE

 

 

KILN THEATRE PRESENTS

HOLY SH!T

By Alexis Zegerman

 

5 September – 6 October 2018

 

Director: Indhu Rubasingham; Designer: Robert Jones; Lighting Designer: Oliver Fenwick

Composer: David Shrubsole; Sound Designer: Alexander Caplen

 

Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham, today announces the cast for her production of Alexis Zegerman’s Holy Sh!t – Daon Broni (Nick), Claire Goose (Juliet), Daniel Lapaine (Sam) and Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Simone). This world première production is the first in the newly refurbished Kiln Theatre, reopening after a major capital redevelopment project with press night on 10 September, previews from 5 September, and running until 6 October.

 

‘I’m the one who has the responsibility of moulding this child into a non-f*cked-up human being.’

 

Simone and Sam will do anything to get their daughter into the local Church of England school. Juliet and Nick agree to show them the ropes.

The bonds of family, faith and friendship are stretched to breaking-point as four forty-somethings wrestle for school places.

Directed by Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham, Kiln Theatre launches its new season with the world première of this acerbic, dark comedy from Alexis Zegerman.

Alexis Zegerman’s work for the stage includes The Steingolds (workshopped with the National Studio – Finalist, Susan Smith Blackburn Award 2012), Lucky Seven (Hampstead Theatre – Pearson Writer in Residence 2008-2009), Killing Brando (A Play, A Pie and a Pint/ Òran Mór and Young Vic/Paines Plough Wild Lunch), I Ran the World (Royal Court Theatre), Noise (Soho Theatre – Winner of the Soho Theatre/Westminster Prize). For television, her work includes Lake View, Avon Ladies, Silver, Twilight of the Golds and Actresses; and for film,The Lovers’ Guide to Rome, All Inclusive, Dirty Martini and The Honeymoon Suite.

Daon Broni returns to Kiln Theatre to play Nick – he previously appeared in One Under. His other theatre work includes Slaves of Solitude (Hampstead Theatre), Bedlam, Henry IV Parts I and 2 (Shakespeare’s Globe), In Blood: The Bacchae (Arcola Theatre), The Observer (National Theatre), The Changeling (ETT), The Canterbury Tales (RSC) and Blue/Orange (Duchess Theatre). For television, his work includes Serious and Organised, Waterloo Road, Teachers, Eyes Down and Servants; and for film, Now What?, Breaking and Entering, Lives of Saints and Dead Cool.

Claire Goose plays Juliet. Her theatre work includes Twitstorm (Park Theatre), The Perfect Murder (UK tour),Hiding (Watford Palace Theatre), When We are Rich (Nuffield Southampton Theatres) and Addicted (Bristol Old Vic). For television, her work includes Lucky Man, The Coroner, Unforgotten, Death in Paradise, New Tricks, Undeniable, Pat and Cabbage, Mount Pleasant, Exile, The Bill (as series regular Inspector Rachel Weston), Waking the Dead (as series regular DS Mel Silver), Love Lies Bleeding, Secret Smile and Holby City (as series regular Tina Seabrook); and for film, Generation X, Bad Day and Alone.

Daniel Lapaine returns to Kiln Theatre to play Sam – he previously appeared in Rubasingham’s production of The Invisible Hand. His other theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe), Other Desert Cities, Hedda Gabler (The Old Vic), The Winter’s Tale (Sheffield Crucible), The Dance of Death (Donmar Trafalgar), All My Sons (Apollo Theatre), Scenes from the Back of Beyond, F***ing Games (Royal Court), Les Parents Terribles, King Lear (Sydney Theatre Company), Island (Belvoir Street Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare Company). For television his work includes Versailles, Catastrophe, Critical, Vexed, Lewis, Vera, Black Mirror, Identity, Moonshot, Hotel Babylon; Sex, the City and Me; Jane Hall, Good Housekeeping Guide, Golden Hour, Jericho, Death on the Nile, Redcap, Helen of Troy, I Saw You andTenth Kingdom. Film credits include Dead in Tombstone, Zero Dark Thirty, Gozo, Jack the Giant Killer, Shanghai, Last Chance Harvey, Collusion, Abduction Club, Ritual, Journeyman, Double Jeopardy, Elephant Juice, Brokedown Palace, 54, Say You’ll Be Mine, 1999, Dangerous Beauty, Polish Wedding and Muriel’s Wedding.

Dorothea Myer-Bennett plays Simone. Her theatre work includes The Winslow Boy (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Lottery of Love, The Philanderer (Orange Tree Theatre), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe and Lincoln Center), Pericles (Shakespeare’s Globe), Richard III, Uncle Vanya (West Yorkshire Playhouse), This Was a Man (Finborough Theatre), and As You Like It and Arcadia (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory). For television, her work includes Plastic People, Jude the Obscure and Dead Man Talking; and for film, The Honourable Rebel, The Payback and The Orchard.

Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre Indhu Rubasingham directs. Her work for the company includes Red Velvet(which transferred to New York and later to the Garrick Theatre as part of the Kenneth Branagh Season) andHandbagged (winner of Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre – also West End, UK tour and Washington DC). Other productions for Kiln Theatre include The Invisible Hand, A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes,Multitudes, The House That Will Not Stand, Paper Dolls, Women, Power and Politics, Stones in His Pockets,Detaining Justice, The Great Game: Afghanistan, Fabulation and Starstruck. Other theatre credits include The Great Wave,  Ugly Lies the Bone, The Motherf**cker with the Hat (Evening Standard Award for Best Play), TheWaiting Room (all National Theatre), The Ramayana (National Theatre/ Birmingham Rep), Belong, Disconnect, Free Outgoing,  Lift Off, Clubland, The Crutch and Sugar Mummies (Royal Court), Ruined (Almeida), Yellowmanand Anna in the Tropics (Hampstead Theatre), Secret Rapture and The Misanthrope (Minerva, Chichester),Romeo and Juliet (Chichester Festival Theatre ), Pure Gold (Soho Theatre), The No Boys Cricket Club and PartyGirls (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Wuthering Heights (Birmingham REP), Heartbreak House (Watford Palace Theatre), Sugar Dollies and Shakuntala (Gate Theatre), A River Sutra (Three Mill Island Studios), Rhinoceros(UC Davis, California) and A Doll’s House (Young Vic).

www.KilnTheatre.com

Twitter: @KilnTheatre / @KilnCinema