Wilton’s Music Hall to Open with Social Distancing

From 19 January 2021

The much-loved and world’s oldest surviving grand music hall, Wilton’s Music Hall will reopen on 19^th January 2021 for a season of socially distanced theatre, music and spoken word from a number of prestigious production companies.  The reduced audience numbers, in line with current COVID-19 government regulations, will allow these shows to be fabulously intimate.

The line-up offers an expedient, entertaining and exciting selection of shows until the Hall can open to full capacity and allows London’s theatre lovers to return to live shows. The diverse programme includes everything from the Olivier Award-winning, cult cabaret band The Tiger Lillies as they rediscover the music of Cole Porter to a brand-new show from acclaimed comic actor Brendan Murphy; FRIEND (The One with Gunther), the entirety of adored sitcom Friends – all 236 episodes – in just one hour. Wilton’s also welcomes back internationally acclaimed singer Camille O’Sullivan – Live at Wilton’s, in her first live show since lockdown began, and Horse Country, “a profound yet hilarious interchange between two of the most brilliant idiots one has the pleasure of being forced to watch”  (New York Herald) from CJ Hopkins and ​directed by Mark Bell of Mischief Theatre (‘The Play that Goes Wrong’, ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’, ‘The Comedy About A Bank Robbery’). 

All shows will run straight through without an interval and with a seating capacity of just over 100, each audience member will effectively get their own exclusive performance. The comfort of brand-new customised seats installed during the lockdown period, along with improved acoustics will significantly enhance the audience’s experience and make the return to live performance at Wilton’s an even more special one.

Wilton’s CEO Holly Kendrick said: “We cannot wait to welcome you back to our magical East End building. Reopening at a reduced capacity means we will do so at a financial loss but we want to protect jobs and support performers and creativity and to do that we need, and want to bring people back into the building: our audiences, our artists and our staff. For over 160 years Wilton’s has inspired performers and public alike and we can only continue to do this by opening our doors for all of London and for everyone with a curious imagination. So please book at ticket or donate to Wilton’s to support us.”

Listings Information

Dates: 19 – 23 Jan

Christine Bovill presents

Christine Bovill’s Tonight You Belong To Me

Running time: 75 minutes, no interval

Times: 7.30pm, Sat matinee 2.30pm

Prices: £18 – £22 full price, £15.50 – £19.50 concessions

Following on from her success of “PIAF” and “PARIS” at Wilton’s, the award-winning, five-star Glaswegian chanteuse, Christine Bovill returns with a brand-new show. With her heart-melting, smoky, evocative voice, Christine selects some of the most celebrated songs and engrossing stories from the Jazz Age – the era of Prohibition, women’s suffrage, radio, flappers, vamps, F Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Charlie Chaplin, Charles Lindbergh and Bessie Smith. A decade of heroes and villains; of sex scandals; literary giants and criminal low lives – all beautifully bound in the seductive rhythms of jazz.

Nominated for best female vocalist Scottish Jazz Awards 2020

“She is becoming the stuff of Fringe legend” – BroadwayBaby.com

“Something that will stay with you for the rest of your life” – The Sunday Times

***** (Scotsman) ***** (Herald) ***** (Edinburghfest.Org) ***** (Belfast Telegraph)

Date: 26 – 27 Jan

Tom Carradine’s London Songbook

Running time: 75 minutes, no interval

Times: 7.45pm

Prices: £12 – £15 full price, £9.50 – £12.50 concessions

Join Tom Carradine for the socially-distanced launch of his brand new album ’Tom Carradine’s London Songbook’ and a celebration of his sixth year of sell-out shows since he launched      himself at Wilton’s in 2014. Taking a break from his usual singalong format, Tom will entertain you in concert with songs and stories exploring the history and culture of London from the music hall to the modern day. As seen on The Apprentice (BBC One) and The Hairy Builder (BBC Two).

Dates: 28 January, 12 February, 30 March

VERYFINE presents

OneTrackMinds

Running time: 90 minutes, no interval

Times:7.30pm
Prices: £12 – 15 full prices, £10 – £13 concessions

Step into a live storytelling event celebrating the power of music: think Desert Island Discs meets The Moth Radio and TED talks. OneTrackMinds returns in 2021 with another vibrant selection of writers, thinkers, and musicians, each presenting a thought-provoking story about that one song that changed their life and is about to leave a lasting impact on yours. Previous guests have included Peter Tatchell, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Cariad Lloyd, Tulip Siddiq and Mark Thomas.

Date: 30 January

Martin and Bisi: it’s SHOWTIME!

Running time: 90 minutes, no interval

Time: 7.30pm

Prices: £15 – £18 full price, £12.50 – £15.50 concessions

A raucous evening of music, wine, and song, with Martin Prendergast and Bisi Alimi, featuring the incredible London Gay Men’s Chorus, vocalists Anne-Marie Cullum and Izzy Smith, singer-songwriter Lánre, students from RADA, with more artists to be announced. This show, a slight variation of the now-legendary cabarets, returns to Wilton’s for their fifth run bringing with them their eclectic and charming blend of jazz, classical, pop, comedy and showtunes. There may be audience participation, there will be music, and there will be singing. And did we mention the wine? Martin, Izzy, and Friends are a mix of professional and amateur musicians; please note that the line-up of performers may change, with more announcements to follow. All profits go to the Bisi Alimi Foundation, who advocate for the rights and dignity of LGBT people in Nigeria.

www.bisialimifoundation.org  

Dates: 1 – 6 February

Seabright Productions Ltd presents

FRIEND (The One with Gunther)

Running time: 70 minutes, no interval

Times: 7.45pm (Mon – Wed), 6.30pm & 8.30pm (Thu – Fri), 3pm & 7.45pm (Sat)

Prices: £20.50 – £25 full price, £18.50 – £23 concessions

Written and performed by Brendan Murphy and directed by Hamish MacDougall  

One man, 10 seasons, one hour.   The entirety of cult sitcom Friends – all 236 episodes – in just one hour!   This new show from acclaimed comic actor Brendan Murphy reimagines the TV classic through the eyes of barista Gunther, who will welcome audiences to the premiere London dates of FRIEND (The One with Gunther) following its hit Edinburgh Fringe debut.  

Settle down in Gunther’s café to hear the true insider story of what happened to Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica and Joey, from the Friends character who kept them caffeinated through all of the highs, lows, love affairs and failed auditions along the way. 

Brendan Murphy’s recent credits include the Las Vegas season of Olivier Award-nominated global hit Potted Potter, Best of Edinburgh award-winning comedy parody The Crown Dual and improv comedy classic Battleacts.

Dates: 8 February

Poet in the City Presents

Forugh Farrokhzad

The Rebel Poet of Iran

Running times: 90 minutes, no interval

Times: 7.30pm

Prices: £13 – £16 full price, £11 – £14 concessions

An evening of poetry and discussion celebrating rebel poet Forugh Farrokhzad and her legacy on contemporary feminist movements. Hear from contemporary poets, activists, community organisers and cultural commentators who have been influenced by a poet that has come to represent the spirit of revolt against patriarchal and cultural norms in 1960s Iran. What is it like to be the first woman to write about women’s experiences in your country? During the 1960s, a time when literature and the arts, and most of the daily life in Iran, was dominated by men, poet Forugh Farrokhzad did exactly that. Now considered an iconic figure, Farrokhzad radically defied convention through her unapologetic storytelling of the reality of being a woman and has since captured the imaginations of generations of Iranians.

Dates: 29 March

Poet in the City Presents

Virgil’s Aeneid: Lessons on Fleeing, Hope and Resilience

Running times: 90 minutes, no interval

Times: 7.30pm

Prices: £13 – £16 full price, £11 – £14 concessions

Hear from contemporary poets, activists and community organisers who will share stories about refugees’ experiences throughout the ages, shine a light on current grassroots support initiatives, and consider lessons for the future. The plight of refugees is not a new phenomenon, yet global crises persist. Join us for an evening of poetry and discussion considering the lessons of Virgil’s Aeneid in the context of contemporary refugee emergencies. Virgil’s legendary Aeneid is an epic Latin poem written between 29 and 19 BC. It charts the story of Aeneas who fled from Troy, a city under siege in the East, and forged his way across the Mediterranean in search of safety. On arrival, Aeneas, and all those escaping the war are faced with a hostile rejection that breeds bitterness, resentment, and conflict towards the refugees. Over two centuries later, similar narratives can be found today. What lessons can Virgil’s Aeneid teach us about fleeing, hope and resilience?

Dates: 9 – 11 February

Jimmy Jewell presents Dietrich: Natural Duty

Running time: 60 minutes, no interval

Times: 19.45

Prices: £18 – £23.50 full price, £16 – £21.50 concessions

An intoxicating one (wo)man show revealing the life of a legend. 

It is 1942.  On the battlefields of North Africa in a gold sequin gown, Marlene Dietrich takes to the stage to fight the war her way; with an irresistible mix of songs, sex and sympathy. 

This spectacular mixture of theatre, cabaret and drag returns to Wilton’s Music Hall following its international tour which commenced here in 2018, followed by the SoHo Playhouse in New York, the storytelling festival in Amsterdam, the Theatre de la Toison d’Or in Brussels and venues across the UK.  Dietrich: Natural Duty enjoyed critically acclaimed runs at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival, the 2019 Brighton and Homotopia Festivals, the 2019 and 2020 Adelaide Festivals, a complete sell out run at the VAULT Festival London, and last year won pick of the World’s Fringe at the Soho Playhouse, the Amsterdam International Storytelling Festival, the Sunday Mail Best Cabaret Award and the Adelaide Critics’ Circle Weekly Award two years in a row. 

Fall in love again with this Hollywood icon and her extraordinary commitment to duty. 

Created and performed by Peter Groom 

Dates: 16 – 20 February

Flying Bridge Theatre and Rive Productions presents

Horse Country Featuring Daniel Llewelyn-Williams and Michael Edwards.

Directed by Mark Bell (The Play that Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery). 

Running time: 100 minutes, no interval

Times: 7.30pm, 2.30pm Saturday matinee

Prices: £20 – £25 full price, £17.50 – £22.50 concessions

Two clowns shoot the breeze, drinking bourbon and playing cards. While hunting the elusive nine of diamonds, they casually dissect capitalism, sea-lions, western culture, fishing, genocide, you know… stuff like that.  Sam and Bob are not so much waiting for Godot, nor are they waiting for the audience to keep up. Their window on the world is one of menace, hilarity, disappointment, and improbability, all delivered with a magnificent high-octane comic brio.  Anarchic and surreal, this delightful and confusing satire surprises and provokes in spades… or the nine of diamonds…

Dates: 23 February – 6 March

Tiger Lillies – Love for Sale

Originally produced by Opera North projects

Running time: 60 minutes, no interval

Times: 6.45pm & 8.30pm each night

Prices: £20.50 – £25 full price, £18.50 – £23 concessions

Rediscover the music of Cole Porter with Olivier award winning, cult cabaret band The Tiger Lillies. The Grammy nominees uncover the dark, despair and delirium that lies beneath the surface of Porter’s more romantic and mysterious works in Love For Sale. Martyn Jacques and Adrian Stout return with a twisted, grimy cabaret that re-imagines some of Porter’s best loved classics including ‘My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Love For Sale and Miss Otis Regrets as well as hits from his most famous musicals. Jacques describes the project as “dragging Cole Porter down to our level”. But he also acknowledges that his own writing has more in common with Porter’s than might be expected. “The classic song as far as this collaboration goes is Miss Otis Regrets. As I’ve been recording the songs the engineer said to me that it is a Tiger Lillies song… it is very much in that dark gothic type world which is part of what we do.”

The world The Tiger Lillies creates on-stage is dark, peculiar, and varied, with moments of deep sadness, cruel black humour, and immense beauty. The Tiger Lillies music is a mixture of pre-war Berlin cabaret, anarchic opera, and gypsy music, echoing the voices of Bertolt Brecht and Jacques Brel, never ceasing to shock, surprise and entertain.

“Serious, humorous and blasphemous, leading one, unsuspecting, to an emotional climax that just reaches in and tears out your heart – a remarkable performance.” ***** The Independent “Fun, scintillating, impudent, heartless and achingly beautiful.” **** The Guardian

Dates: 9 – 13 March

Camille O’Sullivan – Live at Wilton’s

Running time: 60 minutes, no interval

Times: 6.45pm & 8.30pm each night

Prices: £20.50 – £25 full price, £18.50 – £23 concessions

These are Camille’s first live performances since lockdown began. The internationally acclaimed singer presents a stripped back evening with just piano, bringing her home to Wiltons stage and creating an intimate evening of songs with her long-time friend, musician Feargal Murray.  Chameleon-like on stage, Camille will perform songs and stories of loss, love, joy light and darkness – some are hymnal and at other moments she will rock out, choosing music from her favourite writers Cave, Cohen, Bowie, Radiohead, Brel and Arcade Fire, along with some new originals. Queen of the Edinburgh Festival’ (BBC) and original star of Olivier Award-winning LaClique, Camille O’Sullivan enjoys a formidable reputation for her intensely dramatic interpretations of the songs of Brel, Cave, Waits, Bowie and more. The multi-award-winning singer has stunned audiences around the world with her 5-star sell-out performances, including Sydney Opera House, Royal Festival Hall, La Clique, Royal Albert Hall, Later with Jools Holland (BBC) and won the coveted Herald Angel award for her RSC solo performance ‘The Rape of Lucrece’. Dark, sexy, fierce, amusing and mesmerizing, Camille transforms each song she performs into an intense, emotional, and theatrical experience. Expect joy and pure passion. “She treats every song as an intense emotional journey…hypnotic… such an outpouring of passion you can’t resist being drawn into her web” ***** Independent “Ravishing, a superb performer and great singer… the star is her singing voice, a deep sultry instrument that might have been created to express desolate love” ***** Guardian “One of the top 25 performances ever on Later with Jools Holland, BBC”  Daily Telegraph

Dates: 16 – 20 March

Opera della Luna presents

Curtain Raisers / Cox and Box Sullivan & Les Deux Aveugles Offenbach

Running Time: 90 minutes, no interval.

Times: Tues 5pm and 7.45, Weds – Sat 7.30pm, 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

Prices: £30 – £22 full price, no concessions

Special price of £27.50 – £19.50 for under 30s and job seekers

Opera della Luna return to Wilton’s with a brand new production: a double bill of two short operettas by Sullivan and Offenbach. Cox and Box was Sullivan’s first success, and predates his collaboration with Gilbert.  It tells the farcical tale of an unscrupulous landlord who rents out the same room to two tenants – Cox, who works by day, and Box who works by night.  The ruse works until one day, Cox is given the day off and they meet much to the horror of the landlord, Sergeant Bouncer. This little short operetta was a huge hit and its title has now passed into common parlance.

Les Deux Aveugles, the story of two separate con-men who are both pretending to be blind beggars and arrive one day at the same pitch on a Parisian bridge, was similarly Offenbach’s first major success.  Although it only lasts 25 minutes, it made the composer enough money to build his first theatre, the Bouffes Parisiens.

Dates: 23 – 27 March

The Faction presents

Medea / My Ex-Duchess / Duende

Running Time: 90mins

Times: 7.30pm, Thursday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm
Prices: £18 – £23.50 full price, concessions £16 – £21.50

Award-winning theatre ensemble The Faction returns to Wilton’s Music Hall following successful runs of The Talented Mr. Ripley and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a series of thrilling solo shows. MEDEA / MY EX-DUCHESS / DUENDE brings together the most daring names from world literature with exciting emerging writers.  Emily Juniper’s Off West End nominated take on Euripides’ MEDEA tells the classic tale whilst giving voice to Medea’s wedding dress, while South African playwright Jessica Sian combines Browning’s poem MY LAST DUCHESS with the contemporary resonances of the Oscar Pistorius-Reeva Steenkamp murder trial.  The cast includes Anna-Maria Nabirye (Macbeth, National Theatre; They Drink It In The Congo, Almeida) and Amelia Donkor (The Taming of the Shrew, Royal Shakespeare Company; What Shadows, Birmingham Rep) directed by The Faction’s Artistic Director Rachel Valentine Smith.

Date: 31 March

Latin Rediscovery presents

Marlene in Havana

Running time: 75mins, no interval

Time: 7.30pm

Prices: £20 – £24 full price, £17.50 – £21.50 concessions

The year is 1957 and Marlene Dietrich performs in Havana, Cuba, The nightclub capital of the world. Marlene’s film career is almost over, and she is beginning a new career, in cabaret, back where she started. In the club ‘Sans Soucis’, 1920’s Berlin meets 1950’s Cuba, on the cusp of a revolution which will have political repercussions right up to the present day with a bitter US embargo.   The show highlights Latin music elements which were so important in films of the day, Cuban hits, and tangos along with classic Dietrich songs from the Weimar Republic and the Piaf songs Marlene also sang. Award-winning jazz tango violin virtuoso Omar Puente leads the band and opera singer Ann Liebeck plays Marlene, already in her late 50’s, with a script by multi award-winning author and broadcaster Brian Sibley, direction by James Norris and lighting design by Nigel Edwards.  From the producers of Violetta’s Last Tango performed at Wilton’s in 2017 and sponsored by ACE England and La Linea London Latin Music Festival.   Marlene in Havana premiered in Havana, Cuba at Habana Clásica festival. The show has also been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019, Pizza Express Jazz Club and the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre in September 2019.

Date: 1 April

The Marilyn Monroe Story

Running time: 60mins, no interval

Age recommendation: 10+

Twitter:@marilynbyjojo

Facebook: @marilynmonroebyjojo

Web:www.jojodesmond.com

Time: 6.45pm & 8.30pm

Prices: £16 – £20 full price, £13.50 – £17.50 concessions

Marilyn’s fascinating story – from beginning to her untimely end. A tragic death which is still clouded in mystery. Funny and sad, this show considers Marilyn’s childhood, career, influences, husbands, friends, and lovers. A real ‘rags to riches’ tale. Jojo Desmond relates her life through dialogue, dance and singing Marilyn’s iconic songs to illustrate keynote events and numerous fabulous costume changes – all accompanied by her band. Jojo is a professional singer, actress and dancer. She trained at Central School of Ballet, was a principal dancer in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and lead singer in BBC’s Dr Who Live (Arena) shows. She supported The Three Degrees on their 2015-16 UK Tours, with her debut album Studio 54. She performs regularly with her jazz musicians and is currently playing ‘Frieda’ with the Abba Mania UK show.

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#HTDumbWaiter #BackOnStage

HAMPSTEAD THEATRE REOPENS

FOR A LIMITED PERIOD WITH ALICE HAMILTON’S 60TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF THE DUMB WAITER, HAROLD PINTER’S ICONIC PLAY​

·       HAROLD PINTER’S ICONIC PLAY, THE DUMB WAITER, WILL OPEN AT HAMPSTEAD THEATRE FROM 18 NOVEMBER TO 19 DECEMBER 2020

·       ALICE HAMILTON’S PRODUCTION WILL CELEBRATE THE PLAY’S 60^th ANNIVERSARY FOR A LIMITED PERIOD

·       HAMPSTEAD THEATRE WILL OPEN WITH SOCIALLY DISTANCED AUDIENCES, AND IN COLLABORATION WITH EXPERT CONSULTANTS, ARE IMPLEMENTING STRINGENT COVID-SECURE MEASURES

·       SAFETY MEASURES WILL BE SUPPORTED BY THE THEATRE’S STATE-OF-THE-ART VENTILATION SYSTEM, WHICH CHANGES AIR IN THE AUDITORIUM AND FOYER WITH 100% FRESH AIR INTRODUCED FROM OUTDOORS EVERY 4 MINUTES AND 45 SECONDS

·       TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE ON WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER AT 10AM

·       SHOULD THE DUMB WAITER NEED TO BE POSTPONED, FULL REFUNDS OR CREDIT VOUCHERS WILL BE OFFERED

Hampstead Theatre is delighted to announce that it will be reopening this November with Nobel Prize-winning writer Harold Pinter’s iconic early play The Dumb Waiterfrom 18 November to 19 December 2020.  Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday 14 October at 10am at hampsteadtheatre.com.

Roxana Silbert, Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre said:

“I am so delighted to be able to share this news today.  As Hampstead Theatre, along with our colleagues in live performance, start to find our feet in this ‘new normal’, we are very excited to be able to present Alice Hamilton’s 60th anniversary production of The Dumb Waiter.  

When we closed the building on 16 March the set was on the stage and the show was about to open. At that point, we could not have envisaged how Pinter’s brilliant play of two men stuck in a room – their sharp humour, ennui, tensions, – would come to feel so extraordinarily fresh and resonant. 

We are thrilled at the prospect of welcoming our artists and audiences back into the building and galvanised by the prospect of sharing the communal experience which is unique to live theatre”

Originally programmed for spring, Alice Hamilton directs the 60th anniversary production of The Dumb Waiter.The play first premiered as part of Hampstead Theatre’s inaugural season in 1960 directed by Hampstead’s founder James Roose-Evans.

Harold Pinterwrote twenty-nine plays including The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming and Betrayal. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. 

Alice is co-Artistic Director of Up in Arms and and credits with the theatre include the Olivier-nominated Every Day I Make Greatness Happen (2018) and Paradise(2019). 

She is joined by designer, James Perkins, with lighting design by James Whiteside and composition & sound design by Giles Thomas. 

The theatre will reopen with 193 socially distanced seats.  Seating will be arranged to ensure there is at least 1 metre plus between seats.  Hampstead Theatre’s spacious modern building also has the added benefit of state-of-the-art ventilation.  The air in the auditorium and foyer is 100% fresh air introduced from the outdoors meaning none of it is ‘recycled’ air.  The ventilation system draws stale air out and introduces entirely fresh air into the main house auditorium at 5,300 litres per second.  The air in the main house auditorium is changedcompletely every 4 minutes and 45 seconds.

In the event of The Dumb Waiter needing to be postponed, full refunds or credit vouchers will be offered.

OPERA NORTH AND NORTHERN BALLET SET TO RETURN TO HOME VENUE, LEEDS GRAND THEATRE

Leeds Heritage Theatres is thrilled to announce that resident, Leeds-based companies, Opera North and Northern Ballet, will make a welcome return to Leeds Grand Theatre in 2021, almost a year after the theatre was forced to close due to the pandemic.

The only venue outside of London to house both an opera and ballet company, The Grand will play host to Opera North from January to February 2021 (season of work yet to be announced), followed by Northern Ballet from Thursday 4 to Saturday 13 March 2021, who will be revisiting the classic, Swan Lake, beautifully reimagined by David Nixon OBE (The Nutcracker, Little Mermaid), with Tchaikovsky’s electrifying score played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia.

Richard Mantle, General Director, Opera North, says: “We are looking forward immensely to once again creating and sharing great music and opera with our audiences at Leeds Grand Theatre, our home venue of more than 40 years.

“We are working closely with our colleagues at the Grand to ensure that we are able to give our audiences a safe and warm welcome back to live events, with all the anticipation, thrill and joy that live performance delivers and plan to return to the theatre in January 2021; we will be announcing productions for this new season as soon as we can.”

Mark Skipper, Chief Executive of Northern Ballet, adds: “After an absence of almost a year, we are delighted to be returning to Leeds Grand Theatre with Swan Lake. The Grand Theatre is hugely important to us as one of our home venues where, in normal times, we enjoy performing to our loyal Yorkshire audience twice a year. We are also saddened that COVID-19 has led to the postponement of Merlin this winter; other than during the refurbishment in 2005, this will be the first time in more than 25 years that we have not held our festive season in Leeds. However, we are looking forward to performing Swan Lake in March, a beautiful traditional title presented with a twist.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support our audiences have given us over the last few difficult months and are looking ahead with great anticipation to getting back onto the Leeds Grand Theatre stage once more.”

The news comes only a week after it was announced that City Varieties Music Hall will also reopen its doors on Friday 9 October with an exciting programme of film presented in collaboration with sister venue Hyde Park Picture House. Opera North will also stage the first live performance at The Varieties since reopening when they present Whistle Stop Opera: Cinderella (directed by John Savournin), on Sunday 29 November; “a charming pop-up style introduction to some of the many musical interpretations of the classic fairy tale” says Mantle.

Chris Blythe, CEO of Leeds Heritage Theatres, comments: “This year has, and continues, to be extremely difficult for our three venues – it is well documented that the arts and culture sector is suffering nation-wide – but having Opera North and Northern Ballet, two regional companies recognised for their innovative and risk-taking approach to their individual art forms, commit to return in early 2021 gives us so much hope for the future and something for Leeds-audiences to look forward to. Arts and culture are needed now more than ever to help boost people’s mental health and build community through shared experience as we all try to find some escapism from our day-to-day and ongoing concerns regarding COVID-19.”

• Tickets for Opera North’s Whistle Stop Opera: Cinderella at City Varieties Music Hall will be on sale from Friday 9 October at www.leedsheritagetheatres.com
• Tickets for Northern Ballet’s Swan Lake will be on sale from Friday 16 October at www.leedsheritagetheatres.com

MAX PORTER READS HIS ACCLAIMED NOVEL

GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS LIVE FROM UNION CHAPEL

Wayward Productions today announces that Max Porter will read his bestselling first novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, at Islington’s Union Chapel on Sunday 25 October at 7.45pm. The one-off live streamed event has been organised as a fundraiser for the iconic London venue, with ticket proceeds also going to The Margins Project, the Chapel’s homelessness charity.

Max Porter’s multi-award-winning novel, which has been translated into thirty languages, has never been read in public, in its entirety, by the author. This project renews Porter’s collaboration with Wayward Productions, who produced the stage play adaptation of the novel by Enda Walsh, starring Cillian Murphy.

‘Amazing and Unforgettable’ The Times

‘Sad and Strange and Splendid’ The Guardian

‘Unlike anything I’ve read before….shifts between humour and sadness with a deft beat of its wing’ Guardian Books of the Year

‘A beguiling literary hybrid’ The Observer

Grief is the Thing with Feathers is a bed-time story for grownups about the universal experience of loss. It is about childhood, parenting, poetry and pain. It is about the infinite wisdom of crows. It is a dark, weird and beautiful book, the perfect book to hear in these times. It is an impassioned blast of literature and love, a celebration of language, and a raging heartbroken song for all of us. 

Published in 2015, the book won the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year, the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction and the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize.

Max Porter said, “In September 2020 the Union Chapel were going to host a project I’d devised called The English Soundwood, a multidisciplinary portrait of the UK today with poets, singers, musicians and novelists. Like so many live events, it was postponed, and like so many venues around the world, the Union Chapel needs support. So we are doing a one-off gig, where I’ll read the whole of Grief is the Thing with Feathers, and proceeds will go to the Union Chapel and their extraordinary charity The Margins Project, which supports people facing homelessness. I’ve never read the whole book before, and I’m honoured to be doing so in this iconic and beautiful venue, for such a good cause. I hope people will join us, virtually, and enjoy being read a story.”  

Wayward Productions Judith Dimant added, “We’re thrilled to renew our collaboration with Max Porter for this very special one-off event streamed live from Union Chapel in aid of the chapel and its Margins Project for the homeless. We’re living in a time of great uncertainty and it is vital we do all we can to support vulnerable people at this as well as secure the future of such a well-loved venue.”

Max Porter is the author of the bestselling Grief is the Thing with Feathers (Faber & Faber, 2015), which won the International Dylan Thomas Prize, the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award, the Europeese Literatuurprijs and the Books Are My Bag Reader’s Award, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and The Goldsmiths Prize. It has been sold to 27 territories. His second novel Lanny was published in 2019, and recently released in paperback. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize and is currently being adapted into a feature film.

Wayward Productions‘ first production was Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, directed by Enda Walsh and starring Cillian Murphy. It was seen in London and New York in 2019.

The company is currently developing Christie Watson’s best-selling nursing memoir The Language of Kindness.  This was scheduled for Autumn 2020 but will now hopefully be produced in Spring 2021.

In Summer 2020 the company produced Shifts for BBC Radio 3’s Between the Ears strand as part of the BBC Culture in Quarantine season and the company is also working with the Schaubühne Theatre, Berlin on Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist, directed by Annabel Arden and Simon McBurney. 

Wayward is also developing Babette Cole’s iconic children’s book Princess Smartypants with the Wardrobe Ensemble and will be continuing its collaboration with Max Porter in 2021

Wayward was founded by producer Judith Dimant following her 25 years as producer at Complicité, producing all of Simon McBurney’s work

waywardproductions.co.uk 

Twitter: @waywardprods

Facebook: /waywardprods

GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS 

LISTINGS

Max Porter reads Grief is the Thing with Feathers

Live from Union Chapel, 19b Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN

Sunday 25 October at 7:45pm

Tickets £10, available from https://wayward.ticketco.events/uk/en/e/grief_is_the_thing_with_feathers

Proceeds to the Union Chapel and Margins homelessness charity www.unionchapel.org.uk

Produced by Wayward Productions www.waywardproductions.co.uk

Box of Tricks and Sky Studios launch inaugural Screen/Play Award

New award to uncover new writing talent from the North of England

Acclaimed theatre company Box of Tricks and Sky Studios’ Innovation Hub, based in Leeds, have teamed up to announce the launch of the inaugural  Screen/Play Award, a ground-breaking initiative to unearth exceptional writers from the North of England.

Focussed on talent from communities currently underrepresented on stage and screen, the Screen/Play Award will offer two writers, with no TV writing experience, a bursary to not only write a new play for Box of Tricks but to open doors to the world of screenwriting by forging a development partnership with Sky Studios throughout 2021.

With an aim to increase representation and opportunity, both now and in the future, the Screen/Play Award is open to Northern writers, aged over 18, with no professional TV experience from the following communities: D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers of colour, first generation migrant writers and writers from a low socioeconomic background. 

At a time when the creative industry faces unprecedented challenges and stands to lose a wealth of talent due to the impact of COVID-19, the Screen/Play Award shines a light on voices that need to be heard and stories that need to be told. 

Box of Tricks and Sky Studios are seeking stories with the scope and ambition to be realised on both stage and screen, stories that embrace the infinite imaginative possibilities of each medium and reflect the world in which we live.

Applicants for this new award will be asked to submit a sample of their writing along with a 500-word pitch about how they envisage developing their story into a both a play and a short screenplay. Each submission will be read by a diverse pool of readers representative of the breadth of stories the Award aims to recognise.

Shortlisted writers will be announced in December and five finalists will meet an industry panel to pitch their ideas in January 2021. Following these interviews, the panel will select two writers to develop their ideas and write their scripts with support from Box of Tricks and Sky Studios throughout 2021.

The Screen/Play Award industry panel includes actor Mina Anwar (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Crucible Theatre and West End), Chris Bush (UK Theatre Award-winning playwright), actor and advocate for disability on screen/stage Melissa Johns (Life, I Hate Suzie, Coronation Street), David Judge (actor and writer – Box of Tricks’ SparkPlug, finalist for Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play of the Year 2017), Donna Metcalfe (Script Executive, Sky Studios), Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder (Joint Artistic Director, Box of Tricks) and Temi Wilkey (actor and writer – 2020 Stage Debut Award, The High Table).

Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder and Adam Quayle, Joint Artistic Directors, Box of Tricks, said: “Box of Tricks is hugely excited to partner with Sky Studios to launch our inaugural Screen/Play Award for exceptional Northern talent. Following the launch of our PlayMakers Network at the height of lockdown – for Northern playwrights to connect, collaborate and create – we are delighted to share this game-changing opportunity for two writers. With so much uncertainty still ahead, we face the very real prospect of losing a generation of talent, so it is vital that we seize every opportunity to support, nurture and promote new voices in the North – especially those whose stories are too seldom heard on our stages or seen on our screens. It’s time to make a change for the better.”

Vicky Wharton and Donna Metcalfe of Sky Studios’ Innovation Hub said: “The aim of Sky Studios Innovation Hub is to support creative risk from ambitious, diverse and emerging talent, an ethos Box of Tricks shares.  It is no coincidence that several of their alumni are now working on Sky Studios productions.  Therefore, we are thrilled to be forming a creative partnership, to unearth, nurture and develop new writing voices of the future.”

David Judge, Writer, actor and Screen/Play panellist said: “Box of Tricks have well and truly opened the door for me as a playwright, not in a ‘welcome to the industry’ way, but in a ‘welcome to yourself’ way. They were able to identify and nurture my ‘voice’ in a non-intimidating and collaborative environment. The work we have created has directly led to me working with Sky Studios, and again I cannot rave enough about the freedom and support I have received on this journey so far. I am SO gutted not to be able to apply for this award, as it is going to be such an exciting, creative and rewarding opportunity for those involved.”

The submission window opens on Monday 19 October and the deadline for all applications is 5pm on Friday 6 November 2020. Submissions made outside this window will not be considered.

Further details about the Screen/Play Award are available at: www.boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk/screenplay. Interested writers are advised to join Box of Tricks’ PlayMakers Network via the website or on Facebook for up-to-date information and additional content.

JAMES QUAIFE PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES THE WORLD PREMIÈRE OF

PAUL HARVARD’S GHBoy AT CHARING CROSS THEATRE

James Quaife Productions today announces the world première of Paul Harvard’s debut play GHBoy – opening at the Charing Cross Theatre on 10 November 2020, with previews from 4 November, and runs until 28 November. Jon Pashley directs Sylvester Akinrolabu (Devon/Calvin/Chima/Josh/Delroy /William), Geoff Aymer (Benjamin), Marc Bosch (Sergi Castell), Buffy Davis (Debbie Finch), Jimmy Essex (Robert Finch), Devesh Kishore (Simon Waring), and Aryana Ramkhalawon (Jasminder Panghal).

Social distancing measures will be in operation at the Charing Cross Theatre, with a maximum capacity of 105 seats for each performance, with tickets available in single tickets up to groups of 4. All patrons, unless they have a known medical condition, will be required to wear a face covering at the venue. For full details on the measures implemented to ensure audience safety and wellbeing, please see: https://ghboy.co.uk/covid19-safety.

The burgeoning party scene of East London hides a dark secret: a swathe of young men dying unexpectedly, with whispers of an unnamed killer.

In the midst of all this, Robert is grieving the death of his father. He desperately wants to be a better person, but trapped in a pattern of substance abuse and infidelity, he has a lingering fear that he will never find love and acceptance. Unexpectedly, his boyfriend Sergio proposes, compelling Robert to turn his back on addiction and self-sabotage – before he destroys this final chance at happiness.

But first, he must confront a truth buried deep within his subconscious, something he himself doesn’t yet fully understand.

This brand-new piece of theatre tackles the misconceptions around gay culture and promiscuity. Something far more ominous is driving men like Robert to the point of self-destruction…

GHBoy is Paul Harvard’s first play. It was originally conceived during a writers’ course at the National Theatre led by Ola Animashuwan, and developed following a R&D grant from the Arts Council.

Originally from Coventry, Harvard began his career as actor-musician – his credits include the original production of The History Boys (National Theatre), Gondoliers (Apollo Theatre), Piaf, Fiddler on the Roof, Love in a Maze, Dreams from a Summerhouse and The Firebird (The Watermill Theatre), Nicked (HighTide Festival), The Fantasticks (Harrogate Theatre), Rwanda (YMT:UK), Trashchrist (Soho Theatre) and Me, Myself and I (Orange Tree Theatre). he also trains actors, and is currently Course Leader for the BA Acting at the London College of Music, University of West London. He has also lectured at many of the other leading drama schools in the UK, and is the author of three books published by Nick Hern Books and his approaches to the teaching of acting through song are now internationally recognised. 

Sylvester Akinrolabu plays Devon/Calvin/Chima/Josh/Delroy/ William). He recently graduated with BA in Acting from London College of Music, after training at Identity School of Acting (IDSA). This marks his professional stage debut.

Geoff Aymer plays Benjamin. His previous theatre credits include Two Trains Running (English Touring Theatre/Royal and Derngate), The Color Purple (Leicester Curve), Robin Hood and the Arrow of Destiny (Theatre Peckham), The Plague (After La Peste by Albert Camus) (Arcola Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (UK tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Young Vic), and To Kill a Mockingbird (Barbican Theatre/ UK tour). For television, his work includes Mr Winner, Guerrilla, The A Force, The Real McCoy and Club Class; and for film, Sket and Rag Tag. Also a writer, his credits include Anansi and the Magic Mirror (Talawa Theatre), The Oddest Couple (Theatre Royal Stratford East), What A Wonderful World (Blue Elephant Theatre); television pilot, Chatsworth.

Marc Bosch plays Sergi. Original from Barcelona, he made his professional stage debut earlier this year in Justícia at the National Theatre of Barcelona. His television credits include The Split and Sky Rojo. 

Buffy Davis plays Debbie. Her theatre credits include Ravens: Spassky vs Fischer (Hampstead Theatre), 49 Donkeys Hanged (Theatre Royal Plymouth), The Divide, The Hairy Ape, Hedda Gabler (The Old Vic), Ugly Lies the Bone (National Theatre), Once in a Lifetime, Uncle Vanya, The Government Inspector, Annie Get Your Gun (Young Vic), The School for Scandal (Park Theatre), and The Silver Lake and The Beggar’s Opera (Wilton’s Music Hall). For television, her work includes Life, Doc Martin, The Trial of Christine Keeler, Berlin Station, Foreign Skies, The Night Manager, What Remains, Silk, Upstairs Downstairs, and Mutual Friends; and for film, Angel Has Fallen, Abduct, Anna Karenina, Hyde Park on Hudson and The Machinist. 

Jimmy Essex makes his professional stage debut playing Robert. For television, his credits include as series regular Adam Donovan in Hollyoaks, Bamboo, Sean in Short Change, and Cosmo in Grange Hill. For film, his work includes A Dark Path.

Devesh Kishore plays Simon. His theatre credits include The Ladykillers, Guards at the Taj (Theatre by the Lake), Gauhar Jaan (Ominbus Theatre), Child of the Divide (Polka Theatre and UK tour), Gangsta Granny (West End and UK tour), Piece of Silk (Hope Theatre), and Stowaway (Shoreditch Town Hall and UK tour). 

Aryana Ramkhalawon plays Jasminder. Her theatre credits include When the Crows Visit (Kiln Theatre), The Funeral Director (Southwark Playhouse and UK tour), The Tempest, Swallows and Amazons, Much Ado About Nothing (Storyhouse/Grosvenor Park Rep Company), The Secret Seven (Storyhouse), Hijabi Monologues (Bush theatre), Devika, Ode to Leeds (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Glasgow Girls (National Theatre of Scotland UK tour). Her television work includes Waterloo Road, Drama Matters: Lawless, Crime Stories, Bollywood Carmen and Jamillah and Aladdin.

Jon Pashley directs. His credits include Boudica (Central School of Speech and Drama/Leicester Curve), Much Ado About Nothing (Belgrade Theatre), Comedy on a Station Platform (Warwick Arts Centre) and Aspies (Theatre503). Credits as Associate Director include The Butterfly Lion, The Witches (Chichester Festival Theatre), In Praise of Love (Theatre Royal Bath), Peter Pan (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Venus and Adonis (RSC Swan/Dublin Theatre Festival), Running Wild, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Chichester Festival Theatre/UK tour), Goodnight Mister Tom (Duke of York’s Thetare /UK tour), and Bad Jews (St. James’s Theatre/ Haymarket/Theatre Royal Bath/UK tour).

Set and costume designs are by Bettina John, with lighting design by Tony Simpson, sound design by Rona Castrioti, and movement direction by Gerrard Martin.

www.ghboy.co.uk

Twitter: @ghboyplay

Instagram: @ghboyplay

ISM announces strategic partnership with the Musicians Movement

The new campaign launches #MakeMusicWork slogan

Today (07 October) the ISM is delighted to announce the launch of a new strategic campaign partnership with the Musicians Movement. It is hoping to secure a new support package to #MakeMusicWork and ensure musicians can start earning again. Uniting around two key campaigning asks, both organisations are together fighting for:

• a new Freelance Performers Support Scheme to help musicians return to live performances in COVID-secure spaces and earn money.  
• changes to the Self- Employment Income Support Scheme to provide a tailored safety net for musicians who cannot work whilst venues remain closed due to government safety restrictions.

The new partnership began with a joint letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak following his speech at Conservative Party Conference and the Government’s ‘Winter Economy Plan’. It is hoped that these proposals will attract more organisations to align themselves with the new partnership.

At a time when coronavirus is devastating our sector, this collaboration reflects the recent trend for greater coordination between music industry organisations. It is designed to increase the impact and effectiveness of the music community’s campaigns in their lobbying of the UK government and across the devolved nations. The campaign takes place amidst a unprecedented grassroots activism amongst musicians, as seen in recent protests in Westminster like The Panto Parade and Let Music Live. The #MakeMusicWork campaign aims to mobilise this energy into meaningful government action for the sector.

Musicians are angry, the sector is united and we are ready to #MakeMusicWork.

About the proposals

1.  Creating a new Freelance Performers Support Scheme

• The Freelance Performers’ Support Scheme creates a COVID-secure route back to work; kickstarting the live music sector, bringing back tens of thousands of viable jobs, uniting communities and protecting our national culture.
• It guarantees performers a minimum fee, even if COVID restrictions change which in turn enables some financial security in these unprecedented times.
• It gives venues and promoters the opportunity to programme in advance without financial insecurity, enabling promoters of all sizes to start curation and allowing their communities to connect once more.
• The scheme is flexible and scalable in relation to government guidelines to make sure that excess funding is not in place and that government money will not be wasted.
• The principals are transferable to other arts sectors, with the potential for the sector to unite to develop a one-fund, works for all, arts-sector initiative.

For more information please contact Marithé Van Der Aa, [email protected]

For the full proposal visit: https://www.musiciansmovement.co.uk/campaigns.html

2. Improving the Self Employment Income Support Scheme

 The ISM and the Musicians Movement are also calling on the government to deliver on its pledge to ensure parity between employees and the self-employed by maintaining the existing level of support provided by the Self Employment Income Support Scheme annual and expanding the eligibility criteria. Many musicians have already fallen through the gaps in the Self Employment Income Support Scheme and will continue to be excluded under the new measures announced in the Chancellor’s ‘Winter Economy Plan’. In addition, reducing the level of support down from 70% to just 20% of average monthly trading profits will not provide an adequate safety net for our members when they are unable to generate any income at all. To find out more, please visit here.

 For more information, please contact [email protected]

 The Incorporated Society of Musicians’ Chief Executive, Deborah Annetts, said:

 ‘I am delighted to launch this new partnership between the ISM and the Musicians Movement because greater coordination is essential for improving the impact of campaigning. Thousands of self-employed musicians are facing desperate financial hardship, having not been able to work since March. Now is the time for the entire music community together to unite around clear, effective and realistic policy recommendations for government. Our hope is that more organisations will support our calls for a new Freelance Performers Support Scheme and improving the Self- Employment Income Support Scheme.

 ‘The UK music industry is known for its world-leading talent which makes a huge contribution of over £5bn annually to our economy, so it is vital that the needs of musicians are properly communicated to the government. Whichever organisation they belong to, musicians are dynamic entrepreneurs who will be back on their feet as soon as the sector can reopen and new support measures need only last until the necessary safety precautions are eased.‘

 The Musicians’ Movement said

 ‘The Musicians’ Movement is pleased to be partnering with the ISM in this joint campaign lobbying for critical support on behalf of musicians across the country.

 ‘As an organisation run by musicians, for musicians we receive daily communications from our supporters who want nothing more than to get back to work and contribute to their communities. The UK’s rich cultural heritage, built up over generations, is being thrown away and additional investment at this crucial time is needed to avoid the imminent collapse of our industry. The sector contributes £2.8billion a year to the Treasury via taxation, and generates a further £23billion a year and 363,700 jobs to the wider economy. All of this is at risk.   

 ‘We simply cannot and will not allow this to happen. Music and culture form the core of our regional and national identities and are absolutely essential in bringing the country back together after months of tragedy, isolation, and economic damage. Our sector must unite around these two concrete proposals if we wish to get our message across to the government.’ 

Baby Lame presents:

Baby Lame’s Video Nasties!

Low budget, high gore, and straight to VHS Halloween horror films with a queer gaze from drag sensation Baby Lame

Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, 21-22 October 2020

“Freakishly Fabulous” Evening Standard

Twitter: @baby_lame| #babylame | | Insta: @baby.lame | www.babylame.com

Award winning drag artist, and co-host of the BBC’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: The Podcast, Baby Lame follows on from her interactive BFI ‘shade along’ collaborations Death Becomes Her and Showgirls, by turning the spotlight onto an era of forgotten cinematic treasures.  Part live and in-person performance, part screening of straight to VHS horror films, Baby Lame unearths a riotous, camp and deliciously disturbing collection of WFT film clips. Baby Lame’s Video Nasties is a freaky monster-mashup of real video nasties, original horror shorts featuring Baby Lame in collaboration with queer horror filmmakers Mansfield Dark and Joseph Wilson, and shocking, laugh out loud performances from Ms Lame herself.

Video Nasties is an umbrella term for sick VHS horror movies of the 1970s and 80s. Bad taste movie makers used a loophole in the British Board of Film Classification to unleash their nasty creations on the world on magnetic tape. Mary Whitehouse was appalled. The Daily Mail got involved. New laws were passed to protect the nation’s youth. Looking across niche era of home cinema Baby Lame turns her queer gaze upon the genre and shares the weird and… well, even weirder wonders she has found. Turns out literally almost anything can kill you, in ways you couldn’t even dream of.

This Halloween, buckle up and join drag monstrosity Baby Lame on a brilliantly bonkers thrill ride through the weirdest, sleaziest and trashiest filth from the VHS era in her brand new solo show Baby Lame’s Video Nasties. Our final girl Baby has uncovered a secret stash of lost videotapes, but little does she know the evil curse lurking inside. Will Baby escape the sinister force, or will her soul be used to awaken an unspeakable evil?!

Baby Lame works alongside Scarlett Moffatt as the co-host of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: The Podcast for BBC Sounds. She is also the emcee and co-producer of cabaret night Mariah and Friendz  ‘The best damn drag-circus-burlesque show in town’ (Timeout), and creator of the critically acclaimed underground variety revue Shit Show. On stage, Baby has worked regularly with Peaches Christ starring as Lame Edna in the world premiere of Spice Racks at the Castro Theatre. She regrouped with Peaches in 2019 joining the UK cast of Drag Becomes Her alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon and Ben Delacreme. Next year Baby will star as ‘Uncle Fister’ in Soho Theatre’s UK Tour of Addams Apple Family Values.

Running Time: 90 mins (inc interval) | Suitable for ages 18+ 

Company information

Written & Directed by Baby Lame                                            Sound & Lighting design by Lex Kosnake 

Video in collaboration with Mansfield Dark & Joseph Wilson     Cast Baby Lame

Listings information

21 – 22 October 2020, 8pm

Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club 42-44 Pollard Row, London E2 6NB

Tickets £12 each, sold in tables or 2, 4 or 6 people
https://www.outsavvy.com/event/5036/baby-lames-video-nasties-tickets

West End Musical Drive-In announce Lucie
Jones and Aimie Atkinson as final headliners
Troubadour Meridian Water, Harbet Road, London, N18 3QQ
Saturday 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st October 2020

It has been the biggest concert series in musical theatre history. Over the last 3 months, from the moment lockdown ended, thousands of people have attended 13 incredible shows at the West End Musical Drive-In, with stunning performances from the biggest names on the West End – but it’s not over yet.

Lucie Jones (Waitress; Rent) will headline the season finale on the 31st October with a Halloween special starring Cedric Neal (Motown; The Voice), Kelly Agbowu (Waitress, Les Miserables), Jon Robyns (Les Misérables; Avenue Q) and hosted by Shanay Holmes (Rent; The Bodyguard).

Aimie Atkinson (Six; Pretty Woman) is also announced to headline on 24th October with Emma Kingston (Evita; In The Heights), Luke Baker (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) and T’shan Williams (Heathers; The Colour Purple).

They will be joining musical powerhouses Louise Dearman (Wicked) and Rachel Tucker (Wicked; Come From Away) who will reunite for the first time since their escapades in the Emerald City on 17th October, and Jamie Muscato (Heathers; West Side Story), Sam Tutty (Dear Evan Hansen), Luke Bayer (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), and Caroline Kay (The Space Between; The Clock Maker’s Daughter) on 10th October.

Lucie Jones says, This has been such an amazing event for theatre fans and for the industry as a whole and I’m so excited to be part of it. I’ll be pulling out all the trick or treats for the season finale!

Much like their West End Musical Brunch, which sell out months in advance, West End Musical Drive-In is an immersive event where the audience ‘become the cast,’ singing and dancing along with the West End stars who perform a mix of songs from a wide range of musicals. The event is totally contact free and socially distanced. You can listen through your car radio and watch the performances on a massive screen either inside or by your car so you can remain safe and comfortable no matter the weather.

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY TO FOCUS 2021 STATFORD-UPON-AVON PROGRAMME IN ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE

The Royal Shakespeare Company will focus its programming in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon over the coming year, with the Swan Theatre and The Other Place remaining closed until 2022. The Company’s extensive education, digital and streaming activity will continue throughout the autumn and winter to allow people to experience the RSC in their homes and schools. This Winter, small-scale socially distanced performances will take place in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and be streamed into homes. The Company will also stage free outdoor activity, and plans to reopen its West End hit, Matilda The Musical as soon as it is financially viable. 

The announcement comes as formal consultation begins with the RSC’s permanent workforce, and the Company recognised trade unions and staff representatives. The consultation process is a result of the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and covers a range of proposals from redundancies to changes in terms and conditions of employment.  Although the final number of redundancies will not be known until the end of the formal consultation process,158 people are currently in roles at risk. Through redeployment into existing and newly created roles, together with voluntary redundancy, the RSC hopes to reduce the number of people leaving the Company due to compulsory redundancy to below 90, at most a 17% reduction in the workforce. The consultation is expected to conclude in early December.

Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST)

With the end of the Company’s free, outdoor Summer performances, the RSC will stage a programme of live performances in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in December and January. The events will see the return of socially distanced, reduced capacity audiences to the RST for the first time since March, with events being streamed to enable people further afield to take part. Full details will be announced at the beginning of November.

Planning also continues for the full re-opening of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Spring 2021 with full-scale productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors, when it is hoped that social distancing restrictions will be eased. 

The production of The Magician’s Elephant, due to open in November 2021, is planned to go ahead as announced in the RST. Tickets are currently on sale. The new family musical, based on Kate DiCamillo’s novel, is directed by Sarah Tipple with music and lyrics by Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler.

The ongoing closure of the Swan Theatre means that The Wars of the Roses Parts 1 & 2, which had already been rescheduled from this autumn until autumn 2021, will now be delayed, hopefully to open in 2022. The staging of the three parts of Shakespeare’s Henry VI will be performed as a landmark event alongside Richard III journeying headlong through one of the most turbulent times of English history.

RSC Education

Throughout the pandemic, RSC Education has continued to support young people and teachers around the country through its education work. Initiatives such as #homeworkhelp saw RSC alumni including David Tennant, Noma Dumezweni and Adjoa Andoh answer questions from young people around the world in support of their Shakespeare studies. 

As young people and teachers continue to adapt to the new ways of teaching and learning, RSC Education are developing new approaches to support both in school and home learning. Activity includes online performances delivered by RSC actors to early years children and families at home and in schools, courses to support young people’s literacy, leadership training for young people and online courses that explore important questions about identity and representation, all through Shakespeare’s plays. The Company are also continuing its collaborations with Regional Theatres, community groups and schools across England. 

The RSC’s 2016 production of Hamlet, with Paapa Essiedu in the title role, will be streamed free of charge into schools across the UK in the week of 16 November, with supporting digital content. This is part of the RSC free Schools’ broadcasts series.

Talking about the ongoing impact of the pandemic and the future of the RSC, Gregory Doran, Artistic Director said:

“We want to welcome our audiences back, to re-open again and to help our regional and wider economy rebuild itself, bringing people back into our towns and cities. Our financial position and uncertainty around future restrictions means that our immediate focus will be on our largest theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon – the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.  We’re planning for a Winter programme of events which will see a small number of socially distanced audiences back in our buildings, an exciting prospect with audiences also joining us online from their homes.

“We look ahead with optimism to 2021 when we plan for our postponed productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors to finally make it to the stage, and for our glorious Matilda The Musical to re-open at the Cambridge Theatre alongside other shows to reignite the vital West End economy.  We want our brilliant workforce, permanent and freelance, to be back doing what they do best, making live theatre.

“Throughout the pandemic we have supported young people and teachers around the country through RSC Education.  It’s critical work that responds directly to support teachers and young people need now, and this will continue through newly developed ways of working that support learning at home and in school.

“We continue to face the challenges of the ongoing pandemic and today was a difficult day as we began formal consultation about potential redundancies with our fantastic staff.  We will continue to respond creatively to the ongoing crisis and look forward to the moment when we can reopen our doors with full-scale productions to celebrate all that is brilliant about live theatre.”

Catherine Mallyon, RSC Executive Director added,

“We remain positive that live theatre will be back in our communities, doing what it does best – entertaining audiences and bringing joy to so many people.

“These are incredibly difficult times for everyone, and for the theatre community they are especially tough.  Our live performance sector is experiencing one of the highest levels of loss of work anywhere: the personal impact of this is often devastating; the loss of skilled and talented people permanently from our sector is a very real worry for the future; and the impact on the nation’s economy immense.  We are today taking tough decisions to cut costs and make sure we can reopen with confidence.  We remain completely committed to a vibrant future for live theatre and to ensuring that right across the country Shakespeare and theatre can be relevant to and enjoyed by all the communities we serve.

“The extraordinary support we continue to see from the Company, our Members, Patrons, sponsors and supporters, alongside the Stratford-upon-Avon community is a wonderful thing.  It demonstrates the importance placed on theatre in people’s lives, and we thank everybody for their messages, donations, patience and commitment to seeing us reopen again”. 

The RSC’s Ticketing Team will be in touch directly with ticket holders for The Wars of the Roses.