Month: March 2021

RE:EMERGE SEASON COMING TO THE

HAROLD PINTER THEATRE, PRODUCED
BY SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS

Following a year of extraordinary challenges, and as British theatre begins to find ways to re-emerge from the devastating impact of the enforced shutdown, SFP today announces a season of new plays for a new world. The RE:EMERGE season will create a space for vital, new voices and fresh talent in the West End and beyond, working alongside some of the industry’s greatest theatremakers and artists.  The extraordinary collection of plays curated by SFP alongside Ian Rickson – who becomes Artistic Director for the season – tackles urgent issues integral to rebuilding our society, including structural inequality, climate change and the economics of truth in an internet age. Supported by Arts Council England, RE:EMERGE will support the theatre-makers of the future, provide vital work for the freelance community and celebrate the live experience as we begin to build back to the full reopening of British Theatre.

The RE:EMERGE season intends to open to socially-distanced audiences from May to help
re-open and re-energise our theatres, and will be staged in a Covid safe environment following government advice and adhering to social distancing guidelines; and in line with Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre’s See It Safely campaign. Alongside the season, SFP also intends for the comedy The Comeback to return to the West End following its enforced shutdown in December.

Announced today as part SFP’s RE:EMERGE season so far is:

• Amy Berryman’s WALDEN, directed by Ian Rickson, starring Gemma Arterton, Fehinti Balogun and Lydia Wilson.

• Yasmin Joseph’s J’OUVERT, directed by Rebekah Murrell, starring Annice Boparai, Gabrielle Brooks, Sapphire Joy and Zuyane Russell.

• Joseph Charlton’s ANNA X, directed by Daniel Raggett, starring Emma Corrin and Nabhaan Rizwan.       

• Tickets from £10, with over 600 tickets per week under £15

SFP plans to open the season in May in line with the government’s roadmap. Further information regarding performance and on-sale dates will be released in the coming weeks, and audiences can sign up today at www.sfp-reemergeseason.co.uk to be the first to hear more news. Tickets for the previews will be priced from £5, and from £10 for the runs post press night, with a top price ticket of £49.50. There will be 600 tickets each week priced under £15.

There is intention for all three productions to be filmed for a future broadcast life, with J’OUVERT being shown on BBC Four as part ofBBC Lights Up – a season of plays for BBC radio and TV, produced in partnership with theatres across the UK and continuing BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative.

Sonia Friedman said today, After what has been such a devastating year for so many it fills me with the greatest joy and hope to announce RE:EMERGE, an SFP Season of bold, new work for a bold, new world as we begin to build back to the full reopening of British Theatre.

“Yasmin Joseph’s J’OUVERT, first seen at Theatre503 and currently in rehearsals to be filmed for the BBC, reveals Notting Hill Carnival through the eyes of two best friends navigating the joys and dangers of young Black womanhood in 21st Century Britain. Whilst Amy Berryman’s WALDEN depicts the intensity of familial love and loss as the climate emergency encroaches ever closer, Joseph Charlton’s ANNA X delves deep into the corruption of truth and reality through the all-consuming lies we tell the world about ourselves over social media. These extraordinary plays, each one with a distinct and powerful voice, will thrill, move and delight audiences.

“We hope that the RE:EMERGE Season will help the immense effort being made across our industry to reopen our theatres, with the most exciting, new talent working in tandem with some of our greatest theatre makers and artists. And this is just the beginning – we have so much more to come.

“We are deeply thankful for the commitment of all the extraordinary group of writers, actors, directors, designers, stage managers, technicians and theatre makers who have agreed to be a part of this season – just when theatre needs them most. I am also incredibly grateful to Ian Rickson, one of my closest and most dedicated long-time collaborators, for his vision and co-curation of this Season. And my thanks must also extend to my incredibly committed team, who have worked so passionately under very challenging circumstances to help bring this season of work together. I would also like to thank Arts Council England, whose support has made RE:EMERGE possible. After an incredibly difficult year, I cannot wait for us all to ‘re-emerge’ from our homes and return to the theatre, where together we can be entertained, enthralled, challenged and dazzled by these astonishing works.”

Twitter: @SFP_London #ReEmergeSFP

Instagram: @SFPOfficial #ReEmergeSFP

Facebook: /SoniaFriedmanProductions #ReEmergeSFP

WALDEN

A debut play by Amy Berryman

Cast: Gemma Arterton, Fehinti Balogun, Lydia Wilson

Directed by Ian Rickson; Design by Rae Smith; Lighting Design by Azusa Ono

Music by Mark Bradshaw; Sound Design: Emma Laxton; Casting: Amy Ball

After returning from a year-long Moon mission, Cassie, a NASA botanist, finds herself in a remote cabin in the woods, where her estranged twin sister, Stella, a former NASA architect, has found a new life with climate activist Bryan. Old wounds resurface as the sisters attempt to pick up the pieces of the rivalry that broke them apart.

Amy Berryman‘s full-length plays include Walden, The New Galileos (O’Neill Finalist 2019), and Three Year Summer. Her play Epiphany was a finalist for Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries and is a Semi-Finalist for the O’Neill 2020. Rising Phoenix Rep commissioned her play The Whole of You for Cino Nights in LA, directed by Daniel Talbott. Her work has been developed at Premiere Stages, People’s Light, Bay Street Theatre, Caltech, Portland Stage, PROP Thtr, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Valdez Last Frontier Theatre Conference, AMiOS, and Eden Theatre Co. The short film she wrote, co-produced, and starred in You Are Everywhere won Best Drama in the LA Short Film Festival 2018.

Gemma Arterton’s theatre credits include Saint Joan (DonmarWarehouse), Made In Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre), The Duchess Of Malfi, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Master Builder (Almeida Theatre) and The Little Dog Laughed(Garrick Theatre). Her television credits include Black Narcissus, Urban Myths: Marilyn And Billy, Inside No. 9, Tess Of The D’Urbevilles, Lost In Austen and Capturing Mary; and for film, her credits include Kingsman 3: The King’s Man, Summerland, Murder Mystery, Vita & Virginia, The Escape, Their Finest, Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters, Song For Marion, Tamara Drewe, Clash Of The Titans, The Disappearance Of Alice Creed, Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time, Quantum Of Solace, The Boat That Rocked and St Trinians.

Fehinti Balogun’stheatre credits include The Importance of Being Earnest (Vaudeville Theatre), Blue Door (Theatre Royal Bath), Against (Almeida Theatre), Myth (RSC) and King Lear (The Old Vic). For television his credits include I May Destroy You, Urban Myths, Informer and the forthcoming Viewpoint;and for film his credits include Juliet, Naked. Alongside his acting career, he delivers talks on climate change aimed at a more rounded inclusion in the conversation, which he is adapting into a play with Complicité. As a result of these talks, he has toured around London and south England discussing climate change and taking part in international climate discussions. 

Lydia Wilson’s theatre credits include The Duchess Of Malfi (Almeida Theatre) King Charles III (Almeida Theatre, West End and Broadway), Hysteria (Hampstead Theatre), ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (Cheek By Jowl), The Acid Test, The Heretic (Royal Court Theatre), Blasted (Lyric Hammersmith), Pains Of Youth (National Theatre) and The House Of Special Purpose (Chichester Festival Theatre). For television, her credits include Flack, Requiem, Ripper Street, Misfits, The Making of a Lady, Dirk Gently and Black Mirror: The National Anthem, South Riding, Crimson Petal and the White; and film credits include Love is Thicker Than Water, About Time and Never Let Me Go.

Ian Rickson was the Artistic Director of the Royal Court from 1998 to 2006, where he directed The River (also Broadway), Jerusalem (also West End and Broadway), The Winterling, The Night Heron and Mojo (also Chicago), all by Jez Butterworth; Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen and This is a Chair by Caryl Churchill; Dublin Carol and The Weir by Conor McPherson (also Dublin, Chicago, West End and Broadway); The Seagull by Anton Chekhov (also Broadway); Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett; Alice Trilogy by Tom Murphy; The Sweetest Swing in Baseball and Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman; Fallout by Roy Williams; Mouth to Mouth by Kevin Elyot; The Lights by Howard Korder; Pale Horse and Some Voices by Joe Penhall; Ashes and Sand by Judy Upton and Killers by Adam Pernak.

In the West End, Rickson has directed Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Rosmersholm (The Duke of York’s Theatre), Uncle Vanya (also filmed for the BBC), The Birthday Party, Old Times, Betrayal and The Children’s Hour (all at the Harold Pinter Theatre); and at The National Theatre, Translations by Brian Friel, Evening at the Talk House by Wallace Shawn, The Red Lion by Patrick Marber, The Hothouse by Harold Pinter and The Day I Stood Still by Kevin Elyot. Productions at The Old Vic include Electra by Sophocles. Productions at the Young Vic include The Nest, Now We Are Here and Hamlet. Productions at the Almeida Theatre include Against by Christopher Shinn and Parlour Song by Jez Butterworth. Work on screen includes Fallout (Company Pictures for Channel 4) and Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett (BBC4), and on radio In Therapy (BBC Radio 4). Rickson also works with PJ Harvey and Kae Tempest on their music and poetry shows.

J’OUVERT

A new play by Yasmin Joseph

Cast: Annice Boparai, Gabrielle Brooks, Sapphire Joy, Zuyane Russell    

Directed by Rebekah Murrell; Designed by Sandra Falase in collaboration with Chloe Lamford

Lighting Design by Simisola Majekodunmi; Sound Design by Beth Duke

Movement by Shelley Maxwell; Casting by Isabella Odoffin

“What people you know can party through all of the earth’s elements?”

Carnival is here. The streets of Notting Hill are alive with history and amongst the pulsating soca, dazzling colour, and endless sequins and feathers, Jade and Nadine are fighting for space in a world they thought was theirs. A timely reflection on the Black British experience and sexual politics of Carnival, J’Ouvert is a piercing, hilarious and fearless story of two best friends, battling to preserve tradition in a society where women’s bodies are frequently under threat.

J’Ouvert originated at Theatre503 in a co-production with Bad Breed and Tobi Kyeremateng.

Yasmin Joseph is a London-based writer. Her debut play J’Ouvert premièred at Theatre503 in 2019 and she was nominated for the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright Award, and most recently won the 2020 James Tait Black Prize For Drama. She is the current writer-in-residence at Sister Pictures, and is on attachment at the Royal Court Theatre as a winner of the Channel 4 Playwrights scheme. She is also under co-commission with Soho Theatre and The Actors Touring Company as part of the Soho Six, The Place Theatre in Bedford with the Retired Caribbean Nurses Association and Clean Break.

Annice Boparai plays Nisha. Her theatre credits include Border Control, 17 (The Vaults), Hear Me Now Monologues, Behind the Blast Wall (Theatre503), Service Ellandar Productions (White Bear), Tamasha Scratch Night (Leicester Curve/Soho), J’Ouvert (Theatre503), Trojan Horse (Summerhall Main Hall, Edinburgh), The Canary and the Crow and 17 (Gig), Silently Hoping (Arcola Theatre), Earlsfield Stories (Tara Arts), If and When (SohoTheatre) and The Lights (Royal Court Theatre/Oxford School of Drama).

Sapphire Joy plays Jade. Her theatre credits include Anansi The Spider (Unicorn Theatre), Grey (Ovalhouse), J’Ouvert (Theatre503), Twelfth Night (Southwark Playhouse), Our Country’s Good (Nottingham Playhouse), The Interrogation of Sandra Bland (Bush Theatre) and Imogen (Shakespeare’s Globe). Her television credits include Speak For Herself, Casualty, Seconds From Disaster: Jonestown Cult Suicide and Crimewatch.

Gabrielle Brooks plays Nadine. Her theatre credits include Anna Bella Eema (Arcola Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Twelfth Night (Young Vic), The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse), The Wizard of Oz (Sheffield Theatres), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible), Lazarus (King’s Cross Theatre), The Strangers Case (Liverpool Everyman Theatre), The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre), I Can’t Sing (London Palladium) and Our House (Savoy Theatre). For television her credits include Shadow and Bone and Coming Down The Mountain. For film, her credits include Notes on A Scandal. She has created and produced BlackStage UK – an emotional and educational exposé on what it means to be Black in the UK Arts industry, featuring 30 Black and Black mixed-raced workers from across the sector and from all over the UK.

Zuyane Russell is a DJ, and has been involved with carnival since the age of eleven in a variety of roles. In addition to DJing, she has worked as a choreographer, MC, and as a costume designer. Outside the carnival world, Zuyane has a career in law. J’Ouvert marks her professional stage debut.

Rebekah Murrell directs. She is an actor and director from London. She made her professional directing debut with J’Ouvert by Yasmin Joseph which premièred at Theatre503 in 2019. She is currently directing a community project for The Place Theatre in Bedford with the Retired Caribbean Nurses Association, and an audio drama for Audible with students at LAMDA.

J’Ouvert will be adapted for the screen as part of BBC Lights Up, an unprecedented season of plays for BBC radio and TV, produced in partnership with theatres across the UK and continuing BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative. The film will be screened on BBC Four and iPlayer this Spring.

ANNA X

A new play by Joseph Charlton

Cast: Emma Corrin, Nabhaan Rizwan     

Directed by Daniel Raggett; Set and Video Design by Mikaela Liakata and Tal Yarden

Lighting Design by Jessica Hung Han Yun; Sound Design by Mike Winship

Costume Design by Natalie Pryce

Anna. 25. Curator. Retired intern. Previously @RAW magazine. I ♥ art, fashion, NYC.

Ariel. 32. CEO of @GenesisApp. A social and dating network by invitation only. SF-NYC-LDN.

Immersed in an addictive world of front-row fashion shows, private views, and endless parties, Anna and Ariel find themselves struggling to keep up with New York’s dazzling social elite. How far will two outsiders go to construct the identities they want? And at what price?

Golden Globe Award-winner Emma Corrin and Royal Television Society’s 2019 Breakthrough star Nabhaan Rizwan make their West End debuts in this searing tale of self-invention, determination, and deceit. Inspired by real events, ANNA X is a new play by Joseph Charlton, directed by Daniel Raggett which originally ran at the Vault Festival in 2019. 

Joseph Charlton is a multi-award-winning writer from the north east of England. He is currently adapting his play Brilliant Jerks into an eight-part series for the BBC.He worked previously as a journalist.

Emma Corrin makes her professional stage debut playing Anna.For television, her credits include playing Lady Diana Spencer in the award-winning The Crown -for which she recently won a Golden Globeand a SAG nomination, and Pennyworth. For film her credits include Misbehaviour, and the forthcoming My Policeman.

Nabhaan Rizwan plays Ariel. His theatre credits include Little Revolution (Almeida Theatre) and The Undergrowth (Royal Court Theatre). For television his credits include Informer (RTS Breakthrough Award), Industry, The Accident and the forthcoming Station Eleven;and for film, Mogul Mowgli, 1917 and the forthcoming Last Letters From Your Lover.

Daniel Raggett is a director who has worked with theatres including the Young Vic, Headlong, the Almeida and the National Theatre; and as an associate director on productions in the West End and on Broadway. His recent work includes Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice at the Gate (also adapted) and, as associate, All About Eve in the West End and West Side Story and Network on Broadway.

SEE IT SAFELY

The venue has been granted the use of Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre’s See It Safely mark. The mark certifies that they are complying with the latest Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines, to ensure the safety of their staff and audiences. Ticket holders can find out more here [https://officiallondontheatre.com/see-it-safely/] about the measures that have been put in place ahead of their visit, and what they will need to know beforehand.

Listings Information 

RE:EMERGE Season

Harold Pinter Theatre

Panton St, London SW1Y 4DN

Box Office: 0844 871 7622

www.atgtickets.com

TICKETS

Preview tickets from £5 to £44.50

Post press night tickets from £10 to £49.50

Over 600 tickets per week £15 or less

West End star Lara Martins

releases Canção: The Debut Album

The Phantom of the Opera’s longest serving Carlotta, Lara Martins, has released a moving and eclectic debut album, Canção. Featuring 22 songs encompassing tango, Brazilian music and Portuguese fado, Lara celebrates the music of her homeland, Portugal with the grace, expertise and powerful theatricality of an accomplished West End performer.

www.laramartins.com

Instagram: @laramartins19

YouTube: LaraMartins

Facebook: LaraMartins25

Twitter: @LaraMartins_25

Having moved to the UK to study opera at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Lara joined the London company of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera in 2012 and went on to play the role of Carlotta more than 1680 times over six years.

Despite the many Covid-19 restrictions in place and challenges of raising her two young children in lockdown, Lara created Canção in the last year.

An award-winning, experienced international singer, Lara has performed in operas across the world including roles such asthe Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute and Cunegonde in Candide (Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon) to name a select few. Lara’s repertoire reveals a singer with great versatility from Mozart to Sondheim, Donizetti, Richard Strauss, Manuel de Falla, Kurt Weill, Gershwin, Bernstein or Lloyd Webber.

Lara has performed from Russia to Switzerland and from Portugal to the UK including gala concerts at many of the world’s finest opera houses including Opera de Toulon, Opera de Marseille, Opera d’Avignon and the Floral Hall at the Royal Opera House, London.

Canção features songs performed with a piano, cello and bandoneon, giving room and space for Lara’s voice to guide and define the album’s journey. Lara performs stunning fado classics including Trova do Vento Que Passa [“Song of the Passing Wind”], Com Que Voz [“With Which Voice”] and Abandono [“Abandonment”]. Portuguese pianist and composer, Daniel Bernardes composed 2 compositions for Lara Martins on Canção.

Canção features the first complete recording of Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri’s 13 love songs ever made.

Album: CANÇÃO

Artist: Lara Martins

Label: Artway Records

Genres: Tango, Brazilian Music, Classical & Fado

Release Date: January 2021

Liner Notes: https://issuu.com/artwayrecords/docs/_booklet_can__o_final

Lara Martins Online: https://www.laramartins.com

Each song on Canção forms part of a careful selection of important musical and cultural influences on Lara’s career and life, as she says in her own words,

“A reflection of the society in which it is found, this repertoire also represents a collective identity, acting as a link in the intercultural chain. With this principle in mind, and with my own cultural roots as a starting point, I decided to explore the triangle between the Tango (Astor Piazzolla), Brazilian music (Guarnieri) and Fado (three themes which Amália Rodrigues made her own), with the addition of a touch of modernity in the form of two miniatures by Daniel Bernardes.”

Canção was produced by author and musicologist, Tiago Manuel de Hora, co-founder of the Portuguese cultural management company, Artway Culture & Arts which programmes a series of concerts, shows and album recordings for special projects.

CANÇÃO Musicians:

Lara Martins: soprano

Olga Amaro: piano (1-4, 7-19)

Filipe Quaresma: cello (4)

João Gentil: bandoneon (1-4)

Daniel Bernardes: piano (5-6, 20-22)

CANÇÃO Track Listing – Total track time: 54:37

Astor Piazzolla ( 1921-1992)

1. Balada para un Loco (Ballad for a Madman) 5:06

2. Oblivion 3:49

3. Los Pajaros perdidos (The Lost Birds) 3:27

4. Millonga de la anunciación (Millonga of the annunciation) 3:20

Daniel Bernardes (1986 -) Duas miniaturas para Sophia (Two Miniatures for Sophia)

5. I – _Data (Date) 2:42

6. II – _Barco (Boat) 3:33

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (1907 – 1993)

7. Canção do passado (Song of the Past) 1:42

8. Se voce compreendesse (If you understood) 2:03

9. Milagre (Miracle) 1:13

10. Voce (You) 2:26

11. Acalanto do amor feliz (Nurture of a happy love) 1:32

12. Em louvor do silêncio (In Praise of Silence) 1:29

13. Ninguém mais (No-one Else) 1:34

14. Por que (Why?) 1:12

15. Cantiga da tua lembrança (Song of your memory) 1:04

16. Talvez (Maybe) 1:38

17. Segue-me (Follow me) 1:21

18. Canção tímida (A shy song) 1:40

19. Voce nasceu (You were born) 1:36

Alain Oulman (1928-1990)

20. Trova do vento que passa (Song of the Passing Wind) 4:03

21. Com que voz (With which voice) 3:29

22. Abandono (Abandonment) 4:36

Label, Artway Records: www.artway.pt/records

Management: Global artists/ Michael Garret

“THE PRINCE OF EGYPT” TO RESUME PERFORMANCES 1 JULY 2021

GRAMMY® NOMINATED HIT MUSICAL EXTENDS

PUBLIC BOOKING TO 8 JANUARY 2022

THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, the hit musical based on the classic DreamWorks Animation film, will resume performances at London’s Dominion Theatre on Thursday 1 July 2021 with public booking now extended until Saturday 8 January 2022. Tickets will be on sale from 12 noon (GMT) today (Friday 12 March 2021) and are available via www.ThePrinceofEgyptMusical.com

For the safety of audiences and The Prince of Egypt company, and out of an abundance of caution in allowing for delays in the current steps set out in UK Government’s roadmap, performances between Thursday 1 July and Saturday 4 September 2021 will take place under Step 3 protocols (social distancing)*. Performances from Monday 6 September 2021 onwards will operate under Step 4 protocols (all legal limits on social contact removed). The entire epic stage production, complete with its cast and orchestra of almost 60 artists, will be presented in its original form at all performances.

Producers DreamWorks Theatricals, Michael McCabe and Neil Laidlaw said in a joint statement: “Following the latest UK Government guidance on the easing of lockdown restrictions, we are delighted to confirm the return of The Prince of Egypt to the Dominion Theatre from Thursday 1 July 2021. The sheer size of this historic venue allows for full social distancing and, as soon as all legal limits on social contact are removed, we will return to our full audience capacity at the earliest opportunity. In re-opening, we are proud to re-unite our exceptional company and provide employment again for 149 uniquely talented individuals. We’d like to thank each and every one of them for their unwavering commitment and resilience during this difficult time for everyone in our industry. We look forward to telling this beloved story once again and experiencing the euphoric reactions that we were privileged to receive from audiences in 2020.”

The acclaimed Original Cast Recording of The Prince of Egypt received a 2021 Grammy® Award nomination for `Best Musical Theatre Album’. Released by Ghostlight Records and available onCD, digital and streaming formats, the album is produced by Dominick Amendum and Stephen Schwartz, with Kurt Deutsch serving as Executive Producer.

Journey through the wonders of Ancient Egypt as two young men, raised together as brothers in a kingdom of privilege, find themselves suddenly divided by a secret past. One must rule as Pharaoh, the other must rise up and free his true people; both face a destiny that will change history forever.

The cast of 43 is led by: Luke Brady (Moses), Liam Tamne (Ramses), Christine Allado (Tzipporah), Alexia Khadime (Miriam), Joe Dixon (Seti), Debbie Kurup (Tuya), Mercedesz Csampai (Yocheved), Adam Pearce (Hotep), Tanisha Spring (Nefertari) and Silas Wyatt-Barke (Aaron). Cast subject to change.

The Prince of Egypt has music and lyrics by Grammy® and Academy Award®-winner Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell), a book by Philip LaZebnik (Mulan, Pocahontas) and features 10 brand new songs written by Stephen Schwartz, together with 5 of his acclaimed songs from the DreamWorks Animation film (Deliver Us, All I Ever Wanted, Through Heaven’s Eyes, The Plagues and the Academy Award®-winning When You Believe, which was a global hit for Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey).

The Prince of Egypt is directed by Scott Schwartz with choreography by Sean Cheesman;set designs by Kevin Depinet; costume designs by Ann Hould-Ward; lighting design by Mike Billings; sound design by Gareth Owen; projection designs by Jon Driscoll; illusions by Chris Fisher; wigs, hair and makeup design by Campbell Young Associates; orchestrations by August Eriksmoen; musical supervision and arrangements by Dominick Amendum; musical direction by Dave Rose; casting by Jim Arnold CDG and children’s casting by Verity Naughton CDG.

The Prince of Egypt is produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (a division of Universal Theatrical Group), Michael McCabe and Neil Laidlaw together with John Gore, Tom Smedes and Peter Stern, Ramin Sabi, The Araca Group, James L. Nederlander and Michael Park.

A milestone in cinematic achievement, the classic DreamWorks Animation film has been captivating audiences across the world for more than two decades. It has been hailed as “one of the greatest animated films of all time” (Evening Standard) and “a stunning film” (The Guardian).

#  #  #

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube: @PrinceOfEgyptUK

Official website: www.ThePrinceofEgyptMusical.com 

*Please note: Should the Government timeline change, or be delayed for any reason, the schedule will be adjusted as necessary to ensure that all performances can continue safely under Step 3 protocols. Should all legal limits on social contact be lifted on or before Thursday 1 July 2021, then performances will operate according to Step 4 protocols at the earliest opportunity. 

LAMBERT JACKSON ANNOUNCE

JOHN OWEN-JONES: CELEBRATING HIS 50^TH BIRTHDAY AT CADOGAN HALL AND LIVE-STREAMED

Lambert Jackson today announce John Owen-Jones: Celebrating his 50^th Birthday, a special one-off concert to mark this milestone. Featuring some of John’s favourite songs with a 5-piece band, the concert is performed live at Cadogan Hall with a socially distanced audience, and is also available to live-stream via Vimeo on Saturday 19 June 2021, 5pm.

John Owen-Jones said today, “It’s been well over a year since I last performed a solo show to a live audience and I’m really excited about getting back on stage and performing at one of my favourite venues in London, the gorgeous Cadogan Hall. It’s going to be a great night. What a way to celebrate the big five oh!”

Jamie Lambert and Eliza Jackson, CEO and Creative Director of Lambert Jackson, also commented, “John is one of the greatest performers of our time and to be able to celebrate his 50^th birthday with a performance to both live and streamed audiences all around the world is such a fabulous way to mark this milestone for John.”

John Owen-Jones’ theatre credits include Les Miserables (West End/Broadway – he remains the youngest actor in history to have played Jean Valjean) and The Phantom of the Opera (West End – he has played The Phantom more than any actor in the show’s West End history); and was a special guest in both the Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary concerts. He has performed in concert all over the world in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, London, Carnegie Hall, New York and the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow. He has released six solo albums: Hallelujah (2006), John Owen-Jones (2009), Unmasked (2011), Rise (2015), Bring Him Home (2017) and his most recent album Spotlight was released in 2019 and featured The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Twitter: @johnowenjones

Instagram: @johnowenjonesofficial

Facebook: John Owen Jones Official

JOHN OWEN-JONES: CELEBRATING HIS 50^TH BIRTHDAY LISTINGS

Saturday 19 June at 5pm

Box Office: 020 7730 4500

John Owen-Jones 2021 concert ticket

Tickets:

In person: from £35

Livestream: from £20

VIP option available which includes an after-show meet and greet with a Q&A and exclusive intimate performance by John Owen Jones.

PW PRODUCTIONS

ANNOUNCE

A NEW STAGE PRODUCTION OF

THE INVISIBLE MAN

CREATED BY DERREN BROWN

WRITTEN BY BARNEY NORRIS

Theatre producer PW Productions are delighted to announce they are currently developing a new stage production of The Invisible Man, created by the Bafta Award-winning Derren Brown and written by the award-winning Barney Norris. The plan is to premiere the new production in the Autumn of 2022 with theatre and booking details to be announced soon.

Joint CEO’s of PW Productions, Peter Wilson and Iain Gillie said today “Since our first meeting with Derren Brown in 2019, we’ve been really excited about this project. We know that in the hands of Derren and Barney Norris, it is going to be a completely compelling and thrilling piece of theatre.”

DAVID SOUL TO STREAM 
THE PASSION & POETRY OF PABLO NERUDA
A celebration of poetry and music
Streaming on 21 April 2021 at 8pm Available on demand until 28 April 2021

Marking 50 years since Chile’s best-loved poet Pablo Neruda was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, actor David Soul (Starsky & Hutch) returns to the stage with The Passion & Poetry of Pablo Neruda – a celebration of Neruda’s work read by Soul with music performed by guitarist Hugh Burns and violinist Lizzie Ball. The production will be filmed ‘as live’ with multiple cameras at the Crazy Coqs in London, for global streaming on 21 April at 8pm and available on demand until 28 April 2021. Tickets go on sale at 10am today.

Lauded by fellow Chilean and Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez as ‘the greatest poet of the twentieth century, in any language’ Pablo Neruda was an adventurous and passionate lover of life. Champion of the working man, journalist, diplomat, senator, lover of nature, women and words, Neruda wrote as voraciously as he lived. 

The Passion & Poetry of Pablo Neruda takes the audience on a journey through Neruda’s life and works, presenting twenty poems from 1924 spanning five decades – from his books ‘Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair’, ‘Residence on Earth’, ‘Odes to Common Things, ‘Canto General’, ‘Book of Vagaries’, ‘Isla Negra’ and Soul’s personal favourite, ‘The Captain’s Verses’.

The beauty and sensuality of Neruda’s love poetry, the magnificent power of his epic poetry, the celebration of all things ordinary and his fierce passion for social justice, all testify to the complex life of a man whose body of work remains as relevant and vital today as it ever was.  

Soul says: “I wasn’t a great fan of poetry, but then I was given a copy of Neruda’s ‘The Captain’s Verses’ and the simplicity, the power and the passion of his words so reflected my own life and dreams. I fell in love with what poetry can be and with Neruda’s writing. It’s a privilege to perform his work on stage and we are thrilled to have this chance to stream the show to a global audience.”

Soul and Burns first performed the poetry of Pablo Neruda at Latitude Festival in 2010. Inspired by the reception, The Passion & Poetry of Pablo Neruda was born and has since played at Belfast’s Out to Lunch Arts Festival, the West Cork Literary Festival, The Watermill Theatre, Newbury and St James Theatre in London. 

Neruda’s poetry is introduced and read by David Soul with Hugh Burns on guitar and Lizzie Ball on violin, with music direction by Hugh Burns, sound by Roy Dodds, set by Trevor Howsam and literary consultant and Pablo Neruda’s biographer, Adam Feinstein. Filmed and edited for streaming by Adam Docker at Red Earth Studios with support from Tom Sochas for Fane. Presented by Kindling Productions Ltd in association with Fane Productions Ltd.

Tickets are available at www.fane.co.uk/david-soul from 10am today.  

FIRST LOOK AT NEW MUSICAL FILM IN PIECES WITH TICKETS NOW ON SALE

Future Spotlight Productions today announce that tickets are now on sale for the feature film of new musical In Pieces by Joey Contreras. The film will be available online 23 – 26 April. Tickets are available at https://www.stream.theatre/season/83, and are £15 with 20% of ticket sales going to the LGBT Foundation.

Also released today, a first look at the film with a clip of the song Love Wildly, performed by Jordan Luke Gage.

In Pieces is directed by Louis Rayneau, and stars Kyle Birch (Austyn), Amy Di Bartolomeo (Alex), Hiba Elchikhe (Sam), Jordan Luke Gage (Grey), Ross Harmon (Charlie), Beccy Lane (Jael), Danielle Steers (River), and Luke Street (Hunter), with Erin Bell, Millie Cranston, Jack Dargan, Megan Cerys Holland, Rhianna Richards, and Jason Leigh Winter as the ensemble.

Our love lives are constantly in pieces.  Shifting in and out of feeling fully complete. But you never know how a single spark one day can unlock a new you, so we make a choice at the crossroad, we say yes to the coffee date, and wherever that leads, we learn to embrace the journey.

Originally presented at Lincoln Center the new musical threads Contreras’ musical theatre and pop catalogue into a theatrical setting, exploring the universal search for clarity and empowerment through different kinds of relationships.

Assistant Director is Steph Parry, choreography is by Rachel Sargent, Edward Court is Musical Director, and Fabio Santos is Videographer, with Sound Design by Zachary Woodman.

In Pieces

Listings

23 – 26 April, 7.30pm

24 April and 25 April, 2.30pm

Captions are available for all performances

https://www.stream.theatre/season/83

BBC ‘LIGHTS UP’ TO PRESENT THE WORLD PREMIERE OF ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY’S THE WINTER’S TALE ADAPTED FOR THE SCREEN

BBC ARTS ANNOUNCES FURTHER COMMISSIONS OF PLAYS NEWLY ADAPTED FOR TV AND RADIO AS PART OF LIGHTS UP; A MAJOR THEATRE FESTIVAL OF 18 NEW WORKS PRODUCED AND PRESENTED WITH THEATRES ACROSS THE COUNTRY AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF NATIONAL LOCKDOWN

BBC Lights Up

March/April 2021

Across television, radio, iPlayer and Sounds

• For the first time in its history, a Royal Shakespeare Company production – The Winter’s Tale, directed by Erica Whyman – gets its world premiere on BBC television.

• The film adaptation of The Winter’s Tale will be screened on BBC Four in April, coinciding with the month of Shakespeare’s birthday.

• New TV plays include Yasmin Joseph’s J’Ouvert, winner of the James Tait Black Drama Prize, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and filmed at the Harold Pinter Theatre where it plays as part of SFP’s RE:EMERGE season; and Orpheus in the Record Shop, a collaboration between Opera North and Leeds Playhouse, adapted for the screen.

• New radio plays include The Meaning Of Zong, the debut play written by Olivier Award-winning actor, star of the original UK cast of Hamilton, Giles Terera; Stripe By Stripe And Other Stories from National Theatre Wales; Braids from Live Theatre, Newcastle; Dedication from Nuffield Theatre, Southampton; Welcome To Iran from National Theatre Stratford East; Folk from Hampstead Theatre starring Simon Russell Beale.

• Cast announced for Nick Payne plays on Radio 3: Constellations will star Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle, Black Mirror) and George Mackay (1917); Elegy will star Juliet Stevenson (Out Of Her Mind, Bend It Like Beckham), Deborah Findlay (The Lady In The Van) and Marilyn Nnadebe (I May Destroy You).

• Continuing Culture in Quarantine, BBC Arts comes together with theatres across the UK in an unprecedented celebration of British theatre, bringing eighteen newly-recorded staged productions to audiences across television, radio, iPlayer and BBC Sounds, as we approach the anniversary of theatre closures due to lockdown.

• Together with the Unprecedented drama series released last year, as well as filmed live theatre acquisitions from the RSC, Northern Ballet, Sadler’s Wells and many more, Lights Up marks out BBC Four as the biggest supporter of theatre during lockdown of any British broadcaster.

BBC Arts today announces more plays adapted for the screen and radio as part of Lights Up; a festival of UK theatre that brings together productions that were either closed, or never even opened to the public, due to Covid-19. Continuing its Culture in Quarantine initiative – bringing arts and culture into the nation’s homes – BBC Arts has partnered with theatres across the country to produce this unprecedented season of plays for audiences at home.

Tuesday 16 March marks the anniversary of theatres having to close exactly a year ago, with many productions that were years in the making never reaching the stage. These include the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Winter’s Tale. The play was scheduled to run in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Summer 2020 then on tour, but was postponed due to the pandemic. Now, The Winter’s Tale – as well as J’Ouvert from Sonia Friedman Productions and Orpheus In The Record Shop from Opera North and Leeds Playhouse – will be adapted for television as part of BBC Lights Up.

Lights Up begins tomorrow with the broadcast of Stripe By Stripe And Other Stories on Radio 4, produced in collaboration with National Theatre Wales (Saturday 13 March). Next weekend, Olivier Award-winning actor Giles Terera stars alongside Samuel West in his own debut play The Meaning of Zong, about the notorious massacre aboard the slave ship Zong in 1781, on Radio 3 (Sunday 21 March). Lights Up continues throughout March and April, a festival celebrating the breadth of UK theatre.

Jonty Claypole, Director of BBC Arts said: “A few months ago, we asked theatres and producers across the UK to come up with ideas for a virtual theatre festival to be staged in lockdown. The result is BBC Lights Up: eighteen new productions for television, radio and online. They bring together household names with groundbreaking new talent. They are joyful, moving, funny, poetic and, in many cases, probing and provocative plays. Most of all, they are astonishingly innovative. Each theatre and producer responded to the challenge in their own way, pushing the boundaries of what theatre can be when there is no audience in the room. Audiences will, hopefully, be able to return to theatres again in a few months, but in the meantime BBC Lights Up celebrates the creativity and resilience of UK theatre in a time of adversity.”

Erica Whyman, RSC Deputy Artistic Director and director of The Winter’s Tale, said: “This company of actors and creatives started work on this production in January 2020 and stopped 12 months ago just days from getting it on to the stage.  All the way through the pandemic we have believed that we will one day complete the work, but only recently did we understand how different it would be from what we had rehearsed last year.  We have worked with strict safety measures, including bubbles and social distancing, and we have developed some ingenious ways of interacting with the cameras whilst, we hope, preserving our relationship with the glorious Royal Shakespeare Theatre – but the greatest change is in ourselves.  This is a play about power, about family, about truth and trust and it is a play in which touch is incredibly important – so we are acutely aware of its increased resonance in our lives now. I am delighted that The Winter’s Tale is part of the BBC’s inspirational Lights Up season giving new life to productions from all over the UK that so sadly had to be cancelled or postponed.  It is a privilege to have the chance to make this production for BBC audiences and to be reminded of Shakespeare’s compassion for lives changed forever.”

The newly-commissioned plays are:

• BBC Four and iPlayer: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s new production of The Winter’s Tale, which never opened on stage due to Covid-19, is adapted for the screen. Set across a 16-year span from the 1953 coronation to the moon landings, this new production imagines a world where the ghosts of fascist Europe collide with horrors of The Handmaid’s Tale, before washing up on a joyful seashore. King Leontes rips his family apart with his jealousy but grief opens his heart. Will he find the child he abandoned before it is too late? A moving new production directed by RSC Deputy Artistic Director Erica Whyman.

• BBC Four and iPlayer: A new production of J’Ouvert, the debut play of Yasmin Joseph and directorial debut of actor Rebekah Murrell (Nine Night, National Theatre, Trafalgar Studios), was first produced at Theatre503 in a co-production with Bad Breed and Tobi Kyeremateng. Winner of the James Tait Black Drama Prize, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, J’Ouvert was filmed on stage at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End where it forms part of SFP’s RE:EMERGE season, a collection of new plays with artistic direction from Ian Rickson, supported by Arts Council England.

• BBC Four and iPlayer: Acclaimed rapper and playwright Testament (Black Men Walking, The Beatboxer) takes inspiration from the classical Greek myth of Orpheus, in Orpheus In The Record Shop, a show that fuses spoken word and beatboxing with classical music played live by seven members of the Orchestra of Opera North.

• Radio 3 and Sounds: Olivier Award-winning actor Giles Terera stars alongside Samuel West in The Meaning Of Zong, his debut play about the notorious massacre aboard the slave ship Zong in 1781, and how uncovering its story galvanised the growing Abolition movement in the UK. This collaboration between Bristol Old Vic and Jonx Productions brings to BBC Radio 3 an audio production of this inspirational new stage play, developed by Bristol Old Vic and the National Theatre, directed by Tom Morris and produced by Jonquil Panting.

• Radio 3 and Sounds: Simon Russell Beale stars as musician and famous collector of English folk songs, Cecil Sharp, in Folk, a new play by Nell Leyshon originally commissioned by Hampstead Theatre and postponed due to the pandemic, on Radio 3.

• Radio 4 and Sounds: In Stripe By Stripe And Other Stories, Rakie Ayola reads a selection of Leonora Brito’s perceptive and spirited short stories about life, love and family from the point of view of Black and mixed race women from Cardiff Docks and beyond. These stories were originally performed live online in three parts, over three nights in February 2021, as a National Theatre Wales production called Dat’s Love & Other Stories.

• Radio 4 and Sounds: Braids, in collaboration with Live Theatre, Newcastle, is a new play about fitting in and standing out. Abeni is new to college and Durham. She’s putting purple braids in local girl, Jasmine’s hair and giving her ‘the talk’, opening Jasmine’s mind to new ways of seeing the world – and the world seeing both of them.

• Radio 4 and Sounds: After 60 years of production The Nuffield Theatre in Southampton closed its doors due to Covid-19. We mark the venue’s great contribution to regional theatre with a production of Nick Dear’s Dedication, which he wrote for the Theatre in 2016 – a year dedicated to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

• Radio 3 and Sounds: In Welcome To Iran, playwright and Artistic director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, Nadia Fall, draws on real-life interviews and testimonials as well as imagined characters to construct a tender and witty snapshot of culture and life in modern Iran.

These newly-announced plays join the line-up of theatre for Lights Up announced earlier in the year. These include the TV adaptations of Sitting, the debut play of BAFTA Award-winning actor Katharine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Home I’m Darling) in which she also stars; Sadie the searing new play from former Lyric Belfast artist in residence David Ireland; four one woman plays – Pale Sister written by celebrated author Colm Tóibín for Lisa Dwan (Bloodlands) directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, Half Breed created and performed by Natasha Marshall, Buttercup written and performed by Liverpool-Congolese multidisciplinary artist Dorcas Sebuyange, and Harm a new play from British playwright Phoebe Eclair-Powell about the corrosive effect of social media and isolation; The National Theatre of Scotland’s multi award-winning stage play Adam, inspired by the life of Adam Kashmiry who plays the role of Adam, in the story of a young transgender man and his journey to reconciliation.

Lights Up radio plays previously announced are New Perspectives Theatre Company’s award-winning production of The Fishermenby Chigozie Obioma, adapted by Gbolahan Obisesan; a double-bill of Nick Payne’s award-winning stage plays Constellations and Elegy. 

RSC ANNOUNCES BBC BROADCAST OF THE WINTER’S TALE & LIVE THEATRE RETURNS TO STRATFORD

• BBC FOUR TO BROADCAST RSC’S THE WINTER’S TALE IN APRIL AS PART OF THE BBC’S LIGHTS UP SEASON
  
• AUDIENCES RETURN TO STRATFORD WITH OUTDOOR PRODUCTION OF THE COMEDY OF ERRORS IN SPECIALLY CONSTRUCTED GARDEN THEATRE

With the one-year anniversary of theatres being forced to close in sight, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is pleased to announce that audiences will now get the chance to see The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors, two of its postponed 2020 major Shakespeare productions.

A filmed version of The Winter’s Tale, directed by Erica Whyman, RSC Deputy Artistic Director, will be broadcast on BBC Four around Shakespeare’s birthday in April (transmission date TBC), and will then be available on BBC iPlayer.  The Winter’s Tale film adaptation forms part of BBC Lights Up, an unprecedented season of plays for BBC TV and radio, produced in partnership with theatres across the UK and continuing BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative. The RSC will also stream the production to Subscribers, Members and Patrons based outside the UK following the BBC broadcast.

In the Summer the RSC will restart live performances in Stratford-upon-Avon for in-person audiences, opening with an outdoor production of The Comedy of Errors, directed by Phillip Breen. The Company will stage the production in the Garden Theatre, a specially constructed outdoor performance space located in the Swan Gardens, flanked by the River Avon and overlooked by the Swan Theatre.  A full performance schedule and Box Office details for The Comedy of Errors and further programming will be announced in mid-April.

Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors were both due to begin performances in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in March and April 2020 respectively, and were preparing to open when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.  The 2021 productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors are both sponsored by Darwin Escapes.

Directed by Erica Whyman and featuring the entire cast due to appear in the postponed 2020 production, The Winter’s Tale has been re-rehearsed adhering to strict safety measures. It has been adapted for the television broadcast by the original creative team, with screen direction by Bridget Caldwell. Set across a 16-year span from the 1953 coronation to the moon landings, this production imagines a world where the ghosts of fascist Europe collide with horrors reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale, before washing up on a joyful seashore. With set design by Tom Piper, costumes by Madeleine Girling, and music by Isobel Waller-Bridge, the cast includes Ben Caplan as Camillo, Andrew French as Polixenes, Amanda Hadingue as Paulina, Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Hermione and Joseph Kloska as Leontes.

Phillip Breen will reconceive The Comedy of Errors, one of Shakespeare’s earliest and arguably funniest plays, for outdoor performances to open the newly created Garden Theatre.  Phillip’s previous RSC directorial credits include The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Provoked Wife and The Hypocrite.  The production is designed by Max Jones.  Full casting and creative team details, alongside further details about the Garden Theatre, will be announced in April.

Gregory Doran, RSC Artistic Director, said:

“As we approach the anniversary of the temporary closure of theatres due to the pandemic, it is fantastic to announce future plans and look ahead to audiences returning to Stratford in the summer.

“Our doors closed as The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors were preparing to open.  Both productions will now be seen by audiences one year on – The Winter’s Tale on screen into people’s homes via BBC Four and BBC iPlayer, and The Comedy of Errors opening our new Garden Theatre, where audiences can return to Stratford and see Shakespeare in the open air.

“It has been an incredibly tough year for all in the industry, including our freelance colleagues who make this industry tick.  Despite having to postpone and cancel productions, we have continued to share Shakespeare online and outdoors, and support young people and teachers throughout the pandemic.

“These have and will continue to be challenging times, but we look forward with optimism.  The outdoor theatre gives us the security that we can perform to good sized audiences as we emerge from the pandemic and prepare for news on the government roadmap’s ‘no earlier than’ dates.

“We’ve had extraordinary support, generosity and patience from our supporters and audiences, which has been a great source of encouragement as we have navigated the ups and downs of the year. Alongside our colleagues across the industry, we will play our part in the recovery of our towns and cities and the wellbeing of our communities, and we cannot wait to welcome audiences back”.

Erica Whyman, RSC Deputy Artistic Director and director of The Winter’s Tale said:

“The Winter’s Tale is the most perfect play to be rehearsing as we begin to believe in recovery.  It speaks with profound insight of the abuse of power, of the need for truth and justice, of the central importance of family, and of how long it can take a nation to forgive and to heal.  Then it transports us across ‘a wide gap of time’ to a place of joy, of community, of love and reconciliation.  We have been working on this play for 15 months – with our own wide gaps – and we have learned so much about what the play means.  It is now filled with our collective understanding of what it is to find our world suddenly stopped in its tracks, and of Shakespeare’s compassion for lives changed forever.  It is a huge privilege to be bringing it back to life at last.”

Jonty Claypole, BBC Director of Arts, said:

“BBC Lights Up is a major broadcast season celebrating the creativity and resilience of UK theatre in its darkest hour.  It’s that seemingly impossible thing: a theatre festival in the midst of a pandemic, consisting of eighteen original productions from theatres and producers right across the UK.  Central to that mission is the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Winter’s Tale.  The plans the Company has – with a cast and creative team second to none – are astonishingly ambitious. In their hands, Shakespeare’s late masterpiece about hope and renewal will speak directly to a country emerging from the worst winter in living memory.”

IS NOW A GOOD TIME?

BRAND NEW INTERACTIVE TELEPHONE PLAY

OPENING AT THE TOBACCO FACTORY IN BRISTOL AHEAD OF A UK TOUR

IS NOW A GOOD TIME?, a brand new interactive piece of theatre conducted entirely over the phone, will premiere on 17 March from Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatres, and then tour venues around the UK from 22 March until 29 May. 

Audiences can experience the show via landline, mobile or internet call, either individually or as a group/family in the same household. Each performance consists of four calls, with short breaks between each one, and the show time varies slightly based on group size but will not exceed one hour.

Hello?

It’s Sam from Red Onion Research.

Is Now A Good Time?

How many hats do you own?

Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

Are your first impressions of someone usually accurate?

The play begins as a (fictitious) marketing survey – but it soon transpires that something else is afoot. Calls come alternately from Sam or Alex, two colleagues at the call centre who have more in common the either of them realise – if only you can help them figure out what that is…

Touching on the corporate world’s voracious appetite for consumer tastes and preferences, while exploring themes of connection, isolation and what it means to live in the moment, the play unfolds as a gently interactive romance that hangs on its audience’s every word without ever putting them on the spot.

Devised by Adam Barnard, Paul O’Mahony and Laura Mugridge, IS NOW A GOOD TIME? is an Out of Chaos production that has been supported through seed funding from Farnham Maltings and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s development programme ‘Making Theatre for Extraordinary Times’ and is presented in association with house, supported by a grant from Arts Council England.