GRAND OPERA HOUSE YORK

THE OLIVIER AWARD WINNING COMEDY
ANNOUNCES FULL CASTING

FOR YET ANOTHER CALAMITOUS UK TOUR

The Play That Goes Wrong, the Olivier Award-winning box office hit, today announces full casting for its 2021 UK Tour. The touring cast presents: Tom Babbage (Max), Tom Bulpett (Chris), Seán Carey (Jonathan), Leonard Cook (Robert), Edward Howells (Dennis), April Hughes (Sandra), Laura Kirman (Annie), Gabriel Paul (Trevor), with understudies: Katie Hitchcock, Damien James, Edi De Melo and Aisha Numah.

Following three previously sold out tours, the production will open on Tuesday 13 July 2021 at Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury where it first premiered in 2014, before visiting Cheltenham, Bath, Exeter, Salford, Nottingham, Eastbourne, Dartford, York, Woking, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Brighton and Aylesbury. Further dates soon to be announced.

Winning multiple awards including the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and a Tony Award for the Broadway transfer, The Play That Goes Wrongis now in its seventh year in the West End and has become a global phenomenon with productionsin over 35 countries and across 6 continents. The show’s success is a testament to the hard work and determination of a group of drama school graduates who became friends, set up a company under the name ‘Mischief’ and created an extraordinary body of work. The Play That Goes Wrong shows no signs of slowing down since its first performance at a London fringe venue with only four paying customers. Since then, it has played to an audience of over two million worldwide.

The play features the (fictional) Cornley Drama Society who are putting on a 1920s murder mystery, ‘The Murder at Haversham Manor’, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong … does! As the accident prone thesps battle against all the odds to reach their final curtain call, hilarious results ensue!

Mischief’s other West End successes include Peter Pan Goes Wrong, A Comedy About A Bank Robbery, Groan Ups, Mischief Movie Night and Magic Goes Wrong. Their hugely successful six-part TV Series, The Goes Wrong Show, aired in the UK on BBC ONE and on Amazon Prime Video in the US, Canada and Australia. The show received a 2020 TV Choice Award nomination for Best Comedy and a second series commission for a 2020 Christmas special, The Nativity. Series two is currently in production.

The Play That Goes Wrong is co-written by Mischief company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. The tour is directed by Sean Turner, originally directed by Mark Bell, with set designs by Nigel Hook, costumes by Roberto Surace, lighting by Ric Mountjoy and sound design by Andrew Johnson. Resident Director Hannah Sharkey. The Play That Goes Wrong is produced by Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence Ltd.  Mischief’s tours are produced by Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence Ltd.

DOUBLE BILL OF HEARTACHE AND HUMOUR WITH STELLAR WHITE BEAR CAST…

The White Bear Theatre in Kennington presents GAY GENERATIONS, an exciting double bill of brand new one act plays by Michael McManus (writer of Maggie & Ted) and Charlie Ross MacKenzie (stand-up comedian, author and broadcaster).  Features a stellar cast…

Daniel Cornish: Maggie & Ted (Garrick Theatre) and The Good Scout (Above The Stag); Brandon Gale: Saturday Night Fever, UK and International Tourand Eugenius (London Palladium); Dickon Farmar: About 500 (The Barbican) and Holding The Man (Brockley Jack) and Ed O’Connor who makes his professional London stage début, star in A Certain Term by Michael McManus and I F****n Love You with the play’s writer, Charlie Ross MacKenzie.

There will be a Fundraising Gala night with Special Guest Peter Tatchell on Friday 27^th August at 7:00pm.  Funds raised will go towards making sure the actors are paid fairly for their work.  There will be a drinks reception, knockout prizes and a Q&A with Peter Tatchell and the writers.

A Certain Term by Michael McManus, is a deeply moving piece focusing on an earlier pandemic – the HIV-AIDS pandemic.  I F****n Love You by Charlie Ross MacKenzie is a light-hearted piece about the perils of overthinking in bed at night; after all, sleep is difficult when you are prone to overthinking things!

Introducing the cast…..

DANIEL CORNISH (Joe, “A Certain Term”)

Trained at Guildford School of Acting.  Theatre includes: Maggie and Ted (Garrick Theatre); Will Parrish in The Good Scout (Above the Stag – nomination for an Off West End Award for “Male Performance in a Play”) and The Little Prince (Vienna’s English Theatre). Television includes: Doctors (BBC). Other credits include: short film Headache alongside actress Kate Duchêne; a rehearsed reading of Fragments by Ian Hallard and an online production of After You by Brendan Murray, as part of Hog In the Limelight’s lockdown series. Daniel is thrilled finally to be back on stage and sharing the space with other actors and a real audience.

BRANDON GALE (Simon, “I F****in Love You”)

Trained at Arts Educational Schools. Theatre includes: Tainted – A New Musical (Workshop, White Bear Theatre); Saturday Night Fever (UK & International Tour); Madagascar The Musical (UK Tour); When Harry Met Barry (Above the Stag); Eugenius (London Palladium).  Television: The Royals (E! Network).

DICKON FARMAR (Graham, “A Certain Term”)

Dickon has previously appeared in About 500 at the Barbican; Holding The Man at The Brockley Jack; Travels Around My Room at the Tower Theatre. Other roles include: Henry Higgins in Pygmalion; Scullery in Road; Gideon in Table; Thomas Cromwell Wolf Hall – both in London and at the Minack Theatre; Ken Harrison in Whose Life is it Anyway?” and Krogstad in A Doll’s House. He has also appeared in the commercial for Look after My Bills, as the lead in the band Autoheart’s music video for “My Hallelujah” and the short films: The Wind Cries, Wimmelbuch and Dashing Through the Snow.

ED O’CONNOR (Robert, “A Certain Term”)

Originally from Cambridgeshire, Edward, 22, has just graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and is delighted to be making his professional début with this exceptional piece of new writing.

CHARLIE ROSS MACKENZIE (Adrian and writer – “I F****n Love You”)

Charlie Ross MacKenzie is a stand-up comedian, writer and broadcaster. He has written and performed in numerous well-received shows, which have been performed at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival and on tour. He has frequently presented programmes for BBC Radio Scotland, including co-presenting the award-winning Macaulay And Co with broadcasting legend Fred MacAulay. His book Smiles and Tribulations: A Comedian’s Tale was published in 2010. He has also written for BBC TV’s River City. I F****n Love You is his first play, and he is delighted to present it at the White Bear Theatre.

This double bill was originally scheduled to be staged in March 2020 but fell prey to the pandemic. In the interim, both plays have been given successful rehearsed performances on Zoom.

A Certain Term will be directed by Bryan Hodgson – Tommy on Top (Above the Stag); Elegies for Angels, Punks & Raging Queens (Union Theatre – Off West End nomination for Best Director), and Salad Days (Union Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal & UK Tour).  I F****n Love You will be directed by Oliver McFadden – (Fugue/Chapters Unveiled, The Story Machine, Mary’s Works, Norwich; Sexual Fears of a Modern Day Virgin (Lantern Theatre, ACT Brighton and Greenside Infirmary).

Michael McManus (Writer – “A Certain Term” & Director – “I F****in Love You”)

Michael’s first play, An Honourable Man, had two successful runs at the White Bear in 2018, and has been published by Playdead Press. His second, Maggie and Ted, had a sell-out trial week at the White Bear in October 2019. In June this year it had two sold-out nights at the Garrick Theatre and it will now run for a full week at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, from 12^th -16^th October. With co-writer Charlie Ross Mackenzie, musical director Matt Malone and director Bryan Hodgson, Michael has also been working on a new musical featuring the songs of Marc Almond and Soft Cell, which had a successful showcase at The Vaults in London in October 2018 (produced by Michael). He made his professional stage début at the White Bear in September 2020, playing the legendary actor-manager Sir Donald Wolfit in his new play (written during the first lockdown) The Trial of Donald Wolfit. A Certain Term, his third play, was just going into rehearsal in March 2020 for a one-week run at the White Bear Theatre, when the first lockdown began.

Performance dates and times are as follows:

Tuesday 24 August, 7.15pm
Wednesday 25 August, 7.15pm
Thursday 26 August, 7.15pm
Friday 27 August – Special Gala Performance at 7:00pm
Saturday 28 August – 2.30pm and 7.15pm

The double bill, including interval, is expected to last around 2 hours in total.

Please note that the White Bear Theatre continues to operate as a COVID-secure venue, with reduced capacity, a free-flow air system that constantly brings in clean, fresh air from outside, paper-free ticketing and temperature checks at the door. You will be requested to wear a mask throughout both plays.

Tickets are available now, via this link:
www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk Please come – it’ll make you laugh and cry, maybe even at the same time!

Standard Tickets: £18 (£12 concessions)
Special Gala Performance: £50.  Ticket price includes a wine reception, unique raffle prizes and a special, post-show Q&A with the creative team and special guest of honour Peter Tatchell.
Ticket Bookings: www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk
Box Office: 0333 012 4963
Address: 138 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4DJ
Social Media
Twitter: @gaygenerations1
Facebook: @WhiteBearTheatre

FIRST LOOK: Rehearsal Images for BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical

BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical is directed by Tony Award-winning director John Rando (Urinetown, On The Town) and stars Roger Bart (Desperate Housewives, Stepford Wives, The Producers) as ‘Doctor Emmett Brown’, Olly Dobson as ‘Marty McFly’, Hugh Coles as ‘George McFly’, Rosanna Hyland as ‘Lorraine Baines’ and Cedric Neal as ‘Goldie Wilson’.

Based on the Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment film, BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical has a book by Bob Gale, featuring 16 new songs with music and lyrics by Emmy and Grammy Award-winning Alan Silvestri and six-time Grammy Award-winning Glen Ballard, with additional songs from the film including The Power of Love and Johnny B. Goode.

Performances will begin on 20 August

Picture credit Sean Ebsworth Barnes

The National Theatre adds Hansard and Treasure Island to streaming platform National Theatre at Home  

 

The National Theatre has today announced the latest productions to be made available on its streaming platform, National Theatre at Home. Launching today are two National Theatre productions: Hansard, Simon Woods’ witty and devastating play, directed by Simon Godwin (Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night); and Treasure Island, adapted by Bryony Lavery (Frozen, Kursk) from the iconic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and directed by Polly Findlay (Antigone, Beginning). New productions are added each month and since launching in December 2020, there are now 28 productions available to stream on the platform.  

Simon Woods’ thrilling debut playHansard features two-time Olivier Award winners, Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings, as Tory politician Robin Hesketh and his wife of 30 years, Diana, on one summer’s morning in 1988. Hansard premiered in the NT’s Lyttelton theatre in August 2019 and was broadcast to cinemas that November. This is the first time it will be available on demand for audiences worldwide.  

Treasure Island features Olivier Award-winner Patsy Ferran (Summer and Smoke) as Jim and Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who, Broadchurch) as Long John Silver in this rip-roaring adventure for the whole family. Treasure Island premiered in the NT’s Olivier theatre in December 2014 and was broadcast to cinemas in February 2015. The production was available to watch as part of the National Theatre at Home’s YouTube streams in April 2020.  

Also launching today: Chewing Gum Dreams, the semi-autobiographical one-woman play by Michaela Coel, and The Old Vic and Headlong’s production of All My Sons with Sally Field and Bill Pullman, will now be streaming on the platform with audio-description to support blind and partially sighted audiences worldwide. There are now 17 National Theatre at Home titles available with audio-description. All productions on National Theatre at Home are available with captions.  

  

National Theatre at Home is available at ntathome.com, with single titles available from £5.99 – £8.99, a monthly subscription for £9.99 or a yearly subscription for £99.99.  

Bloomberg Philanthropies is Headline Sponsor of National Theatre at Home.  

National Theatre at Home is also supported by The Linbury Trust.  

   

#NationalTheatreatHome        

Hansard 

It’s 1988 and Tory politician Robin Hesketh has returned home to the idyllic Cotswold house he shares with his wife of 30 years Diana. But all is not as blissful as it seems. As the day draws on, what starts as gentle ribbing and the familiar rhythms of marital scrapping quickly turns to blood-sport.  

Directed by Simon Godwin, Hansard features two-time Olivier Award winners, Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings in this thrilling play by Simon Woods. 

Set and costume design by Hildegard Bechtler, lighting design by Jackie Shemesh, music by Michael Bruce, sound design by Christopher Shutt and movement direction by Shelley Maxwell.  

Filmed live in the Lyttelton theatre for National Theatre Live. This production will be available until at least 9 August 2022. 

Treasure Island  

It’s a dark, stormy night. The stars are out. Jim, the inn-keeper’s granddaughter, opens the door to a terrifying stranger. At the old sailor’s feet sits a huge sea-chest, full of secrets. Jim invites him in – and her dangerous voyage begins.  

Adapted by Bryony Lavery from Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story, Treasure Island features Patsy Ferran as Jim and Arthur Darvill as Long John Silver in this wonderful adventure for the whole family.  

The cast also includes Gillian Hanna, Aidan Kelly, Alexandra Maher, Nick Fletcher, Heather Dutton, Raj Bajaj, Lena Kaur, Daniel Coonan, David Sterne, Paul Dodds, Johnathon Livingstone, Claire-Louise Cordwell, Angela De Castro, David Langham, Alastair Parker, Oliver Birch, Tim Samuels, Joshua James, Roger Wilson and Ben Thompson.  

Directed by Polly Findlay, with design by Lizzie Clachan, lighting design by Bruno Poet, music and songs by Dan Jones, songs by John Tams, fight direction by Bret Yount, movement direction by Jack Murphy, illusionist is Chris Fisher, comedy consultant is Clive  Mendus and creative associate is Caroline Valdés.  

Filmed live in the Olivier theatre for National Theatre Live. This production will be available until at least 9 August 2022. 

The Danish Arts Foundation and WILDTOPIA present

#DANISH DIGITAL

Champions // Two Men & a Plank // AVATAR ME

12. – 28. August

#ZOOTV – ZOO VENUE’S ONLINE EDINBURGH FRINGE

www.danishedfringe.com           https://zootv.live/

The Danish Arts Foundation in association with WILDTOPIA s delighted to announce three #DANISH DIGITAL productions as the official selection of Danish companies to perform at Edinburgh Fringe 2021 – promoting Danish performing arts of high artistic quality internationally. The works have been selected for #DANISH DIGITAL at EdFringe 2021 by The Danish Arts Foundation.

With restrictions on international travel limiting in-person performances at the Fringe, #DANISH DIGITAL is delighted to be showcasing it’s selection on ZOOTV – Zoo Venue’s online Edinburgh fringe platform – for a second year.

Digital theatre has developed rapidly in the past 18 months. What started as an immediate response to the pandemic; a scramble to film shows in empty theatres with an iPhone and stream it on YouTube so as not to entirely lose all hopes of an audience in lockdown, has evolved into a new understanding amongst theatre makers and a discovery with regards to how a digital medium might be used in truly creative way for theatre making.

#DANISH DIGITAL has three selected pieces of work that have either adapted to the point where the digital version is as accessible and enjoyable as the original live performance, or work that has chosen to adopt a “digital first” approach, whereby filmed and streamed theatre and hybrid performances are not a last resort, but a deliberate choice.

Himherandit Productions presents

Champions

Written and performed by Andreas Constantinou

Date: 16. – 22. August Ticket price: £5 Running time: 35 minutes

ADAPTED FOR DIGITAL: What makes us all champions? What are we dealing with in our personal lives? Do we ever stop and deal with our vulnerabilities?

Champions is an emotional performance installation that deals with universal issues of parent-child relations, loneliness and

individual resilience. The performance features the interview recordings of the artist’s father, mother and conversations with his therapist.

More: https://www.himherandit.com/

Content warning: This performance contains moments of full-frontal nudity. Age limit, 16 years

DON GNU PRESENTS

Two Men & a Plank

Choreography & performance: Kristoffer L. A. Pedersen & Jannik Elkær

Date: 12. – 28. August //Ticket price: £5 Running time: 25 minutes

ADAPTED FOR DIGITAL: – it’s time to walk the plank! With a twinkle in our eye, we pay tribute to men who wear sandals, as we celebrate the right to be yourself. Characters DON and GNU, from the acclaimed trilogy MEN IN SANDALS, fight both for and against each other and work hard to get a seemingly rebellious plank into the right place. A streamed outdoor pop-up show adapted to a digital stage, filled Raw physicality, crooked stunts, slapstick entertainment, jack-ass strength tests, toe- curling embarrassments and extremely charming men in sandals.

More: https://dongnu.dk

FIX&FOXY PRESENT

AVATAR ME

Date: 12/13/25/26 August at 10.00am + 11.00am + 12.00 + 1.00pm + 3.00pm + 4.00pm + 5.00pm + 7.00pm

Ticket price: £8 Running time: 60 minutes

”Utterly absorbing….. Avatar Me is an eye-opening, intimate and empathetic experience, one that encourages its audience to do something that is often preached but rarely practiced – putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Avatar Me is a brief but beautiful exercise in seeing the world from another person’s perspective, literally” Lyn Gardner The Stage 

AN 1-ON-1 LIVE-STREAMED – DIGITAL FIRST PRODUCTION: Your personal live-streamed performance. For 45 minutes you get the chance to live someone else’s life and affect another human being’s actions somewhere around the world.

You will be placed in unfamiliar surroundings, meet with unknown people and perhaps – experience something that would never happen in your own life. Ready?!

Produced in partnership with WILDTOPIA. Co-producer: Teater Nordkraft Supported by Danish Arts Foundation & Globus – Nordic Culture Fund More: Avatar-me.world

#DANISH DIGITAL

These three shows are curated and supported by the Danish Arts Foundation. #DANISH DIGITAL is the Danish showcase at EdFringe 2021 presented by The Danish Arts Foundation and produced by WILDTOPIA. The Danish Arts Foundation works to promote Danish performing arts of high artistic quality internationally. Go to www.danishedfringe.com for more info. For more information on #ZOOTV go to https://zootv.live/

Save The Date – TheatreCraft returns for 2021 

Monday 22 November

Royal Opera House / Online

theatrecraft.org 

The UK’s largest free theatre careers event is back for a 15th year, returning to the Royal Opera House on Monday 22 November 2021. For the first time, it will be a hybrid event with an online streamed element, to enable as many young people as possible to join in throughout the day.

As well as workshops and talks, a ‘virtual’ marketplace will offer the chance to meet with a host of leading theatre organisations (as the in-person marketplace has in previous years) and get valuable insight into different career paths and job application tips.

TheatreCraft is open to anyone aged 16 to 30 with an interest in offstage theatre jobs. The last event in 2019 saw over 1,300 attendees take part in sessions on everything from producing, writing, directing and marketing to technical theatre, armoury, scenic art, video design and costume – as well as expert advice on networking and getting a foot on the theatre career ladder. 

After the pandemic forced last year’s TheatreCraft to be cancelled, the organisers are committed to putting on the most inclusive, accessible event yet – helping support the thousands of recent graduates whose careers have been put on hold by Covid.

More details of what to expect from this year’s TheatreCraft and how to sign up will be released soon – for the latest updates, follow the TheatreCraft social channels and sign up for the newsletter via the TheatreCraft website.

theatrecraft.org

Twitter: @TheatreCraft | Instagram: @theatrecraft  

#TheatreCraft

Charlie Kristensen, 

 the #CheerUpCharlie anti-bullying campaigner and chat show presenter,  

will hold his fundraising theatrical gala #CheerUpCharlie – The Show 

on 31 October 2021 at 7.30pm at The Actor’s Church, Covent Garden 

Charlie Kristensen, the 11 year old passionate anti-bullying campaigner and much-loved host of the online chat show Musical Chairs with #CheerUpCharlie, will hold his fundraising gala #CheerUpCharlie – The Show on Sunday 31 October 2021 at 7.30pm at The Actor’s Church in Covent Garden, London. 

Produced by Mark Robert Petty and hosted by Ben Stock and Hilary O’Neil, with Musical Direction by Tom Knowles, the evening will feature an exciting line-up of West End musical performers and a few special surprises from Charlie! Further cast and creatives are to be announced. 

Charlie said: “It is an honour to have so many people involved with the show who have supported me from the very start. There were so many times I felt alone even when I was surrounded by people. I now feel anything but and am so lucky that I can now use my voice to keep growing this platform and doing what I love to raise awareness that we are all accepted for who we truly are. I may be just one boy with a small voice, but I have a huge tribe behind me, and I will make a difference. This concert will be a celebration of all that I stand for; kindness, bravery and being able to stand true in the face of adversity. So, join me for a night of fun, laughter and music!” 

Profits from ticket sales will be split between two charities close to Charlie’s heart: Acting For Others, which provides financial and emotional support to all theatre workers in times of need through the 14 member charities, and The National Deaf Children’s Society which is the leading charity for deaf children. They support the UK’s 50,000 deaf children and young people and their families, and they are there for every deaf child who needs them – no matter what their level or type of deafness or how they communicate. (Charlie overcame a severe infection, which has left him mainly deaf in his left ear and required 15 operations). 

Booking is now open at https://actorschurch.ticketsolve.com/shows/873612837. Standard tickets: £40. Restricted view: £30 (pulpit partially obscures sight lines). VIP tickets: £60 (includes a meet-and-greet with Charlie, second row seating, programme, glass of champagne and a #CheerUpCharlie T-Shirt (various sizes available).  Running time: 2hrs 30mins.  The show will be BSL signed by Paul Whittaker and another signer (to be announced). The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please wear a mask (unless exempt) and use the hand sanitizer provided. There are no on-site public toilets. 

The concert’s producer Mark Robert Petty has been producing the successful concert series The Crazy Coqs Presents at Brasserie Zédel and The Crazy Coqs for the last three years. He is also one half of the writing team of Anderson & Petty alongside native New Yorker Barry Anderson. Mark said: “In the last two years I have had the immense pleasure of getting to know Charlie Kristensen (#CheerUpCharlie to his growing tribe of followers) and this little man inspires me every day with his strength and commitment to make a change. He has turned something that was negative and hurtful into a cause that grows stronger every day. Please join us in celebrating his journey and his love of Musical Theatre with his wonderful new West End family of supporters. See you there!” 

Charlie started his ‘#CheerUpCharlie’ campaign in 2019. Having been bullied severely for over 18 months, in part due to his love of performing, Charlie couldn’t take any more. When he opened up to his performance coach West End actress Jacqueline Hughes, she rallied support from the theatre industry via Twitter. Hundreds of performers and creatives from the West End, Broadway and even Hollywood identified with Charlie’s story, and inundated him with video messages of support. This led to backstage invitations and national media interviews including BBC Breakfast and Michael Ball’s BBC Radio 2 show. Charlie then knew he wanted to channel his own traumatic experiences, and use the support he had received, to help him fight for others. He trained as an Ambassador for The Diana Award and in June 2021, he was recognised with the The Diana Award himself – the highest accolade a young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts. 

Charlie now devotes over one hundred hours each month to help others by mentoring, campaigning, fundraising and raising awareness. His successes have included the release of a charity single performed alongside West End talent, the development of a musical theatre workshop in partnership with Nathaniel Morrison, and his popular weekly YouTube chat show, Musical Chairs, with guests including Matt Lucas, Gaby Roslin, Jodie Prenger, Faye Tozer, Baz Bamigboye, Lucie Jones, Alice Fearn, Gemma Knight Jones, Rob Madge, Aimie Atkinson, Rachel Tucker and many more. 

To follow the exciting build-up to #CheerUpCharlie – The Show, follow Charlie on Twitter: @CharlieKristens, Instagram: @cheerupcharlie__, Facebook: @musicalchairswithcheerupcharlie and YouTube @Charlie Kristensen #CheerUpCharlie,  

LISTINGS 

Show: #CheerUpCharlie – The Show

Date: 31 October 2021 

Time: 7.30pm 

Running Time: 2hrs 30 mins 

Venue: The Actor’s Church, Bedford St, London WC2E 9ED 

Tickets: Standard tickets: £40. Restricted view: £30 (pulpit partially obscures sight lines). VIP tickets: £60 (includes a meet-and-greet with Charlie, second row seating, programme, glass of champagne and a #CheerUpCharlie T-Shirt (various sizes available).  

Box Office: https://actorschurch.ticketsolve.com/shows/873612837 

Access: BSL signed. Wheelchair accessible. There are no public toilets available on site. 

ETT ANNOUNCE MUGABE & ME AT YORK THEATRE ROYAL

ETT (English Touring Theatre), today announce Tonderai Munyevu’s Mugabe, My Dad & Me, co-produced with York Theatre Royal, in association with Alison Holder. Directed by John R. Wilkinson and performed by Munyevu and Millicent Chapanda. The autobiographical play about growing up in 1980’s Zimbabwe following independence opens at York Theatre Royal on 14 September, with previews from 9 September, until 18 September, with tour dates for 2022 to be announced.

The company return to national touring in the autumn opening with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in September, co-produced with Curve and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, and directed by the 2019 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award winner Anthony Almeida. The production opens at Curve, Leicester on 8 September, with previews from 3 September, before touring to Liverpool, Canterbury, Ipswich, Theatr Clwyd, and concludes in Southampton on 30 October. The cast is Sam Alexander (Gooper), Teresa Banham (Big Mama), Peter Forbes (Big Daddy), Oliver Johnstone (Brick), Siena Kelly (Maggie), Suzette Llewellyn (Doctor Baugh), Minal Patel (Reverend Tooker) and Shanaya Rafaat (Mae).

ETT have just completed the tour of their outdoor performance space, Trailer Story, which visited Newcastle and Keswick, and featured performances by Testament, Tim Crouch, Grace Savage, Lung Theatre and Nouveau Riche, and this year they also released That Podcast – a twelve part magazine-style podcast series, with guest hosts Remona Aly, Desiree Burch and Sophie Duker, Nish Kumar, Terry Gilliam and Chris McCausland, that tells the story of a nation and a world in rapid transition featuring over 100 artists, commentators and thought leaders, and Children’s Children – a series of five monologues, curated by Amber James, exploring the interaction of the past with the present and celebrating Black history. Both series’ are available in full here: https://ett.org.uk/

ETT and York Theatre Royal in association with Alison Holder present

MUGABE, MY DAD & ME

Written by Tonderai Munyevu

Performed by Tonderai Munyevu and Millicent Chapanda

Director: John R Wilkinson; Designer: Nicolai Hart-Hansen

Sound Designer and Composer: Nigel Glasgow

York Theatre Royal

9 – 18 September

Tonderai Munyevu was born in 1982 Zimbabwe, what they call the “born frees” – one of the generation born in the 1980s after independence. 

He tells us how the first cracks of prosperous Zimbabwe’s decline began to appear in the 1990s, and how he emigrated with his mother to England, where he has since remained. How his father lost his job at the hands of a white man, and how this changed both their lives irrevocably, until his father’s death prompted Tonderai to question his identity and what it means to return ‘home’. 

Interspersing his dialogue with the audience are Robert Mugabe’s speeches: ranging from the 1980s figure in a Savile Row suit to the bitter and derisive missives from the 1990s, up until 2017 when Mugabe was ousted by a political coup. 

Tonderai Munyevu writes and performs. His writing credits for the stage include The Moors (Tara Arts Theatre), Harare Files: 700,000 People Lost Their Homes (Harare International Festival of the Arts), and Zhe [Noun] Undefined (Soho Theatre, international tour). For radio, his writing credits include The Tranquil Minds. As an actor, his theatre credits include Black Men Walking (Royal Court Theatre), Treasure Island (Birmingham Rep), The Man Who Almost Killed Himself (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (Young Vic), and Zhe [Noun] Undefined (Soho Theatre). Munyevu is co-Artistic Director of Two Gents Productions.

Millicent Chapanda is a Shona cultural artist and performs vocals, mbira, ngoma drumand hosho shakers.

John R. Wilkinson directs. His theatre credits include Hello and Goodbye, Swallows and Amazons, Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down (York Theatre Royal), Talking Heads (Leeds Playhouse), Winter (Young Vic – for which he won the 2018 Genesis Future Directors Award), and The Drowned World (National Theatre Studio).

ETT, Curve and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse present

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

By Tennessee Williams

UK tour: 3 September – 25 October

Director: Anthony Almeida; Set and Costume Designer: Rosanna Vize

Lighting Designer: Joshua Gadsby; Composer and Sound Designer: Giles Thomas

Associate Designer and Costume Designer: Sarah Mercadé; Movement Director: Gemma Payne

Casting Director: Ginny Schiller

On a sweltering Mississippi night, the lies are as stifling as the heat.

Maggie has fought up from poverty, only to find herself in a passionless, burning marriage. Her husband Brick, a former pro footballer, drinks to drown out the hurt he has bottled up inside. When the entire Pollitt family meet for Big Daddy’s 65th birthday, the claws are out.

As shattering truths threaten to spiral out of control, the family set out to protect themselves, and each other, from falling apart.

This bold new revival of Tennessee Williams’ lyrical Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece is a blazing portrayal of what it takes to survive in a society where we’re all desperate to feel free.

Directed by Anthony Almeida, winner of the 2019 Royal Theatrical Support Trust (RTST) Sir Peter Hall Director Award.

The production is supported by grant funding from the RTST.

Tennessee Williams (1911 – 1983) is one of the greatest American playwrights. His principal works include A Streetcar Named Desire (Pulitzer Prize), The Glass Menagerie (New York Critics’ Circle Award), The Rose Tattoo (Tony Award for Best Play), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Pulitzer Prize), Suddenly Last Summer, Sweet Bird of Youth, Orpheus Descending and The Night of the Iguana (New York Critics’ Circle Award).

Sam Alexander plays Gooper. His theatre credits include The Watsons (Chichester Festival Theatre/Menier Chocolate Factory), The Outsider (The Print Room), Lady in the Van, Racing Demon (Theatre Royal Bath), Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado About Nothing (RSC/Theatre Royal Haymarket), Lawrence After Arabia (Hampstead Theatre), The Ghost Train (Royal Exchange Theatre) and The Christmas Truce (RSC). His television credits include Hard Sun and The Marchioness Disaster; and for film, Misbehaviour, Mogul Mowgli, 45 Years, Perfect Life and An American Haunting.

Teresa Banham plays Big Mama. Her theatre credits include Acceptance (Hampstead Theatre), The Whale (Theatre Royal Bath), House and Garden (The Watermill Theatre), Dessert (Southwark Playhouse), The Open House (Theatre Royal Bath/The Print Room, Arcadia (Nottingham Playhouse), A Chorus of Disapproval (Harold Pinter Theatre), Heresy of Love, Measure for Measure (RSC), 5@50, True Love Lies (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Picture (Salisbury Theatre), The Glass Menagerie (Theatr Clwyd), The Father (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Herbal Bed (RSC/Duchess Theatre), Snake in the Grass (The Old Vic), Here (Donmar Warehouse) and Valentine’s Day (Shakespeare’s Globe). Her television credits include The Crown, Robin Hood, Monsignor Renard and Roughnecks.

Peter Forbes plays Big Daddy. His theatre credits include Yes Prime Minister (Theatr Clwyd), Allelujah! (Bridge Theatre), Follies, Our Country’s Good, The Observer, Afterlife, Never So Good, Two Weeks with the Queen (National Theatre), A Number, Educating Agnes (Royal Lyceum Theatre), The James Plays (UK and international tour), Way Upstream, A Small Family Business (Chichester Festival Theatre), How to Hold Your Breath (Royal Court Theatre), The Same Deep Water as Me (Donmar Warehouse), Singin’ in the Rain (Chichester Festival Theatre/Palace Theatre), A Journey to London, Adam Bede (Orange Tree Theatre), The Winter’s Tale, Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare’s Globe), My Dad’s a Birdman (Young Vic) and Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward Theatre). His television credits include Traces, Manhunt, Berkeley Square and Taking the Floor; and for film, Judy, The Wife, Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?!, Wilde and Blue Ice.

Oliver Johnstone plays Brick. His theatre credits include Tribes (Sheffield Theatres), King Lear, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Oppenheimer (RSC), Teddy Ferrara (Donmar Warehouse), Spring Awakening (Headlong and West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Another Country (Chichester Festival Theatre). For television, his credits include Loaded, Inspector George Gently, The Syndicate and Little Crackers;and for film, On Chesil Beach, The Inbetweeners 2 and Skyfall.

Siena Kelly plays Maggie. Her theatre credits include Teenage Dick (Donmar Warehouse), Describe the Night (Hampstead Theatre), A Christmas Carol (The Old Vic), On the Town (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Water Babies: The Musical (Curve). Her television credits include Adult Material, Temple and Vanity Fair.

Suzette Llewellyn plays Doctor Baugh. Her theatre credits include Chigger Foot Boys (Tara Arts), Mr Tiddle Tum Tums & Other Stories, Whale (National Theatre), The Multiple Myrtle Mysteries (The Milo Wladek Company), Urban Afro Saxons (Talawa Theatre), Marisol (Traverse Theatre), Love’s Labour’s Lost, Children of a Lesser God, Comedy of Errors, Golden Girls (New Wolsey Theatre), Belle of Belfast City (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Trinidad Sisters (Tricycle Theatre) and Garden Girls (Bush Theatre). Her television credits include as series regular Sheree Trueman in EastEnders, Fearless, Thirteen, Rocket’s Island, Catastrophe, Oscar Charlie, Surgical Spirit and Black Silk; and for film, Real, Faces, Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism, Manderlay, Welcome II the Terrordome, Sammy and Rosie get Laid, Playing Away and Personal Services.

Minal Patel plays Reverend Tooker. His theatre credits include A Christmas Carol (Dominion Theatre), Curtains (Wyndham’s Theatre/UK tour), Man of La Mancha (London Coliseum/ENO), Aspects of Love (Southwark Playhouse/Hope Mill Theatre), Dialetikon (Park Theatre), The Secret Garden (The Barn Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New Wolsey Theatre), The Queen and I (Arcola Theatre), You and Me, Here We Are (Birmingham Eastside Projects), Beauty and the Beast (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Between Empires (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), The Three Musketeers (Barbershopera) and As You Like It (Southwark Playhouse).

Shanaya Rafaat plays Mae. Her theatre credits include Jude (Hampstead Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, The White Devil, King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe), Frankenstein (Royal Exchange Theatre),  Uncle Vanya (Theatr Clwyd/Sheffield Theatres), Terror (Lyric Hammersmith), A Tale of Two Cities (Northampton/UK tour), Great Expectations (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Stateless (Tristan Bates Theatre), Around The World in 80 Days (St James Theatre), The Illusion (Southwark Playhouse) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC/international tour). Her television credits include Silk and Lewis; and for film, Honeycomb Lodge.

Anthony Almeida’s directing credits include Figures of Speech (Almeida Theatre). As Assistant/Associate Director, his credits include The Return of the Ulysses (Roundhouse), Oresteia (Almeida Theatre, Trafalgar Studios), and The Odyssey, The Iliad and Game (Almeida Theatre).

An Unfolding Theatre and Northern Stage co-production  

Free School Meals

Kids cook up a storm in a brand new show inspired by Marcus Rashford’s campaign to end child food poverty

• Northern Stage, 25 – 28 August 

Inspired by Marcus Rashford’s campaign to end child food poverty, Unfolding Theatre’s Free School Meals puts kids in charge in a new show about power, inequality and hope for change.

During the pandemic, kids were given food parcels with 10 cheese slices, a Frube and half a carrot. The kids are pretty outraged. They think people deserve better. So they’re taking over and turning the tables, dishing up delicious bites, brilliant beats and tastes of a better future. Written by Luca Rutherford and co-created with 40+ school children, Free School Meals is set in The Future – a restaurant run by children serving up super fresh ingredients and a healthy portion of home truths.

Director Annie Rigby explains how the show came about, “Bringing people together is what Unfolding Theatre is all about, and welcoming people is a big part of our ethos – we’ve baked bread, served drinks and cooked pancakes for families on their doorsteps during lockdown and we wanted our next show to be even more ambitious in how it hosted its audience. Inspired by Marcus Rashford’s brilliant campaign against the inadequate food parcels offered to families during the pandemic and having listened to more than 4,000 children and young people tell us about the change they wanted to see in the world in our Multiverse Lab project, we started thinking about inequality, protest and hope for change. Then, like many of our best ideas, no one can remember who said it. But someone said – what if we made a show set in a restaurant run by children?”

Free School Meals will be performed by a cast of school children with Alex Elliott (Hold On Let Go/Unfolding Theatre) and rapper Kay Greyson who has written original songs for the show. The creative team also includes choreographer Patrick Ziza, designer Simon Henderson, lighting designer Nick Rogerson, dramaturg Natalie Ibu, and sound designer Garry Lydon.

As with all of Unfolding Theatre’s work, participation drives the creative process. For Free School Meals, the team has created a fictional world for their young co-creators to play in – a restaurant where the children are in charge. The creative team is working with 40+ children aged 8-12 to explore what they want to say in this space. In weekly workshops, they are talking about politics, about hopes for the future and what they think needs to change.

Writer Luca Rutherford says, “I have always been fascinated by children’s imagination and curiosity. You hear children ask the question ‘why?’, often to adults’ eventual annoyance. I think this is one of the best questions in the world and it’s at the heart of the creative process for Free School Meals. It is so simple and so profound and so open. 

“While writing this show, I’ve also been asking myself how to honour the imagination of children to build a better world. I’ve created a structure and woven a narrative together based on the world created in the devising process, leaving chunks unwritten, marked only with a question. We then brought these questions into the workshops with local children at Byker Primary school, because I don’t want to be an adult telling children what to say – the writing process has to honour this, giving the children agency over the words they will be speaking in the performance.”

Led by Artistic Director Annie Rigby, Unfolding Theatre brings together surprising combinations of people to better represent England’s diversity on our stages. Over the last decade, the company has built a reputation for working with all sorts of people from different walks of life to make theatre with a wild sense of humour and strength of character. Recent work includes the “Fantastic – funny, big-hearted, moving and truthful.” Putting the Band Back Together (as reviewed in the Guardian), and Hold on Let Go, a poignant show about memory described by the Scotsman as having “Infectious energy and good humour…A show to remember”. Hold on Let Go will tour across England in Spring 2022.

Free School Meals opens Northern Stage’s Housewarming season with seven performances from 25 – 28 August. Tickets start from £10. Visit www.northernstage.co.uk or call 0191 230 5151 to book.

www.unfoldingtheatre.co.uk |@unfoldingtheatr | #FreeSchoolMeals |

The Wardrobe Ensemble’s The Theatre on
the Downs in Bristol announces more shows
The Theatre on the Downs, Breaking Bread, The Downs, Stoke Road, BS9 1FG
Tuesday 10th August – Saturday 2nd October 2021

More shows have been announced to join The Wardrobe Ensemble’s 10th anniversary celebration: The Theatre on the Downs, an ambitious new theatre festival running from August to October. Don’t miss out on this exciting new venue in Bristol and its eclectic and unmissable selection of family and theatre shows that are now on-sale!

Part dance lesson, part party, part performance, part bingo: Carboot Disco Bingo invites audience members to a party game unlike any you’ve played before. Stop Trying to be Fantastic by Molly Naylor is a funny and lyrical spoken-word show about suffering, saviour-complex, self-acceptance, and a magpie who refuses to quit. Sing, dance and cry in the bittersweet gig theatre show, Hero & Leander, Or, I Love You But Everything’s Under Water, as six multi-instrumentalists tell an epic seaside tale through songs encompassing folk, indie, sea shanties and choral music. Jonesy and Single Sex are a frank and powerful double bill presented by Bristol School of Acting first-year students tackling gender roles, toxic masculinity and being a teenager in today’s society.

Kicking off the festival will be world premiere of The Wardrobe Ensemble’s WINNERS. In their own inimitable style, this exciting new show explores capitalism and tracks the shift of labour in the history of food from farming to fast food. Directed by Jesse Jones (Death Drop, West End) and Helena Middleton (Education, Education, Education, West End), WINNERS is a rollicking and fantastical look at manipulation, monopoly and money, capitalism and currency.

This is the perfect festival for all the family with brilliant works by leading children’s companies. Two, Four, Six, Eight is a funny and charming journey into the world of numbers for 3 – 8 year olds and their families by Shoofly Theatre, from Bristol theatre-makers Craig Edwards and Katie Sykes. Deep in the woods on the big oak tree, lives a little squirrel with big ideas; Silly Squirrel is perfect for under-5s. The Great Big Story Mix Up is a live and interactive improvised storytelling show which puts the audience at the centre of the action. Science Adventures: The Power Pickle is a fantastical show that explores the wonders of science for ages 5+. With puppetry, poetry and song, TooRaLooRum explores the importance of imagination and how bravery can come from even the smallest of places.

The Wardrobe Ensemble comments, We are working so hard getting The Theatre on the Downs ready, and making WINNERS, and can’t wait to welcome audiences in. The tent is nearly up and the bar is being built so we are very nearly there – eek! It’s been a wild ride so far and we’re sure that will continue over the next few weeks as we open, but we are loving doing it. Come and see us and have a drink next week!

There are still more opportunities to be part of the programming – for more information, check the website: theatreonthedowns.co.uk.

The Theatre on the Downs is kindly supported by The Wardrobe Theatre, Arts Council England, Backstage Trust and WECA. Ticketing in association with Bristol Old Vic.

Please note, The Wardrobe Ensemble is a producing theatre company, running The Theatre on the Downs; The Wardrobe Theatre is a venue in Old Market. The two organisations are good friends and have produced several shows together including The Great Gatsby and The Seekers Trilogy, but they are separate organisations.

The programme is as follows (with more exciting new shows to be announced!):

WINNERS
by The Wardrobe Ensemble | thewardrobeensemble.com
Tuesday 10th – Saturday 28th August
Tuesday – Saturday, 7.30pm
Thursday 26th August, 3pm

My whole life is about winning. I don’t lose often. I almost never lose. Donald J Trump

Lights, sequins, burgers, hot fries and thick shakes, join us for a fast-food filled theatrical extravaganza. Our boss is a washed-up zombie clown who’s been dying to tell you what life is like for the winners in this world. And then there are the workers, just trying to earn a buck. Strap in for a time travelling thrill ride that rattles through the ages, bursting from the fertile ground beneath our earliest ancestors and crash-landing on the burning carcass of the planet itself. A fantastical look at manipulation, monopoly and money, capitalism and currency, we dare you not to enjoy it.

A brand-new show and return to live performance from the multi-award winning company who brought you Education, Education, Education, 1972: The Future of Sex and RIOT. Supported by Arts Council England.

Bicycle Boy
by Helen Eastman and Alex Silverman | www.bicycleboy.co.uk
Wednesday 11th – Sunday 15th August, 11am and 2pm
Saturday 14 th – Sunday 15th August, 4pm

An outdoor bicycle-powered eco-musical, packed with humour, Bicycle Boy is perfect for children 6- 10 and their families. This engaging, pedal-powered performance is themes of sustainability

Our hero, Sam has 24 hours to clear out his grandad’s old bike workshop; it has been a difficult time and the business has to close. He remembers granddad teaching him to ride – and playing with him, pretending to be superhero Bicycle Boy. It seems grandad may have left Sam a present somewhere in the workshop, and some clues to find it. But there’s no power and Sam needs electricity to unlock the messages. He needs our help. If we can connect up enough bikes and pedal like mad, we can make generate enough power for Sam’s journey (and the show).

Carboot Disco Bingo
by Disco Jazz and Bingo Meg | www.carbootdiscobingo.co.uk
Friday 13th – Saturday 14th August, 9.30pm

Think Donna Summer hosting a party in the gala bingo hall! A game for all ages and abilities, Carboot Disco Bingo is about having fun together in the moment.

Carboot Disco Bingo is a collaboration between Megan Clark-Bagnall and Jasmine Loveys.
Essentially it’s an extravagant game of bingo incorporating fantastic disco dancing. Cross the numbers off your bingo card as we draw them out of the bingo ball machine, learn the disco dance moves for each number through the game, and win yourselves some fabulous prizes out the back of our car boot.

The Star Seekers
by The Wardrobe Ensemble | thewardrobeensemble.com
Wednesday 18th – Saturday 21st August, 3pm

Have you ever dreamt of flying to the moon?
Visiting a space station?
Becoming an astronaut?

Inspired by childhood wonder of the universe, this is a unique theatre experience for children. Passing on awe for the limitless majesty of galaxies, the solar system, shooting stars and planets to the next generation, it also delves into one of greatest unanswered questions of the universe: what do astronauts really have for dinner?!

Last seen at the National Theatre in 2018, this out of this world family show is back! Join The Wardrobe Ensemble and The Wardrobe Theatre on a journey through the stars where you take the steering wheel

Two, Four, Six, Eight
by Shoofly Theatre | twitter.com/shooflytheatre
Wednesday 18th – Sunday 22nd August, 11am
Sunday Matinee, 3pm

Craig has been invited to his best friend’s Birthday Party.
There is an invitation to read, presents to wrap, cakes to buy and a house to find.
Who will explain the rules of Musical Chairs?
Will there be enough balloons?

Using music, toys and far too much wrapping paper, Shoofly Theatre, from Bristol theatre-makers Craig Edwards and Katie Sykes, have created a funny and charming journey into the world of numbers for Nursery, Reception, Year One children and their families.

Beach Baby
by WILDERBEAST | twitter.com/wldrbeastheatre
Friday 27th – Sunday 29th August, 11am and 3pm

It is summer time. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and butterflies fill the air. The garden is full of colour and warmth. It’s time to cool down with an ice-cream and a swim. We fill the car with toys and games, a bucket and spade and our favourite picnic. Have you packed the sun cream? We’re going to the beach!

Join WILDERBEAST for this enchanting new summer show for 0-3 year olds, following their hit show Ice Ice Baby. A beautiful 30-minute theatre experience suitable for babes in arms and toddlers, accompanied by carers. Discover the sights, sounds and textures of the beach in a playful sensory exploration.

Wild Swimming
by FullRogue | fullroguetheatre.com
Tuesday 31st August – Saturday 4th September, 7.30pm

Nell and Oscar meet on a deserted beach in Dorset. It’s 1595…or maybe it’s 1610. Oscar has
returned from his first term at university and Nell is doing f*ck all. They will meet here, again and again, on this beach, for the next 400 years. Stuff will change, as it does with time. They will try to keep up.

Wild Swimming is an interrogation of gender and privilege and a wilfully ignorant history of English Literature. After playing to sold out houses in Bristol and Edinburgh in 2019, and following the cancellation of its international transfer to New York last year, FullRogue bring Wild Swimming back home to Bristol

Silly Squirrel
by Above Bounds | abovebounds.co.uk
Saturday 4th – Sunday 5th September, 11am and 3pm

Deep in the woods on the big oak tree, lives a little squirrel with big ideas. This is Silly Squirrel. Silly Squirrel has never left the tree but longs to explore! So, before the other squirrels are awake, Silly Squirrel conducts a plan to go on their biggest adventure yet! I wonder who they will meet and what they will find out along the way?

Pull up a picnic blanket and join Above Bounds for this playful new story, written in 2020 for the Summer Reading Challenge and now created into a show for 2021, with puppets, gentle interaction and lots of laughs! This is the perfect introduction to theatre for ages 0-7.

Stop Trying to be Fantastic
by Molly Naylor | www.mollynaylor.com
Friday 10th September, 7.30pm

One day, a magpie comes into a little girl’s house by mistake. It decides it likes her. She spends the next twenty-five years trying to get away from it.

Stop Trying to be Fantastic is a story about suffering, saviour-complex, self-acceptance, and a magpie who refuses to quit. From award-winning writer/performer Molly Naylor (Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You, Sky One’s After Hours) comes this lyrical and funny spoken-word show that explores what we owe to each other and what we owe to ourselves.

It’s an anti self-help show… that might actually help.

The Great Big Story Mix Up
by Roustabout Theatre | www.roustabouttheatre.co.uk
Saturday 11th September, 11am and 3pm

Based around fairy tale tropes and characters, and combining art, music and theatre, The Great Big Story Mix Up is led entirely by audience suggestions and interventions. The show involves genuine live interaction between the performers and the audience, who work together to create neverbefore-seen fairy tales before your eyes. It’s perfect for ages 3+ and their families

Hero & Leander, Or, I Love You But Everything’s Under Water
by Jack Dean & Company | www.jackdean.co.uk
Saturday 11th September, 7.30pm
Sing, dance and cry with us in this bittersweet gig theatre show. Six multi-instrumentalists tell an epic seaside tale through songs encompassing folk, indie, sea shanties and choral music. A story of bad rulers, worse weather, and how we keep going when everything is flipping terrible.

Two towns, one rich and one poor, stand separated by a narrow strip of ocean. When the borders close and ships stop sailing between them, two lovers are left stranded on either side. Unphased, Leander takes to swimming across the channel to meet Hero, guided by the light of the lighthouse where she lives. But the jealous and vengeful Hephaestus, carrying an ancient grudge, plots to separate them with a flood like neither town has ever seen. We all know this will probably end badly. But just maybe, this time, it will turn out different…

Science Adventures: The Power Pickle
by Coppice Theatre | www.coppicetheatre.co.uk
Sunday 12th September, 11am and 3pm
Our team are in a right pickle! Professor McGuffin’s ground-breaking Sub-Nuclear Optical Transmitter (S.N.O.T.) has stopped working, and it’s jeopardising the whole mission! Now it’s our job to find a way to power it! Join our intrepid scientists on an adventure like no other… Prepare to travel to the deepest depths, and soar to the highest heights! This fantastical show will explore science with fun and accessible adventure stories.

Beauty & The Beast
by Living Spit | www.livingspit.co.uk
Tuesday 14th – Saturday 18th September, 7.30pm
Saturday 18th September, 3pm
The classic French tale of Beauty and the Beast tells of a bright and beautiful young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. She learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realise the kind heart and soul that lies within.

The enormously popular Living Spit stars Howard Coggins and Stu McLoughlin. Howard is beautiful. There’s no escaping that. But then so is Stu. In fact, Living Spit is widely known as the most physically attractive two-man musical comedy theatre company in the South-West. However, in this tale as old as time one of them will have to portray an ugly, foul-tempered beast. But which one will it be?

From the creators of the Offie award-nominated Six Wives of Henry VIII, the perennial Christmas favourite Living Spit’s Nativity and the “beguiling rib-tickler” (The Times) Living Spit’s Frankenstein The Musical comes a brand-new, monstrously-musical, Disney-defying version of this classic French tale about what it means to be truly beautiful in the 18th century.

Theatre Bristol Assembly: Mistake Boutique
by Theatre Bristol | www.theatrebristol.net
Wednesday 15th September, 10am – 12pm

Join Theatre Bristol’s Artist Support Activist Amy Mason (The Islanders, Mass) as she discusses the many (MANY) mistakes she’s made over her 10-year career for the next Theatre Bristol Assembly.

Amy will be joined by experienced fellow performers to talk falling out with venues, forgetting to do any marketing, and going on tour when you’re 9-months pregnant. This will be a chance to face up to the moments we’d all rather forget, to take stock, build bridges, and share the lessons learned the hard way.

This event will be held as an in person at The Theatre on the Downs on Clifton Downs. He Wardrobe Ensemble are committed to holding a programme of both online and in person events over the next year. There will be four freelancer bursary places available for this event.

TooRaLooRaLum and Other Colourful Tales
by Mismatch Theatre | www.mismatchtheatre.com
Sunday 19th September, 11am and 3pm

Colour has been stolen from Greytown and Lucy wants it back. With the help of a mysterious book, Lucy must step away from the colourless crowd and remind them of what was lost before it’s too late! Will she be brave, will she run, will she find her TooRaLooRaLum?

Follow Mismatch Theatre into an immersive explosion of this topsy-turvy-turbulent world. Combining puppetry, poetry and song, TooRaLooRaLum and Other Colourful Tales is a
wonderfully witty, heart-felt fable, exploring the importance of imagination and how bravery can come from even the smallest of places

Jonesy and Single Sex
A Double Bill from the Bristol School of Acting
Sunday 19th September, 5pm

Jonesy is an underdog story about a boy with asthma. Barred from joining the rugby team, he decides to become a netball maverick. Can he overcome the locker room lads, win the netball squad around and achieve his dream of passing GCSE PE…? Or will his old nemesis asthma ruin the day! A play about gender roles, toxic masculinity and burgeoning misogyny.

In Single Sex, Gregg is a first-class grammar school student, excelling in all things theoretical. But surrounded by a rugby mad father, a Latin master pushing the teachings of Ovid and a sex-obsessed peerage of teenage boys all inhaling pornography like oxygen, he is in danger of being pressured in to ruining his burgeoning relationship with Sophie. This dark comedy is full of the horrors of teenage boy bravado about sex and girls, and the dark edges of pseudo-rape porn. Contains descriptions and scenes with upsetting sexual acts and an age rating of 14+

Closing Night at The Theatre on the Downs
by The Wardrobe Ensemble | thewardrobeensemble.com
Saturday 2 nd October, 7.30pm

A closing party spectacular featuring game show The Wardrobe Ensembwheel of Fortune, along with top secret special guests, free prizes of the highest quality and lots of fun and games. Come celebrate Bristol’s newest theatre venue!