Category: Uncategorized

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical, The Phantom of the Opera has kept audiences enthralled for nearly 30 years, and it remains in good hands at Her Majesty’s Theatre with the current West End company. Led by Geronimo Rauch in the iconic title role, opposite Harriet Jones as the object of his obsession, Christine Daae, and Liam Tamne as love rival Raoul, the Phantom cast in its entirety is one of the best I’ve seen, and while one would like to keep them around for many more years to come, it’s inevitable that all things will change with time and that we must change with it.

New beginnings are on the way with the show’s approaching cast change, which means saying goodbye to some company members, but welcoming some new faces to thePhantom family. Before then though, the current cast will be coming together for an exclusive and unmissable one-night-only live performance in the aptly-named cabaret, New Beginnings… No More Talk of Darkness.

The Phantom company will be appearing at the Prince of Wales Theatre’s popular downstairs space, the Delfont Room, for a late-night cabaret show following the evening’s performance at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Thursday 6th August 2015. New Beginnings… No More Talk of Darkness is presented by the company as the first event in the 2015 Late Night Cabaret Season at the Delfont Room, in aid of TheatreMAD for The Make A Difference Trust.

The musical cabaret will feature Phantom cast members performing an eclectic mix of songs that includes some classic songs and other, lesser-known songs too. Featured in the set list is one of the numbers from Maury Yeston’s Phantom (performed by Cover Phantom/Swing Kieran Brown and Cover Christine Lisa-Anne Wood), along with song selections from such musicals as Love Never Dies, Witches of Eastwick, Chicago, and more. The cast will also be performing a modern acoustic twist on a song from their version of Phantom, as well as some Rodgers & Hammerstein numbers, some German Lieder, some Rock, ukeleles and so much more!

The evening’s entertainment will be compered by the phantastic Kieran Brown and also features Scott Morgan as musical director of the cabaret.

The Make A Difference Trust is a long-running West End charity that brings together the theatre industry and its supporters to raise funds for HIV and AIDS projects that raise awareness and provide care, support and education in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa; as well as supporting those in the entertainment industry facing hardship as a result of long term chronic illness. They have enjoyed a long working relationship with The Phantom of the Opera, the two having collaborated on fundraising cabarets numerous times over the years. Previous cast members have also performed for the benefit of MADTrust in such musical cabarets as the 2011 event, A Complicated Love and the follow-up night in 2012,Jubilation, both staged at the Delfont Room too.

New Beginnings… No More Talk of Darkness is the latest in a series of superb Phantom cabarets for MADTrust. It offers fans the chance to see members of the Phantom cast as they’ve never seen them before, out of costume and out of character and delivering unique, up-close and personal performances in the intimate cabaret setting of the Delfont Room. Even better, fans get to do some good by supporting a worthy charity like MADTrust at the same time.

New Beginnings…No More Talk of Darkness takes place at the Delfont Room at the Prince of Wales Theatre on Thursday 6th August 2015. Doors open at 10.30pm, show starts at 11pm.

Tickets start at £17, and are available to buy in person at the Prince of Wales Theatre box office, by calling 0844 402 5110 or by visiting www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk.

Further details can be found on Facebook at New Beginnings…No More Talk of Darkness.

 

ROYAL COURT: TOTTENHAM AUGUST 2015

·         As part of its three year engagement with community groups, artists, young people and businesses in Tottenham and Pimlico, the Royal Court Theatre is to host a series of events and performances to take place across Tottenham this summer.

·         The events are incorporated under TOTTENHAM’S OWN, TOTTENHAM PRESENTS andTOTTENHAM FIRSTS.

TOTTENHAM’S OWN is a celebration of work made by the local community and will include workshops and performance nights for home grown talent in the Tottenham area.

Under this strand, the Royal Court Theatre will be working with Tottenham residents in collaboration with theBruce Grove Youth Club, Haringey Shed and The Wellside Project to create new pieces of theatre inspired by issues important to the area.

TOTTENHAM’S OWN will also feature the return of the performance night for Tottenham artists, Platform Tottenham which will invite artists of all genres to perform in front of an audience at Haringey Irish Centre’s main hall.

TOTTENHAM PRESENTS is part of the Royal Court Theatre’s efforts to bring world class art to Tottenham residents.

For TOTTENHAM PRESENTS Quang K Van will lead an opening ceremony of the programme with a promenade dance performance performed by community dancers and drummers across Lordship Rec. There will also be a special appearance by students from Pimlico Academy who the Royal Court are currently working with through their engagement with the SW1V area.

Royal Court Associate Designer Chloe Lamford will be leading two design workshops focussing on design for theatre and visual culture more broadly.

Selina Thompson will also bring her full length theatre piece Chewing The Fat to Haringey Sixth Form Centre.

TOTTENHAM PRESENTS will also include The Five Step Plan: The Massacre of the NHS and How to Fix It, a newly devised piece of theatre by The Tottenham Community Cast of Michael Wynne’s recent verbatim play about the NHS, Who Cares. Directed by Debbie Hannan the piece is an impassioned plea for the future of their community, combining personal testimony and fiction.

TOTTENHAM FIRSTS will include a strand of events by leading theatre makers from around the UK where they will try out new ideas and previously unseen work for Tottenham audiences. Rob Drummond, Rachel Mars, and Islington Community Theatre will all perform new pieces.

The events will take place in parks, community centres, schools and theatres and will feature a range of performances, workshops and collaborations with residents from Tottenham.

TOTTENHAM’S OWN
A celebration of work made in by the local community.
This strand of events includes:

Bruce Grove Youth Club
with Hamish Pirie
Taster session: Friday 24 July from 3pm
Join in: Every Wednesday from 29 July – 26 August, 2pm – 4pm
Sharing of work Friday 28 August, 1pm
Bruce Grove Youth Club, 10 Bruce Grove, N17 6RA
Free

Royal Court Theatre Associate Director Hamish Pirie will work with Bruce Grove’s young people aged 11 – 19 on a piece of theatre about the issues that matter to them.

Based in Tottenham, Bruce Grove Youth Club delivers a range of activities for young people.

The sessions will culminate in a free sharing of work on 28 August at 1pm at the Bruce Grove Youth Club.

Hamish Pirie is Associate Director at the Royal Court. For the Royal Court his directing credits includeViolence and Son, Who Cares and Teh Internet is Serious Business.
His other theatre credits include I’m With The Band and Demos, Quiz Show, Love With A Capital ‘L’, 3 Seconds, Most Favoured, Bravo Figaro and The Last Bloom (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, where he was previously Associate Director) and Salt Root and Roe (Donmar Warehouse’s Trafalgar Studio season).

For more information, tickets and to book your place in the sessions, email:[email protected]

Haringey Shed’s Children’s and Youth Company
Join in: Monday 3 August – Saturday 15 August, 9am – 4pm
Sharing of work on Saturday 15 August, 2pm and 4:30pm
White Hart Studios, Haringey Sixth Form Centre, White Hart Lane, N17 8HR

A Royal Court writer and director will work with Haringey Shed’s children’s theatre (ages 7-10) and Youth Company (ages 11-16) to create their summer show. There are spaces available for members of the public between the ages of 7 and 16 to join in.

For 15 years Haringey Shed has been delivering performing arts workshops in Haringey and surrounding boroughs. They provide inclusive workshops where participants have the opportunity to learn performing arts skills in an environment where everyone is encouraged to realise their potential.

For more infomation, tickets and to book your place in the sessions, email[email protected]

Children’s Workshops with The Wellside Project
Join in: Tuesday 18, Thursday 20 and Friday 21 August, 10am – 1pm
Sharing of work Friday 21 August, 1pm
Parish Hall at Holy Trinity Church, Tottenham, Philip Ln, N15 4GZ
Free

The Wellside Project, which seeks to bring people together to serve their community, present a series of workshops for children exploring why they love Tottenham and what it means to them.

Suitable for ages 7-12

For more information and booking email [email protected]

Platform Tottenham
Friday 28 August, 8pm
Haringey Irish Centre, Main Hall, Pretoria Rd, Tottenham, N17 8DX
Free

The second performance night for Tottenham artists of all genres who want to share their work with a friendly audience.

Tickets available on the door.

Submissions should be sent in to [email protected] by 21 August. Entrants must be over 18.

Soup Stories
Your kitchen
Whenever you choose

Royal Court Theatre Associate Director Hamish Pirie wants to tour the kitchens of Tottenham, tasting your homemade dishes, hearing your stories and chatting about the role of food in different countries and cultures. He might even do the washing up…

TOTTENHAM PRESENTS
World class art on your doorstep.

Opening Ceremony: Bunny Dance
Saturday 1 August, Gather from 6pm for a 6:30pm start
Beginning at Lordship Hub, Lordship Recreational Ground, Lordship Lane, Harringay
Free and unticketed

An invitation to move and an invitation to party.

Quang K Van’s Bunny Dance plus special guests performance from our sister project in Pimlico, the Pimlico Academy Performing Arts BTEC, with If You Don’t Stand For Something, You’ll Fall For Anything.

Choreographer and dancer Quang K Van will lead an ensemble of local drummers and dancers through the Lordship Rec in a promenade performance. In creating the piece, Quang has taken inspiration from the East Asian legend of the Moon Rabbit and the energy of the people of Tottenham. 

Community dancers are invited to join in the procession.

Quang K Van’s dance credits include Miaan, SisGo, Innocence (Scottish Dance); Blake Diptych, Disgo(Darkin Ensemble); View from the Shore (Jacky Lansley Dance); O (Michael Clark Company); Mystere(Cirque du Soliel); Interview, Flying the Rainbow (Oxytoc Dance Project); Tchaikovsky Trilogy, Hamlet, Midnight Express, Romeo & Juliet, Kermesseni Brugge, The King, HC Anderson (Peter Schaufuss Ballet);Othello, XXX CLOSEUP, Where I End & We Begin, Ultimate Ophelia, Loose Ends, Magma (Skanes Dansteater); Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake (Adventures in Motion Pictures). His opera includes Skin Deep(Opera North); Ariodante (English National Opera).His theatre includes Teh Internet Is Serious Business(Royal Court).

For more information and to join, email [email protected].

Entrants must be 16 and over. No experience necessary.

Design Workshops
With Chloe Lamford
Location TBC
Monday 7 and Monday 14 September, 7pm – 9pm

Royal Court Associate Designer Chloe Lamford will host two workshops introducing elements of design for theatre but also looking at visual culture more broadly.

No theatre experience or knowledge is necessary – just an interest in any form of visual expression, from street art to sculpture.

Chloe Lamford’s credits for the Royal Court include, Roald Dahl’s The Twits, How to Hold Your Breath, God Bless the Child, 2071, Teh Internet is Serious Business, Open Court, Circle Mirror Transformation. Her other theatre credits include Salt Root & Roe (Donmar/Trafalgar Studios); Praxis Makes Perfect(National Theatre Wales); Lungs (Schaubühne, Berlin); and 1984(Headlong/Almeida/West End/tour). Her awards include Theatrical Management Association Award for Best Theatre Design (Small Miracle); Arts Foundation Fellowship Award for Design for Performance: Set & Costume.

For more information and to join, email [email protected].

Chewing The Fat
By Selina Thompson
White Hart Studios, Haringey Sixth Form Centre, White Hart Lane, N17 8HR
Friday 7 and Saturday 8 August, 8pm
Tickets £3

Chewing the Fat Workshop
By Selina Thompson
White Hart Studios, Haringey Sixth Form College
Saturday 8 August, 3pm
Free

Glitter, chicken legs and lots of rice pudding: Selina invites you to her own version of a midnight feast, somewhere between the confessions made over coffee at weight watchers, and sloppy drunken story-telling over a 3am kebab.

Chewing The Fat began at the University of Sheffield as Selina’s dissertation piece. After performing at Emerge Festival (Leeds) in 2012, she was invited to develop the work into a full length piece at Theatre in the Mill, Bradford – supported by West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Since then, the work has toured to ARC Stockton, PULSE Ipswich, returned to the University of Sheffield for a sell-out performance and has been invited to perform for two weeks as part of Northern Stage’s prestigious programme at Kings Hall.

Selina Thompson’s recent work includes: Pat It And Prick It And Mark It With A B (National Theatre Studio / Compass Festival, Leeds), Dark & Lovely (East Street Arts) and It Burns It All Clean (West Yorkshire Playhouse / FIERCE Festival).

Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.

The Five Step Plan: The Massacre of the NHS and How to Fix it.
Directed by Debbie Hannan
Saturday 29 August
Performances throughout the day times TBC
Secret NHS Location, to be announced
Tickets £3

The NHS was a key electoral issue for Tottenham residents. In the aftermath of the General Election where and what should be done next?

Combining personal testimony and fiction, a community cast (including several Tottenham residents) have collaboratively devised a piece that makes an impassioned plea for the future of the NHS in their community. This is an immersive piece that will take place in a secret NHS location. Performance times TBC

Debbie Hannan’s directing credits for the Royal Court include Primetime 2015, Who Cares (as Co-Director)and Peckham The Soap Opera. As Assistant Director for the Royal Court her credits include How To Hold Your Breath, Teh Internet is Serious Business, The Nether, Primetime 2014, Birdland and The Mistress Contract. Other directing credits include Notes from the Underground (Citizens Theatre), Panorama, Roses Are Dead, You Cannot Call it Love (The Arches), Yellow Pears (Swept Up) and Grimm Tales, Nights at the Circus (Theatre Paradok). She was a previous trainee director at the Royal Court.

Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.

TOTTENHAM FIRSTS
Leading theatre makers from around the UK try out new ideas and previously unseen work for Tottenham audiences.

The Hole of My Heart
by Rob Drummond
Friday 21 August, 7.30pm
Beehive Pub, Stoneleigh Rd, Tottenham N17 9BQ
Tickets £3

When Rob was eight years old doctors found a hole in his heart and advised his parents he had only a few months to live.

Join him now in his thirty fourth year as he investigates his past medical health and examines the possibility of knowing his future with the help of human genome scientists in America who, for three thousand dollars, will tell him how he is likely to die.

Rob Drummond’s theatre credits include Mr Write (National Theatre of Scotland), Rob Drummond: Wrestling  (The Arches), Bullet Catch (The Arches) and Quiz Show (The Traverse).

Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.

Ask
In collaboration with Islington Community Theatre
Saturday 22 August, 3pm and 7pm
Bernie Grants Art Centre
Running time: 45 mins
Age guidance: 11+
Free but ticketed

On 23 June 2014, fifteen year old Helawit went to her friend’s birthday party in north London. They watched a film, ate pizza and made terrible rap videos on their phones.

On the same day, on the other side of the world, Helawit’s dad – a British democracy activist – was kidnapped, hooded and illegally rendered to Ethiopia.  A year later, he’s still there – held in solitary confinement and facing a death sentence for crimes he didn’t commit.

Ask is an intimate new scratch play created and performed by Helawit, a long-standing member of Islington Community Theatre, and her friends.  It’s about what it means for your dad to go missing in one of the most important years of your life and why the British Government won’t ask for him back.

Islington Community Theatre is one of the UK’s leading companies making theatre with young people. The ICT is currently at the National Theatre performing their newly devised piece, Brainstorm created by Ned Glasier, Emily Lim and the company.

www.islingtoncommunitytheatre.com

A free post-show discussion will take place after the 7pm performance.

Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.

Our Carnal Hearts and Sing It! Spirit of Envy
by Rachel Mars
Saturday 5 September, 5pm
St Mary’s Church, Lansdowne Rd, Tottenham, N17 9XE
Free but ticketed

Two pieces by Rachel Mars which continue her work on the theme of envy in song and text.

This fairy comes round your house.
You, she says, are in luck.
Ask for anything you want. Anything in the world and I’ll give it to you. But whatever you ask for, your neighbour gets the same thing, but double.
Great. You say. Fine.
Cut out one of my eyes.

Our Carnal Hearts is a celebration of envy. A place to whoop at our own fragility and delight against our better nature. A show that seeks to prove that envy makes us better.

Sing It! Spirit of Envy! is a short song piece about greed and envy, solo pursuits and communal contentment. Made anew with a pop-up choir of local singers each time it is performed, it puts two joyfully waggling fingers up to glib, economic politco-bullshit speak.

Rachel Mars plus special Tottenham guests The New Tottenham Singers.

Rachel Mars is a performance maker with a background in theatre, live art and comedy. Her theatre credits includes The Way You Tell Them (CPT, Summerhall, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Contact Theatre, Machynlleth Comedy Festival, further UK Touring and Wildside Festival, Montreal, The Butterfly Club, Melbourne), The Lady’s Not For Walking Like An Egyptian (Ovalhouse, Royal Exchange, Norwich Arts Centre, The Albany, further touring Autumn 2015) and Sing It! Spirit of Envy! (Buzzcut Festival, Forest Fringe, Lyric Hammersmith, Machynlleth Comedy Festival).

The New Tottenham Singers are a non-audition choir based in North London, open to all, which aims to unite and represent the wider community through a joy of singing.

There will be an open rehearsal day for The New Tottenham Singers on 29 August at Bernie Grant Arts Centre from 2pm – 6pm. For more details email [email protected]

Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.

HENRY V
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon: 12 September – 25 October 2015
Live from Stratford-upon-Avon: 21 October 2015
Barbican, London: 7 November – 30 December 2015

KING & COUNTRY: RICHARD II, HENRY IV PARTS I AND II AND HENRY V
Barbican, London: 12 – 24 January 2016

Gregory Doran, RSC Artistic Director, continues his exploration through Shakespeare’s History plays as he directs Henry V, opening in Stratford-upon-Avon, before being broadcast to cinemas and transferring to the Barbican in London.

Alex Hassell, who played Prince Hal in both productions of Henry IV and recently played Biff Loman in Doran’s production of Death of a Salesman, plays the title role of King Henry.

Doran’s History tetralogy culminates in January 2016 at the Barbican in London, with a major theatrical event marking the start of the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare’s death, King & Country, a complete 4-play season cycle of Richard II, Henry IV Parts I and II and Henry V playing in repertoire. Following the Barbican season, Henry IV Parts I and II and Henry V tour to China and are then re-joined by Richard II in Spring 2016 for an exclusive season in the US, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

The RSC is delighted to announce J.P. Morgan as the Global Tour Premier Partner for all four productions. J.P. Morgan will be supporting the upcoming tour in the UK, US and China where the RSC will perform Shakespeare’s History Plays.

October 2015, also marks the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt whilst Henry V performs in Stratford-upon-Avon, bringing added resonance to the play which uses the battle as the famous centrepiece of Henry V’s reign.

With the start of rehearsals for Henry V, the RSC begins the first pilot in the initiative to produce new, theatrically viable, Chinese translations of all Shakespeare’s 36 plays, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the First Folio in 2023. The RSC will create the translations in collaboration with Chinese writers and translators, who will be embedded into the RSC’s rehearsal process. Professor Zhang Chong, from Shanghai’s Fudan University will be the translator for Henry V working alongside playwright and Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, Nick Yu.

The full cast for Henry V includes: Daniel Abbott (Gloucester/Monsieur le Fer); Martin Bassindale (Boy);Antony Byrne (Pistol); Sean Chapman (Exeter); Oliver Ford Davies (Chorus), Nicholas Gerard-Martin(Orleans/Bishop of Ely); Robert Gilbert (Dauphin); Alex Hassell (Henry V); Jim Hooper(Canterbury/Erpingham); Jennifer Kirby (Katherine); Jane Lapotaire (Queen Isobel); Sam Marks(Constable of France); Dale Mathurin (Bates/Bedford); Chris Middleton (Nym/Warwick/Governor of Harfleur); Evelyn Miller (Rambures/Lady-in-Waiting); Keith Osborn (Montjoy/Scroop); Sarah Parks(Mistress Quickly); Leigh Quinn (Alice); Joshua Richards (Bardolph/Fluellen); Simon Thorp (King of France); Obioma Ugoala (Grey/Gower); Andrew Westfield (Westmoreland/MacMorris) and Simon Yadoo(Cambridge/Williams/Jamy).

The Henry V Company will perform across all four plays of the King & Country cycle and are joined by David Tennant (Richard II); Julian Glover (John of Gaunt); Jasper Britton (Bolingbroke/Henry IV); Matthew Needham (Harry Percy/Hotspur/Mowbray) and Emma King (Lady-in-Waiting/Lady Mortimer/Doll Tearsheet).

The productions are designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis with lighting by Tim Mitchell. The music is composed by Paul Englishby with sound by Martin Slavin. The Movement director is Mike Ashcroft and the Fight director is Terry King.

Henry V will be broadcast ‘Live from Stratford-upon-Avon’ to cinemas in collaboration with Picturehouse Entertainment on 21 October 2015

To book tickets call 01789 403493 or online at www.rsc.org.uk

On Twitter @theRSC @RSCPress
On Facebook www.Facebook.com/theRSC
On our London website www.rschistories.org.uk

Henry V press performances:
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon: Tuesday 22 September 2015, 7pm
Barbican, London: Wednesday 11 November 2015, 7pm

Production Access Information: www.rsc.org.uk/visit-us/access.aspx
Henry V
Captioned performances:
Thursday 8 October, 7.15pm – Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Wednesday 2 December, 7.15pm – Barbican
Audio Described performances:
Saturday 10 October, 7.15pm (Touch tour 5pm) – Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Saturday 24 October, 1.15pm (Touch tour 11am) – Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Wednesday 25 November, 7.15pm (Touch tour 5.15pm) – Barbican

BP £5 tickets and BP Shakespeare Pass for 16-25s
The BP £5 tickets and BP Shakespeare Pass for 16 – 25 year olds gives access to £5 tickets for all RSC productions whether we are performing in Stratford-upon-Avon, London or on tour. The pass enables 16-25 year olds to see five shows in Stratford-upon-Avon for £20 – the cheapest way to enjoy shows at the RSC. Tickets can be booked in advance on the phone, online or in person with some available for sale on the day of the performance.  The scheme is supported by Project Partner, BP.

 

From the Golden Age of the movie musical, the much-loved score of Seven Brides for Seven Brothersincludes Bless Your Beautiful Hide, Goin’ Courtin’, Wonderful Wonderful Day, and the dance spectacular, Barn Dance.

Led by Alex Gaumond as Adam and Laura Pitt-Pulford as Milly, the full cast of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers includes Rosanna Bates, David Burrows, Angela M. Caesar, Leon Cooke, Eamonn Cox, Jacob Fisher, Charlene Ford, Steve Fortune, Trevor Michael Georges, Bob Harms, Bethany Huckle, Frankie Jenna, James Leece, Philip Marriott, Dylan Mason, Natasha Mould, Peter Nash, Sam O’Rourke, Ryan Pidgen, Adam Rhys-Charles, Karli Vale, Annie Wensak, Matthew Whennell-Clark, Ed White and Emma Woods.

A new recording of songs from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers by ℗ 2015 JAY Productions Ltd is available to purchase at Regent’s Park Open Air. The recording features cast members Laura Pitt-Pulford, Alex Gaumond and Sam O’Rourke performing iconic songs from this classic musical, alongside the National Symphony Orchestra.

Based on the 1954 MGM film of the same name, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was adapted for stage in 1978 with a book by Lawrence Kasha and David Landay, and new songs by Academy Award-winning Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha.

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, who reunites the creative team behind Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s award-winning production of The Sound of Music, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers has set and costume design by Peter McKintosh, choreography by Alistair David, musical supervision and dance arrangements by Gareth Valentine, musical direction by Stephen Ridley, lighting design by Tim Mitchell, orchestrations by Larry Blank and Mark Cumberland, sound design by Nick Lidster for Autograph, casting by James Orange CDG, and fight direction by Kate Waters.

Part of the 2015 season at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, follows the critically acclaimed productions of J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan and Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. Lord of the Flies will then bring this year’s season to a close from 3 – 12 September before embarking on a nationwide tour.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was originally produced on Broadway by Kaslan Productions Inc and directed by Lawrence Kasha with dance and music arrangements by Sam Davis. The production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited on behalf of Music Theatre International of New York.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre 2015 season:

Box Office: 0844 826 4242
Online Bookings: www.openairtheatre.com

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Book by Lawrence Kasha and David S. Landay

Music by Gene De Paul   Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

New songs by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn

Based on the MGM Film and The Sobbin’ Women by Stephen Vincent Benét

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

16 July – 29 August 2015

First preview: 16 July

Press night: 23 July

Performances: Mon – Sat (7.45pm); matinees Thurs & Sat (2.15pm)

Tickets

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

£25 – £52.50

(Premium Seats £65, including best seat, programme and glass of wine)

A full performance schedule will be available from www.openairtheatre.com

 

Rehearsals have begun at Curve, Leicester for multi award-winning choreographer and dancer Akram Khan’s Until the Lions, his highly anticipated, brand-new full-length production. Premiering in the 360° setting of London’s Roundhouse, the inspiration for the piece which Khan will choreograph and perform in is taken from the ancient Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata. Set to be one of his most startling and introspective works to date, the piece will run for 12 performances in London from 9 January 2016 before beginning an international tour and returning to co-commissioners Curve, Leicester.

Rediscovering his classical roots, Khan’s inspiration for the work is taken from the Indian dance form Kathak and combined with contemporary dance. Until the Lions will explore themes of gender and sexuality, following Amba, a princess abducted on her wedding day who seeks revenge from the gods. It will mark Khan’s return to the epic tale, having begun his professional career performing in Peter Brook’s own decade-defining production in 1985.

For this extraordinary work, Khan will reunite with some of the artistic collaborators behind his Olivier Award-winning production DESH, including visual artist Tim Yip, lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Naïr and dramaturg Ruth Little. Khan will perform alongside two of his company dancers, Ching-Ying Chien and Christine Joy Ritter. Accompanying these three extraordinary performers live on stage will be singers Sohini Alam and David Azurza, percussionist Yaron Engler and composer Vincenzo Lamagna.

As one of the dance world’s most respected figures, Khan has created an influential body of work, collaborating with an impressive range of performers and artists including Juliette Binoche, Sylvie Guillem, Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Nitin Sawhney. Khan’s work for the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony was met with unanimous acclaim.

Until the Lions was initiated by the 360° Network of round artistic venues across the world. The show is produced by Akram Khan Company (Farooq Chaudhry), and co-produced by Roundhouse/Sadler’s Wells, MC2: Grenoble, La Comète Châlons-en-Champagne, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Danse Danse/TOHU Montréal, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, New Vision Arts Festival Hong Kong, Taipei Performing Arts Center, Movimentos Festwochen Wolfsburg, Brighton Festival 2016, Maison de la Culture d’Amiens, Concertgebouw Brugge, Holland Festival Amsterdam, Romaeuropa Festival and Curve Leicester.

Supported by Arts Council England.

International tour dates are still to be announced.

This production is a partial adaptation of Until the Lions, a retelling in verse of the Mahabharata by Karthika Naïr (forthcoming from HarperCollins India & Arc Publications, UK).

 

LISTINGS INFORMATION

UNTIL THE LIONS
Directed and choreographed by Akram Khan
Co-produced by Akram Khan Company, Roundhouse and Sadler’s Wells

Website: www.akramkhancompany.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AkramKhanCompany
Twitter: @AkramKhanLive

Roundhouse
Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1 8EH
Saturday 9 January – Sunday 24 January 2016, 7.30pm (no performances: Sunday 10 Jan; Wednesday 13 Jan; Sunday 17 Jan; Thursday 21 Jan)
Box office:  0300 6789 222
Tickets: £10 – £34
Website: roundhouse.org.uk

 

The Olivier Awards will stage a very special concert next year featuring a host of acclaimed West End stars to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

The Oliviers In Concert will take place at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 25 January, as well as being broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 for anyone who can’t make it to watch the evening of stellar entertainment.

Marking the beginning of the hugely prestigious annual award ceremony’s 40th year, the concert promises to be a not-to-be-missed chance for theatre fans and will feature an illustrious line-up of soon to be announced theatre stars.

The company will perform a selection of songs from celebrated musicals accompanied by the renowned BBC Concert Orchestra. The audience will have the further privileged of seeing the hugely popular orchestra conducted by its Principal Conductor Keith Lockhart.

The Oliviers In Concert joins the previously announced Curtain Up! exhibition as part of the milestone celebrations, with the exhibition that looks at the unique relationship between the West End and Broadway opening at the V&A in February prior to its New York run at the Lincoln Center.

Organised by the Society of London Theatre, the Olivier Awards were established in 1976 and have subsequently become the most respected theatre award in the UK.

The list of winners who have collected one of the coveted bronze statuettes over the past 40 years reads like a Who’s Who of theatre, with many of the world’s best loved performers and theatre makers previous recipients, from actors Judi Dench, Angela Lansbury, Kevin Spacey and Mark Strong to writers and theatrical legends Peter Hall, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joan Littlewood and Gillian Lynne.

You can ensure you are at the Royal Festival Hall to witness the evening of theatre history by buying tickets here.

ALMEIDA GREEKS FESTIVAL: MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS 

The ALMEIDA GREEKS FESTIVAL is now underway.  Throughout the summer an eclectic mix of Ancient Greek inspired performances, events, talks and readings are taking place at the Almeida and beyond to compliment the theatre’s main stage productions of Oresteia, Bakkhai and Medea.   

Festival highlights for August, September and October include three special one-off music performances.  Trailblazing female ensemble Gaggle bring their contemporary retelling of Aristophanes’ classic comedyLysistrata to the Almeida with Charlotte Church amongst the cast.  Bakkhai composer Orlando Goughcurates an eclectic day of musical Dionysia with music from across Europe and Early Opera Company are joined by Ciara Hendrick as they perform Bernier’s cantata Médée and excerpts from Charpentier’s opera of the same name.
GAGGLE: LYSISTRATA

A new play with music
Written & directed by Deborah Coughlin

Friday 7 & Saturday 8 Aug 10.30pm
Almeida Theatre
Tickets £15

Gaggle bring their new music theatre version of Lysistrata, written and directed by Deborah Coughlin, to the Almeida Greeks Festival for two late nights of raucous after-hours revelry.   Charlotte Church takes an acting role alongside Scarlett Lassoff, Katy Menczer, Jamie-Rose Monk, Roberta Morris and Lauren La Rocque.  Music will be performed by a chorus made up from Gaggle’s critically acclaimed all-girl group.

Aristophanes’ biting comedy is reimagined against a backdrop of contemporary political struggle as Gaggle bring to vivid new life the story of a gang of vigilante women committed to changing the world. Injected with new and existing music from Gaggle, this timely new play with music will be performed on the Almeida’s main stage after Bakkhai.  

All-female ensemble Gaggle were named as one of NME’s Future 50 most innovative groups and have gone on to create boundary-breaking works across Europe’s festivals, on radio, in galleries and online. Their releases include Make Love Not War, From the Mouth of the Cave (2012, Transgressive) and their reworking of forgotten opera The Brilliant and the Dark Live at the ICA (2011).  Gaggle’s recent work includes comedy sketch show The Gag Show at the Etcetera Theatre and Yap Yap Yap performed during their recent residency at the ICA as part of Fig-2 season.   They have also released a choir app called Gagglephone, made a 3 minute film for Channel 4’s Random Act and created a pop-up shop and gallery in an abandoned shop in New Cross.

Deborah Coughlin is Founder and Director of Gaggle. She was included in NewWork Network’s Top Emerging Visual Artists in 2001 and more recently Huck Magazine’s 50 Inspirational Doers. Deborah currently writes, directs and produces all of Gaggle’s activities as well as writing for BBC Radio, The Guardian, The Independent and Vice. She was previously editor of The Feminist Times.

Radio One’s Gemma Cairney will DJ in the Almeida bar after the performance on 7 August.

ORLANDO GOUGH: THAT FEELING

Sun 13 Sep 4 – 8pm
Almeida Theatre
Tickets £25 (£20 concs)

In the spirit of Dionysos, Bakkhai composer Orlando Gough curates an eclectic day of musical Dionysia at the Almeida.

Highlights include wild urban folk music by Çiğdem Aslan, rising star of the Greek Rebetiko scene; an improvised performance by musical innovators Peter Wiegold, Martin Butler and classical jazz bandNotes Inégales; traditional folk music and dance from Southern Italy performed by London’s first Tarantella and Pizzica ensemble Amaraterra and a bespoke piece created with Orlando Gough and five members of the Bakkhai chorus.  The day will be contextualised with talks from Orlando on the tension between Dionysus and Apollo in music, and an exploration of ecstatic religions and their music – taking inspiration from Voodoo, Qawwali and Gnaoua traditions.

Orlando Gough writes music for operas, plays and dance, as well as creating large-scale site specific work.  He is currently composing the music for Bakkhai at the Almeida where his previous credits include Mr. Burns.  His recent opera work includes Imago (Glyndebourne), Road Rage (Garsington Opera), Foghorn Requiem (Souter Lighthouse, South Shields) and Stemmer (Bergen Festival).

EARLY OPERA COMPANY: MÉDÉE FURIEUSE

Sun 4 Oct 7.30pm
Almeida Theatre
Tickets £30 (£27 concs)

Inspired by the Almeida’s upcoming production of Medea, Olivier-Award nominated Early Opera andChristian Curnyn will be joined by mezzo soprano Ciara Hendrick to perform Bernier’s cantata Médée and excerpts from Charpentier’s magnificent opera of the same name.

Throughout history the story of Medea has fascinated composers, never more so than in France in the 17th and 18th centuries.  In this special event for the Almeida Greeks Festival, Early Opera Company’s ensemble of strings, lute and harpsichord will take audiences on an operatic journey through the French Baroque, exploring one of world drama’s most infamous characters.

Rachel Cusk’s new version of Medea, directed by Rupert Goold, runs at the Almeida from 25 September.   Kate Fleetwood will make her Almeida debut in the title role.

Founded by music director Christian Curnyn, Early Opera Company is one of Britain’s leading early music ensembles.  Their recent work with The Royal Opera has included Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Roundhouse and Cavalli’s L’Ormindo at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, for which they were nominated with them for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. Other highlights include many performances at Wigmore Hall and Iford Festival, St George’s Bristol, BBC Proms, Buxton Festival, Snape Proms and Linbury Studio.  Their award-winning Handel opera recordings on Chandos include Serse, Alceste, Partenope,Semele and Flavio, and Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno on Wigmore Live.  Upcoming work includes a performance at York Early Music Festival this summer with Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Charpentier’s Acteon, a staged opera in London with The Royal Opera and a much-anticipated concert performance at St John’s Smith Square.

For the full festival line-up please see www.almeida.co.uk/greeks

THE CURRENT GREEK SEASON AT THE ALMEIDA…

BAKKHAI
Euripides
a new version by Anne Carson
directed by James Macdonald

23 July – 19 September 2015
Press Night 30 July, 7pm

James Macdonald returns to the Almeida to stage Anne Carson’s new version of Euripides’ hedonistic, visceral tragedy. Ben Whishaw makes his Almeida debut as Dionysos alongside Bertie Carvel as Pentheus and Kevin Harvey as Kadmos. Using three actors and a chorus, this new production will echo the original Ancient Greek performance model.

Pentheus has banned the wild, ritualistic worship of the god Dionysos. A stranger arrives to persuade him to change his mind.  Euripides’ electrifying tragedy is a struggle to the death between freedom and restraint, the rational and the irrational, man and god.

The Bakkhai includes Amiera Darwish, Eugenia Georgieva, Kaisa Hammarlund, Helen Hobson, Hazel Holder, Melanie La Barrie, Elinor Lawless, Catherine May, Louise Mills and Belinda Sykes.

Design is by Antony McDonald, with light by Peter Mumford, sound by Paul Arditti, composition byOrlando Gough and musical direction by Lindy Tennent-Brown. Choreography is by Jonathan Burrowsand Gillie Kleiman. Casting is by Anne McNulty CDG.

Anne Carson is a poet, essayist, translator, playwright, and classicist who frequently references, modernises, and translates Greek mythology. Anne’s translation of Sophocles’ Antigone, starring Juliette Binoche and directed by Ivo van Hove, recently played at the Barbican having premiered at Théâtre National du Luxembourg earlier this year.

James Macdonald’s work at the Almeida includes The Triumph of Love, Judgement Day and A Delicate Balance. He was Associate Director of the Royal Court from 1992 to 2007 premiering works by Sarah Kane, Caryl Churchill and Martin Crimp.  More recently at the Royal Court he has directed The Wolf From the Door,Cock and Love and Information.  His other credits include Roots (Donmar Warehouse), #aiww: The Arrest of Ai Wei Wei, And No More Shall We Part (Hampstead Theatre), King Lear, The Book of Grace, Top Girls(Broadway), Dido, Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Exiles (National Theatre),Dying City (Lincoln Center), Drunk Enough to Say I Love You (Public Theater) and Glengarry Glen Ross(West End).
MEDEA
Euripides
a new version by Rachel Cusk
directed by Rupert Goold

25 September – 14 November 2015
Press Night 1 October, 7pm

One of world drama’s most infamous characters is brought to controversial new life in this production by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold and feminist writer Rachel Cusk. Kate Fleetwood makes her Almeida debut in the title role.

Medea’s marriage is breaking up. And so is everything else. Testing the limits of revenge and liberty, Euripides’ seminal play cuts to the heart of gender politics and asks what it means to be a woman and a wife.

Design is by Ian McNeil, costume by Holly Waddington, composition and sound by Adam Cork and choreography by Scott Ambler. Casting is by Julia Horan CDG.

Rachel Cusk was selected by Granta as one of their Best Young British Novelists in 2003. Author of seven novels and three works of non-fiction, she won the Whitbread First Novel Award for Saving Agnes, a Somerset Maugham Award for The Country Life, and was shortlisted for the 2007 Orange Prize for Arlington Park. Her latest novel, Outline, was shortlisted for the Folio Prize and the Goldsmiths Prize.

The Almeida Greeks production of Medea is supported by the Onassis Foundation.

King Charles III

A new play by Mike Bartlett
Directed by Rupert Goold with Whitney Mosery 

Following critically acclaimed sell-out runs at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, King Charles IIIembarks on a UK tour this autumn. Robert Powell will take on the role of King Charles.

The production opens at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and then visits Richmond Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Milton Keynes Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Canterbury Marlowe Theatre, Malvern Festival Theatre, Guildford Yvonne Arnaud, Edinburgh Festival Theatre,Bath Theatre Royal, Chichester Festival Theatre and Plymouth Theatre Royal.

The Queen is dead: after a lifetime of waiting, Prince Charles ascends the throne.  A future of power.  But how to rule?

Mike Bartlett’s play explores the people underneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain’s most famous family.

Directed by the Almeida Theatre’s artistic director Rupert Goold with Whitney Mosery, King Charles III is designed by Tom Scutt, with music composed by Jocelyn Pook, lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Paul Arditti.

The King Charles III tour is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Stuart Thompson Productions, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Charles Diamond and the Almeida Theatre in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and by arrangement with Lee Dean.

King Charles III will also open on Broadway this October at the Music Box Theatre. Tim Pigott-Smith will reprise the role of Charles as performed at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, alongside Oliver Chris, Richard Goulding, Adam James, Margot Leicester, Miles Richardson, Tom Robertson, Sally Scott, Tafline Steen and Lydia Wilson.

The production was first produced by the Almeida Theatre and was subsequently co-produced at the Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End of London by Sonia Friedman Productions and Stuart Thompson Productions in association with Lee Dean and Charles Diamond and Tulchin Bartner Productions. This yearKing Charles III has been awarded the Olivier Award, Critics Choice and South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Play.

UK TOUR LISTINGS:

4 – 19 September 2015
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2EP
Box Office: 0121 236 4455
www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/

21 – 26 September 2015
Richmond Theatre
Little Green, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1QJ
Box Office: 0844 871 7651
www.atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre/

28 September – 3 October 2015
Newcastle Theatre Royal
100 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6BR
Box Office: 0844 811 2121
www.theatreroyal.co.uk/

5 – 10 October 2015
Nottingham Theatre Royal
Theatre Square, Nottingham NG1 5ND
Box Office: 0115 989 5555
www.trch.co.uk/

12 – 17 October 2015
Milton Keynes Theatre
500 Marlborough Gate, Buckinghamshire MK9 3NZ
Box Office: 0844 871 7652
www.atgtickets.com/venues/milton-keynes-theatre/

19 – 24 October 2015
Cambridge Arts Theatre
6 St. Edward’s Passage, Cambridge CB2 3PJ
Box Office: 01223 503333
www.cambridgeartstheatre.com/

27 – 31 October 2015
Canterbury Marlowe Theatre
The Friars, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2AS
Box Office: 01227 787787
www.marlowetheatre.com/

2 – 7 November 2015
Malvern Festival Theatre
Grange Rd, Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 3HB
Box Office: 01684 892277
www.malvern-theatres.co.uk/

9 – 14 November 2015
Guildford Yvonne Arnaud
Millbrook, Guildford, Surrey GU1 3UX
Box Office: 01483 440000
www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/

16 – 21 November 2015
Edinburgh Festival Theatre
13-29 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9FT
Box Office: 0131 529 6000
www.edtheatres.com/

23 – 28 November 2015
Bath Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath BA1 1ET
Box Office: 01225 448844
www.theatreroyal.org.uk/

30 November – 5 December 2015
Chichester Festival Theatre
Oaklands Park, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 6AP
Box Office: 01243 781312
www.cft.org.uk/

7 – 12 December 2015
Plymouth Theatre Royal
Royal Parade, Plymouth PL1 2TR
Box Office: 01752 267222
www.theatreroyal.com/

 

One of the greatest musicals of all time, The Sound of Music, returns to the stage in a new production which opened at Leeds Grand Theatre this week to standing ovations.

Playing the iconic role of Maria von Trapp is Danielle Hope, who captured the hearts of the country when she won BBC Television’s Over the Rainbow and made her professional debut as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium. Danielle has since played Eponine in Les Misérables in London’s West End and Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

 

Captain von Trapp is played by much-loved stage and television star Steven Houghton. The Sheffield-born actor – who trained here in Leeds at Northern School of Contemporary Dance – is well-known for his longstanding television roles in Coronation Street and London’s Burning. Olivier-Award nominated actor Steven has taken on leading roles in Spend Spend Spend, Blood Brothers, White Christmas, Martin Guerre and Grease.

 

Joining Danielle and Steven are West End stars Jan Hartley (Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story) andSarah Soetaert (Chicago) who will play the Mother Abbess and Baroness Elsa Schrader, respectively, withHoward Samuels as Max, Grace Chapman as Liesl, Luke George as Rolf, Kate Milner Evans as Frau Schmidt and Martin Dickinson as Admiral Von Schreiber.

 

Produced by Bill Kenwright, directed by Martin Connor, choreographed by Olivier Award winner Bill Deamer, musical direction by David Steadman, this wonderfully lavish new staging of the classic musical coincides with the 50th anniversary of the film version – the most successful movie musical in history.

 

It all began with the story of the Trapp Family Singers and Baroness Maria von Trapp’s 1949 autobiography, which inspired Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse to create a Broadway musical in 1959. The Sound of Music tells the true story of the world-famous singing family, from their romantic beginnings and search for happiness, to their thrilling escape to freedom as their beloved Austria becomes part of the Third Reich at the start of WWII.

 

The unforgettable score features some of the most memorable songs ever performed on stage, including Edelweiss, My Favourite Things, Do-Re-Mi, Climb Ev’ry Mountain, So Long, Farewell and of course, the title song, The Sound of Music.

 

The Sound of Music is at Leeds Grand Theatre until Saturday 1^st August.

 

Tickets are on sale now priced from £18.50 too £42.

 

Book online at www.leedsgrandtheatre.com or call box office on 0844 848 2700.