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!

FIRST DETAILS OF THE WATERMILL THEATRE’S AUTUMN SEASON ANNOUNCED

LONE FLYER

FRIDAY 10 – SATURDAY 25 SEPTEMBER

POIROT AND MORE

TUESDAY 5 – THURSDAY 7 OCTOBER

LITTLE WOMEN

FRIDAY 8 – SATURDAY 9 OCTOBER

AUDITORIUM WILL REOPEN FROM 10 SEPTEMBER

BOOK ONLINE AT WATERMILL.ORG.UK OR VIA THE BOX OFFICE ON 01635 46044

TICKETS ON SALE TO FRIENDS OF THE THEATRE FROM MONDAY 9 AUGUST

GENERAL ON SALE FRIDAY 13 AUGUST

As another summer outdoor season draws to a close, Artistic Director Paul Hart and the team at Newbury’s The Watermill Theatre are thrilled to announce the first details of the 2021 autumn season, as it reopens its auditorium for the first time in nearly 9 months.

LONE FLYER, a powerful drama about one of Britain’s greatest female pilots, will return to The Watermill, from Friday 10 – Saturday 25 September, with a press night on Monday 13 September. Hannah Edwards and Benedict Salter will reprise their original roles, with Hannah playing ‘Amy Johnson’ and Benedict supporting her playing a series of other male roles.

Since its forced closure at The Watermill in November 2020 due to the autumn lockdown, it played at the Jermyn Street Theatre as part of their Footprints Festival, achieving 5 Off West End Nominations for Best Production, Sound Design, Director, Leading Performance and Supporting Performance. Lone Flyer is co-produced with Hull Truck Theatre and will be playing in Amy Johnson’s home city of Hull from 7 – 31 October.

“It’s not a bit like a car or a boat you know, it’s like a bird, it’s the most magical feeling I’ve ever had.”

May 1930. Amy Johnson has a dream, but just how far will her dream take her?

As the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia, Amy’s career reached new heights, but the outbreak of the Second World War changed everything, and she finds herself facing her greatest challenge yet. Driven by the need to escape from one life to another, follow Amy’s journey from humble beginnings to become one of Britain’s most influential female aviators.

For audience members who would feel more comfortable to attend a performance with more space between themselves and other audience members there will be two socially distanced performances each week during the run of LONE FLYER.

Sir David Suchet makes his eagerly awaited return to UK stages in POIROT AND MORE, A RETROSPECTIVE this autumn, following a successful tour of Australia and New Zealand in early 2020. Launching the tour at The Watermill from Tuesday 5 – Thursday 7 October, David will retrace his steps as a young actor, visiting more than 20 theatres across the UK. Sir David Suchet performed at The Watermill early in his career and is a long-standing supporter and patron of the theatre.

POIROT AND MORE, A RETROSPECTIVE looks back fondly at David’s illustrious career, sharing some of his most beloved performances in a new and intimate light. Geoffrey Wansell, journalist, broadcaster, biographer and co-author of Poirot and Me, will be joining David as interviewer in this unmistakably unique event.

POIROT AND MORE, A RETROSPECTIVE is co-created by David Suchet and Liza McLean. The show was originally produced in Australia and New Zealand by Liza McLean and Andrew Kay and is presented in the UK by Liza McLean, Andrew Kay and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions.

LITTLE WOMEN, a brand-new one-woman adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel presented by Jenny Wren Productions, will then come to The Watermill for three performances only, from Friday 8 – Saturday 9 October.

One actress. One musician. One enchanting new adaptation.

“I want to do something splendid, something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead.”

This brand new take on Little Women retains all the charm and spirit of the original novel, with a twist; the four sisters, their family and friends are all played by just one woman.

Holed up in the attic of her Massachusetts home just after the American Civil War, Jo struggles with writer’s block, until the arrival of an old friend helps her to unlock a lifetime of memories. Laugh and cry with Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in this coming-of-age tale packed with adventure, drama, love and loss.

To help audience members to book with confidence, The Watermill are operating a flexible booking policy. In the event that their booking is affected by Covid-19, audience members will be offered a ticket exchange, account credit or refund.

Further details of the autumn season will be announced in September.

Paul Hart said, “It’s a symbolic moment to be able to welcome audiences back inside our beautiful auditorium after such a long hiatus and another successful outdoor summer season. Our staff have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to find inventive ways of creating work for audiences and I’m so thrilled to be reopening with the return of Lone Flyer which audiences were enjoying hugely before the run was cut short last year.  We cannot wait to welcome you back.”

Picnic Proms Summer Concert Series

Alfie Boe, Sir Willard White, Aled Jones, Tenors Unlimited and Queen Symphonic will headline three spectacular concerts as part of the Picnic Proms Summer Concert Series at Harewood House in the heart of Yorkshire from 3-5 September 2021.

After a long year of lockdowns, stars of the West End, Broadway, and international music arenas will gather for a rousing, spine-tingling extravaganza in the magnificent grounds.

Picnic Proms Summer Concert Series is a three-day series of concerts featuring musical theatre legends, orchestral icons, a symphonic spectacular and spellbinding silent firework displays.

Alfie Boe will open the series of concerts on Friday 3 September 2021. Ever since he exploded onto the music scene nearly 20 years ago, Boe, a veteran of the London stage and Broadway, has racked up one extraordinary achievement after another. He has two UK Number 1 albums to his credit and has sold more than one million albums in the UK. Having performed in some of the world’s greatest venues, he has the rare ability to bring together all sorts of music lovers.

Not many artists can lay claim to having appeared in the West End, on Broadway with lead roles in Les Misérables, La Boheme (which earned him a Tony Award) and the spectacular orchestral classic rock album Quadrophenia. He is a singer who transcends categories.

“When I look at the crowd at my concerts,” he says, “I can see I’ve got Who fans, musical theatre fans and jazz fans as well.”

Most recently having starred as Jean Valjean in the ‘All Star’ concert of Les Miserables, Boe will be performing some of his favourite songs and West End hits with special guests and fellow West End and Broadway stars Louise Dearman and Rachel Tucker who will open the show.

On Saturday 4 September 2021, The Great Yorkshire Promswill feature another stellar line-up of classical talent. Hosted by singer and presenter Aled Jones MBE, special guests include Sir Willard White, Sophie Evans, Peyee Chen and Tenors Unlimited. They will be accompanied by the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, a professional orchestra specifically created to support freelance musicians from Yorkshire, who have been hit hardest by the pandemic.

The final night on Sunday 5 September will see international rock band Queen Symphonic wow audiences with performances of Queen’s greatest hits. The unique sound blends symphonic arrangements with classic Queen songs. Queen Symphonic features exceptional vocalists, a world class rock band and the incredible 50-piece Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra. Expect to hear unforgettable tunes such as ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and of course ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

The Saturday and Sunday performances will end with a live firework finale, uniquely silent to ensure minimal disturbance to Harewood House’s gorgeous wildlife. The shows will take place in the grounds of Harewood House, taking full advantage of the picturesque surroundings. Event guests are invited to bring their own food, drink, chairs and blankets, enjoying a full Picnic Proms experience in the heart of Harewood.

Ben Crick, conductor for Vivo Entertainment and the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, adds: “We’re sure event-goers can’t wait to enjoy live music once again and it’s our pleasure to present this spectacular series of outdoor events. Harewood House is the perfect setting for such prestigious artists and legendary musicians to showcase their talents. We’re sure the Picnic Proms Summer Concert Series will be a truly magnificent series of events for everyone involved, including our wonderful audiences.”

Ticket prices begin at £35. The event has been created and designed to ensure potential government restrictions, including social distancing and household bubbles, can be adhered to if required. Additional safety measures such as on-site hand sanitising stations and queuing systems will also be in place.

Picnic Proms Summer Concert Series

Friday 3 September: Alfie Boe with special guests Louise Dearman and Rachel Tucker

Saturday 4 September: The Great Yorkshire Proms hosted by Aled Jones and featuring The Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, Sir Willard White, Sophie Evans and Tenors Unlimited

Sunday 5 September: Queen Symphonic with the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra

Harewood House sits in the heart of Yorkshire and is one of the Treasure Houses of England. Visitors can enjoy exhibitions of contemporary art, rare Bird Garden, Farm Experience and over 100 acres of exquisite gardens to explore.

Vivo Entertainment is a Leeds-based events producer. The company aims to support musicians, artists, freelancers and audiences who have deeply missed live entertainment throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, offering the opportunity to come together and enjoy unique musical events once again.

FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR

UK TOUR OF

DOLLY PARTON’S SMASH HIT

9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL

OPENING 31 AUGUST 2021

AT SOUTHAMPTON MAYFLOWER

Dolly Parton’s smash-hit 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL is delighted to confirm full casting for the forthcoming UK Tour opening at Southampton Mayflower on 31 August 2021. Full tour schedule below. 

Joining the previously announced Louise Redknapp as ‘Violet Newstead’ will be Vivian Panka making her professional UK stage debut as ‘Judy Bernly’, Stephanie Chandos (9 to 5 The Musical – previously covering the role of ‘Doralee’, Hairspray and We Will Rock You,) as ‘Doralee Rhodes’, Sean Needham (Kinky Boots, Mamma Mia!, Wicked and Buddy) as ‘Franklin Hart Jr.’ – a role he played on many occasions in both the West End and on tour,  Julia J. Nagle (American in Paris, Aspects of Love, Dirty Dancing) as ‘Roz Keith’ and Russell Dickson (Evita) as ‘Joe’.

The cast is completed by returning ensemble cast members Alexander Bartles, Sierra Brewerton, Demmileigh Foster, Ross Lee Fowkes, Jon Reynolds, Kirsty Anne Shaw, Ricardo Spriggs, Grace Walker, Emily Woodford, and Richard Taylor Woods.  They are joined by Rebekah Bryant, Emily Bull, Sonny Grieveson, Callum Henderson, Joshua Lear, Sarah-Marie Maxwell and Clayton Rosa.

9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL features a book by Patricia Resnick, the legendary film’s original screenwriter, and an original Oscar, Grammy and Tony award-nominated score by country legend and pop icon Dolly Parton. It tells the story of Doralee, Violet and Judy – three workmates pushed to boiling point by their sexist and egotistical boss. Concocting a plan to kidnap and turn the tables on their despicable supervisor, will the girls manage to reform their office – or will events unravel when the CEO pays an unexpected visit? Inspired by the cult film this hilarious new West End production is about teaming up, standing up and taking care of business!

9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL is written by Patricia Resnick, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. It is directed by Jeff Calhoun, choreography by Lisa Stevens, design by Tom Rogers, lighting design by Howard Hudson, musical supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Mark Crossland, musical direction by Andrew Hilton and casting by Victoria Roe.

9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL Original Broadway Cast Recording is planned for re-release via Dolly Records/Sony Music.

Based on the 20^th Century Fox Picture. Originally produced on Broadway by Robert Greenblatt, April 2009.

9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions with Gavin Kalin Productions, Selladoor Worldwide and Glass Half Full Productions.

LISTINGS INFORMATION
9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL

2021 UK TOUR LISTINGS

9to5themusical.co.uk

TUESDAY 31 AUGUST – SATURDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2021

Mayflower, Southampton

www.mayflower.org.uk

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 7 SEPTEMBER – SATURDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2021

The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford

www.bradford-theatres.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER – SATURDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2021

Edinburgh Playhouse

www.atgtickets.com/venues/edinburgh-playhouse

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 21 SEPTEMBER – SATURDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2021

The Marlowe, Canterbury

www.marlowetheatre.com

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 28 SEPTEMBER – SATURDAY 2 OCTOBER 2021

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

www.atgtickets.com/venues/aylesbury-waterside-theatre

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 5 OCTOBER – SATURDAY 9 OCTOBER 2021

Venue Cymru, Llandudno

www.venuecymru.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

CASTING TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

TUESDAY 12 OCTOBER – SATURDAY 16 OCTOBER 2021

Bristol Hippodrome

www.atgtickets.com/venues/bristol-hippodrome

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 19 OCTOBER – SATURDAY 23 OCTOBER 2021

New Wimbledon Theatre

www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-wimbledon-theatre

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 26 OCTOBER – SATURDAY 30 OCTOBER 2021

Nottingham Theatre Royal

www.trch.co.uk

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 2 NOVEMBER – SATURDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2021

Liverpool Empire

www.atgtickets.com/venues/liverpool-empire

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 9 NOVEMBER – SATURDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2021

Sunderland Empire

www.atgtickets.com/venues/sunderland-empire

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 16 NOVEMBER – SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER 2021

The Alexandra, Birmingham

www.atgtickets.com/venues/the-alexandra-theatre-birmingham

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 23 NOVEMBER – SATURDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2021

Eden Court, Inverness

www.eden-court.co.uk 

ON SALE NOW

CASTING TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER – SATURDAY 4 DECEMBER 2021

Theatre Royal Plymouth

www.theatreroyal.com

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 25 – SATURDAY 29 JANUARY 2022

Glasgow King’s Theatre

www.atgtickets.com/venues/kings-theatre-glasgow

ON SALE NOW

LOUISE REDKNAPP STARS AS VIOLET NEWSTEAD

TUESDAY 1 – SATURDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2022

New Victoria Theatre, Woking

www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-victoria-theatre

ON SALE NOW

CASTING TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

TUESDAY 1 – SATURDAY 5 MARCH 2022

Manchester Palace Theatre

www.atgtickets.com/venues/palace-theatre-manchester

ON SALE NOW

CASTING TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON