THE AWARD-WINNING BITTERSWEET COMEDY BY KEVIN ELYOT
DIRECTED BY MATT RYAN
RUNNING AT THE TURBINE THEATRE
FROM 7 JULY – 21 AUGUST
Stephen K Amos (Benny), James Bradwell (Eric), Edward M Corrie (John), Paul Keating (Guy), Gerard McCarthy (Daniel) and Alan Turkington (Bernie), will star in Kevin Elyot’s award-winning, and much-loved dark comedy, My Night With Reg.
Presented by The Turbine Theatre, this dazzling new revival of the iconic play is directed by Matt Ryan, and runs from 7 July – 21 August 2021, with press night on Tuesday 13 July.
This modern classic, which captures the fragility of friendship, happiness and life itself, won both the 1995 Olivier and Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy, after its premiere at the Royal Court and subsequent transfer to the West End.
Set in Guy’s London flat, old friends and new gather to party through the night. This is the summer of 1985 and, for Guy and his circle, the world is about to change forever, thanks to the mounting AIDS crisis.
My Night With Reg at The Turbine Theatre has designs by Lee Newby and casting by Will Burton CDG.
ORANGE TREE THEATRE ANNOUNCE FULL CAST FOR LONDON PREMIÈRE OF LAST EASTER BY BRYONY LAVERY
Orange Tree Theatre today announce full cast for the London première of Bryony Lavery’s Last Easter. Tinuke Craig directs Naana Agyei-Ampadu (June), Peter Caulfield (Gash), Jodie Jacobs (Leah), and Ellie Piercy (Joy). Last Easter opens on 7 July, with previews from 3 July, and runs until 7 August. It will be streamed live via OT on Screen on 22 and 23 July.
A lighting designer, an actress, a prop maker and a drag singer go on a pilgrimage looking for a miracle.
Even when June, the lighting designer, is diagnosed with a devastating illness, the jokes don’t stop coming as a quartet of theatre friends career across France. They glug red wine and hope to find a miracle at Lourdes for June, a non-believer who thinks the only good thing about religion is the lighting. They’ll soon discover that miracles come in many different forms.
Last Easter is a funny, moving and provocative play about the true nature of friendship.
Completing the creative team is Designer Hannah Wolfe,Lighting Designer Elliot Griggs, and Sound Designer Beth Duke.
Bryony Lavery is a multi-award-winning playwright. Her theatre credits include The Book of Dust, The Borrowers, The Lovely Bones, The Midnight Gang, Swallows and Amazons, Brighton Rock, Frozen (winner of the TMA Best Play Award, and the Eileen Anderson Central Television Award, and nominated for four Tony Awards), Balls, Brideshead Revisited, Queen Coal, The Believers, Treasure Island, Beautiful Burnout, The Origin of the Species, Wicked Lady, and More Light. Her television credits include Buy, and Revolting Women.
Naana Agyei-Ampadu plays June. Her theatre credits include Nine Lessons and Carols (Almeida Theatre), Fairview, Feast, Been So Long (Young Vic), Caroline, or Change (Hampstead Theatre, Playhouse Theatre), Pericles, I Want My Hat Back, The Amen Corner (National Theatre), King (Hackney Empire), Touch (Soho Theatre), A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer (Complicité, National Theatre), The Oresteia, Measure for Measure, The Frontline (Shakespeare’s Globe), Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (New Wolsey Theatre) and Avenue Q (Noël Coward Theatre). Her television credits include Enterprice, GameFace and Cuffs.
Peter Caulfield plays Gash. His previous theatre credits include A Christmas Carol, Aladdin (The Old Vic), Edgar Allen Poe and the Haunted Palace (Adelaide Festival, Bergen International Festival), Sketch You Up! (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Jerusalem (Watermill Theatre), Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Tempest (Southwark Playhouse), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith), One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre, UK tour, Theatre Royal Haymarket), Nicked (HighTide Festival), Enron (Chichester Festival Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Noël Coward Theatre), The Merchant of Venice, The Wind in the Willows (Derby Theatre), Erics (Liverpool Everyman), White Liars (Etcetera Theatre), The Man of Mode (National Theatre), The Wild Duck (Donmar Warehouse), and Larkrise to Candleford (Finborough Theatre). His television credits include The Mystery of DB Cooper, Absentia, Modus, Banana, and Cucumber. For film, his credits include Great Yarmouth, Strangeways Here We Come, and After the End.
Jodie Jacobs plays Leah. Her theatre credits include Cinderella, Dick Whittington (Lyric Hammersmith), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Cadogan Hall), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It (Shakespeare in the Squares), Unexpected Joy, Bananaman, Carrie (Southwark Playhouse), But I’m a Cheerleader, Myth (The Other Palace), Lizzie (Greenwich Theatre), Disaster – The Musical (Charing Cross Theatre), Oliver! (Grange Park Opera), Rock of Ages (Garrick Theatre), Footloose, The Wedding Singer (UK and Ireland tour), We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre), Fame (Aldwych Theatre), Evita (Adelphi Theatre) and Little Shop of Horrors (Duke of York’s Theatre). Her work for television includes The Amazing World of Gumball and Drop Zone.
Ellie Piercy plays Joy. Her credits for the company includeThe Widowing of Mrs Holroyd. Other theatre credits includeSoft Animals (Soho Theatre), Eventide (Up In Arms), Sideways (St. James Theatre), Heresy of Love, As You Like It, Blue Stockings, All’s Well That Ends Well, Liberty, Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe), Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Taming The Tempest, A Touch of Sun (Salisbury Playhouse), How to Beat a Giant (Unicorn Theatre), and Romeo and Juliet (Glasgow Rep Company, Bard in the Botanics). Her television credits include Hanna, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, McMafia and The Impressionists; and for film,The Dig and Brothers of War.
Tinuke Craig’s previous theatre credits include Crave, Random/Generations (Chichester Festival Theatre), Hamlet for Young Audiences (NT tour), Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith), Vassa (Almeida Theatre), The Color Purple (Leicester Curve, Birmingham Hippodrome), I Call my Brothers (Gate Theatre), Dirty Butterfly (Young Vic). Craig was the 2015-2016 Associate Director at Gate Theatre, and received the 2014 Genesis Future Director Award. She is an Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith, and an Associate at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.
Saturday 4th December 2021 – Sunday 2nd January 2022
Lesley Joseph, Rob Rinder and Andy Ford to star in Bristol Hippodrome’s strictly wicked Christmas pantomime!
Lesley Joseph will be heading from Chigwell to Bristol this Christmas to star as The Wicked Queen in the Hippodrome’s pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Lesley will be joined by Rob Rinder who will be making his panto debut as The Man In The Mirror and Bristol panto favourite Andy Ford as Muddles.
Birds of a Feather legend Lesley Joseph celebrates a career which has seen her appear on stage in dramas, musicals and reviews in the west end and across the UK and on every major television channel and on film working with major directors including Franco Zeffirelli. Most recently Lesley starred as Miss Hannigan in Annie, Mrs Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie as well as appearing in Home directed by Peter Hall. In 2018 she starred in the musical adaptation of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein in London’s west end starring as Frau Blücher, a role for which she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. No stranger to pantomime, Lesley stars in productions to audience and critical acclaim every festive season.
Rob Rinder has been presiding over cases in his TV courtroom since 2014 as Judge Rinder, and came fifth in the 2016 season of Strictly Come Dancing competing against Lesley Joseph. Rob was awarded a BAFTA for an episode of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are where he explored his Jewish heritage, and last year presented a critically acclaimed BBC documentary series My Family, The Holocaust & Me. Rinder has appeared on Celebrity Googlebox, was crowned winner of All Star Musicals and is a Columnist for The Evening Standard and The Sun newspapers.
Andy Ford makes a return to Bristol Hippodrome following seven consecutive seasons as panto comic at the venue from 2009 to 2015. One of pantomime’s most successful comedians Andy has appeared on stages across the UK entertaining thousands of theatregoers with his quick-wit, physical routines and sense of humour winning rave-reviews and legions of fans wherever he performs.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is staged by Crossroads Pantomimes, the world’s biggest pantomime producer, led by Michael Harrison and the creative team behind recent Bristol Hippodrome successes including last year’s production of Dick Whittington.
Audience can look forward to a show spectacularly brought to life with an abundance of side-splitting comedy, sensational special effects and plenty of festive magic.
The cast replace John Barrowman who was announced for the production’s original 2020 dates.
Following a record-breaking week of THE SHOW MUST GO ON! LIVE AT THE PALACE THEATRE, the creators, Theatre Support Fund+ announced at the show last night they have reached an incredible milestone of raising £1million pounds for theatre charities. The show was broadcast LIVE across the world via the Shows Must Go On YouTube channel with the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan in attendance. Over 320,000 people watched the broadcast on Sunday 6 June and the show will be available to watch until Saturday 12 June.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan joined Chris and Damien, the founders of Theatre Support Fund+ on stage last night when this milestone was announced and spoke about the importance of theatre to London.
Chris and Damien said today, ‘We are stunned to have reached this extraordinary figure during our concert last week at The Palace. It’s been a thrill to have brought all of these amazing performers together and we are overwhelmed by the response. The views of the concert and donations from across the world really show the love and admiration there is for theatre in London and our talented community. Thank you to everyone who has supported us, and please continue to do so’.
Theatre Support Fund+ was founded last year to raise much needed funds for freelancers after the pandemic forced theatres to close on 16 March 2020. After creating the iconic The Show Must Go On! t-shirt, the creators produced The Show Must Go On! Live at the Palace Theatre as a celebration of West End theatre with 18 of the biggest musicals in a one-off unique concert.
The full range of The Show Must Go On merchandise and limited edition live at the palace items can be purchased from www.theatresupportfund.co.uk and you can still donate by texting ‘THEATRE’ followed by the amount you want to donate to 70460.
Salisbury Cathedral – Saturday 5 June 2021 – then touring until September 2021
Reviewed by Jo Gordon
5*****
To say I was beside myself with absolute joy, when asked if I was free to review Macbeth, in my home town, within the Cathedral grounds on a summer’s afternoon would be an understatement…. what a way to break my sixteen month theatre fast! Watching Macbeth performed by The Lord Chamberlains Men, the very company William himself would have tread the boards with some 400 years ago was a pure treat. A cast of seven, play twenty-two characters, and they play them perfectly.
Returning from battle, Macbeth and Banquo happen across three weird and magical sisters out on the Scottish moorlands. The three sisters prophecy that Macbeth, will one day become King of Scotland. With the help of his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, the prophecy comes to fruition but not without betrayal and blood upon their hands. Part of the prophecy was that Macbeth could not be killed by any man born to a woman, however, life sometimes finds a way of putting you back in your place as he eventually finds out.
The stage, despite being small provides enough magic to transport you to the misty lands of large stone castles and the Elizabethan costumes stay true to how the play would have first appeared to the masses, with an all male cast also playing the female characters, again just how it would have been. What more could you desire than some classical, outdoor theatre full of tragedy, the supernatural and a moral to give us all little warning about our actions. Book up to see it at your local venue, grab a camping chair and indulge in ninety-five minutes of superb outdoors theatre like Bill himself meant it to be.
Not seen on stage since it’s 1975 Hampstead Theatre premiere, Alfred Fagon’s punchy tale of a pair of young Black Londoners trying to make the big bucks via whatever means necessary in a hostile, stiflingly white-dominated world, is a commendably bold choice to reopen this North London venue. Set against a fascinating if unedifying socio-political landscape where undisguised racism ran unchecked thanks in no small part to the notorious ‘Rivers Of Blood’ speech of Enoch Powell, the toxic shockwaves from which were still reverberating throughout an unstable UK nearly a decade later, it’s a challenging piece. Powell is referenced several times in Fagon’s text, as is the 1973 Test Match triumph of the West Indies cricket team, thereby reflecting what were arguably the nadir and the zenith of the 1970s British Black experience.
Given how high all these stakes are, I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the actual play itself, which starts off like a slightly off-kilter sitcom (an impression borne out by Simon Kenny’s garishly kitschy 70s living room setting) where late-teen wheeler dealer Shakie is getting a tongue-lashing from his upwardly mobile, older girlfriend Jackie, by whom he has fathered a child. The arrival of his brash sidekick, would-be music promoter Stumpie, ups the comic ante further, at least until he starts an alarming aggression towards Jackie. The second act degenerates into edgier territory -the increasingly desperate men hold the moneyed Jackie hostage with plans to sell her off to rich white men- but alas with all the finesse and subtlety of a sledgehammer.
It’s a wildly uneven ride, the tone of the writing veering from polemic to poetic to just plain nasty and all the way back again within a few lines of dialogue. The unlikeable characters feel more like mouthpieces than real people which might be less problematic if Fagon hadn’t sought to invest them with the weight of so much history: one minute they’re snarling abuse at each other and the next they are cataloguing unforgivable white-on-Black transgressions that, while an understandable source of fury, carry little dramatic momentum as it sounds as the though the actors are spouting extended Wikipedia quotations. Not that they had Wikipedia in the 1970s of course.
The play is undoubtedly a product of its time, and the casual anti-Semitism, repeated throwaway rape references and perhaps above all, the repellent misogyny are undoubtedly jarring to modern ears. I think Fagon’s point was that oppression never really ends, the oppressed continuing with the oppressor’s appalling behaviour ad infinitum, but Dawn Walton’s slightly unfocused, sluggishly paced production – long on volume, short on subtlety – doesn’t elucidate.
A blandly unconvincing performance from Nickcolia King-N’Da as central man-child Shakie doesn’t help: there is real comic mileage in a scene where, by phone, he tries to verbally seduce the wife of a business associate while simultaneously trying to ascertain the whereabouts of items he has ordered, but it went for very little the night I saw it, the tiresome procedure of using a rotary dial phone getting the only true laughs. Toyin Omari-Kinch injects some much needed energy as the unstable Stumpie, and Natalie Simpson impressively charts Jackie’s disintegration before our very eyes.
Black British playwrights are shamefully underserved by most of the UK’s mainstream theatres so Hampstead programming The Death of a Black Man is, on the one hand, welcome, but I can’t help but wish that they had given this slot to an up-and-coming Black writer rather than disinterring this dated hot mess of a drama. A neglected masterpiece has not been recovered.
AMY TRIGG’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED REASONS YOU SHOULD(N’T) LOVE ME
AVAILABLE TO STREAM FOR 3 PERFORMANCES ONLY
****
“Bravura one-woman show is a knock-out.” Evening Standard
Following a sell-out run at Kiln Theatre, Amy Trigg’s debut play Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me, will be available to view online for 3 performances only from 18–20 June. Tickets are available via www.KilnTheatre.com from £10, with audio description and captions available.
****
“Trigg is terrific” Daily Telegraph
Directed by Charlotte Bennett, Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me opened to critical acclaim at Kiln Theatre in May, and has limited number of tickets available for the remainder of its run until 12 June.
Charlotte Bennett said today, “I’m thrilled that we have been able to capture a live show for a digital release following its run at Kiln Theatre. I am incredibly proud of this show and delighted that we will now be able to share it with an even wider audience. We hope that by offering this digital release it will increase the accessibility of the production for more audiences around the country as well as those who are not yet able to or feel ready to return to a live theatre setting.”
Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham added, “It has been so wonderful having audiences back at Kiln Theatre, but with our live performances sold out, it’s brilliant that we’re able to share Amy’s generous piece with even more people who couldn’t make it.”
****
“Enormously entertaining” Guardian
For a long time I didn’t know how it’d work. Or what I’d be able to feel. People would ask me if I could have sex and I’d feign shock and act wildly offended whilst secretly wanting to grab them by the shoulders and be like “I don’t know, Janet!”
Juno was born with spina bifida and is now clumsily navigating her twenties amidst street healers, love, loneliness – and the feeling of being an unfinished project.
Winner of The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2020, Amy Trigg’s remarkable debut play Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me is a hilarious, heart-warming tale about how shit our wonderful lives can be.
Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me is designed by Jean Chan, with lighting design by Guy Hoare, composition and sound design by Elena Peña, associate director Hana Pascal Keegan and produced by The Women’s Prize for Playwriting, Paines Plough, 45North and Kiln Theatre. The piece was filmed by Rachel Bunce and sound engineer Rob Ketteridge.
SEE IT SAFELY
Kiln Theatre has been granted the use of Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre’s See It Safely mark. The mark certifies that they are complying with the latest Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines, to ensure the safety of their staff and audiences. Ticket holders can find out more here [https://officiallondontheatre.com/see-it-safely/] about the measures that have been put in place ahead of their visit, and what they will need to know beforehand.
THE BARN THEATRE & SCOOT THEATRE TO STAGE SHAKESPEARE COMEDY DOUBLE BILL AT NOTGROVE ESTATE THIS SUMMER
Cirencester’s award-winning theatre, the Barn Theatre, have teamed up with theatre company Scoot Theatre to take over the gardens of Notgrove Manor in the Cotswolds from 21-22 August for a weekend of outdoor theatrical family fun.
The Barn at Notgrove, in association with Scoot Theatrewill feature performances of Scoot Theatre’s family-friendly, sixty-minute productions of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Comedy of Errors.
The production will be staged on the lawn of the Manor House at Notgrove at the following times:
The Comedy of Errors at 3pm (21August) and 12pm (22 August)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at 5pm (21 August) and 2pm (22 August)
Tickets for the productions are now available to purchase at barntheatre.org.uk with family tickets available for £35.
Picnic hampers, provided by Relish, will be available to pre-order with your tickets at £35. On the day you can purchase freshly made pizza by Captain Brown’s Pizzas and British Polo Gin will be running the Horseshoe Bar selling soft drinks, hot drinks, draft lager/cider, ale, cocktails and of course gin and tonics made with their lovely organic gins. Parking and facilities will also be available for audience members.
Max Hutchinson, founder of Scoot Theatre, said of the announcement, “I’m thrilled that Scoot is teaming up with the Barn again this summer. I started Scoot last year to provide safe, live entertainment again after months of us all being indoors. The Barn have been incredibly nimble in adapting to the challenges of the pandemic and so to work with them on their first outdoor venture away from the theatre itself is really exciting.
Regular Barn Theatre-goers will recognise some of our cast and our production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is directed by Joseph O’Malley, who was behind the Barn productions of The Hound of the Baskervilles, The 39 Steps and Ben Hur, so anyone who saw those shows will know what to expect from Scoot! The Notgrove Estate is an absolutely stunning location for some al fresco theatre. They’re going to be offering picnics and a well-stocked bar, so we hope people will come along, indulge in the hospitality of this beautiful venue and enjoy two fast paced, family-friendly Shakespeare comedies in the sunshine! What more could you want!?”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Returning following its smash-hit 2020 UK Tour and run at the Barn Theatre’s outdoor theatre festival BarnFest is Scoot Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The production’s director Joseph O’Malley also directed the Barn Theatre’s acclaimed five-star productions of The 39 Steps, The Hound of the Baskervilles and Ben Hur.
Hermia loves Lysander. Lysander loves Hermia. But Demetrius loves Hermia. And Helena loves Demetrius.
They all run into the woods where the mischievous sprite Puck has plenty of tricks in store for them! Meanwhile, the local cricket team is getting together to rehearse a play…
Expect music, magic, and cricket bat sword fights!
The Comedy of Errors
The second half of the double bill is Scoot Theatre’s new production of The Comedy of Errors which will be directed by Scoot Theatre founder Max Hutchinson.
Two sets of long lost twins. Finally in the same city. They just don’t know it! Separated in childhood, Antipholus of Syracuse is travelling the globe in search of his twin brother. He defies the law by entering the mysterious city of Ephesus, where all Syracusians are banned. Things quickly get spooky when everyone he meets in Ephesus seems to know who he is… Let the confusion and chaos commence!
Expect madness, mistaken identities and slapstick in Shakespeare’s classic farce!
London, 4th June 2021:Polydor Records announce the release of ‘Far Too Late’ from the forthcoming album of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella. ‘Far Too Late’ is sung by Carrie Hope Fletcher and is released on 4th June across all DSPs.
‘Far Too Late’ is the latest in a string of acclaimed tracks from the album of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella which is set for release on 9th July. The album, written and produced during lockdown in the UK, features voices from the cast of the highly-anticipated new musical, as well as some soon-to-be announced, high-profile guest vocalists.
The release of ‘Far Too Late’ comes after it was first revealed to audiences in September 2020 with a performance by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Carrie Hope Fletcher in a stripped-back Her Majesty’s Theatre, home to Phantom of the Opera, in London.
The world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella, the first new production to open after the coronavirus pandemic, will be at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on 25th June. Cinderella is a new romantic musical comedy featuring an original story and book by 2021 OSCAR® winner Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and lyrics by Tony & Olivier award winner David Zippel (City of Angels). Laurence Connor (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, School of Rock) directs, with choreography by JoAnn M Hunter.
Carrie Hope Fletcher will play Cinderella in this new production. She has starred in Heathers (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Addams Family (UK Tour), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK Tour), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre), and most recently played Fantine in Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre. She is also a bestselling author and social media personality.
Ahead of Cinderella’s arrival at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, the building has been extensively refurbished and renovated, including upgrade works to the auditorium and Front of House.
Daniel Evans directs a co-production between Chichester Festival Theatre and the National Theatre to premiere in 2022
CFT Artistic Director Daniel Evans will direct a co-production between Chichester Festival Theatre and the National Theatre in 2022, at the start of CFT’s 60th anniversary season.
Our Generation by Alecky Blytheisa new and extraordinary verbatim play which follows the lives of twelve young people from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as they evolve from children to adults.
From interviews gathered over a five-year period, we experience the heartache, the humour and the growing pains of twelve remarkable teenagers, as they navigate their families, their friendships, an exams fiasco and a global pandemic. Our Generation will provide a unique insight into growing up in modern Britain, seen through the eyes of those who are experiencing it right now.
Alecky Blythe wrote the acclaimed verbatim musical London Road, which premiered at the National Theatre in 2011 and later became a feature film. Our Generation will be Daniel Evans’s directorial debut at the National Theatre; as an actor, his work there included Cardiff East, Peter Pan, Troilus and Cressida, Candide and The Merchant of Venice.
Our Generation will open at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre in February 2022 before playing at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre from April 2022.
Our Generation will have set design by Vicki Mortimer, costume design by Kinnetia Isidore, video design by Akhila Krishnan, lighting design by Zoe Spurr, sound design by Paul Arditti, movement direction by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, and music composition, production & direction by DJ Walde.
Booking for the Chichester production will open in February 2022 when CFT’s full 60th anniversary season will be announced.
