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STAR CAST ANNOUNCED FOR THE MUST-SEE WEST END MUSICAL THIS CHRISTMAS

I’m A Celebrity 2019 winner JACQUELINE JOSSA

makes her West End debut in the role of Emily

Busted star MATT JAY-WILLIS will play Bob Cratchit

Also announced today: LUCIE JONES, SANDRA MARVIN, MARTYN ELLIS,

CEDRIC NEAL and JEREMY SECOMB

They join previously announced BRIAN CONLEY, who takes the

iconic role of Ebenezer Scrooge in Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent’s A Christmas Carol

Performances begin at The Dominion Theatre on Monday 7 December 2020

For tickets and information, see www.dominiontheatre.com/christmas-carol

A star cast will join Brian Conley in the new, musical staged concert of Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent’s A Christmas Carol, which is set to play a strictly limited season at the Dominion Theatre in London. Performances run from Monday 7 December 2020 to Saturday 2 January 2021 (Press Night: Monday 14 December at 7:00pm).

I’m A Celebrity…2019 winner Jacqueline Jossa will join the cast as Emily/Ghost of Christmas Future. Jacqueline is an award-winning actress who played Lauren Branning in BBC1’s Eastenders from 2010-2018.

Matt Jay-Willis will play Bob Cratchit. Matt’s band Busted were one of the biggest pop success stories of the early noughties, and he has since starred in Wicked and Little Shop of Horrors in the West End.

Joining them are acclaimed performers Lucie Jones (Waitress, Rent, The X-Factor finalist), who will play The Ghost of Christmas Past, Sandra Marvin (Emmerdale,Waitress) who will be Mrs Fezziwig and Martyn Ellis (My Fair Lady, One Man, Two Guvnors) who will play her husband Mr Fezziwig.

Cedric Neal (The Voice, Motown The Musical, Back To The Future The Musical) will be The Ghost of Christmas Present, Jeremy Secomb (The Phantom of the Opera, Jerry Springer: The Opera) takes the role of Jacob Marley, Rebecca Lock (Heathers, Curtains) will play Mrs Cratchit and Sam Oladeinde (Hamilton, The Book of Mormon) will be Fred Anderson/Young Scrooge.

The staged concert will star TV comedy legend and West End star Brian Conley (9 to 5, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jolson [Olivier nomination], Hairspray) as the iconic Ebenezer Scrooge, who will be joined on stage by an orchestra and cast of over 50. 

The musical brings Dickens’ timeless fable to glorious life: telling the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean-spirited miser who does not believe in the power of Christmas. But on a Christmas Eve filled with memorable characters, spectacular songs, ghostly apparitions and journeys to the past, present and future, Scrooge acknowledges his mistakes and discovers the joy of redemption. With a sparkling Broadway score played by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, an all-star cast and a touch of festive magic, A Christmas Carol at the Dominion is the must-see West End production this December.

Written by the critically acclaimed team of Alan Menken (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast), Lynn Ahrens (Anastasia, Ragtime) and Mike Ockrent (Me and My Girl, Crazy for You), the stage musical of A Christmas Carol first premiered in 1994 at New York’s Paramount Theatre. It ran for a decade at Madison Square Garden, and was seen by over 5 million people, becoming a firm Christmas tradition. The London Musical Theatre Orchestra (LMTO) have previously performed A Christmas Carol to sell-out audiences and five-star reviews in 2016, 2017 and 2018 at the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End.                                                           

The creative team is led by director Shaun Kerrison, who has helmed several previous concert productions for LMTO (A Christmas Carol, Mack and Mabel, Candide) as well as BBC Proms My Fair Lady and Kiss Me, Kate, with Freddie Tapner (founder of LMTO) as Musical Director. Sound Design is by Nick Lidster for Autograph (Jesus Christ Superstar, The Band), Design is by Dora Schweitzer (The Wipers Times), Musical Staging is by Tim Jackson (Merrily We Roll Along, The Season), Lighting Design is by Mike Robertson (Sunday in the Park with George), Projection Design is by George Reeve (Six Broadway, Rogers and Hammersteins’s Cinderella) and Casting is by Jim Arnold CDG (Wicked, The Prince of Egypt).

With soaring melodies, moving lyrics and a moral for our times, this will be a Christmas event to reunite families after the hardest year in living memory.

A Christmas Carol is produced by Freddie Tapner for the London Musical Theatre Orchestra and Gary England. LMTO isthe world’s only professional orchestra dedicated solely to performing works of musical theatre.

COVID-19 safety measures and social distancing will be in place front of house, on stage, backstage and throughout the Dominion Theatre.

If you become unable to attend, unwell or are having to isolate, you will be able to exchange your tickets free of charge up to 24 hours before your performance.

RB Health & Safety Solutions are providing COVID security and testing strategies for the production.

A Christmas Carol is a strictly limited run from 7th December 2020 to 2nd January 2021. The hit musical The Prince of Egypt will resume its run at the Dominion Theatre in the Spring of 2021, pending UK Government advice.

Cast and creative team announced for The Emperor’s New Clothes

12 – 31 December, streaming online

This December, Northern Stage and Kitchen Zoo are teaming up to make a brand-new adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic folktale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. The creative teams behind a string of successful Christmas productions including The Snow Queen, WOLF! and James and the Giant Peach will create a new festive show for audiences to experience at home from 12-31 December. 

Adapted by Laura Lindow and directed by Mark Calvert, The Emperor’s New Clothes is devised by Bob Nicholson and Hannah Goudie-Hunter and designed by Alison Ashton, with choreography by Martin Hylton andoriginalmusic by Jeremy Bradfield. The show will be filmed by award-winning North East filmmakers Meerkat Films, and performed by Bob Nicholson, Hannah Goudie-Hunter, Jeremy Bradfield and Simmie Kaur.

Director Mark Calvert said, “It’s been an extraordinary year for all of us and to make something at the end of this extraordinary year is an absolute privilege. The team have been working hard over the last two months to create something that we hope will give our audiences some much needed Christmas cheer and end the year on some magic, and more importantly, some laughs.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes has to be the biggest con ever pulled in the history of story-telling. Two inept chancers – think Laurel and Hardy or the wet bandits from the classic Christmas film Home Alone – manage to convince an Emperor to go out in their ‘all together’, exposing them in more ways than one. We feel it’s a story so packed full of ridiculous moments, that to call it farce would be too tame. 

“We wanted to tell this story in front of a live audience, and up until the new lockdown was announced that was always the plan. But this added obstacle has also brought other possibilities, and we’re really excited about producing the first digital theatre offer for Northern Stage. We’re going to be working with the excellent Meerkat Films to film a live theatre show with a touch of Enola Holmes and Chewing Gum thrown in.

“Finally, this is my very last Christmas show for Northern Stage so I want to thank everyone who has been to see our productions. It’s been a total honour to tell you stories over the last five years, from The Wizard of Oz to James and the Giant Peach, from A Christmas Carol to last year’s Snow Queen – I hope over the years I’ve given you some end of year joy and some great family story telling.”

Kitchen Zoo create playful, energetic and joyful theatre for young audiences and have made two sell out Christmas shows for under 5s at Northern Stage, The Three Bears at Christmas (2018) and WOLF! (2019). Bob and Hannah from Kitchen Zoo said, “We’re over the moon to be joining festive forces with Mark Calvert and Laura Lindow this year to devise a fantastically fun family show. And we’re thrilled to be co-producing Northern Stage’s first digital Christmas show.”

Simmie Kaur is returning to her native North East to make her professional debut after training at Drama Studio London. She said, “The first bit of theatre I ever saw was at Northern Stage, and now I have the honour to perform on that stage. I’m so excited to be back in my hometown doing what I love most!” 

The Emperor’s New Clothes will be streamed online from Saturday 12 – Thursday 31 December. Tickets are £15 per household and go on general sale on Monday 16 November, with a 20% discount for bookings made by Monday 23 November.  Northern Stage supporters and members can book advance tickets for £10 from Monday 9 November.  

Book online at www.northernstage.co.uk or call the box office on 0191 230 5151.

BRISTOL OLD VIC, KNEEHIGH AND WISE CHILDREN
ANNOUNCE DATES AND FULL CAST FOR

THE DIGITAL TOUR OF THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK –

BROADCAST LIVE FROM BRISTOL OLD VIC

★★★★

“Wraps you in the soaring giddiness and deep solace of overwhelming love.”

Financial Times

Bristol Old Vic, Kneehigh and Wise Children present

Kneehigh’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk
Written by Daniel Jamieson

Directed by Emma Rice

With music by Ian Ross

Set and Costume design: Sophia Clist; Lighting design: Malcolm Rippeth; Sound design: Simon Baker

Wise Children, Kneehigh and Bristol Old Vic, announce dates for the digital tour of Daniel Jamieson’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk directed by Emma Rice. The production will feature Marc Antolin (Marc Chagall) and Audrey Brisson (Bella Chagall), reprising their roles from the original production. The production will be performed at Bristol Old Vic, and broadcast live to audience’s homes nationally and globally, 3 – 5 December 2020 with tickets available at www.wisechildrendigital.com / bristololdvic.org.uk

Theatres across the UK and abroad will sell tickets to their audiences, with partners including Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, York Theatre Royal and Oxford Playhouse, The Lowry, Spoleto Festival USA and Wallis Annenberg Centre for the Performing Arts with more to be announced.

Perhaps you’ve seen them floating over a Russian village? Or perhaps you’ve seen her toppling forward, arms full of wild flowers, as he arches above her head and steals a kiss.

Meet Marc and Bella Chagall—the flying lovers of Vitebsk! Partners in life and on canvas, Marc and Bella are immortalised as the picture of romance. But whilst on canvas they flew, in life they walked through some of the most devastating times in history.

Implementing a COVID-secure procedure, the company will each have a Coronavirus test before forming a bubble in Bristol. These rigorous measures mean that they will be able to perform the show without social distancing.

Tom Morris, Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic, also commented, “The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk is one of those very rare and very special shows that people just fall in love with. You go weak at the knees. You giggle. You weep. And very often people tell us they have never forgotten it. The show is shaded with the dark brutality of the mid 20th century, but the love at its heart feels so strong, courageous and joyful that its beat can endure any hardship. Now, in the strange dark winter of 2020, again inspired by the trademark panache of Emma’s work, we are offering the show to global audiences that will reach from China to Kentucky and back home to Minsk.”

Mike Shepherd and Carl Grose added“Kneehigh has enjoyed success with digital projects like our Walk with Me stories app and the Kneehigh Cookbook education site. But when it comes to productions, we’ve always struggled with how we’d present work online while staying faithful to the spontaneous, live element that’s so intrinsic to our work. Seeing Romantics Anonymous made us both realise that it is possible, and that there is a very real need from audiences to experience live theatre, even if they can’t be there in person. We’re excited about developing this through working alongside Wise Children and Bristol Old Vic: collaboration is more vital than ever and we can’t wait to learn and explore together what live streaming means for the timeless story of Marc and Bella Chagall.”

Emma Rice said today, “Following the heady success of our Romantics Anonymous live broadcast, we have decided to get straight back on the theatre horse and do it again!  There are so few creative ‘wins’ in these topsy turvy times that we thought it would be rude not to create all the joy, community and employment that we can – and to do it as fast as we can.  It is strange to find myself so exhilarated and energised by this new digital platform. I have devoted my life to the thrill of live experience and the celebration of the collective imagination – but as these precious things fade into memory, it is time to stray to pastures new. And, whilst nothing will ever replace the thrill of a night out at the theatre, live broadcast is a wonderful new adventure.  Fresh, fun and intimate; it feels like we are flying on a motorcycle with nothing ahead of us. We are intoxicated as we learn new skills, build new teams and experience new triumphs! We are taking the utmost care to protect all of our valued team but all the preparation will all be worth it when, for one short week, we immerse ourselves in the spiritually intimate and genuinely moving, real life love story of Marc and Bella Chagall.”

The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk was originally produced by Kneehigh and Bristol Old Vic.

Daniel Jamieson has worked for Exeter-based Theatre Alibi as an actor, joint artistic director (1995-2000) and writer. His writing credits for the company include Falling, Hammer and Tongs, Goucher’s War, Cobbo, Caught, One in a Million, The Freeze, Shelf Life, Little White Lies, The Swell, Sea of Faces and Birthday, as well as adapting novels by Charles Dickens, Graham Greene, Michael Morpurgo and Dick King-Smith for the stage. Other theatre credits include A Box of Photographs, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Polka Theatre), Where’s the Bear, Wish Wash, Knitwits and Flathampton (Royal & Derngate).

Marc Antolin plays Marc Chagall. His previous credits for Wise Children include Romantics Anonymous (Bristol Old Vic, digital tour). Other theatre credits include Camelot (Watermill Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre), Cry Havoc (Park Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors – for which he received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, Into the Woods, Hello Dolly! (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Kneehigh), Peter Pan (National Theatre), The Trial (Young Vic), Taken at Midnight (Theatre Royal Haymarket/ Chichester Festival Theatre), Amadeus, Singin’ in the Rain, The Music Man (Chichester Festival Theatre), From Here to Eternity (Shaftsbury Theatre), Matilda (RSC/Cambridge Theatre), Billy Liar (UK tour) and Imagine This (New London Theatre). His television credits include Keeping Faith; and for film his credits include London Road and Love Actually.

Audrey Brisson plays Bella Chagall. Her previous theatre credits include Amelie (The Other Palace, Watermill Theatre – for which she was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical), Pericles, Pinocchio, Elephantom (National Theatre), The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Dead Dog in a Suitcase & Other Love Songs, The Wild Bride, Midnight’s Pumpkin (Kneehigh), La Strada (The Other Palace, UK tour), The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic), and Romeo and Juliet (Rose Theatre Kingston). Her television credits include Money, and Outlander II; and for films her credits include Hereafter. 

Emma Rice is the proud and excited Artistic Director of her new company, Wise Children. She adapted and directed Angela Carter’s Wise Children (The Old Vic/UK tour), Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers (Bristol Passenger Shed/UK tour) and Romantics Anoonymous (Bristol Old Vic/Digital tour). For the ENO she directed Orpheus in the Underworld. As Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe (2016/18), she directed Romantics Anonymous, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales). For the previous 20 years, she worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director. Her productions for Kneehigh include The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Tristan & Yseult, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler’s Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages), and Steptoe and Son. Other work includes the West End production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Oedipussy (Spymonkey), The Empress (RSC), and An Audience with Meow Meow (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). She was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre at the 2019 UK Theatre Awards.

THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK

LISTINGS

Thursday 3 December – Saturday 5 December at 7.30pm

Captioned and audio-described versions of the production will be available.

Luca Silvestrini’s Protein announce new online works for broadcast

Before the Interval and After the Interval, a double bill of works conceived and directed by Luca Silvestrini for HeadSpaceDance and originally performed in 2012 and 2014 will start streaming this week

Premiering 6 Nov at 7pm and then available online until 15 Nov at 11.59pm 2020

“There aren’t many dancers around who could carry this piece [After the Interval] off and strike the requisite bittersweet note, but these three can and do. They’re very, very good together” The Observer

A double bill of works offering a touching glimpse into the lives of dancers offstage and backstage is to be streamed from today as part of the ongoing Protein 21 Remix digital series. After the Interval (2012) and its sequel Before the Interval (2014) are Luca Silvestrini’s works for award-winning HeadSpaceDance, curated as part of two programmes of new commissions and revivals from artists including Javier de Frutos, Mats Ek, Didy Veldman, Matthew Dunster and Johan Inger. The original programmes comprised a series of solos, duets and trios for Charlotte Broom, Christopher Akrill, Clemmie Sveaas, Jonathan Goddard and Gemma Nixon.

The broadcast is presented in partnership with DanceEast, Northern Ballet and The Arts Centre at Edge Hill University and features introductions by Luca Silvestrini and HeadSpaceDance’s Artistic Directors, Charlotte Broom and Christopher Akrill.

Three and Four Quarters, (which After the Interval was originally part of) ran at the Linbury Studio Theatre for four nights in 2012 before going on tour in the UK. Its success led to the Royal Opera House commissioning a follow-up, If Play is Play…, in 2014 for which Silvestrini created Before the Interval. This broadcast unites Silvestrini’s two commissions giving audiences the chance to see them together for the first time.

After the Interval pins Silvestrini’s observational genius to satirising dancing life. A show about dance and dancers that opens with the performers’ curtain calls, who then answer audience questions, and continues with revivals of their past stage roles and steps. After the Interval brings to the fore the art of dance making and the backstage lives of dancers while celebrating Broom/Akrill’s over 20 years of joint career and the start of their company HeadSpaceDance

Before the Interval was the second commission in which Akrill, Goddard and Sveaas take Broom’s absence as a cue to promote their own talents as dancer-directors, projecting themselves into what their future selves could be. Using Silvestrini’s style of humorous dance theatre, they speak their thoughts about their potential careers, audience expectations and hold conversations as they simultaneously move.

This programme is part of Protein 21 Remix which broadcasts historical works onto the digital stage.

Listings Information Running time 70 mins

Links to view:

https://proteindance.co.uk/participates/hsd/ https://www.danceeast.co.uk/performances/headspacedance-double-bill/https://northernballet.com/headspacedance-double-billhttps://www.edgehill.ac.uk/artscentre/headspacedance-double-bill/

In Search of a White Identity
On Demand Theatre Season, The Actors Centre
Friday 27th November – Sunday 6th December 2020

New digital show In Search of a White Identity interrogates race, class and masculinity as part of the new season of on demand theatre from The Actors Centre. Patrick and Mickey grew up together, but now find themselves on opposing sides. Detained in the same police cell having been arrested at the same protest, two men are forced to face the complexity of their upbringing.

This powerful new production addresses urgent and timely issues as Patrick and Mickey try to learn to understand each other. Directed by Victoria Evaristo (WMV, WOW Festival Southbank; Extract, Soho Theatre), In Search of a White Identity introduces writer performer Cliffordkuju Henry (Top Boy; Dizzee Rascal’s Money Right) as Patrick and Drew Edwards (The Trial of Christine Keeler; Suffragette) as Mickey.

Originally part of The Actors Centre’s Working Class Season curated by Actor Awareness in 2019, the piece has been re-envisioned in the light of 2020, and casts a prophetic eye over the urgent matters of today.

Writer and performer, Cliffordkuju Henry comments, I’m truly looking forward to presenting this piece. The play explores working-class identity, as well as race and masculinity. I’ve tried to go beyond the political dynamics that have fuelled division, and to find the humanity within these characters – a vocabulary for what they have experienced.

Mitchell Reeve, Theatre Programme Manager at The Actors Centre added, We were all hugely impressed with Cliffordkuju’s script during our Working Class Season, and are incredibly excited for this crucial and pertinent play to reach wider audiences through The Actor’s Centre’s ‘On Demand’ programme. It is a piece that works on many different levels, and in today’s political climate its message of unity and commonality against the odds is a powerful and vital one

Watford Palace Theatre initiative Season to support cash strapped live performance freelancers in the Three Counties area

The Three Counties Freelancers Season in Spring 2021 will offer audiences a rich range of locally made shows and digital experiences to enjoy, while giving a much-needed platform to the region’s freelance creatives 

• 70% of the UK theatre workforce are freelancers, an estimated 296,000 jobs, playing a vital role in an industry that annually contributes over £7billion to the UK economy 
• Freelancers in the arts have been disproportionally hit by the Coronavirus outbreak and often find they are ineligible for the financial support offered 
• Watford Palace Theatre has secured Culture Recovery Funding support to help get local freelancers back into work  

In October Watford Palace Theatre were delighted to announce they had successfully received support from the Culture Recovery Fund. This will enable the venue to re-open their doors to the local community safely and start to bring their cultural offering back to the centre of Watford. After careful consideration and consultation, the venue has devised the Three Counties Freelancers Season as an ideal opportunity to serve local audiences and support local artists at the same time. To create a season that is vibrant and varied, applications are sought from all different disciplines.  

Watford Palace are especially keen to support artists who can help them serve their immediate community, by appealing to four target audiences: 

1. Theatre for Everyone
However you make it happen, we want our audiences to have a great night out for a reasonable price. We want great diverse theatre that is great entertainment! We want to draw in the widest possible community, not just the traditional white middle class theatregoers. 

2. Fun for the Family
Watford has a growing and diverse demographic of families with children under 5. We’re looking for beautiful, popular and engaging experiences to ignite a lifelong love of theatre in our town’s under-fives – with titles or ideas which appeal to their parents, so they book tickets. 

3. Shared Experience
Our largest demographic in Watford is young professionals between 25 and 39. They want exciting ways to socialize, and experiences they can’t get from watching a box set on Netflix (other subscription services are available). We actively encourage you to offer innovative collective experiences. They do not have to be in a traditional theatre setting…or any physical /real world setting at all, it just must be exciting! 

4. Young People in Schools
Schools audiences can be a vital gateway to live theatre – even years later, an audience member can be drawn to book for a set text they know well from their schooldays. We’re looking for bold, and brilliant theatrical reinventions of texts from the syllabus, either for staging in our theatre or as small scale touring into schools. 

In June 2020 the Big Freelancers Survey conducted by Stage Directors UK, Freelancers Make Theatre Work and Curtain Call revealed that 36% of the freelance workforce in the performing arts received no support from the government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme or Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. These findings become even more worrying when it comes to inclusivity and diversity. For instance, early career workers, who are the most ethnically diverse group questioned, reported 92% of recent graduates are not eligible for either scheme. Freelancers make up 86% of all people of colour employed by NPOS. To make the application process accessible to as many people as possible, a wide range of formats including video and audio are being welcomed. 

Artistic Director and Chief Executive Brigid Larmour said, “We all know that the pandemic has been devastating for freelancers in our region, so we decided to do something about it. Now.  

“For over a decade the Watford Palace business model has involved sharing our resources in partnership working with freelance creatives, for example choreographers Kate Flatt and Divya Kasturi, independent companies like Scamp, nabokov, Wizard Presents and Little Pieces of Gold, as well as our Creative Associate NPO companies like Rifco (resident with us) and tiata fahodzi.  

“We’re delighted to have secured seed money from the Culture Recovery Fund to launch this pilot project bringing freelancers and communities together, inviting artists to reflect on ways to engage with some of the specific audiences we need to reach. We’re focussing on sustainability, on projects we believe can sustain a longer life beyond our theatre, and we’ll be supporting artists and companies to help secure that future life by offering filming services, road testing the effectiveness of marketing initiatives, and brokering relationships with other theatres. One of the few upsides about the Covid crisis has been increased communication between geographically separate organisations, through zoom, and for us that will be an exciting part of the legacy of this time.” 

Applications are welcomed in a range of formats (written/video/audio/voice note) to make it as easy as possible for all kinds of people to suggest their ideas. The deadline for applications is midnight on the 18^th November 2020, and further information for interested parties can be found on the Watford Palace Theatre website here: https://watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk/news/three-counties-freelance-season/  

Watford Palace Theatre inspires and entertains through inventive, ambitious and inclusive drama, new plays, musicals, dance and family shows; free outdoor festivals; diverse stand-up; and a much-loved traditional pantomime. It reflects its diverse communities, and fully represents women, both onstage and behind the scenes whilst celebrating and developing creativity and skill in the community and with young people. The theatre’s locally produced shows and home-grown talent have toured nationally and internationally, been seen on BBC iPlayer, won awards and transferred to the West End. Watford Palace Theatre – inspiration on your doorstep. Recent productions include an all-female Gaslight; the UK’s first African-American Glass Menagerie; Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular; an all-female Much Ado About Nothing; Broken Glass; and Elton John’s Glasses. World premieres include musicals Miss Meena & the Masala Queens and I Capture the Castle, and plays good dog by Arinze Kene, Folk by Tom Wells, Wipers by Ishy Din, Poppy+George by Diane Samuels, Coming Up by Neil d’Souza, Jefferson’s Garden by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Love Me Do by Marksand Gran, An Intervention and Medea by Mike Bartlett, Shiver by Daniel Kanaber, Virgin by E.V. Crowe, Override by StaceyGregg, Perfect Match by Gary Owen, Jumpers for Goalposts by Tom Wells, Our Brother David byAnthony Clark, Our Father by Charlotte Keatley and Family Business by Julian Mitchell. Creative Associates are central to WPT’s vision: they include Resident Partner Company Rifco Theatre Company, and tiata fahodzi. 

@watfordpalace | #WPTFreelancersFest | https://watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk  

Applications close at Midnight 18^th November 2020 

The Three Counties Freelance Season will run in and around Watford Palace Theatre in the Spring of 2021 and is supported by Arts Council England Recovery Fund 

THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET HOSTS THE FIRST

POST-LOCKDOWN NEW PRODUCTION OF A PLAY

MARTIN SHAW AND JENNY SEAGROVE

IN A. R. GURNEY’S HEART-WARMING PLAY

LOVE LETTERS

Just eighteen hours after the end of the UK’s current lockdown, Bill Kenwright presents MARTIN SHAW and JENNY SEAGROVE in A.R. GURNEY’s Love Letters, directed by ROY MARSDEN, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

The play will open on 3 December 2020, the first day after the Prime Minister has decreed that lockdown ends.

This production of Love Letters was previewed at Theatre Royal, Windsor as part of its five-week, five-day, five-play season.

“The two stars shine, while A.R. Gurney’s already bittersweet play here acquires an extra, decidedly Covid-era piquancy”
★★★★
Dominic Cavendish Daily Telegraph 15 October 2020

THE PLAY

Love Letters first opened in New York in 1989 and was a finalist in the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Gaining huge popularity, it has since played in theatres across the globe, attracting both real-life and on-screen couples to star as the protagonists. The last Broadway production in 2014 featured Mia Farrow and Brian Dennehy.

When the young Andrew Makepeace Ladd III accepts an invitation to Melissa Gardner’s birthday party, Melissa writes him a thank you note… and a unique romantic friendship and delicately warm correspondence destined to last for almost half a century is born.

Love Letters is the tender, tragi-comic story of the shared nostalgia, missed opportunities, and deep closeness of two lifelong, complicated friends. A play that could have been written for the Covid era about two people physically separated yet brought together by candid communication and shared confidences, a romance blossoming across the miles and the years.

STARS REUNITED

The hugely popular TV series Judge John Deed ended its sixth and final series with one of TV’s most-watched cliff-hangers, keeping nine million TV viewers on tenterhooks as on-off lovers Judge John Deed (Martin Shaw) and barrister Jo Mills (Jenny Seagrove) were left in an empty wedding chapel.

Since then Judge John Deed has consistently topped polls of TV shows viewers most want to return.

Now Shaw and Seagrove are together again, live on stage, in a heart-warming love story…

In the interim, both have made several West End theatre appearances and Shaw has starred in several series as Inspector George Gently, while Seagrove has completed big screen appearances in Another Mother’s Son and Off the Rails.

Martin Shaw’s many West End successes include: Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons and Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband (both Theatre Royal Haymarket), Alan Bleasdale’s Are You Lonesome Tonight, Clifford Odets’ The Country Girl, Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men and most recently (and relevantly) as a tortured American presidential candidate in Gore Vidal’s The Best Man.

Jenny Seagrove last starred at the Haymarket in Alan Ayckbourn’s How The Other Half Loves and her many West End productions include Tennessee Williams’ Night of the Iguana, David Rabe’s Hurly Burly, David Hare’s The Secret Rapture, Noël Coward’s Present Laughter and Somerset Maugham’s The Letter.

BIOGRAPHIES

A.R. GURNEY was born in Buffalo, New York, on November 1, 1930. Gurney’s first major success came in 1982 with The Dining Room. This was followed by The Cocktail Hour, Love Letters, The Old Boy, The Snow Ball (from his novel of 1984) and Sylvia, all of which enjoyed success in New York. His many awards and honours included the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the American Theatre Wing and the Village Voice at the 2016 Obie Awards. A.R. Gurney died in 2017.

MARTIN SHAW’s credits include A Streetcar Named Desire playing Stanley Kowalski opposite Claire Bloom, The Country Girl, Elvis Presley in the award winning Are You Lonesome Tonight, Sir Thomas More in A Man for all Seasons and Lord Goring in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband (which earned him an Olivier nomination, and after a transfer to Broadway, a Tony nomination and the New York Critics Drama Desk Award for best actor). Recent West End appearances include Twelve Angry Men in 2013, Hobson’s Choice in 2016 and The Best Man in 2018.

Highlights of his distinguished television career include The Professionals, which still plays on screens worldwide, the Italia Prize-winning Cream in My Coffee by Dennis Potter and the title roles in the series Rhodes, Scott of the Antarctic and eight seasons of Inspector George Gently. Films include Roman Polanski’s Macbeth, Operation Daybreak, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Ladder of Swords.

JENNY SEAGROVE is one of the West End’s busiest stars, including leading roles in The Exorcist, How The Other Half Loves, Volcano, Bedroom Farce, A Daughter’s A Daughter, Absurd Person Singular, The Letter, Night Of The Iguana, The Secret Rapture, Brief Encounter, The Constant Wife, The Female Odd Couple, Hurlyburly, The Miracle Worker and Present Laughter.

Film credits include: Off The Rails, Another Mother’s Son, Zoe, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, William Friedkin’s The Guardian, A Chorus Of Disapproval, Appointment With Death, Sherlock Holmes – The Sign Of Four, Local Hero, Miss Beatty’s Children, To Hell And Back In Time For Breakfast and A Shocking Accident (Oscar for Best Short).

Love Letters is directed by ROY MARSDEN. Roy was artistic director of the Mermaid Theatre, where highlights included Vivat! Vivat! Regina!. Other West End credits include The Hobbit, Mary Westmacott’s A Daughter’s a Daughter and Noël Coward’s Volcano.

As an actor, he started at the Nottingham Repertory Theatre before joining the RSC, later spending three years at the Northcott Theatre and the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. He is perhaps best known for his work in television, portraying PD James’ Detective Chief Inspector Dalgliesh for 14 years. He is also remembered for his portrayal of the character of Neil Burnside in The Sandbaggers, Jack Ruskin in Airline, Mr Chips in Goodbye Mr Chips, and Danny Driscoll, Del Boy’s nemesis, in Only Fools and Horses.

Bill Kenwright Limited has been supported by a Department of Culture Media and Sport Cultural Recovery Grant, enabling productions to be mounted when theatre capacities are necessarily reduced for social distancing and when large live productions requiring currently unobtainable insurance against Covid cancellation cannot be produced. Love Letters as originally written works perfectly in the context of social distancing and will be presented in a Covid-secure environment in line with government guidelines.

LISTINGS

Bill Kenwright presents

LOVE LETTERS

Written by A.R. Gurney

Directed by Roy Marsden

Starring Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove

At the Theatre Royal Haymarket, SW1Y 4HT

From 3 December 2020 – 7 February 2021

Box office telephone: 020 7930 8800

Box office website: www.trh.co.uk

Performance schedule:

Wednesday 7.30pm

Thursday 2.30pm and 7.30pm

Friday 7.30pm

Saturday 2.30pm & 7.30pm,

Sunday 2.00pm and 5.30pm

Running Time: 1hr 50mins (including interval)

Ticket prices: £47, £37, £32, £22, (Premiums £67)

Covid Secure: The Theatre Royal, Haymarket will be operating under current DCMS guidelines (including the wearing of face masks and social distancing) in order to ensure that customers can enjoy their visit in a safe and comfortable environment. Full information will be provided with tickets.

Refund Policy: In the event of cancellation due to national or local government restrictions on live performance, customers will be offered the choice of an exchange or a refund.

Please note that performances of Only Fools and Horses – The Musical at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, are temporarily suspended and the production will return in April 2021. See website for details: www.trh.co.uk.

Website:  www.trh.co.uk

Social Media: @BKL_Productions

Pianist and Music Director Dominic Ferris,  

from West End musical theatre duo Ferris & Milnes, 

collaborates with Dame Shirley Bassey on her new album, I Owe It All To You 

Pianist and Musical Director Dominic Ferris, best known to stage audiences as one half of West End musical theatre duo Ferris & Milnes, has been working with Dame Shirley Bassey since the start of the year on her new studio album, I Owe It All To You, which is released on Friday 6 November 2020 on Decca Records.  

Dominic recorded the majority of piano tracks for Dame Shirley’s new album and also played the piano for her vocal rehearsals. Travel restrictions did not make for an easy recording process. Rehearsals took place in Monaco whilst orchestral recording sessions were split between London and Prague. Dame Shirley’s vocals were recorded in Italy and the album was assembled and mixed in the UK.  

Dominic said: “We spent several days working through dozens of songs, only a handful of which would make the final record. These early rehearsal stages are crucial in any album-making process as it’s important that the artist is completely confident with the musical direction that the record is taking. Tempo, key, song structure and musical style are all important factors to decide upon in these early stages so that the framework and orchestrations of each track can be built. I have always been a fan of Dame Shirley and so to finally play for her was a wonderful experience. Accompanying Dame Shirley on the piano was a fascinating process; she gives so much information subconsciously through her body language and breath, which allows the musical relationship to really gel and become much more organic. Each time we ran through a number, she would perform it differently – the way she felt it at that point in time – so as an accompanist, one had to be focused and concentrate the entire time.” 

Dame Shirley, 83, has sold almost 140 million records in a career that has spanned seven decades. She is the only artist ever to record three Bond themes and sees her new album as her “grand finale” and a way of saying “thank you” to her fans who have followed her for so many years. The album features a diverse track list including some never-before-heard covers along with some new original material. 

I Owe It All To You is produced by Nick Patrick with whom Dominic Ferris has collaborated on several recording projects over the past few years including Michael Ball, Alfie Boe and the symphonic albums of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  

Now an internationally acclaimed pianist and Steinway Artist, Dominic Ferris studied at the Royal College of Music in London. Dominic is one half of West End musical theatre duo Ferris & Milnes (with Martin Milnes). Ferris & Milnes made their debut at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in Stephen Sondheim’s 85th Birthday Gala, performing their signature mash-up medley 33 Sondheim Numbers In 5 Minutes. Their debut West End show played at Ambassadors Theatre, and they have been seen annually at West End LIVE in Trafalgar Square. Ferris & Milnes’ Gershwin mash-up premiered at the Rose Theater, Lincoln Center, New York. Earlier this year they created We’ll Meet Again, a morale-boosting music film dedicated to the theatre industry featuring the late Dame Vera Lynn and many West End stars. 

Dominic is also one half of the critically acclaimed piano duo The Piano Brothers. Endorsed by Steinway & Sons, this cutting-edge live act have created their own arrangements for two pianos, leading to an album collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra and a performance onFriday Night Is Music Night for BBC Radio 2 with the BBC Concert Orchestra.  

Dominic is currently broadcasting a series of free Live Piano Request Shows from his home, including collaborations with Classic FM, Official London Theatre and Pianist Magazine. For more information, visit: http://www.dominicferris.com. 

West End stars join forces with ten-year-old Anti-Bullying Ambassador Charlie Kristensen to release charity fundraising single You Will Be Found for National Anti-Bullying Week 

Auburn Jam Music are delighted to be releasing You Will Be Found by #CheerUpCharlie & West End Friends, a fundraising charity single in aid of youth charity The Diana Award, on Sunday 15 November to tie in with the start of National Anti-Bullying Week (16-20 November).  

The star-studded single is led by ten-year-old Charlie Kristensen from Wokingham, whose experience of being bullied started the viral #CheerUpCharlie campaign. Charlie is joined on the song by numerous stage and screen stars including Wendi Peters, Layton Williams and Michael Xavier, with Iain Armitage, Michael Ball, Rufus Hound, and Faye Tozer amongst many famous faces reading their supportive messages on the song’s video. The single is available to pre-save now on iTunes, Deezer, Spotify and Tidal at https://ditto.fm/you-will-be-found. 

Charlie won over the hearts of the West End theatre industry and the public last year and hit the national headlines when, encouraged by his singing teacher West End performer Jacqueline Hughes, he launched his #CheerUpCharlie campaign to help others, channelling his own traumatic experiences of being bullied for his love of musical theatre, and the support he received from hundreds of performers from the West End, Broadway and even Hollywood who identified with Charlie’s story. Subsequently Charlie was trained as an Ambassador by The Diana Award which runs the UK’s leading anti-bullying programme. Charlie has also set up his weekly online Musical Chairs chat show on YouTube interviewing actors, presenters and others in the spotlight. 

Music producers Nikki and Joe Davison from Auburn Jam Music approached Charlie and Jacqueline after they saw Charlie’s story on Twitter last year. They invited Jacqueline to bring Charlie to their studio to have his first experience of recording, and Jacqueline put the word out to some of her fellow West End performers who had shown Charlie support to see if they might like to record with him. The song choice was obvious to everyone – the powerful anthem You Will Be Found from hit musical Dear Evan Hansen, about the courage it takes to be yourself through tough times until you find your people. Nikki and Joe wrote a new pop orchestration and arrangement to accommodate the many voices, and they were so moved by how many performers came together in support of the #CheerUpCharlie anti-bullying message, that they thought the world should hear it! So, they created a video featuring studio footage along with some of the amazing messages of support Charlie received from stars of stage and screen. They hope that through this they can raise awareness and financial support for the brilliant work that The Diana Award does.  

The single, You Will Be Found by #CheerUpCharlie & West End Friends, released on Sunday 15 November, will kickstart National Anti-Bullying Week which runs from 16-20 November. The song will be available to download and stream via all major online music services including iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon, and the accompanying video will be available on the Charlie Kristensen #CheerUpCharlie YouTube page. All proceeds from the song will be in aid of The Diana Award, with an additional fundraiser set up via JustGiving for people to donate more if they would like to support the #CheerUpCharlie Anti-Bullying campaign further.  

Singing alongside Charlie Kristensen on the single are (in alphabetical order): Daniel Boys (Nativity), Matthew Croke (Aladdin), Alice Fearn (Wicked), Lyndsey Gardiner (The Phantom of the Opera), Adrian Hansel (Hairspray), Jacqueline Hughes (Mary Poppins), Melissa Jacques (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), Caroline Kay (The Space Between), Nathaniel Morrison (Waitress), Nadim Naaman (The Phantom of the Opera), Wendi Peters (Coronation Street), Zizi Strallen (Mary Poppins), Layton Williams (Bad Education) and Michael Xavier (Sunset Boulevard). 

Messages of support seen in the video are from (in order of appearance): Iain Armitage (Young Sheldon), Danny Hatchard (EastEnders), Michael Ball (Les Misérables), Nina West (Ru-Paul’s Drag Race), Mark Evans (Mrs Doubtfire on Broadway), Jason Leigh Winter (Frozen), Hannah Waddingham (Game of Thrones), Louise Dearman (Wicked), Giles Terera (Hamilton), Maiya Quansah-Breed (SIX The Musical), Charlie Stemp (Mary Poppins), Steps star Faye Tozer (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), Sierra Boggess (The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway), Grace Mouat (SIX The Musical), comedian and actor Rufus Hound (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), Wicked’s Elphaba and Glinda Sophie Evans & Alice Fearn,  West End cast of Matilda The Musical, West End cast of Come From Away, West End cast of The Phantom of the Opera, Broadway cast of Be More Chill, West End cast of Hamilton, West End cast of Aladdin, UK Tour of Annie The Musical, UK Tour of Kinky Boots, Off-West End cast of The View Upstairs, West End cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and West End cast of Dear Evan Hansen. 

Theatre Artists Fund opens for next round of applications and broadens eligibility

Friday 6 November 2020

The Theatre Artists Fund, created to provide emergency financial support for struggling theatre freelancers, opens at 12pm today (Friday 6 November) for its next two-week round of applications.

Until 12pm on Friday 20 November, eligible theatre professionals can apply via the Theatre Artists Fund website for a £1000 grant to help with living costs – and for the first time, the fund is accepting applications from freelance theatre marketers, press representatives and providers of assisted performance services (audio description, BSL, captions). Previous beneficiaries are able to re-apply, with grants continuing to be awarded on the basis of financial hardship.

Launched in July, and spearheaded by leading director Sam Mendes, the fund was established by Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre, with a £500,000 donation from Netflix and a subsequent £1 million contribution from the Arts Council. John Gore and Broadway.com have also recently made a substantial donation of £300,000.

The fund offers quick, efficient and easy access to individual grants of £1000, so far raising nearly £4 million and providing support to 2600 theatre practitioners across the UK who have been unable to receive Government support.

Following the news of a second lockdown, the Theatre Artists Fund will prove especially vital to the industry, as theatres – many just beginning to reopen with socially distanced audiences – have been forced to cancel November performances. With thousands of staff and freelancers still in limbo, the need for emergency financial aid has only increased since the fund was launched four months ago.

In a recent survey completed by 632 grant beneficiaries, over 70% of respondents said they had not been able to secure any professional theatre work since lockdown in March. 85% of participants said the Theatre Artists Fund helped them pay their bills, mortgage or rent, with 62% saying it helped them put food on the table. 36% said they had used their creative skills to help the NHS or their local community.

At last month’s Olivier Awards, HRH the Duchess of Cornwall and Sam Mendes met theatre professionals who had already benefited from the Theatre Artists Fund, who shared personal stories and expressed their gratitude for being supported by the industry at such a difficult time.

Additional benefactors of the fund include Backstage Trust, the Estate of Sir Peter and Lady Saunders, the Mackintosh Foundation, Eilene Davidson Productions, Jim Broadbent, Steven Spielberg, Michelle Dockery, Sonia Friedman, Phyllida Lloyd, Colin Firth, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne, Imelda Staunton and Ralph Fiennes. 

Sam Mendes said: 

‘Over the last couple of months, a small number of freelancers were able to find employment once again, as venues across the country found creative ways to re-open. This has now been thrown back into chaos, and once again our freelance community is plunged into uncertainty and financial hardship. We urge theatre artists who are struggling to please apply for a grant. We also urge those of you who can, to please help by giving as much as you can afford. This is a lifeline for those that need it, and the more we receive the more we can continue to help.’

Applications for individual grants are open from 12pm today (6 November) and will close two weeks later at 12pm on 20 November.

theatreartists.fund