Author: FairyPoweredProductions

The Lyric Hammersmith and Filter announce casting

for the UK Tour of

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Sean Holmes

A Lyric Hammersmith & Filter Production

The Lyric Hammersmith and Filter’s critically acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night’s Dreamtoday announces the casting for the UK tour, which opens at the Lyric Hammersmith on Friday 13 April 2018. The cast and band includes Allyson Ava-Brown, George Fouracres, Daniel Fraser,David Ganly, Harry Jardine, Matt King Smith, Amy Marchant, Kayla Meikle, Alan Pagan, Michael Palmer and Dharmesh Patel.

Following the production’s hugely successful run at both the Lyric Hammersmith and Royal Exchange Manchester in 2012, the production was revived in 2016 at the Lyric and then toured to Brisbane Festival and Dublin Theatre Festival. This riotous reinterpretation of one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays now returns for a seven-week UK tour. Featuring original live music, this classic tale of young lovers and warring fairies is given a unique and irreverent twist.

 

Sean Holmes, Director and Artistic Director at the Lyric Hammersmith, said “I’m delighted that the Lyric is back touring the country and especially thrilled that Filter’s Lyric Dream is the focus of this major national tour. We hope new audiences everywhere will delight in its anarchy, its irreverence and its fun.”

Allyson Ava-Brown

For the Lyric: Aladdin

Theatre credits include: The Quiet House (Birmingham Rep/Park Theatre); Etienne Sisters, Beauty and the Beast, Crowning Glory, Jack and the Beanstalk, Martina Cole’s Dangerous Lady (Theatre Royal Stratford East); In Bed (Theatre Centre Works); Snakes and Ladders (UK Tour); Puss In Boots (Hackney Empire); Carnival of the Animals (Riverside Studios); The Swallowing Dark(Liverpool Playhouse/Theatre503); The Wiz (Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse);Moonshadow/Yusuf Islam In Concert (Tour); The Villains Opera, Honk! The Ugly Duckling (National Theatre); Les Miserables (Queen’s Theatre); Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Anthony and Cleopatra(RSC/Stratford/Tour/West End); Hairyfairies (Fick Productions); Simplyheavenly (Trafalgar Studios);Passports to the Promised Land (Nitro); Cinderella (Watford Palace Theatre).

Film and TV credits include: Casualty, Doctors, Bear Behaving Badl, The Wrong Door, Basil Brush Show, EastEnders, Sea Of Souls, Kerching!, Holby City, Secret Diary of A Call Girl, Vera, Sherlock Holmes And The Living Dead, Witness and Ambition to Live.

 

George Fouracres

Theatre credits include: Antigone, Romeo and Juliet, The Cure, The Seventh Seal and Black Comedy(ADC); Babushka, The Red Shoes (Troupe); Diary of a Nobody (Kings Head Theatre); Ecclesiastical Perks (The New Arcadians); Life x 3 (HATS); Pick Me Up (Edinburgh Fringe).

Television credits include: Drunk History, Raised By Wolves and The Woman In Red.

Radio credits include: Daphne Sounds Expensive and Newsjack.

 

Daniel Fraser

For the Lyric: Jack and the Beanstalk

Theatre & Opera credits include: Deny, Deny, Deny (Park Theatre); Flare Path (UK Tour); Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies (RSC Swan/Aldwych/Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway); Chariots of Fire(Hampstead Theatre/Gielgud); Oh, To Be in England (Finborough Theatre); After Lydia (Watermill);Orpheus: The Mythical (Royal Opera House).

Film and TV credits include: Doctors, Holby City, The Patrol, Frequencies, Scar Tissue, Happinessand Lab Rats.

David Ganly

For the Lyric: Cinderella

Theatre credits include: Girl From The North Country (Noël Coward); On Blueberry Hill (Dublin Theatre Festival); Once (Olympia Theatre Dublin); Lonesome West (Tron Theatre); The Plough & the Stars (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/Irish & US Tour); Shakespeare in Love (Noël Coward); Threepenny Opera (Gate Theatre); King Lear (Theatre Royal Bath);  Macbeth (Sheffield Crucible); The Lonesome West (Druid Theatre, The Royal Court/Sydney Festival/Lyceum, Broadway); Of Mice and Men(Watermill); The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium); The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Young Vic),Chicago (Cambridge); The Weir (Gate Theatre); Translations (National Theatre); The Full Monty(Prince of Wales).

Film and TV credits include: Citizen Charlie, Sunset Song, Body of Lies, Hippie Hippie Shake, Dorothy Mills, Widow’s Peak and Space Truckers. 

Harry Jardine

For the Lyric: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Brisbane Festival/Dublin Festival).

For Filter: Twelfth Night (India, US and UK Tour)

Theatre credits include: The Secret Seven (Storyhouse, Chester); Octagon (Arcola); Shakespeare in Love (Noel Coward); Faster Higher Stronger Straighter (Scealta Mora); People of the Town (London Collective).

Film and TV credits include: Doctors, What is Wrong with these People? Journey’s End, Master of Ceremonies, The Thief and In the Heart of the Sea.

Radio credits include: Borgen, What Does The K Stand For?, Woman in Mind, The Oresteia andHome Front.

He is the Artistic Director of Vamp Theatre Company

Amy Marchant

For Filter: Twelfth Night (India/USA/UK tour)

Theatre credits include: Shakespeare in Love (Noel Coward); To Sir, With Love (UK Tour); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest (The Willow Globe Theatre).

Film and TV credits include: Doctors, Confection and Big Day.

She is an Associate Artist of The Willow Globe Theatre.

Kayla Meikle

For the Lyric: Jack and the Beanstalk.

Theatre credits include: Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet (National Theatre); PRIMETIME (Royal Court);Merlin (Nuffield); The Taming of the Shrew (Arts Theatre); All That Lives (Ovalhouse); Streets(Interval Productions)

Film and TV credits include: Will.

Dharmesh Patel

For the Lyric: Beauty and The Beast and Too Close To Home.

Theatre & Opera credits include: The Captive Queen, The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Cymbeline, The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Globe); Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, King Lear, Hamlet, The Comedy OF Errors, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, American Trade, The Grain Store, Morte d’Arthur (RSC); East is East, England Away (UK Tour); Fever Dream Southside(Citizens Theatre); Albion (Bush Theatre); Too Clever By Half (Royal Exchange Manchester); The Snow Queen (Trestle Theatre); Happy and Married (Freedom Studios); Satyagraha(Improbable/ENO/New York); Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (Octagon Theatre, Bolton); Slow Time (National Theatre); Silent Cry (Red Ladder Theatre Co.); The Happy Prince (Leicester Haymarket Theatre).

Television includes: Casualty, Doctors and Ray’s Daze.

Radio includes: Cooking By Heart, Love Boat, Silver Street and Wimmy Road

Tour Dates

Lyric Hammersmith

13 & 14 April 2018

Website: www.lyric.co.uk

Box Office: 020 8741 6850

Hull Truck Theatre

17 April – 21 April 2018

Website: www.hulltruck.co.uk

Box Office: 01482 323638

Theatr Clwyd

24 April – 28 April 2018

Website: www.theatrclwyd.com

Box Office: 01352 701521

Nuffield Southampton Theatres

01 May – 05 May 2018

Website: www.nstheatres.co.uk

Box Office: 023 8067 1771

Exeter Northcott Theatre

08 May – 12 May 2018

Website: www.exeternorthcott.co.uk

Box Office: 01392 726363

Oxford Playhouse

15 May – 19 May 2018

Website: www.oxfordplayhouse.com

Box Office: 01865 305305

Cast in Doncaster

22 May – 26 May 2018

Website: www.castindoncaster.com

Box Office: 01302 303 959

Cambridge Arts Theatre

05 June – 09 June 2018

Website: www.cambridgeartstheatre.com

Box Office: 01223 503333

WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT LIVE ON STAGE

CELEBRATES ITS 10^TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A WEST END RUN THIS SUMMER!

 

We’re going to the WEST END

We’re going to see a Bear Hunt

What a beautiful Play!

We’re not scared….

 

Wednesday 4 July – Sunday 2 September 2018

Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue

 

Ten years after its first UK tour, the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt returns to the West End at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue from 4 July. Music, laughter, rhymes, rhythms and repetitions together with puppetry, paint, water and mud… not to mention a bear – we’re not scared! – make this fun-filled adventure the perfect theatrical outing for all young families.

Sally Cookson’s hugely inventive production set to Benji Bower’s lively musical score is a mischievous celebration of play, utilising everyday objects and materials to capture the imagination and propel audiences into the world of Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury’s much loved picture book.

Join our intrepid family of adventurers and their musical dog as they wade through the swishy swashy grass, the splishy splashy river and the oozy squelchy mud, in search of a bear. Expect plenty of interaction and a few surprises along the way.

Producer, Kenny Wax said today, ‘I’m absolutely thrilled to be celebrating We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’s 10^th anniversary, and returning to the West End this summer seems the ideal way to do so! Since the show set out on its first UK tour we have had the joy of presenting Sally Cookson and Benji Bower’s unique and brilliant adaptation to young audiences across the UK, Australia, Asia and America. It’s wonderful to continue bringing this much loved story to life for new generations of children and we look forward to doing so for many more years to come.’

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is an action-packed treat for those who love the book and the ideal theatrical experience for first time theatregoers.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is presented by Kenny Wax Family Entertainment and is created by the critically acclaimed production team including director Sally Cookson, composer Benji Bower, designer Katie Sykes, lighting designer Tony Simpson, sound designer Jason Barnes, associate director and puppet designer Marc Parrett. The cast will be announced later this year.

 

Richmond Theatre – until 24 February 2018.  Reviewed by Jessica Brady

3***

The beautiful Richmond Theatre plays host on the national tour of Strangers on a Train a classic 1950’s novel written by Patricia Highsmith and adapted for stage by Craig Warner.

The story follows two men who meet on a train and it takes a turn that will change both their lives forever. Charles Bruno ( Chris Harper ) strikes up a deal with Guy Haines ( Jack Ashton ) over several drinks as drinking is one of Charles’ favourite pastimes and with a clink of a glass the fate of two unsuspecting individuals are sealed whether Guy likes it or not.

Charles and his father have never seen eye to eye and after many drinks, Charles comes up with the idea of a killing pact. Charles would kill Guy’s cheating wife and Guy would kill Charles’ father! Foolproof plan. Guy obviously doesn’t think this is a serious plan and carries on with his own life putting the whole experience down to the ramblings of a drunk making conversation.

What transpires is the over indulgent Charles follows through with his side of the deal killing the wife of Guy and continues to hounds poor Guy to absolute distraction till he carries out his part in killing Charles father. He worm’s his way fully into his life including meeting his new wife Anne ( Hannah Tointon ) at the wedding never giving Guy a chance at normality.

Private investigator and family friend of Charles , Arthur Gerard (John Middleton) makes it his mission to get to the bottom of the murder and there are devastating consequences.

All the cast do a decent job of telling the story, some better than others but the standout is by far is Chris Harper playing the manic and manipulative Charles with truth and a whole colour of emotions and despite playing the villain type gave us a lot of light and shade with his portrayal and giving it all that the character needed.

There were a few times when I wondered why certain decisions had been made with the direction and there were a few occasions where the acting was on one note the entire time, not really allowing us to get to the authenticity of the characters on stage but overall it did the job.

The set of this show was a real spectacle with the use of interchangeable sets all with in an American flag. A clever idea but sadly very distracting as it was so clunky and noisy backstage !

With a handful of well known TV stars, the play had all the set up to be a wonderful performance but it didn’t quite hit the mark, however it was a great story with lots of twists and turns and worth a watch if your into that genre!

REVIEW: (Sunderland Empire) ★★★★

February 20 2018   

For West End Wilma 

https://www.westendwilma.com/review-thriller-live-sunderland-empire/

Thriller Live was performed in the West End for the first time in 2006, embarking on its first UK tour and eventually finding a home at Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in 2008, making it one of the longest running shows in the West End. With tours and shows currently playing in over 31 different countries.

Whatever your thoughts on Michael the man, there is no denying that Michael Jackson the musician was unbelievably talented and his record sales totalling over 1 billion and his earnings last year (2017), 8 years AFTER his death, were over $75 million. So I approached this show with no idea what it was – a musical? A concert? A tribute act? But after seeing it, I can tell you it is a spectacular.

Essentially a greatest hits album on stage; with the songs performed by a number of ‘Jackos’, of different genders, ages and races. Shaquille Hemmans, Adriana Louise, Eddy Lima, Rory Taylor and Resident Director Britt Quintin were all vocally outstanding, giving some amazing versions of Jackson’s songs. The production starts with the early sounds of Jackson 5, actually starting from ABC, before giving us the best of his solo material, including the Thriller and Bad albums.

Eddy Lima embodied the spirit of Jackson best of all and was able to perfectly replicate Jackson’s mannerisms, including the famous moonwalk, incredibly well. Rory Taylor also impressed during the slower and more soulful numbers, giving a hauntingly beautiful version of She’s Out of my Life.

The dancing, it has to be said, shone along side the vocals, accomplished as they were, but let’s face it, Michael was all about the dancing, and it was mesmerisingly good throughout. The brilliant band (Andy Jeffcoat, Rob Minns, Allan Salmon, Jo Phillpotts, Gordon Wilson, Johnny Copland and Tom Arnold) mixed rock, soul and pop and provided emphatic musical support. It was fantastic to see them in vision during some of the show’s epic guitar solos.

The staging was clever and vibrant, supported by some excellent lighting and pyrotechnics. A screen at the back of the stage is used for some clever effects and works neatly in tandem with the choreography. The set is stripped back, with just two sets of steps and a raised catwalk the only permanent fixture, but it is used unbelievably well by the performers, while every piece of additional set, alongside the props, are tailored to bring that extra hint of nostalgia to each song.

Nothing about this show is cheap. It’s a lavish celebration of the life and songs of the King of Pop and it’s a wonderful night out. There is a lot of snobbery about Thriller Live in the theatre world and whether or not it qualifies as a West End show. But a Downs Syndrome gentleman sat by me, was dancing in his sparkly jacket, hat and single glove, loving every minute of the show. His joy was infectious and when it comes to theatre, that is really all that matters.

AWARD WINNING THEATRICAL CHAOS ON ITS WAY TO DARLINGTON HIPPODROME

The Play That Goes Wrong, the West End’s Olivier Award winning box office smash hit will be making its way to Darlington for a week long run in March.

Winning eleven international awards, including the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and a 2017 Tony Award for its Broadway transfer, The Play That Goes Wrong continues to play to sold out houses in the West End, whilst enjoying its new status as Broadway’s longest running play. It is a remarkable rags-to-riches story for a play, which started its life at a London fringe venue with only four paying members of the public at the first performance, and has since played to an audience of almost one and a half million worldwide.

Co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, The Play That Goes Wrong is a highly physical comedy packed with finely-tuned farce and Buster Keaton inspired slapstick delivered with split-second timing and ambitious daring. The play introduces The ‘Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’ who are attempting to put on a 1920s’ murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong… does, as the accident prone thespians battle on against all the odds to get to their final curtain call.

The Play That Goes Wrong runs at Darlington Hippodrome from Monday 5 to Saturday 10 March

To book contact the box office on 01325 405405 or visit www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk

2018 UK TOUR

GRAND OPERA HOUSE YORK

Friday 20 & Saturday 21 April

 

The 5 world-class illusionists of Champions Of Magic tour the UK from March 25th to May 5th following sold out shows across the globe, five star rave reviews and a run in London’s West End.

With over 30 million online views between them, this cast of Britain’s top magicians includes award winning tricksters presenting daring grand illusions, stunning close-up magic and incredible mind reading. Their skills have been seen around the world with appearances on TV including ITV’s ‘The Next Great Magician’, ‘Good Morning Britain’, ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’ and NBC’S ‘Access Hollywood’.

Following a 6 month international tour the show returns to the UK with brand new illusions, huge special effects and more incredible magic. Each performance features ‘blink and you miss it’ disappearances, impossible teleportation across the theatre, impossible escapes and interactive magic.

Broadway World described the cast as “5 of the world’s finest magicians”, Wales Online called the magic “So mind-boggling that I won’t even attempt to describe it” and The List added “Spectacular feats of mindreading, vanishing tricks and close-up magic will have you guessing for weeks”. In the USA NBC called Champions Of Magic “the most incredible show” with FOX saying “Incredible… you guys are rock stars”.

The show’s producer, Alex Jarrett, said “Following a huge tour across North America we’re excited to bring the show home to the UK with some never before seen magic that’s been in development for the last year. With every tour the team add new illusions, bigger special effects and more incredible tricks making the show more unbelievable than ever. Interest in magic has rocketed over the last few years with some brilliant TV programs, but you haven’t seen magic until you’ve seen it live – and this team are the best in the business”.

Champions Of Magic has been seen by thousands across the UK and North America, now is your chance to see why fans return to be amazed by the country’s biggest touring illusion show time and time again.

Tickets:  From £21

Box Office: 0844 871 3024

Online: www.atgtickets.com/york

Presented by M. Green Productions
The Gulf
Tristan Bates Theatre, 1A Tower Street, London WC2H 9NP
Tuesday 17th April – Saturday 5th May 2018

I’m not the answer, baby. I’m not. I’m just me

The European Premiere of The Gulf by Audrey Cefaly is an honest representation of the challenges all relationships can endure, no matter the sexuality. It looks at two women on a small fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico and what makes their relationship tick

The divide between Kendra, played by Louisa Lytton (Eastenders, BBC1; Strictly Come Dancing, BBC1; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the British Shakespeare Company), and Betty, played by Anna Acton (Doctors, BBC; Casualty, BBC; Eastenders, BBC; The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Gillotts Theatre; Emmanuelle & Dick, Royal National Theatre), mimics the very world that devours them: a vast and polarizing abyss. Stranded on a boat together, they are forced to confront their differences and untangle the issues they’re faced with

The message in society that a ‘significant other’, preferably of the opposite sex, is the answer to feeling complete and happy, is always present. Through bickering, insults, selfhelp books and physical and emotional game playing the audience discover, along with Betty and Kendra, the substance to their relationship and their future together

Director Matthew Gould comments, The Gulf is an exploration of relationships but it happens to be between two women in a boat on a fishing trip in Alabama and that is the importance of The Gulf… it’s characters are women. The presence of drama that has women, let alone lesbians, as their leading characters is minimal. As the shifting sands of the rights of LGBTQ+ people fluctuate from country to country, to then have such a strong drama featuring lesbian characters and set in the deep south of America is a testament to the talent of the writer Audrey Cefaly and her understanding of the need for Kendra and Betty’s voices to be heard. I hope that whoever comes to the play will see that whatever sexes a relationship is made up of the issues are the same the world over

Originally a short play in August 2010 as part of the Silver Spring Stage One-Act Festival in Silver Spring, MD under the direction of Chris Curtis. This production won the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival Award

Since the 2010 production Audrey developed the play into a full-length play which premiered at Signature Theatre in Alexandria, VA in October 2016 under the direction of Joe Calarco. It received incredible reviews and amazing audience reaction. This production won the 2016 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award and was nominated for The Charles McArthur Award for Outstanding New Play (Helen Hayes Award)

Candid, honest and damn real (★★★★★ DC Metro Theatre Arts)

IAN HISLOP AND NICK NEWMAN’S SATIRICAL PLAY

A TRADEMARK TOURING & WATERMILL THEATRE PRODUCTION

 

ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION WILL TOUR THE UK IN 2018 BEFORE RETURNING TO THE WEST END IN OCTOBER FOR A LIMITED SEASON

Following sold-out UK tours in 2016 and 2017, and a critically acclaimed hit run at the Arts Theatre in the West End in 2017, The Wipers Times will once again tour the UK this Autumn.  It opens at Nottingham Theatre Royal  on 28 August 2018, and visits Oxford, Exeter, Malvern, Leicester, Eastbourne and Birmingham before returning to the Arts Theatre in London for a 7 week season. Full tour dates at www.wiperstimesplay.co.uk with casting to be announced.

 

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s The Wipers Times – a stage adaptation of their award-winning BBC film – tells the true and extraordinary story of the satirical newspaper created in the mud and mayhem of the Somme, interspersed with comic sketches and spoofs from the vivid imagination of those on the front line.

 

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman said:

“The Wipers Times is on manoeuvres again around Britain. We look forward to sharing the remarkable trench humour of the Wipers Times with new theatre-goers around the country. We are delighted it is not Journey’s End but the tour will all be over by Christmas. “

 

In a bombed out building during the First World War in the Belgian town of Ypres (mispronounced Wipers by British soldiers), two officers discover a printing press and create a newspaper for the troops. Far from being a somber journal about life in the trenches they produced a resolutely cheerful, subversive and very funny newspaper designed to lift the spirits of the men on the frontline.

 

Defying enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the disapproval of many of the top Brass, The Wipers Times rolled off the press for two years and was an extraordinary tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.

 

The production originally launched one hundred years after the Battle of the Somme and publication of The Wipers Times. This current run coincides with the commemoration of the end of WW1.

 

The Wipers Times is directed by Caroline Leslie, designed by Dora Schweitzer, with lighting design by James Smith, sound design by Steve Mayo. The composer is Nick Green, and Musical Director Paul Herbert. It is produced by Bob Benton & David Parfitt.

 

THE WIPERS TIMES – FULL TOUR DATES AND LISTINGS INFORMATION

Tuesday 28 August – Saturday 1 September                                                Nottingham Theatre Royal

Monday 3 – Saturday 8 September                                                                Oxford Playhouse

Monday 10 – Saturday 15 September                                                           Exeter Northcott Theatre

Monday 17 – Saturday 22 September                                                           Malvern Festival Theatre

Monday 24 – Saturday 29 September                                                           Leicester Curve

Monday 1 – Saturday 6 October                                                                     Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne

Monday 8 – Saturday 13 October                                                                   Birmingham Rep

w/c 15 October – Saturday 1 December                                                       Arts Theatre, London

 

Cast announced for Plastic by Kenneth Emson
Old Red Lion Theatre, 418 St John Street, London EC1V 4NJ
Tuesday 3rd – Saturday 21st April 2018

Louis Greatorex (Safe, Netflix; The Last Post, BBC1; Last Tango In Halifax, BBC1), Madison Clare (The Dark Things, Linbury Studio Theatre; War Whores, Courtyard Theatre; Close, Landor Space), Mark Weinman (Captain Amazing, Soho Theatre/Live/UK Tour; The Gamechangers, BBC2; Press, BBC1) and Thomas Coombes (Barbarians, Tooting Arts Club – winner of Best Male Performance at
the Off West End Theatre Awards; Hatton Garden, ITV; Him & Her, BBC Three) will star in Plastic by BAFTA-nominated playwright Kenneth Emson. This powerful new play explores how the insecurities of childhood can follow us into later life in this unflinchingly honest drama about time, memory and escape.
Directed by JMK 2017

Directed by JMK 2017 award winner Josh Roche (My Name Is Rachel Corrie), this poetic and unflinching production is an extraordinary mix of drama and performance poetry set in an Essex school which tells the story of four young people who are forced into adulthood. Through its innovative verse, Plastic examines the creation of urban folklore and the sealed world of adolescence with all its unique pressures – how hard it can be to survive, and how hard it is to be left behind

Remember the moment you became an adult? Or did you miss it? Kev used to have a girlfriend called Lisa – she wore a fitted blazer and reebok classics and lit up the school yard. Kev used to be the captain of the school football team and he scored the winner in the All-Essex schools cup final. Ben used to get beaten up most days. He stole money from his mum’s purse to pay off ‘Wicksy’. Now he’s an accountant. But Ben always had Jack. His loyal, unbreakable mate Jack. Adults are the kids that survive school right? But what if some kids don’t?

Essex playwright Emson comments, I’m delighted to bring Plastic to the Old Red Lion. It’s a theatre with a rich history of new writing and produces some of the most exciting and idiosyncratic voices in theatre. I’m proud to be added to that list. Plastic is a play that means a great deal to me personally, it’s set within the community I grew up in and the characters formed from the people I knew there.
For this story and those characters to occupy a London stage is incredibly exciting

Plastic is generously supported by Arts Council England, Royal Victoria Hall Foundation, Blyth Watson Charitable Trust and The Old Vic Theatre.

Plastic will also be touring to the Mercury Theatre in Essex from 26th – 28th April 2018

Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, the world’s finest tribute to Fleetwood Mac, returns to the stage in 2018 with a brand new show celebrating 40 years of the iconic Rumours album.

Encompassing nearly five decades of legendary music and channeling the spirit of Fleetwood Mac at their very best, Rumours of Fleetwood Mac offer a unique opportunity for fans, both old and new, to rediscover the songs and performances that have ensured Fleetwood Mac’s place as one of the most loved bands of all time.

Anyone who loves music from the past 40 years will have no doubt enjoyed at least a handful of Fleetwood Mac’s songs; from their first hit Albatross right through to the 80’s smashes Big Love and Little Lies. Likewise their albums have always managed to deliver on every occasion but the history books will show that it was their eponymous ‘Rumours’ album that does, and will continue to, stand the test of time as a true classic. The songs are masterpieces in their own right but when the story surrounding the band (the in-fighting, love triangles and months of silence) are added there is more than a frisson of extra edge and pathos to the words.

This tour will bring alive mega hits such as Don’t Stop, Dreams, Go your Own Way and The Chain as well as much much more from the band’s whole catalogue.

If you look in any music press listings you will find many tribute bands covering almost all the big name acts from the 60’s and 70’s – The Counterfeit Stones, The Bootleg Beatles, Abba-esque, the Pink Floyd Experience but I challenge any of them to be as good as Rumours; in fact I will go so far as to say they rival the original Fleetwood Mac even after their recent reunion tour.

Personally endorsed by Fleetwood Mac founding member, Mick Fleetwood, Rumours of Fleetwood Mac is the ultimate tribute to one of rock and roll’s most remarkable groups.

“An extraordinary emotive performance of Fleetwood Mac”

MICK FLEETWOOD

“A stunning and incredibly accurate snapshot of the World’s first Super Group”

SUNDAY TIMES

“They do Fleetwood Mac better than Fleetwood Mac.”

MAIL ON SUNDAY

2018 North East Dates

March

Tue 27th Harrogate Royal Hall

Thu 29th Gateshead The Sage

April

Thur 5th Darlington Hippodrome

May

Sat 19th Gateshead Sage

For full tour details and more insight on the best Fleetwood Mac go to

https://www.rumoursoffleetwoodmac.com/ https://www.facebook.com/rofmofficial/ https://twitter.com/rumoursfm