Author: FairyPoweredProductions

RUNNING WILD
UK Tour until 10 June 2017
Based on an inspiring true story, Michael Morpurgo’s RUNNING WILD is about a girl named Lilly who is saved from a tsunami by an elephant named Oona. Miles from civilisation, at first there’s wonder, discovery and tree-top adventures with the orangutans, but, as thoughts turn to her mother left behind on the beach, and wild tigers prowl, and hunger hits, Lilly must now learn to survive the rainforest. Adapted by Samuel Adamson and co-directed by Chichester’s Festival Theatre’s Education Director, Dale Rooks and Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Timothy Sheader, with puppetry design and direction by Finn Caldwell and Toby Olié for Gyre & Gimble, both previous Associate Puppetry Directors on War Horse. Complete with spectacular life-size puppets, RUNNING WILD tells an emotional and moving story of love, loss and loyalty and of living for the moment. RUNNING WILD is produced by The Children’s Touring Partnership with Arts Council funding and the production will work to support the Born Free Foundation’s global elephant conservation projects.
Suitable for all ages 6+
Duration: 110 minutes including interval
www.runningwildlive.co.uk

 

MAMMA MIA!
Novello Theatre

Currently booking until 14 October 2017

From West End to global phenomenon, MAMMA MIA! is Judy Craymer’s ingenious vision of staging the story-telling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs with an enchanting tale of family and friendship unfolding on a Greek island paradise. To date, it has been seen by 60 million people in 50 productions in 16 different languages grossing more than $2 billion at the box office.The London production of MAMMA MIA! has been seen by more than 10% of the entire UK population. The show will celebrate its 18th London Birthday on 6 April 2017. The current cast stars Linzi Hateley as Donna Sheridan, Mazz Murray as Tanya, Jo Napthine as Rosie and Sanne Den Besten as Sophie Sheridan.
Duration: 2 hours 35 minutes
http://www.mamma-mia.com/

STOMP
Ambassadors Theatre
Currently booking until 7 January 2018
STOMP, created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, is the inventive and invigorating stage show that blends dance, music and theatrical performance into one electrifying rhythm. One of Britain’s greatest exports, STOMP, which celebrated its 25th birthday in 2016, having opened at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1991, has toured the globe for 22 years, playing over 20 thousand performances to more than 12 million people in 53 countries on 6 continents. The show played Sadler’s Wells Theatre in 1994 and won the Olivier Award for Best Choreography, before opening in New York, where it celebrated its 21st birthday in 2016.
Duration: 100 minutes with no interval
www.stomplondon.com

A MONTH AT LEEDS GRAND THEATRE

 

As Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games gets ready to hot foot it into Leeds this week, it high-kicks-off a month of drama, musicals and comedy at The Grand Theatre.

Celebrating 20 years since he debuted Lord of the Dance, this new show is produced, choreographed and directed by Michael Flatley and stars his protégés; catch it from Tuesday 28^th March to Saturday 2^nd April.

The following week the theatre welcomes Jodie Prenger to the stage in Shirley Valentine and another celebration as this tour marks the play’s 30^th anniversary. The play became an instant hit in 1986 with Shirley famously talking to the kitchen wall and making her husband’s tea – chips and egg. And nothing has changed; Jodie will command the stage alone and cook chips and egg whilst telling the much-loved story.  Shirley Valentine is at The Grand from Monday 3^rd to Saturday 8^th April.

 

Count Arthur Strong is a comedy character created by Steve Delaney and Graham Linehan.  He is an eccentric, semi-retired music hall performer from Doncaster who has delusions that he is a showbiz legend – fortunately his creators are legends having been nominated for British Comedy Awards, Best Comedy Breakthrough, Best Comedy Writers and Best Situation Comedy.  Count Arthur’s new show The Sound of Mucus is at The Grand for one night only on Sunday 9^th April.

 

Those with a passion for Michael Jackson’s music are in for a treat from Tuesday 11^th to Saturday 15^thwhen Thriller Live moonwalks into Leeds. Direct from London’s West End, where it is now in its record-breaking 9^th year, Thriller Live is a spectacular concert of non-stop hits that pay homage to his legendary live performances and innovative dance moves.

 

Last year’s Strictly Come Dancing winner Joanne Clifton is next up at The Grand in the jazz-tasticThoroughly Modern Millie. Based on the Academy Award-winning film, the show is set in the height of New York’s Jazz Age when ‘moderns’ – including a flapper named Millie Dillmount – were bobbing their hair, raising their hemlines, entering the workforce and rewriting the rules of love.  Featuring a Fred and Ginger dance routine the family show is on from Monday 17^th to Saturday 22^nd April.

Drama and intrigue fill into the last week of the month with Ruth Rendell’s A Judgement in Stone.  An all-star cast present a grizzly murder mystery from the much-respected crime writer.

And finally, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here runner up, comedian Joel Dommett takes over for just one night on Sunday 30^th April with his solo show.

For more information on all shows at Leeds Grand Theatre and to book tickets go to leedsgrandtheatre.com or call Box Office on 0844 848 2700

PAUL MASON’S WORLD PREMIERE AND DEBUT PLAY ‘DIVINE CHAOS OF STARRY THINGS’ COMES TO THE WHITE BEAR THEATRE

 

• An extraordinary piece of theatre exploring revolution, hope, defeat and exile based on the memoirs of 19^th century French feminist icon Louise Michel
• Running 25th April – 20th May The White Bear Theatre
• Written by award-winning journalist Paul Mason

 

 

‘As of Today we refuse to stand in line’

 

Paris, 1871. A revolt seizes control of a global city. In its final days, working class women – from seamstresses to teachers to sex workers- take up arms, desperate to defend the freedoms they have fought for and won. And then it is over, in a sea of blood.

 

In Divine Chaos of Starry Things, award-winning journalist Paul Mason explores the agony of the defeat and exile of the Parisian women revolutionaries deported to the remote Pacific island of New Caledonia, their depression and isolation upon arrival and loss of hope as dreams of escape fade and a new reality descends. Tension simmers amongst the island’s indigenous people as resentment and rebellion hang in the air.

 

Based on the memoirs of 19^th century feminist icon and revolutionary Louise Michel, this piece of theatre looks at what happens when downtrodden people experience the transformative power of mass action, only to be defeated. In our current world increasingly scarred by torture, mass incarceration, censorship and razor wire, the play looks at key questions surrounding oppression and resistance; what makes people refuse to surrender in the face of repression and how do people survive once the exhilaration of revolt is over?

 

About to star in his self-penned show ‘Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere’ at the Young Vic, Divine Chaos of Starry Things reflects Mason’s extensive research of the former French penal colony of New Caledonia, his travels there and his interviews with both descendants of the deportees and oral historians of the indigenous Kanak people. Post-show talks will be held after selected performances, hosted by Mason himself and including an exclusive look at his short video documentary ‘Traces of Louise Michel’.

 

Mason says: “After the miners’ strike, in 1984, I saw a whole generation of people struggle with the psychological impact of defeat. It made me want to discover how people survive. When I started writing this play, during the mass upsurge of revolt and optimism we call the Arab Spring and Occupy, these problems – of despair in the face of injustice – seemed very distant. They seem totally relevant now. Hundreds of thousands of people have experienced the exhilaration of revolt, followed by the reality of defeat.”

 

101

April 4th – 8th, Theatre N16

Press Night: April 5th 2017, 7.30pm

After creating a splash on the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringes, including winning the FringeGuru Editor’s Choice Award and being nominated for ‘Most Groundbreaking Act’ by Latest 7 Magazine, ONEOHONE returns to London with a mix of old and new scenarios.

★★★★ Hot Show – Daily Pick of the Fringe “Very empowering (…) feels special” The Scotsman

In 101, a small audience is directly involved in an interactive performance grounded in the fundamental values of traditional and classical storytelling. Guided by the cast using a mixture of suggestion technique, physical theatre and improvisation, every audience member is personally involved in the performance.

There are 5 separate performances: KNOW ME (…at my worst to know me at my best. The others have two faces / I place myself in your hands / Peel away my skin); FIND ME (…under the moon; chase me laughing through the trees. Keep true, love); SAVE ME (…from the dark; innocence crumbles. You are my teacher); TRUST ME (…and only me; you face betrayal. Mark me, and stay close); BIND ME (…so we’ll never break apart; don’t break the circle. I’ll never let you go).

★★★★ “I was acutely aware of how rare it is for a performance to provoke such extreme emotions (…) the ultimate in exciting and experimental theatre” ThreeWeeks

ONEOHONE Theatre Company is a performing arts group founded in 2009 to develop new, accessible and democratic approaches to theatre. We’ve performed our critically-acclaimed signature piece, 101, throughout the UK, in Croatia as part of the NU:Write Festival, and in the USA, where we were visiting artists at Northwestern University, Chicago. We have also performed immersive adaptations of several classic texts, including ‘Dracula’, ‘Woyzeck’ and Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’. Now in our sixth year, we’re devising new shows and looking for new performance opportunities.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd.

Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY

Tuesday 2nd May – Saturday 3 rd June 2017

Press Night: Thursday 4 th May 2017, 7pm

Following a sell-out, award-nominated run at the White Bear Theatre, Keith Stevenson’s comedy Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. transfers to Trafalgar Studios this May.

Things could not get any worse for Mitchell, who just lost his girlfriend, his apartment, and his job. With nowhere to go, he answers an ad for a roommate and finds himself in a West Virginia countryside motel with JD, an affable hillbilly of mysterious origins. Soon JD’s neighbours – curmudgeonly Flip, meth-head Marlene, and her hot-headed boyfriend Tommy – have all but taken over the tiny room. When the zany group find themselves in a hostage situation, Mitchell must decide to save himself or join this dysfunctional family and let his freak-flag fly.

Writer and actor Keith Stevenson comments, It warms my heart that this little story set in Appalachia has received a universal response from people of all colours and creeds in places like London and Los Angeles. They come to the theatre and a little over an hour later they walk out feeling better than they did coming in. They’re buoyed by a fortified hope that goodness and kindness still have a shot.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. became a cult hit amongst fans following its six month highly acclaimed run at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles in 2012 – audience members returned again and again to watch the show. Fried Meat re-opened later that year with the festive sequel A Fried Meat Christmas. Then, in the summer of 2014, Stevenson thrilled audiences yet again with the third part in the series, The Unfryable Meatness of Being. The three plays were revived in December 2014 and December 2015 as The Fried Meat Trilogy. Stevenson who originated the role of JD in Los Angeles, hails from Keyser in West Virginia – the hometown of the actual Fried Meat Ridge Road.

Sometimes, a play just works on every level. Writing, directing, acting, costumes, lighting and sound all working in perfect harmony to present the audience with something they will remember for all the right reasons… A thoroughly brilliant show (London Theatre1).

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. is the first ever show to transform Trafalgar Studios 2 into an end-on space.

Back by popular demand, Phillip Schofield is to exclusively host the return of hit UK concert tour, The Knights of Music. The tour will visit Newcastle City Hall on Saturday 29 April 2017.

 

The show celebrates the legendary Knights and Dames of the entertainment industry who have transformed the face of music, film and theatre throughout the ages. The Knights include: – Sir Elton John, Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Sir Cliff Richard, Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Paul McCartney and The Beatles, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Sir Tim Rice, Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Bob Geldof, Bono, and the newly knighted Sir Rod Stewart.

 

Last year’s tour saw Phillip dust off his dream coat after a 17 year hiatus and showcase his spectacular singing range, performing some of the greatest hits from Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dream coat. Joining Phillip on stage and helping to bring the best of British to life will be a vibrant cast of West end performers and a live band. Musical numbers will include: ‘I’m still standing’, ‘Rocket Man’ (EltonJohn) ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘Hey Jude’ (The Beatles)’ I Dreamed a Dream’ (Les Miserables) ‘Do you want to dance’ (Cliff Richard) ‘It’s not unusual’ (Tom Jones) ‘Close Every Door’ (Joseph) ‘Satisfaction’ (Mick Jagger) ‘Maggie May’ (Rod Stewart) to name just a few.

 

Phillip Schofield said: “It was such an incredible opportunity to share the stage with the Knights of Music cast last year, and perform the songs that we all know and love. I cannot wait to get back on stage, resurrect the dream coat once again, and warm up the vocal chords – this show is a true celebration and one not to be missed!” Schofield, who currently presents ITV’s This Morning, previously starred in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium, as well as the UK tour of Dr Doolittle. The Knights of Music with Phillip Schofield plays Newcastle City Hall on Saturday 29 April 2017 Tickets from £30 and can be purchased atwww.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box office on 08448 11 21 21 (Calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge).

 

Cast announced for Chinglish by David Henry Hwang

Park200, Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP

Wednesday 22nd March – Saturday 22nd April 2017

Press Night: Tuesday 28th March, 7pm

Gyuri Sarossy (The Rover RSC, Two Noble Kinsmen RSC, The Absence of War Headlong) and Candy Ma (Project New Earth, Chinese Arts Centre and Yellow Earth Theatre) have been announced to lead the talented bilingual cast of Chinglish. Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang returns to Park Theatre with the European premiere of his Broadway hit Chinglish following the sell-out success of Yellow Face (Park Theatre 2013, National Theatre 2014).

The result of an exhaustive four-month casting process, Sarossy and Ma are joined by Lobo Chan, Duncan Harte, Siu-see Hung, Minhee Yeo and Windson Liong. Producer Tim Johanson comments, So much of the joy of Chinglish hinges on East-West mis-translation, so we’re delighted to have assembled such a talented group of bilingual actors

It’s so conscientious in leading us through the maze of cultural confusion at its center — with “you are here” signs at every new twist in the labyrinth — that we’re never allowed to feel lost ourselves (New York Times)

Hwang’s hilarious comedy about the misadventures of miscommunication explores the modern difficulty of doing business between East and West. Daniel, an American, wants to open up China for his business. There are only three things standing in his way: he can’t speak the language, he can’t learn the customs, and he’s falling in love with the one woman he can’t have.

David Henry Hwang comments, I’m thrilled that Chinglish will receive its European premiere at the Park Theatre, who did such an excellent production of my play Yellow Face. America’s current political turmoil only serves to strengthen China’s power and influence, which perhaps makes this play even more timely than when it first ran on Broadway.

Acclaimed director Andrew Keates (As Is, Dessa Rose Trafalgar Studios) makes his Park Theatre debut.

The Watermill Theatre presents

Romeo + Juliet and Twelfth Night

Tuesday 16th May – Thursday 3rd August 2017

Following an incredibly successful 2016 run at The Watermill Theatre, Paul Hart’s Romeo + Juliet will be performed in repertoire alongside a brand new production of Twelfth Night. This exciting national tour celebrates the theatre’s 50th anniversary.

The Watermill’s outstanding ensemble of actor-musicians challenge the way live music is used and alongside text, they investigate new responses to Shakespeare, creating a thrilling contemporary feel.

Returning to reprise their roles in Romeo + Juliet and to perform in Twelfth Night are Victoria Blunt (Benvolio/Maria), Rebecca Lee (Friar/Viola), Lauryn Redding (Nurse/Toby Belch), Mike Slader (Paris/Aguecheek) and Stuart Wilde (Romeo/Sebastian). Joining them are Peter Dukes (Tybalt/Malvolio) who played the role of Bela Zangler in The Watermill’s Crazy For You (2016), Aruhan Galieva (Juliet/Olivia), Emma McDonald (Lady Capulet/Antonia), Offue Okegbe (Mercutio/Feste) and Jamie Satterthwaite (Capulet/Orsino).

This powerful and explosive staging of Romeo + Juliet, Shakespeare’s immortal tale of an all consuming love, features music by Mumford and Sons, The Vaccines, The Civil Wars and Hozier. Twelfth Night’s dreamlike fantasy world is evocatively reimagined in the 1920s where prohibition is rife and Europe is still reeling from war. Fusing the radical spirit of the likes of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong alongside modern musical references with an innovative approach to staging and actor-musicianship, Twelfth Night is a dizzying and beautiful version of Shakespeare’s ‘perfect play’.

The Watermill has become known for its bold, contemporary style of presenting Shakespeare productions. These plays balance comedy, romance and tragedy using their famous ensemble approach to Shakespeare.

The Watermill Theatre’s Artistic Director, Paul Hart, comments, Since being at The Watermill I’ve wanted to continue our reputation for inventive, irreverent and imaginative storytelling. Twelfth Night and Romeo + Juliet seemed to me to be the perfect pairing of plays. They will be performed by a brilliant ensemble of actors in a way that is incredibly rich in music with a real focus on the language. I’m looking forward to seeing these productions tour the UK and beyond as well as playing at our beautiful Berkshire home.

The UK Tour of Twelfth Night and Romeo + Juliet is sponsored by Neal’s Yard Remedies

Tour Dates

16th – 20th May  York Theatre Royal  www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

23rd – 27th May  Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford  www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk

6 th – 10th June  Theatre Royal, Norwich  www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk

20th – 24th June  Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury  www.salisburyplayhouse.com

27th – 30th June  Neuss Globe Theatre, Germany  www.neuesglobetheater.de

4 th – 8 th July  Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham  www.everymantheatre.org.uk

12th – 14th July  Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton  www.grandtheatre.co.uk

18th – 22nd July  The Watermill Theatre, Newbury  www.watermill.org.uk

25th July – 3rd August  Bodleian Library, Oxford  www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk