OPERA NORTH AND NORTHERN BALLET SET TO RETURN TO HOME VENUE, LEEDS GRAND THEATRE
Leeds Heritage Theatres is thrilled to announce that resident, Leeds-based companies, Opera North and Northern Ballet, will make a welcome return to Leeds Grand Theatre in 2021, almost a year after the theatre was forced to close due to the pandemic.
The only venue outside of London to house both an opera and ballet company, The Grand will play host to Opera North from January to February 2021 (season of work yet to be announced), followed by Northern Ballet from Thursday 4 to Saturday 13 March 2021, who will be revisiting the classic, Swan Lake, beautifully reimagined by David Nixon OBE (The Nutcracker, Little Mermaid), with Tchaikovsky’s electrifying score played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia.
Richard Mantle, General Director, Opera North, says: “We are looking forward immensely to once again creating and sharing great music and opera with our audiences at Leeds Grand Theatre, our home venue of more than 40 years.
“We are working closely with our colleagues at the Grand to ensure that we are able to give our audiences a safe and warm welcome back to live events, with all the anticipation, thrill and joy that live performance delivers and plan to return to the theatre in January 2021; we will be announcing productions for this new season as soon as we can.”
Mark Skipper, Chief Executive of Northern Ballet, adds: “After an absence of almost a year, we are delighted to be returning to Leeds Grand Theatre with Swan Lake. The Grand Theatre is hugely important to us as one of our home venues where, in normal times, we enjoy performing to our loyal Yorkshire audience twice a year. We are also saddened that COVID-19 has led to the postponement of Merlin this winter; other than during the refurbishment in 2005, this will be the first time in more than 25 years that we have not held our festive season in Leeds. However, we are looking forward to performing Swan Lake in March, a beautiful traditional title presented with a twist.
“We are incredibly grateful for the support our audiences have given us over the last few difficult months and are looking ahead with great anticipation to getting back onto the Leeds Grand Theatre stage once more.”
The news comes only a week after it was announced that City Varieties Music Hall will also reopen its doors on Friday 9 October with an exciting programme of film presented in collaboration with sister venue Hyde Park Picture House. Opera North will also stage the first live performance at The Varieties since reopening when they present Whistle Stop Opera: Cinderella (directed by John Savournin), on Sunday 29 November; “a charming pop-up style introduction to some of the many musical interpretations of the classic fairy tale” says Mantle.
Chris Blythe, CEO of Leeds Heritage Theatres, comments: “This year has, and continues, to be extremely difficult for our three venues – it is well documented that the arts and culture sector is suffering nation-wide – but having Opera North and Northern Ballet, two regional companies recognised for their innovative and risk-taking approach to their individual art forms, commit to return in early 2021 gives us so much hope for the future and something for Leeds-audiences to look forward to. Arts and culture are needed now more than ever to help boost people’s mental health and build community through shared experience as we all try to find some escapism from our day-to-day and ongoing concerns regarding COVID-19.”
Tickets for Opera North’s Whistle Stop Opera: Cinderella at City Varieties Music Hall will be on sale from Friday 9 October at www.leedsheritagetheatres.com
GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS LIVE FROM UNION CHAPEL
Wayward Productions today announces that Max Porter will read his bestselling first novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, at Islington’s Union Chapel on Sunday 25 October at 7.45pm. The one-off live streamed event has been organised as a fundraiser for the iconic London venue, with ticket proceeds also going to The Margins Project, the Chapel’s homelessness charity.
Max Porter’s multi-award-winning novel, which has been translated into thirty languages, has never been read in public, in its entirety, by the author. This project renews Porter’s collaboration with Wayward Productions, who produced the stage play adaptation of the novel by Enda Walsh, starring Cillian Murphy.
‘Amazing and Unforgettable’ The Times
‘Sad and Strange and Splendid’ The Guardian
‘Unlike anything I’ve read before….shifts between humour and sadness with a deft beat of its wing’ Guardian Books of the Year
‘A beguiling literary hybrid’ The Observer
Grief is the Thing with Feathers is a bed-time story for grownups about the universal experience of loss. It is about childhood, parenting, poetry and pain. It is about the infinite wisdom of crows. It is a dark, weird and beautiful book, the perfect book to hear in these times. It is an impassioned blast of literature and love, a celebration of language, and a raging heartbroken song for all of us.
Published in 2015, the book won the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year, the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction and the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize.
Max Porter said, “In September 2020 the Union Chapel were going to host a project I’d devised called The English Soundwood, a multidisciplinary portrait of the UK today with poets, singers, musicians and novelists. Like so many live events, it was postponed, and like so many venues around the world, the Union Chapel needs support. So we are doing a one-off gig, where I’ll read the whole of Grief is the Thing with Feathers, and proceeds will go to the Union Chapel and their extraordinary charity The Margins Project, which supports people facing homelessness. I’ve never read the whole book before, and I’m honoured to be doing so in this iconic and beautiful venue, for such a good cause. I hope people will join us, virtually, and enjoy being read a story.”
Wayward Productions Judith Dimant added, “We’re thrilled to renew our collaboration with Max Porter for this very special one-off event streamed live from Union Chapel in aid of the chapel and its Margins Project for the homeless. We’re living in a time of great uncertainty and it is vital we do all we can to support vulnerable people at this as well as secure the future of such a well-loved venue.”
Max Porter is the author of the bestselling Grief is the Thing with Feathers (Faber & Faber, 2015), which won the International Dylan Thomas Prize, the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award, the Europeese Literatuurprijs and the Books Are My Bag Reader’s Award, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and The Goldsmiths Prize. It has been sold to 27 territories. His second novel Lanny was published in 2019, and recently released in paperback. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize and is currently being adapted into a feature film.
Wayward Productions‘ first production was Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, directed by Enda Walsh and starring Cillian Murphy. It was seen in London and New York in 2019.
The company is currently developing Christie Watson’s best-selling nursing memoir The Language of Kindness. This was scheduled for Autumn 2020 but will now hopefully be produced in Spring 2021.
In Summer 2020 the company produced Shifts for BBC Radio 3’s Between the Ears strand as part of the BBC Culture in Quarantine season and the company is also working with the Schaubühne Theatre, Berlin on Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist, directed by Annabel Arden and Simon McBurney.
Wayward is also developing Babette Cole’s iconic children’s book Princess Smartypants with the Wardrobe Ensemble and will be continuing its collaboration with Max Porter in 2021
Wayward was founded by producer Judith Dimant following her 25 years as producer at Complicité, producing all of Simon McBurney’s work
Box of Tricks and Sky Studios launch inaugural Screen/Play Award
New award to uncover new writing talent from the North of England
Acclaimed theatre company Box of Tricks and Sky Studios’ Innovation Hub, based in Leeds, have teamed up to announce the launch of the inaugural Screen/Play Award, a ground-breaking initiative to unearth exceptional writers from the North of England.
Focussed on talent from communities currently underrepresented on stage and screen, the Screen/Play Award will offer two writers, with no TV writing experience, a bursary to not only write a new play for Box of Tricks but to open doors to the world of screenwriting by forging a development partnership with Sky Studios throughout 2021.
With an aim to increase representation and opportunity, both now and in the future, the Screen/Play Award is open to Northern writers, aged over 18, with no professional TV experience from the following communities: D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers of colour, first generation migrant writers and writers from a low socioeconomic background.
At a time when the creative industry faces unprecedented challenges and stands to lose a wealth of talent due to the impact of COVID-19, the Screen/Play Award shines a light on voices that need to be heard and stories that need to be told.
Box of Tricks and Sky Studios are seeking stories with the scope and ambition to be realised on both stage and screen, stories that embrace the infinite imaginative possibilities of each medium and reflect the world in which we live.
Applicants for this new award will be asked to submit a sample of their writing along with a 500-word pitch about how they envisage developing their story into a both a play and a short screenplay. Each submission will be read by a diverse pool of readers representative of the breadth of stories the Award aims to recognise.
Shortlisted writers will be announced in December and five finalists will meet an industry panel to pitch their ideas in January 2021. Following these interviews, the panel will select two writers to develop their ideas and write their scripts with support from Box of Tricks and Sky Studios throughout 2021.
The Screen/Play Award industry panel includes actor Mina Anwar (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Crucible Theatre and West End), Chris Bush (UK Theatre Award-winning playwright), actor and advocate for disability on screen/stage Melissa Johns (Life, I Hate Suzie, Coronation Street), David Judge (actor and writer – Box of Tricks’ SparkPlug, finalist for Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play of the Year 2017), Donna Metcalfe (Script Executive, Sky Studios), Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder (Joint Artistic Director, Box of Tricks) and Temi Wilkey (actor and writer – 2020 Stage Debut Award, The High Table).
Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder and Adam Quayle, Joint Artistic Directors, Box of Tricks, said: “Box of Tricks is hugely excited to partner with Sky Studios to launch our inaugural Screen/Play Award for exceptional Northern talent. Following the launch of our PlayMakers Network at the height of lockdown – for Northern playwrights to connect, collaborate and create – we are delighted to share this game-changing opportunity for two writers. With so much uncertainty still ahead, we face the very real prospect of losing a generation of talent, so it is vital that we seize every opportunity to support, nurture and promote new voices in the North – especially those whose stories are too seldom heard on our stages or seen on our screens. It’s time to make a change for the better.”
Vicky Wharton and Donna Metcalfe of Sky Studios’ Innovation Hub said: “The aim of Sky Studios Innovation Hub is to support creative risk from ambitious, diverse and emerging talent, an ethos Box of Tricks shares. It is no coincidence that several of their alumni are now working on Sky Studios productions. Therefore, we are thrilled to be forming a creative partnership, to unearth, nurture and develop new writing voices of the future.” David Judge, Writer, actor and Screen/Play panellist said: “Box of Tricks have well and truly opened the door for me as a playwright, not in a ‘welcome to the industry’ way, but in a ‘welcome to yourself’ way. They were able to identify and nurture my ‘voice’ in a non-intimidating and collaborative environment. The work we have created has directly led to me working with Sky Studios, and again I cannot rave enough about the freedom and support I have received on this journey so far. I am SO gutted not to be able to apply for this award, as it is going to be such an exciting, creative and rewarding opportunity for those involved.”
The submission window opens on Monday 19 October and the deadline for all applications is 5pm onFriday 6 November 2020. Submissions made outside this window will not be considered.
Further details about the Screen/Play Award are available at: www.boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk/screenplay. Interested writers are advised to join Box of Tricks’ PlayMakers Network via the website or on Facebook for up-to-date information and additional content.
JAMES QUAIFE PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES THE WORLD PREMIÈRE OF
PAUL HARVARD’S GHBoy AT CHARING CROSS THEATRE
James Quaife Productions today announces the world première of Paul Harvard’s debut play GHBoy – opening at the Charing Cross Theatre on 10 November 2020, with previews from 4 November, and runs until 28 November. Jon Pashley directs Sylvester Akinrolabu (Devon/Calvin/Chima/Josh/Delroy /William), Geoff Aymer (Benjamin), Marc Bosch (Sergi Castell), Buffy Davis (Debbie Finch), Jimmy Essex (Robert Finch), Devesh Kishore (Simon Waring), and Aryana Ramkhalawon (Jasminder Panghal).
Social distancing measures will be in operation at the Charing Cross Theatre, with a maximum capacity of 105 seats for each performance, with tickets available in single tickets up to groups of 4. All patrons, unless they have a known medical condition, will be required to wear a face covering at the venue. For full details on the measures implemented to ensure audience safety and wellbeing, please see: https://ghboy.co.uk/covid19-safety.
The burgeoning party scene of East London hides a dark secret: a swathe of young men dying unexpectedly, with whispers of an unnamed killer.
In the midst of all this, Robert is grieving the death of his father. He desperately wants to be a better person, but trapped in a pattern of substance abuse and infidelity, he has a lingering fear that he will never find love and acceptance. Unexpectedly, his boyfriend Sergio proposes, compelling Robert to turn his back on addiction and self-sabotage – before he destroys this final chance at happiness.
But first, he must confront a truth buried deep within his subconscious, something he himself doesn’t yet fully understand.
This brand-new piece of theatre tackles the misconceptions around gay culture and promiscuity. Something far more ominous is driving men like Robert to the point of self-destruction…
GHBoy is Paul Harvard’s first play. It was originally conceived during a writers’ course at the National Theatre led by Ola Animashuwan, and developed following a R&D grant from the Arts Council.
Originally from Coventry, Harvard began his career as actor-musician – his credits include the original production of The History Boys (National Theatre), Gondoliers (Apollo Theatre), Piaf, Fiddler on the Roof, Love in a Maze, Dreams from a Summerhouse and The Firebird (The Watermill Theatre), Nicked (HighTide Festival), The Fantasticks (Harrogate Theatre), Rwanda (YMT:UK), Trashchrist (Soho Theatre) and Me, Myself and I (Orange Tree Theatre). he also trains actors, and is currently Course Leader for the BA Acting at the London College of Music, University of West London. He has also lectured at many of the other leading drama schools in the UK, and is the author of three books published by Nick Hern Books and his approaches to the teaching of acting through song are now internationally recognised.
Sylvester Akinrolabu plays Devon/Calvin/Chima/Josh/Delroy/ William). He recently graduated with BA in Acting from London College of Music, after training at Identity School of Acting (IDSA). This marks his professional stage debut.
Geoff Aymer plays Benjamin. His previous theatre credits include Two Trains Running (English Touring Theatre/Royal and Derngate), The Color Purple (Leicester Curve), Robin Hood and the Arrow of Destiny (Theatre Peckham), The Plague (After La Peste by Albert Camus) (Arcola Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (UK tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Young Vic), and To Kill a Mockingbird (Barbican Theatre/ UK tour). For television, his work includes Mr Winner, Guerrilla, The A Force, The Real McCoy and Club Class; and for film, Sket and Rag Tag. Also a writer, his credits include Anansi and the Magic Mirror (Talawa Theatre), The Oddest Couple (Theatre Royal Stratford East), What A Wonderful World (Blue Elephant Theatre); television pilot, Chatsworth.
Marc Bosch plays Sergi. Original from Barcelona, he made his professional stage debut earlier this year in Justícia at the National Theatre of Barcelona. His television credits include The Split and Sky Rojo.
Buffy Davis plays Debbie. Her theatre credits include Ravens: Spassky vs Fischer (Hampstead Theatre), 49 Donkeys Hanged (Theatre Royal Plymouth), The Divide, The Hairy Ape, Hedda Gabler (The Old Vic), Ugly Lies the Bone (National Theatre), Once in a Lifetime, Uncle Vanya, The Government Inspector, Annie Get Your Gun (Young Vic), The School for Scandal (Park Theatre), and The Silver Lake and The Beggar’s Opera (Wilton’s Music Hall). For television, her work includes Life, Doc Martin, The Trial of Christine Keeler, Berlin Station, Foreign Skies, The Night Manager, What Remains, Silk, Upstairs Downstairs, and Mutual Friends; and for film, Angel Has Fallen, Abduct, Anna Karenina, Hyde Park on Hudson and The Machinist.
Jimmy Essex makes his professional stage debut playing Robert. For television, his credits include as series regular Adam Donovan in Hollyoaks, Bamboo, Sean in Short Change, and Cosmo in Grange Hill. For film, his work includes A Dark Path.
Devesh Kishore plays Simon. His theatre credits include The Ladykillers, Guards at the Taj (Theatre by the Lake), Gauhar Jaan (Ominbus Theatre), Child of the Divide (Polka Theatre and UK tour), Gangsta Granny (West End and UK tour), Piece of Silk (Hope Theatre), and Stowaway (Shoreditch Town Hall and UK tour).
Aryana Ramkhalawon plays Jasminder. Her theatre credits include When the Crows Visit (Kiln Theatre), The Funeral Director (Southwark Playhouse and UK tour), The Tempest, Swallows and Amazons, Much Ado About Nothing (Storyhouse/Grosvenor Park Rep Company), The Secret Seven (Storyhouse), Hijabi Monologues (Bush theatre), Devika, Ode to Leeds (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Glasgow Girls (National Theatre of Scotland UK tour). Her television work includes Waterloo Road, Drama Matters: Lawless, Crime Stories, Bollywood Carmen and Jamillah and Aladdin.
Jon Pashley directs. His credits include Boudica (Central School of Speech and Drama/Leicester Curve), Much Ado About Nothing (Belgrade Theatre), Comedy on a Station Platform (Warwick Arts Centre) and Aspies (Theatre503). Credits as Associate Director include The Butterfly Lion, The Witches (Chichester Festival Theatre), In Praise of Love (Theatre Royal Bath), Peter Pan (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Venus and Adonis (RSC Swan/Dublin Theatre Festival), Running Wild, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Chichester Festival Theatre/UK tour), Goodnight Mister Tom (Duke of York’s Thetare /UK tour), and Bad Jews (St. James’s Theatre/ Haymarket/Theatre Royal Bath/UK tour).
Set and costume designs are by Bettina John, with lighting design by Tony Simpson, sound design by Rona Castrioti, and movement direction by Gerrard Martin.
ISM announces strategic partnership with the Musicians Movement
The new campaign launches #MakeMusicWork slogan
Today (07 October) the ISM is delighted to announce the launch of a new strategic campaign partnership with the Musicians Movement. It is hoping to secure a new support package to #MakeMusicWork and ensure musicians can start earning again. Uniting around two key campaigning asks, both organisations are together fighting for:
a new Freelance Performers Support Scheme to help musicians return to live performances in COVID-secure spaces and earn money.
changes to the Self- Employment Income Support Scheme to provide a tailored safety net for musicians who cannot work whilst venues remain closed due to government safety restrictions.
The new partnership began with a joint letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak following his speech at Conservative Party Conference and the Government’s ‘Winter Economy Plan’. It is hoped that these proposals will attract more organisations to align themselves with the new partnership.
At a time when coronavirus is devastating our sector, this collaboration reflects the recent trend for greater coordination between music industry organisations. It is designed to increase the impact and effectiveness of the music community’s campaigns in their lobbying of the UK government and across the devolved nations. The campaign takes place amidst a unprecedented grassroots activism amongst musicians, as seen in recent protests in Westminster like The Panto Parade and Let Music Live. The #MakeMusicWork campaign aims to mobilise this energy into meaningful government action for the sector.
Musicians are angry, the sector is united and we are ready to #MakeMusicWork.
About the proposals
Creating a new Freelance Performers Support Scheme
The Freelance Performers’ Support Scheme creates a COVID-secure route back to work; kickstarting the live music sector, bringing back tens of thousands of viable jobs, uniting communities and protecting our national culture.
It guarantees performers a minimum fee, even if COVID restrictions change which in turn enables some financial security in these unprecedented times.
It gives venues and promoters the opportunity to programme in advance without financial insecurity, enabling promoters of all sizes to start curation and allowing their communities to connect once more.
The scheme is flexible and scalable in relation to government guidelines to make sure that excess funding is not in place and that government money will not be wasted.
The principals are transferable to other arts sectors, with the potential for the sector to unite to develop a one-fund, works for all, arts-sector initiative.
For more information please contact Marithé Van Der Aa, [email protected]
Improving the Self Employment Income Support Scheme
The ISM and the Musicians Movement are also calling on the government to deliver on its pledge to ensure parity between employees and the self-employed by maintaining the existing level of support provided by the Self Employment Income Support Scheme annual and expanding the eligibility criteria. Many musicians have already fallen through the gaps in the Self Employment Income Support Scheme and will continue to be excluded under the new measures announced in the Chancellor’s ‘Winter Economy Plan’. In addition, reducing the level of support down from 70% to just 20% of average monthly trading profits will not provide an adequate safety net for our members when they are unable to generate any income at all. To find out more, please visit here.
The Incorporated Society of Musicians’ Chief Executive, Deborah Annetts, said:
‘I am delighted to launch this new partnership between the ISM and the Musicians Movement because greater coordination is essential for improving the impact of campaigning. Thousands of self-employed musicians are facing desperate financial hardship, having not been able to work since March. Now is the time for the entire music community together to unite around clear, effective and realistic policy recommendations for government. Our hope is that more organisations will support our calls for a new Freelance Performers Support Scheme and improving the Self- Employment Income Support Scheme.
‘The UK music industry is known for its world-leading talent which makes a huge contribution of over £5bn annually to our economy, so it is vital that the needs of musicians are properly communicated to the government. Whichever organisation they belong to, musicians are dynamic entrepreneurs who will be back on their feet as soon as the sector can reopen and new support measures need only last until the necessary safety precautions are eased.‘
The Musicians’ Movement said
‘The Musicians’ Movement is pleased to be partnering with the ISM in this joint campaign lobbying for critical support on behalf of musicians across the country.
‘As an organisation run by musicians, for musicians we receive daily communications from our supporters who want nothing more than to get back to work and contribute to their communities. The UK’s rich cultural heritage, built up over generations, is being thrown away and additional investment at this crucial time is needed to avoid the imminent collapse of our industry. The sector contributes £2.8billion a year to the Treasury via taxation, and generates a further £23billion a year and 363,700 jobs to the wider economy. All of this is at risk.
‘We simply cannot and will not allow this to happen. Music and culture form the core of our regional and national identities and are absolutely essential in bringing the country back together after months of tragedy, isolation, and economic damage. Our sector must unite around these two concrete proposals if we wish to get our message across to the government.’
Award winning drag artist, and co-host of the BBC’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: The Podcast, Baby Lame follows on from her interactive BFI ‘shade along’ collaborations Death Becomes Her and Showgirls, by turning the spotlight onto an era of forgotten cinematic treasures. Part live and in-person performance, part screening of straight to VHS horror films, Baby Lame unearths a riotous, camp and deliciously disturbing collection of WFT film clips. Baby Lame’s Video Nasties is a freaky monster-mashup of real video nasties, original horror shorts featuring Baby Lame in collaboration with queer horror filmmakers Mansfield Dark and Joseph Wilson, and shocking, laugh out loud performances from Ms Lame herself.
Video Nasties is an umbrella term for sick VHS horror movies of the 1970s and 80s. Bad taste movie makers used a loophole in the British Board of Film Classification to unleash their nasty creations on the world on magnetic tape. Mary Whitehouse was appalled. The Daily Mail got involved. New laws were passed to protect the nation’s youth. Looking across niche era of home cinema Baby Lame turns her queer gaze upon the genre and shares the weird and… well, even weirder wonders she has found. Turns out literally almost anything can kill you, in ways you couldn’t even dream of.
This Halloween, buckle up and join drag monstrosity Baby Lame on a brilliantly bonkers thrill ride through the weirdest, sleaziest and trashiest filth from the VHS era in her brand new solo show Baby Lame’s Video Nasties. Our final girl Baby has uncovered a secret stash of lost videotapes, but little does she know the evil curse lurking inside. Will Baby escape the sinister force, or will her soul be used to awaken an unspeakable evil?!
Baby Lame works alongside Scarlett Moffatt as the co-host of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: The Podcast for BBC Sounds. She is also the emcee and co-producer of cabaret night Mariah and Friendz ‘The best damn drag-circus-burlesque show in town’ (Timeout), and creator of the critically acclaimed underground variety revue Shit Show. On stage, Baby has worked regularly with Peaches Christ starring as Lame Edna in the world premiere of Spice Racks at the Castro Theatre. She regrouped with Peaches in 2019 joining the UK cast of Drag Becomes Her alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon and Ben Delacreme. Next year Baby will star as ‘Uncle Fister’ in Soho Theatre’s UK Tour of Addams Apple Family Values.
Running Time: 90 mins (inc interval) | Suitable for ages 18+
Company information
Written & Directed by Baby Lame Sound & Lighting design by Lex Kosnake
Video in collaboration with Mansfield Dark & Joseph Wilson Cast Baby Lame
Listings information
21 – 22 October 2020, 8pm
Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club 42-44 Pollard Row, London E2 6NB
West End Musical Drive-In announce Lucie Jones and Aimie Atkinson as final headliners Troubadour Meridian Water, Harbet Road, London, N18 3QQ Saturday 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st October 2020
It has been the biggest concert series in musical theatre history. Over the last 3 months, from the moment lockdown ended, thousands of people have attended 13 incredible shows at the West End Musical Drive-In, with stunning performances from the biggest names on the West End – but it’s not over yet.
Lucie Jones (Waitress; Rent) will headline the season finale on the 31st October with a Halloween special starring Cedric Neal (Motown; The Voice), Kelly Agbowu (Waitress, Les Miserables), Jon Robyns (Les Misérables; Avenue Q) and hosted by Shanay Holmes (Rent; The Bodyguard).
Aimie Atkinson(Six; Pretty Woman) is also announced to headline on 24th October with Emma Kingston (Evita; In The Heights), Luke Baker (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) and T’shan Williams (Heathers; The Colour Purple).
They will be joining musical powerhouses Louise Dearman (Wicked) and Rachel Tucker (Wicked; Come From Away) who will reunite for the first time since their escapades in the Emerald City on 17th October, and Jamie Muscato (Heathers; West Side Story), Sam Tutty (Dear Evan Hansen), Luke Bayer (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), and Caroline Kay (The Space Between; The Clock Maker’s Daughter) on 10th October.
Lucie Jones says, This has been such an amazing event for theatre fans and for the industry as a whole and I’m so excited to be part of it. I’ll be pulling out all the trick or treats for the season finale!
Much like their West End Musical Brunch, which sell out months in advance, West End Musical Drive-In is an immersive event where the audience ‘become the cast,’ singing and dancing along with the West End stars who perform a mix of songs from a wide range of musicals. The event is totally contact free and socially distanced. You can listen through your car radio and watch the performances on a massive screen either inside or by your car so you can remain safe and comfortable no matter the weather.
ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY TO FOCUS 2021 STATFORD-UPON-AVON PROGRAMME IN ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE
The Royal Shakespeare Company will focus its programming in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon over the coming year, with the Swan Theatre and The Other Place remaining closed until 2022. The Company’s extensive education, digital and streaming activity will continue throughout the autumn and winter to allow people to experience the RSC in their homes and schools. This Winter, small-scale socially distanced performances will take place in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and be streamed into homes. The Company will also stage free outdoor activity, and plans to reopen its West End hit, Matilda The Musical as soon as it is financially viable.
The announcement comes as formal consultation begins with the RSC’s permanent workforce, and the Company recognised trade unions and staff representatives. The consultation process is a result of the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and covers a range of proposals from redundancies to changes in terms and conditions of employment. Although the final number of redundancies will not be known until the end of the formal consultation process,158 people are currently in roles at risk. Through redeployment into existing and newly created roles, together with voluntary redundancy, the RSC hopes to reduce the number of people leaving the Company due to compulsory redundancy to below 90, at most a 17% reduction in the workforce. The consultation is expected to conclude in early December.
Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST)
With the end of the Company’s free, outdoor Summer performances, the RSC will stage a programme of live performances in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in December and January. The events will see the return of socially distanced, reduced capacity audiences to the RST for the first time since March, with events being streamed to enable people further afield to take part. Full details will be announced at the beginning of November.
Planning also continues for the full re-opening of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Spring 2021 with full-scale productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors, when it is hoped that social distancing restrictions will be eased.
The production of The Magician’s Elephant, due to open in November 2021, is planned to go ahead as announced in the RST. Tickets are currently on sale. The new family musical, based on Kate DiCamillo’s novel, is directed by Sarah Tipple with music and lyrics by Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler.
The ongoing closure of the Swan Theatre means that The Wars of the Roses Parts 1 & 2, which had already been rescheduled from this autumn until autumn 2021, will now be delayed, hopefully to open in 2022. The staging of the three parts of Shakespeare’s Henry VI will be performed as a landmark event alongside Richard III journeying headlong through one of the most turbulent times of English history.
RSC Education
Throughout the pandemic, RSC Education has continued to support young people and teachers around the country through its education work. Initiatives such as #homeworkhelp saw RSC alumni including David Tennant, Noma Dumezweni and Adjoa Andoh answer questions from young people around the world in support of their Shakespeare studies.
As young people and teachers continue to adapt to the new ways of teaching and learning, RSC Education are developing new approaches to support both in school and home learning. Activity includes online performances delivered by RSC actors to early years children and families at home and in schools, courses to support young people’s literacy, leadership training for young people and online courses that explore important questions about identity and representation, all through Shakespeare’s plays. The Company are also continuing its collaborations with Regional Theatres, community groups and schools across England.
The RSC’s 2016 production of Hamlet, with Paapa Essiedu in the title role, will be streamed free of charge into schools across the UK in the week of 16 November, with supporting digital content. This is part of the RSC free Schools’ broadcasts series.
Talking about the ongoing impact of the pandemic and the future of the RSC, Gregory Doran, Artistic Director said:
“We want to welcome our audiences back, to re-open again and to help our regional and wider economy rebuild itself, bringing people back into our towns and cities. Our financial position and uncertainty around future restrictions means that our immediate focus will be on our largest theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon – the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. We’re planning for a Winter programme of events which will see a small number of socially distanced audiences back in our buildings, an exciting prospect with audiences also joining us online from their homes.
“We look ahead with optimism to 2021 when we plan for our postponed productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors to finally make it to the stage, and for our glorious Matilda The Musical to re-open at the Cambridge Theatre alongside other shows to reignite the vital West End economy. We want our brilliant workforce, permanent and freelance, to be back doing what they do best, making live theatre.
“Throughout the pandemic we have supported young people and teachers around the country through RSC Education. It’s critical work that responds directly to support teachers and young people need now, and this will continue through newly developed ways of working that support learning at home and in school.
“We continue to face the challenges of the ongoing pandemic and today was a difficult day as we began formal consultation about potential redundancies with our fantastic staff. We will continue to respond creatively to the ongoing crisis and look forward to the moment when we can reopen our doors with full-scale productions to celebrate all that is brilliant about live theatre.”
Catherine Mallyon, RSC Executive Director added,
“We remain positive that live theatre will be back in our communities, doing what it does best – entertaining audiences and bringing joy to so many people.
“These are incredibly difficult times for everyone, and for the theatre community they are especially tough. Our live performance sector is experiencing one of the highest levels of loss of work anywhere: the personal impact of this is often devastating; the loss of skilled and talented people permanently from our sector is a very real worry for the future; and the impact on the nation’s economy immense. We are today taking tough decisions to cut costs and make sure we can reopen with confidence. We remain completely committed to a vibrant future for live theatre and to ensuring that right across the country Shakespeare and theatre can be relevant to and enjoyed by all the communities we serve.
“The extraordinary support we continue to see from the Company, our Members, Patrons, sponsors and supporters, alongside the Stratford-upon-Avon community is a wonderful thing. It demonstrates the importance placed on theatre in people’s lives, and we thank everybody for their messages, donations, patience and commitment to seeing us reopen again”.
The RSC’s Ticketing Team will be in touch directly with ticket holders for The Wars of the Roses.
Theatrical charity, Acting for Others,today announce that together with their network of charities they have so far raised £3.3 million as part of their ongoing efforts to support the industry. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the 14 member charities have offered emotional and financial support, welfare and benefit advice and worked closely to support over 5000 theatre workers in need, becoming the go to charity for the theatrical industry.
Through wonderful acts of industry support, the money has been raised by over 200 theatrical organisations and initiatives including Fleabag For Charity, Theatre Support FundThe Show Must Go On! merchandise, Les Misérables: The Staged Concert DVD and the Noël Coward Foundation with events including the star-studded A Marvellous Party and many others.
Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen, co-chair of Acting for Others, said today, “This moment of crisis has illustrated the magnificent creativity and supportive nature of those in the performing arts with the huge variety of fundraising efforts we’ve seen and generous donations received. It has been wonderful to see all our long-term supporters, including our Ambassadors, continuing to offer their time and resources to support their less fortunate colleagues, and to see many newly engaging with Acting for Others and its member charities. We – and the thousands of beneficiaries – are enormously grateful to all those who have donated and fundraised.
William Differ, co-chair of Acting For Others, added “Sixty years ago Combined Theatrical Charites was founded by Richard Attenborough, Laurence Olivier and Noël Coward; as Acting for Others we’ve become a network of 14 charities working together to offer financial and emotional help to all workers from the theatre community through times of adversity. Long may we continue to provide this central core for mutual support for our industry!”
Judi Dench, President of Acting for Others, also commented It is truly wonderful to see how much Acting for Others and the member charities are doing to provide help for those who work (or used to) in our industry at this time. Since March, the need for support has drastically increased and without so many generous people, donating and fundraising in all these incredible ways, the charities simply wouldn’t be able to do the work they do. It is important that our less fortunate colleagues among performers, backstage and front of house staff all know that we are here to offer that helping hand.
The generosity of our supporters who have raised this astonishing total is remarkable. Thank you from us all and for being part of the A4O family.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Vice President of Acting for Others, These numbers are evidence of the incredible solidarity at the core of the performing arts community, and a reminder of how precarious this time has been for many members of it. Here’s to a huge thank you for the passionate dedication of everyone at Acting for Others, and to those who have contributed, donated and worked so hard to ease the present and ensure the future of our peers.
Francesca Moody, Acting for Others, Ambassador, it’s incredible that the member charities have been able to raise so much – thrilled for everyone and I know it’s a much-needed lifeline for so many.
Stroke opera shown in hospital and streamed for World Stroke Day
Rehearsed and recorded across Zoom, I Look For The Think brings together sixty stroke survivors from London, Berkshire and Bristol with Garsington Adult Community Company The opera will premiere at Bristol After Stroke on 7th October For World Stroke Day on 29th October, the film will be shown at Royal Berkshire Hospital and streamed online
At the height of the pandemic when vulnerable members of society were shielding, a community of the UK’s most isolated and vulnerable people came together online to create an opera about love after stroke. The sixty stroke survivors, supported by pioneering arts-health organisation Rosetta Life and by their carers, worked to overcome the physical and neurological difficulties that prevent them from using tools that most take for granted: keyboards, microphones, headphones and the internet. Together with professional musicians and the Adult Community Company from Garsington Opera, the participants from Bristol, Berkshire and London rehearsed and film a twelve minute opera, I Look For The Think, based on the lived experience of participant Kim Fraser and his wife and carer, Sarah.
On World Stroke Day on 29th October, the film will be screened at Royal Berkshire Hospital for staff and patients, and will receive a public streaming online at 6pm alongside the launch of Recovering Hope, the handbook for Stroke Odysseys, the arts health intervention that I Look For The Think is part of. The Facebook streaming of the event will be accompanied by a panel Q&A with Rosetta Life creative director Lucinda Jarrett accompanied by stroke survivors who participated and Sarah, the carer that the film was based on. The film will receive its premiere with anonline streaming 7th October as part of Bristol After Stroke’s Wellbeing Month. It will be accompanied by poetry and art from local participants, a talk from Rosetta Life, and a practical exercise.
Composed by Orlando Gough, I Look For The Think explores the uncertainty and anxiety of being discharged from hospital after a stroke both for the patient and for the new carer, and the challenges of loving anew. For the patient, it can be a painful journey to find a new way of living with the altered capacity to move, speak and express themselves. For the carers, it throws up some heart wrenching questions of whether their new charge is the same person they fell in love with, and can they fall in love with the new person they’ve become?
In June and July, participants from London, Reading and Bristol rehearsed across Zoom. The participants received sound recordings and video footage to watch before the group teaching sessions, then sent recordings of themselves to Rosetta Life to edit into the final film. The participants form the patients’ chorus in I Look For The Think alongside Garsington Adult Community Company as the staff chorus, a carers’ chorus drawn from the groups, and soloists Robert Gildon and Melanie Pappenheim.
Rosetta Life was founded in 1997 to use arts in health innovation to change the way we perceive the elderly, frail, disabled, and those who live with life limiting illnesses. Their work with stroke communities, Stroke Odysseys,started as a song cycle developed as part of Derry, City of Culture 2013. Since then, Rosetta Life has produced Hospital Passion Play, which was performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2017, Stroke Odysseys, which premiered at The Place before touring, choreographed by Ben Duke and composed by Orlando Gough. Orlando Gough is known for his operas, choral music, music for dance and theatre, and is a former Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House. I Look For The Think is an extension of Act 2 of Hospital Passion Play.
Creative Director of Rosetta Life Lucinda Jarrett said, “The pandemic has compelled all arts organisations to change and often radically adapt their practices. We are grateful that it has given us an opportunity to bring all our ambassadors groups across the country to perform together in the short online opera I Look For The Think. We hope that the Ambassadors will recognise that they are part of a growing national movement that puts their creative voices at the heart of the story of recovery.”
Stroke Odysseys is one of three interventions, all of which have been proven to improve patient health, that will be trialed among larger groups of people within NHS hospitals as part of SHAPER, the world’s largest study into the impact of arts on mental health. SHAPER – Scaling-up Health-Arts Programmes: Implementation and Effectiveness Research – has been launched by King’s College London and UCL. The study also encompasses arts interventions Melodies for Mums and Dance for Parkinson’s. More information about the study can be found here.
Screenings at Royal Berkshire Hospital (closed event)
Companies information
Rosetta Life was founded in 1997 to use arts in health innovation to change the way we perceive the elderly, frail, disabled, and those who live with life limiting illnesses. It is led by Artistic Director Lucinda Jarrett. Stroke Odysseys started as a song cycle developed with Orlando Gough and patients from Altnagelvin Chest, Heart and Stroke Hospital, Derry as part of Derry, City of Culture 2013. Rosetta Life’s past projects have included: The Art of Touch, a programme of movement workshops in dementia care and End of Life Care; Our Hearts in the Balance, a promenade performance at the British Museum performed by 11 people living with dementia; and Performing Ourselves, a touring exhibition of self portraiture developed in partnership with four hospices, two NHS Hospital Trusts and leading British photographers Tom Hunter and Clare Park.
Garsington Opera have developed a programme of Opera and Wellbeing initiatives with the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and most recently with High Wycombe Hospital Stroke ward, linking in with an Adult Company drawn from all levels of the local community. The Garsington Opera Learning & Participation Programme aims to demonstrate the benefits for wellbeing of the arts, as well as encouraging participation from those unable to engage with the arts easily as a result of difficult circumstances. Garsington Adult Community Company offers performance opportunities and encourages the development of new skills and friendships. This work is being developed in collaboration and partnership with Rosetta Life.
Bristol After Stroke is an independent local charity helping people rebuild their lives after stroke. Their services offer a unique combination of practical, social, emotional and psychological support to stroke affected people and their carers and loved ones. The onset of stroke is sudden and can turn people’s lives upside down overnight, their mission is to support stroke affected people adjust to life after stroke. Bristol After Stroke has been supporting people in the area for 37 years and is guided by local trustees, their services are managed and delivered by a small staff team, assisted by many willing and able volunteers. They are a growing charity and last year they supported nearly 900 people. For more information on their Wellbeing month and to book for the premier of I Look For The Think visit their website here
