Author: FairyPoweredProductions

INITIAL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR

THE WEST END TRANSFER OF

LAURA WADE’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED THE WATSONS

A miracle of wit, invention and intelligence.” ★★★★★ Guardian

★★★★★ Metro ★★★★★ The Stage ★★★★★  Observer ★★★★ Times ★★★★ Financial Times ★★★★  Telegraph ★★★★ Evening Standard ★★★★ Time Out  ★★★★ Daily Express

Chocolate Factory Productions, Sonia Friedman Productions, Playing Field

Evan Sacks, David Mirvish

present

The Chichester Festival Theatre and Menier Chocolate Factory production of

THE WATSONS

A new play by Laura Wade

Adapted from the unfinished novel by Jane Austen

Director: Samuel West; Designer: Ben Stones; Lighting Designer: Richard Howell

Sound Designer: Gregory Clarke; Movement: Mike Ashcroft; Music: Isobel Waller-Bridge

Casting Director: Charlotte Sutton

Initial casting is announced today for the West End transfer of Laura Wade’s The Watsons, following sold-out runs at both Chichester Festival Theatre and the Menier Chocolate Factory. Samuel West directs Sam Alexander (Robert Watson), Sally Bankes (Nanny), Jane Booker (Lady Osborne), Elaine Claxton (Mrs Edwards), Ralph Davis (Lord Osborne), Tim Delap (Mr Howard), Sophie Duval (Mrs Robert), Louise Ford (Laura), John Wilson Goddard (Mr Watson), Rhianna McGreevy (Margaret Watson), Grace Molony (Emma Watson – she was Evening Standard Award nominated for her performance), Elander Moore (Bertie), Paksie Vernon (Elizabeth Watson) and Cat White (Miss Osborne), who reprise their roles. Full casting will be announced shortly.

The production opens at the Harold Pinter Theatre on 18 May, with previews from 8 May, and runs until 26 September. Public booking now open.

“Laura Wade triumphs spinning Jane Austen into major theatrical gold” Variety

Directed by Samuel West, The Watsons played to critical acclaim at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2018, and completed its run at the Menier in November 2019.

“Excellent. Jane Austen has never been quite so much fun.” The Times

Nineteen and new in town, Emma Watson’s been cut off by her wealthy aunt. She needs to marry, and fast, or be faced with a life of poverty and spinsterhood stuck in her humdrum family home.

Luckily, she has plenty of prospective suitors asking to dance, from dashing socialite Tom Musgrave to the stinking rich, socially awkward Lord Osborne. Which partner to pick?

So far, so familiar, but that’s when Jane Austen stopped writing. Two hundred years on, her forgotten heroine’s happy ending still hangs in the balance.

Picking up an unfinished novel, Olivier Award-winner Laura Wade’s ‘ingenious and triumphant’ (Evening Standard) new comedy pops the bonnet on Jane Austen’s world and asks: what happens when a writer loses the plot and fictional characters take control of their tale?

Laura Wade is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her credits include Home, I’m Darling (Theatr Clwyd, National Theatre, Duke of York’s Theatre and UK tour – Olivier Award for Best New Comedy), Tipping the Velvet (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, adapted from the novel by Sarah Waters), Posh (Royal Court Theatre and West End), Alice (Sheffield Theatres), Kreutzer vs. Kreutzer (Sydney Opera House and Australian Tour, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Royal Festival Hall and UK tour), Other Hands (Soho Theatre), Colder Than Here (Soho Theatre and MCC Theatre New York), Breathing Corpses (Royal Court Theatre), Young Emma (Finborough Theatre), and 16 Winters (Bristol Old Vic Basement).  Film credits include The Riot Club and Britain Isn’t Eating.  

Samuel West directs. His directorial work includes After Electra (Tricycle Theatre), Close The Coalhouse Door (Northern Stage), Waste (Almeida Theatre) and Dealer’s Choice (Menier Chocolate Factory/Trafalgar Studios). As Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres he directed the first revival of The Romans in Britain by Howard Brenton, and As You Like It for the RSC’s Complete Works Festival. He also directed Money by Edward Bulwer-Lytton for BBC Radio. As an actor, work includes the title roles in Hamlet and Richard II for the RSC, Jeffrey Skilling in Lucy Prebble’s Enron (Chichester/Royal Court/Noel Coward theatres), three series of Mr Selfridge, the film Howards End, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Suffragette and On Chesil Beach. He will appear later this year as Siegfried Farnon in the new series of All Creatures Great and Small.

Wade and West were recently announced as the 2020 Ambassadors for Jane Austen’s House https://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk/.

This production is based on the original Chichester Festival Theatre production which had its world premiere at the Minerva Theatre on 3 November 2018.

www.thewatsonsplay.com

Twitter and Instagram: @TheWatsonsPlay

Facebook: /TheWatsonsPlay

Listings Information                                                                                                                   The Watsons

Harold Pinter Theatre

Panton St, London SW1Y 4DN

Box Office: 0844 871 7622

www.atgtickets.com

Tickets from £15

8 May – 26 September

Darlington Hippodrome – until 15 February 2020

3***

In the very remote Highlands of Scotland, on the Applecross Peninsula, in the even more remote village of Coillie Ghillie lies the Croft.  The childhood holiday home of Laura and her family. No phone signals, no broadband and no wifi but plenty of folklore and tradition.

Laura and her married lover Suzanne arrive at the Croft in the present day for a weekend together.  Seemingly the first time Laura has visited since her mother Ruth died there, giving in to the cancer savaging her body.  Much older Suzanne is worried that the remoteness means she won’t be in touch with her soon to be ex-husband and two teenage sons, who Laura was the baby sitter for.  Interweaved in this is Ruth, living her final weeks in the croft with local ghillie David, whilst Laura is at home with her father, clergyman Tom. And in 1870 we have Enid, who took in unmarried pregnant Eilene, who are to be evicted due to the highland clearances.

Only Enid (Gwen Taylor) is not double cast. Lucy Doyle moves between Laura and Eileen seamlessly, even with the costume changes.  Caroline Harker plays both lover Suzanne and mother Ruth, commenting upon their similarities when Suzanne sees a photo of Ruth. Drew Cain is both ghillie David and the illicit lover of Eilene; whilst Simon Roberts is Tom, Laura’s father, and Patrick the father of Eilene – both clergymen.

Whilst billed as a thriller, it’s difficult to tell if this is a family saga – full of middle class angst, staring into the distance, swearing for the sake of it and wine drinking.  Or is it a spooky horror – with a few fabulous moments of fright. Certainly the set (Adrian Linford) and the sound (Max Pappenheim) and lighting (Chris Davey) add atmosphere.

Writer Ali Milles debut play gives a promise of some great work yet come

Grand Opera House, York – until 15 February 2020

Reviewed by Michelle Richardson

3***

Ten Times Table was written in 1977 by Alan Ayckbourn. It tells the story of an inexperienced Chairman, Ray (Robert Daws) attempting to form a committee in order to perform a re-enactment of the massacre of the Pendon Twelve, a bit of local history he has dug up from somewhere, and the setting up of the Pendon Folk Festival.

This production has a cast that a lot will recognise, as most of the actors have previously appeared on well known television shows. Daws, being joined by Deborah Grant, Craig Grazey, Mark Curry, Robert Duncan and Gemma Oaten.

Set wholly around a table, bar the final scene, at the local Swan Hotel, it appears to be a bit of a dump in need of some renovation, with temperamental lights and the heating not working. Ray has recruited several members to sit on his committee, with all their own ideas, political leanings and personal problems. We soon find out that running a committee is harder than you think, with all the protocol bogging it down, and enlisting enough reliable members.

Ray with the help of Donald (Mark Curry), who is a veteran of committees and obsessive that it should be run properly, try and hold things together. Over the course of their weekly meetings we see how plans unravel and the opposing political views have a detrimental effect on proceedings, especially between outspoken, right wing Helen (Grant), Ray’s wife, and Marxist Eric (Gazey). What starts as a team coming together, soon turns into two camps only out for their own agenda. Daws as the keen Ray, provides some laughs with the noises he emits as he becomes more exasperated as things go wrong.

The first half is really a drawn out affair, with several meetings taking place, quite dull in fact. It did have its moments with some laugh out loud but, but too few and far between.

Thankfully this improved during the second half when chaos ensued. With the involvement of former army man Tim (Harry Gostelow), things take a more sinister turn. Guns at the ready and each side ready for battle, we see it reach its farcical outcome. This was so much more entertaining and was over far too quickly, and less that half the time of the laborious first half. At least it ended on a high.

Even though it had its moments and through no fault of the actors, I found it hard to believe in or empathise with any of the characters on the stage. Some of the characters needed more meat in their roles, they were just lacking that bit of something.

AUTHOR HELEN FORRESTER TO BE

HONOURED WITH BLUE PLAQUE

Helen Forrester, the author who spawned a genre of gritty, working-class memoir with her book, Twopence To Cross The Mersey, is to be honoured with a blue plaque as part of her 100^th birthday celebrations. The unveiling will take place on Friday 21^st February at her childhood home in Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula.

Forrester wrote a further three volumes of best-selling autobiography, Liverpool Miss, By The Waters Of Liverpool and Lime Street At Two. Her writing was characterised by a lack of self pity and an unsettling honesty as she portrayed her life during the Great Depression of the 1930s. During her family’s estranged years suffering in the slums of Liverpool, across the River Mersey,in the affluent Wirral suburbs, lived her well-heeled grandmother. She had fallen out with her son after he had borrowed heavily from family members and was unable to repay his debts. Condemning him as a worthless spendthrift, Helen’s grandmother would have no more to do with him. Despite this, Helen was convinced that if she could muster up the tuppence required for a ferry boat ticket, she could visit her grandmother, explain what was happening to the family,and she would come to their rescue. Although this never came to pass, it did provide the title of her first book, TwopenceTo Cross The Mersey. “For the first six months of my life I lived at Grandma’s house in Hoylake with my mother; my father was overseas fighting in Russia. In subsequent years, until the age of eleven, I spent all my school holidays there. They were the happiest days of my childhood.”

Kate Bradley, Senior Commissioning Editor, HarperFiction said, “I’m delighted that Helen’s contribution to Liverpool’s rich cultural history is being honoured on what would have been her 100^th birthday. Helen’s bookswere gut-wrenchingly honest about her experience growing up in Liverpool, but it’s her humanity and passion for life that always shines through and it’s this tenderness and understanding that have made the books enduringly popular with readers.”

Born June Huband on 6 June 1919 in Hoylake, she was the eldest of seven children of inept, socialite, middle-class parents who lived on credit. When her father was made bankrupt during the Great Depression, the family was thrown into poverty. Evicted from their comfortable home in England’s gentler South West, with nothing more than the clothes they stood up in, the large family took the train to Liverpool where they hoped to rebuild their lives. While Forrester’s father searched unsuccessfully for work, the family were forced to live together in a bug-infested single room. As the eldest child, the 12-year-old Helen was kept away from school to look after her six younger brothers and sisters. For the next few years the family had to rely on meagre hand-outs from the parish and the kindness of strangers. At the age of fourteen, Forrester rebelled against her life of drudgery and her parents agreed to allow her to attend evening classes to make up for her missed years of education.Throughout her teenage years, Forrester worked for a charitable organisation in Liverpool and it was this period in her life that provided the background for many of her books, including By The Waters Of Liverpool, which has recently been turned into a brand new stage play.  The show opens at the Floral Pavilion Theatre in New Brighton on 3 March, just a few miles from her birthplace, and will then embark on a 17-theatre national UK tour.

Playwright and friend of Helen, Rob Fennah, explains: “My background is in pop music and during the late-80s I was given a book called Twopence To Cross The Mersey to read while I was waiting to go into a radio session. In the book Helen referred to her father as a ‘butterfly in the rain’, a beautiful image that inspired me to write a song of the same title for an album I was working on. Helen got to hear the track, really liked it, and asked if she could use it when promoting her books around the world.There was a picture taken on the day we met which Helen and I jokingly referred to it as, ‘when leather met tweed’. It’s a lovely photograph and says everything about the friendship that was to follow. Once we’d got to know each other, I asked if I could adapt TwopenceTo Cross The Mersey into a stage play. I’d dabbled in theatre before with some moderate success. Helen agreed, but on the strict understanding she had final approval. ‘After all Rob’, she reminded me, ‘this is my life!’ Helen flew from her Canada home to attend the première at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool and it went on to become hugely successful.  Although Helen is no longer with us, she is always in my thoughts. While I was adapting By The Waters Of Liverpool, I imagined her looking over my shoulder, checking that all the little details were correct and in order. It’s a real privilege to be entrusted with her most famous works, but also a huge responsibility.”

After surviving the Blitzing of Liverpool and losing two consecutive fiancés to the Second World War she met and, in 1950, married Dr. Avadh Bhatia. The couple travelled widely, eventually settling in Edmonton, Canada, in 1955, where Dr. Bhatia became the director of the Theoretical Physics Institute at the University of Alberta. Helen was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Liverpool in 1988 and by the University of Alberta in 1993. She died aged 92 on 24 November 2011 in Edmonton, Alberta. Her writing continues to inspire readers around the world.

Fennah continued: “This adaptation of By The Waters also features sizeable chunks from her earlier book, Liverpool Miss, together with flashbacks to Twopence To Cross The Mersey. I’ve even weaved in a storyline from Lime Street At Two.  That way, those unfamiliar with Helen’s work will get a complete picture of her life”.

Helen’s son, Robert Bhatia, concluded: “My family and I will be flying over from our home in Canada to be at the unveiling of the blue plaque and to attend the opening of By The Waters Of Liverpool. The partnership between playwright Rob Fennah and my mother Helen, and her legacy, has been outstanding”.

Actors, Sian Reeves and Mark Moraghan, who play Helen’s Mother and Father in the new stage production, will unveil the blue plaque at 5 Warren Road in Hoylake on Friday 21^st February at 12pm, a place featured heavily in Helen’s work.

Further information on the UK tour of By The Waters Of Liverpool can be found atwww.bythewatersofliverpool.com

The Actors Centre – until 8 February 2020

Reviewed by Claire Roderick

4****

Showing as part of the Latin American Season at the Actors Centre, Abilio Estévez’s Freddie is an intense but captivating monologue, with a riveting performance by Santiago del Fosco and assured direction from Camila González Ortiz.

Freddie is alone in his room with only a shrine to his idol, Freddie Mercury, and a gun for company. Silent as the audience file in, Freddie steels himself for what is to come and announces that we are here on a momentous day and will witness a miraculous event. Just what this event will be is unclear, and Freddie is a very unreliable narrator, but always shows clarity and certainty when discussing his gun. The thrill of not knowing which pull of the trigger will release the single bullet in the chamber makes Freddie bolder with his confessions, but is he speaking the truth or performing a fantastic tale for us or himself?

The language of Kate Eaton’s translation is rich and poetic, with the repeated refrain of the gun grounding each section. Is Freddie a murderer, a prisoner or a patient? Are the people banging outside his captors or saviours? The narrative loops around, swerving between facts, half-truths and flights of fancy, but always returning to the fleeting nature of life and the disappointment of reality compared to dreams. Freddie’s obsession with Freddie Mercury seems to be the only true joy in his life, but this just highlights the pain of his existence. Dreaming of transformation into a version of Mercury at his extravagant and flamboyant best, Freddie’s godlike being only wants to give pleasure and happiness to those he sees, and the desolation he feels when he accepts the impossibility of this is palpable.

Santiago del Fosco is mesmerising as Freddie, simmering with a turmoil of emotions and portraying Freddie’s coping mechanism of mimicking/ transforming into his idol with theatrical gestures that are immediately relatable to Mercury. The hour flies by in an emotionally exhausting but thought-provoking whirl – wonderful.

Amici’s One World: Wealth of the Common People
Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, Lyric Square, King Street, London W6 0QL
Wednesday 20th May – Saturday 23rd May 2020

The world’s first disability-inclusive professional dance company, Amici Dance Theatre Company, will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in the Main House at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre with their biggest production to date, Amici’s One World: Wealth of the Common People. The pioneering dance-theatre company will bring together an 80 strong cast of disabled and non-disabled performers, many specially invited from around the world.

Choreographed by the internationally-renowned Wolfgang Stange and devised by the performers themselves, Amici’s One World is a timely exploration of unity, tolerance and the ongoing refugee crisis told through the eyes of those who have experienced first hand what it’s
like to be marginalised by difference. This ambitious spectacle masterfully mixes projection, dance, spoken word and live music in an explosive celebration of joy, life, protest and the beauty of uniting people from different cultures across the globe. It is part of an Amici celebratory week of workshops, photographic exhibitions and films at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.

Amici will be inviting guest performers from Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales, Japan, USA, Canada, Austria and Sri Lanka and will once again be collaborating with celebrated director Michael Vale (Macbeth, RSC; Bent, National Theatre), Tina Bicat (who won the Critics Circle Award for Design for Punchdrunk’s Faust), and Phil Supple (the designer behind the iconic Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red that saw 888,264 poppies cascade down the Tower of London). Amici’s stunning work continues to subvert stereotypes and challenge conventional attitudes to disability and the arts breaking both barriers and new ground

Wolfgang Stange comments, I was pushed to make work that raised awareness of the atrocities that are plaguing our planet after the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka and the current refugee crisis on Europe‘s shores. I’ve been deeply affected by the innocent lives that have been lost while trying to get a better future for their children. It is more important than ever to remind ourselves that in order to change things, we must relive some of those horrors, but we must not lose sight of hope. Without hope we would be very lost indeed. Amici shows that sharing and celebrating each other‘s differences is the only way forward.

Amici are a unique integrated-arts company that have, over the years, inspired thousands of people to look at art (and the world) from a new and magical perspective. With a focus on individual talent regardless of ability, they help performers to realise their latent gifts as artists. They run weekly classes for its 40+ members, organise open-workshops, residencies, and student placements and stage performances throughout the year including their biennial full company show, performed in the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre’s Main House, where they are a Lyric Partner Company.

Amici are totally and utterly inspiring (The Guardian)

I count my evenings spent watching the work of Amici among the most rewarding in a year’s dance-viewing. Amici affirms life, creativity and the power of compassion (Clement Crisp, The Financial Times)

LONDON CLASSIC THEATRE ANNOUNCES FULL CAST FOR ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR UK TOUR

London Classic Theatre present

ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR

Written by Alan Ayckbourn 

25 February – 19 July

Directed by Michael Cabot;Set design by Simon Scullion; Costume design by Kate Lyons

Lighting design by Andy Grange

Following the announcement of their 20^th anniversary season, London Classic Theatre today announce the full cast of Absurd Person Singular. Michael Cabot directs John Dorney (Geoffrey Jackson),Felicity Houlbrooke (Jane Hopcroft), Helen Keeley (Eva Jackson), Rosanna Miles (Marion Brewster-Wright), Graham O’Mara (Ronald Brewster-Wright) and Paul Sandys (Sidney Hopcroft). The production opens at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne on 25 February then tours to 24 venues, before completing its run on 19 July.

Three married couples. Three kitchens. Three Christmas parties.

Sidney Hopcroft, a small-time tradesman, persuades wife Jane to throw a party hoping to find favour with a bank manager and local architect. As celebrations begin, class differences and naked ambition combine to hilarious effect as, one by one, the characters seek refuge in Jane’s kitchen.

Over the next two years, the Jacksons and Brewster-Wrights take turns to host festivities. But Sidney’s star has begun to rise and roles are increasingly reversed as the cracks in the other couples’ marriages begin to show.

Alan Ayckbourn is an award-winning playwright. Theatre credits include Absurd Person Singular (Evening Standard Best Comedy Award),The Norman Conquests (Evening Standard Best Play Award and Tony For Best Revival Of A Play), Bedroom Farce, Just Between Ourselves (Evening Standard Best Play Award), A Chorus of Disapproval (Olivier Best Comedy Award and Evening Standard Best Comedy Award), Woman in Mind, A Small Family Business (Evening Standard Best Play Award), Henceforward (Evening Standard Best Comedy Award), Man of the Moment (Evening Standard Best Comedy Award), House & Garden and Private Fears in Public Places, among others.

John Dorney plays Geoffrey Jackson. Previous credits for the company include Hysteria, Absent Friends, The Caretaker and Humble Boy. Other theatre credits include Flight, Peter Pan (National Theatre), Better Watch Out (Hampstead Theatre), At the Back, Out of Focus (Soho Theatre), Volpone (Wilton’s Music Hall), The Revenger’s Tragedy, The Stranger (Southwark Playhouse), A-Team: The Musical (Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh), Coalition (Pleasance, Edinburgh and Islington) and Seasons Greetings (Union Theatre).

Felicity Houlbrooke plays Jane Hopcroft. Previous credits for the company include My Mother Said I Never Should and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other theatre credits include Hard Times (Oldham Coliseum), The Railway Children (King’s Cross Theatre), Echoes (Arcola Theatre) The King’s Speech (Chichester Festival Theatre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Black Coffee (UK tour), The Diary of Anne Frank (York Theatre Royal/UK tour) and Gore (Charing Cross Theatre).

Helen Keeley plays Eva Jackson. Previous credits for the company include Private Lives and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other theatre credits The Picture of Dorian Gray (Trafalgar Studios/UK tour), Yap Yap Yap (Battersea Arts Centre), Half, To the End (Southwark Playhouse) and A Summer Day’s Dream (Finborough Theatre).

Rosanna Miles plays Marion Brewster-Wright. Previous theatre credits include Below Stairs (Arts Theatre), The Crucible (UK tour), When Holly Met Ivy (Nuffield Southampton Theatres), Cinderella (Winchester Theatre Royal), Walking the Tightrope (Arcola Theatre), Beyond Nora (Exeter Northcott Theatre), Le Jardin (Bath Theatre Royal) and The Merry Wives of Windsor (UK tour). Television credits include The Grimleys, Teachers and Specials.

Graham O’Mara plays Ronald Brewster-Wright. Previous credits for the company include No Man’s Land. Other theatre credits include Government Inspector and The Three Musketeers (Young Vic), Borders (Arcola Theatre), Fatzer: Downfall of an Egoist (North Wall Arts Centre), Punts and Cans (Theatre503), BU21 (Trafalgar Studios), Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Wind in the Willows (Storyhouse, Chester), Sense and Sensibility (The Watermill Theatre),  Alice (Sheffield Theatres), A Man of Letters (Orange Tree Theatre) and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds). For television his credits include Friday Night Dinner, Sirens and The Queen: 1974.

Paul Sandys plays Sidney Hopcroft. Previous credits for the company include Private Lives, Entertaining Mr Sloane and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other theatre credits include Peter Pan (New Vic Theatre) and Friend or Foe (UK tour). For television his credits include Apple Tree House and for film, his credits include The Sprint King.

Michael Cabot directs and is the founder and Artistic Director of London Classic Theatre. He has directed all forty-one LCT productions since their touring debut in 2000, including No Man’s Land, My Mother Said I Never Should, Private Lives, Hysteria, The Birthday Party, Waiting for Godot, Absent Friends, Entertaining Mr Sloane and Equus. His freelance work as director includes three recent collaborations with award-winning playwright Henry Naylor, The Collector (Arcola Theatre), Angel and Borders (Edinburgh Festival Fringe).

JULIET STEVENSON WINS BEST ACTRESS AT THE CRITICS’ CIRCLE THEATRE AWARDS

FOR HER PERFORMANCE IN ROBERT ICKE’S

THE DOCTOR

AS THE FULL CAST ARE ANNOUNCED AHEAD OF ITS

WEST END TRANSFER AND TOUR

★★★★★

The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Sunday Times, WhatsOnStage

★★★★

The Times, Evening Standard, The Observer, The Independent, The Stage, Metro

As rehearsals for its tour and West End transfer commence, multi-award winning actress Juliet Stevenson jointly wins the acclaimed Best Actress award at this year’s Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards for her portrayal of Dr Ruth Wolff in director, Robert Icke’s (The Wild Duck, Hamlet, Mary Stuart, Oresteia, 1984) sold-out, five-star Almeida Theatre production of The Doctor.

In the most hotly-contested category of the year, the Critics’ Circle awarded this year’s Best Actress to both Juliet Stevenson for The Doctor and Sharon D Clarke for her role in Death Of A Salesman. 

This latest award for The Doctor followsRobert Icke’s Best Director award win, and Juliet’s Best Actress nomination, at the 65^th Evening Standard Theatre Awards in November 2019. The production has also received nominations, including Best New Play, Best Director and Best Actress in a Play, ahead of the 20^th Annual What’s On Stage Awards, which will be taking place in March 2020. 

Alongside Juliet Stevenson and returning to the production are, Mariah Louca, Daniel Rabin, Joy Richardson, Naomi Wirthner and Hannah Ledwidge on drums, with new cast members Chris Colquhoun,Shelley Conn, Anni Domingo,Liv Hill, Jamie Parker and Millicent Wong joining the production.

***

First, do no harm.

On an ordinary day, at a private hospital, a young woman fights for her life. A priest arrives to save her soul. Her doctor refuses him entry.

In a divisive time, in a divided nation, a society takes sides.

The latest smash-hit by ‘Britain’s best director’ (Telegraph) is a ‘provocative, wonderfully upsetting’ (Independent) whirlwind conversation around gender, race and identity, and a ‘devastating play for today’ (Financial Times).

Olivier Award winner, Juliet Stevenson, ‘delivers one of the peak performances of the theatrical year’ (The Guardian) in this ‘spell-binding’ (Evening Standard) production.

***

The Doctor transfers to the West End in April 2020, running at the Duke of York’s Theatre from 18April – 18 July 2020. Prior to this, the production travels to Australia for the 2020 Adelaide Festival (27 February – 8 March), as well as enjoying a limited run at the Theatre Royal Brighton (30 March – 4 April) and Richmond Theatre (6 April – 11 April), ahead of arriving in the West End. Press night will be held at the Duke of York’s Theatre on Thursday 30 April at 7pm.

The Doctor, by Robert Icke, very freely adapted from Arthur Schnitzler’s Professor Bernhardi, has been critically lauded since its opening at the Almeida in August 2019. Reunited from past productions (including Robert Icke’s Hamlet and Oedipus) the critically-acclaimed creative team for The Doctor includes designs by Hildegard Bechtler, lighting by Natasha Chivers and sound and composition by Tom Gibbons. Casting is by Julia Horan.

The Doctor is presented by The Ambassador Theatre Group & Almeida Theatre, Benjamin Lowy, Glass Half Full Productions,with Fiery Angel and Charles Diamond, in association with

Scott Rudin and Sonia Friedman Productions.

The Alexandra, Birmingham – 15 February 2020 then Nationwide

Reviewed by Joanne Hodge

5*****

I’m a huge fan of Kay Mellor and her down to earth, gritty portrayals of life in The North, and fondly remember the 90’s television show which has now returned to the public arena on stage in this touring production.

Mellors work always focuses on strong females, although they’re not always the classic heroine you might expect. Band of Gold is one of those pieces.

The play is centred on four women of varying ages, who have all ended up as sex workers in The Lanes, a red light area in early 90’s Bradford. All with different backgrounds and at different points in their life, they form a strong bond and dependence on each other, not typical of your usually portrayed female friendships. It demonstrates how life can change on a knife-edge, and how desperation can lead you down the darkest of paths.

Young and vulnerable Gina [Sacha Parkinson] is starting out as an Avon lady to pay off her debts as she struggles to look after her young child following the breakdown of her marriage to the violent and menacing Steve [Kieron Richardson]. She’s naïve and looking for a way to a better life when she knocks on the door of Carol [Emma Osman], and meets Anita [Virginia Byron] at the same time. She becomes intrigued by the lifestyle they lead – and the money they earn – and becomes determined to break through in the city’s seedy underworld.

The group is led by the hard and brashy Rose [Gaynor Faye], and as we follow their journey, you become somewhat fond of them, despite what you may feel about the lives they’ve chosen to lead.

At the request of the writer – Kay Mellor delivers an informative narrative just ahead of curtain up – I won’t divulge the plot, but suffice to say, that despite being set almost thirty years ago, the themes explored are every bit as current as we enter the 2020’s.

Designer Janet Bird, with lighting by Jason Taylor and sound by Mic Pool help to ease the transition from the fast-paced small screen to stage. And the production team do a fantastic job with short sharp scene changes to keep the action moving.

Whether or not you were a fan of the original series, this show is definitely worth a watch – just be cautious if you’re offended by sex, drugs and a frequent expletive!

Russian State Opera bring ‘gripping love story’, Aida, to Newcastle Wednesday 4th March 2020

After the success of last year’s production of Madama Butterfly, as well as the previous Carmen and La Traviata, Russian State Opera is returning to Tyne Theatre & Opera House on Wednesday 4th March 2020 with the premiere of renowned opera, Aida.

For over 15 years the Russian State Ballet & Opera House has been presenting ballet and opera performances with world class dancers and singers all over the UK and now performs over 200 different classical shows every year.

This brand new production features an impressive cast, sumptuous sets, splendid costumes and a live orchestra comprised of over 30 musicians. All of which in the beautiful setting of the Grade 1 listed Tyne Theatre and Opera House.

Ancient Egypt is brought to life with music by Giuseppe Verdi as audiences follow the gripping love story of Aida the princess of Ethiopia and Radames the Egyptian General.

Aria such as ‘Se quel Guerrier io fossi!’ sung by Radames in the first act is one of the most famous arias of the operatic world. The most powerful melody comes in the second part of the Opera in the form of Triumphal March to highlight victory and triumph.

Aida is a deeply moving opera, overflowing with emotion, which will have you on the edge of your seats until the very end.

‘A boon to the opera in regional theatres.’ The Stage

Tickets are priced: £32, £30 limited view. Concessions (under 16s & over 60s) £2 off

Tickets on sale now at www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk