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A Wales Millennium Centre and Wiltshire Creative Production

THE MIRROR CRACK’D
by Agatha Christie
adapted for the stage
by Rachel Wagstaff

Direction by Melly Still
Set Design by Richard Kent
Costume Design by Dinah Collin
Lighting Design by Malcolm Rippeth
Music & Sound Design by Jon Nicholls
Movement by Joseph Alford

 

• CASTING HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED FOR THE FIRST EVER UK STAGE ADAPTATION OF AGATHA CHRISTIE’S THE MIRROR CRACK’D

• THE WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE AND WILTSHIRE CREATIVE EUROPEAN PREMIERE PRODUCTION WILL TOUR FROM FEBRUARY 2019, WITH AN OPENING NIGHT AT SALISBURY PLAYHOUSE ON 25 FEBRUARY 2019

• TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE

Wales Millennium Centre and Wiltshire Creative have today announced casting for the first ever UK stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s much-loved Miss Marple thriller The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. Colin R Campbell, Suzanna Hamilton, Julia Hills, Katherine Manners, Katie Matsell, Davina Moon, Huw Parmenter and Gillian Saker will join the previously announced Susie Blake and Simon Shepherd. The Mirror Crack’d will be a European Premiere, opening at Salisbury Playhouse on 15 February before touring to Dublin, Cambridge and Cardiff. The Mirror Crack’d will have an Opening Night on 25 February.

The iconic Marple mystery from the world’s best-selling author of all time has been adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff (Flowers for Mrs Harris, Birdsong) and directed by Melly Still (Coram Boy, My Brilliant Friend, The Lovely Bones).  

Times are changing. Girls are wearing trousers and Hollywood has come to a sleepy English village in the shape of a beautiful film star. Miss Marple is left to feel that the world has no need of her now until a mysterious death calls into question the past of all those present.  Everyone’s version of events is different.  Can Miss Marple unravel the tangle of lies?

Susie Blake (Miss Marple) is known as Hilary Nicholson in Mrs Brown’s Boys, Bev Unwin in Coronation Street and The Continuity Announcer in Victoria Wood As Seen on TV. Having worked extensively on stage and screen, her theatre credits include: When We Are Married (Garrick Theatre); Pygmalion (Chichester Festival Theatre); Wicked (Apollo Victoria); High Society (UK Tour); Noises Off (National Theatre); The Shakespeare Revue (RSC). Television credits include: Midsomer Murders; You, Me and Them (UKTV Gold); Wild At Heart (ITV); Cuckoo (BBC 3); New Tricks (BBC); Mud (CBBC).

Colin R Campbell’s (Cyril Leigh) theatre credits include: Gilgamesh (The White Bear); Skellig, George’s Marvellous Medicine, Twelfth Night (Birmingham Stage Co.); The Cherry Orchard (Southwark Playhouse); Gluey and The Lion (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Break Away (The Finborough); Having a Ball (Birmingham Rep/Temple Productions tour). Television includes: Unforgotten (ITV); Broken (BBC); Coronation Street (ITV). Film appearances include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros).

Suzanna Hamilton’s (Marina Gregg) theatre credits include: Interval (Arcola Theatre); Mr Blue Sky, Hell & High Water (Southwark Playhouse); Darkening Fields (National Theatre); My Sister In This House (Hampstead Theatre); Siblings (Hammersmith Lyric); Waiting At the Water’s Edge (Bush Theatre). Television appearances include The Strike: Cuckoo’s Calling (BBC); Silent Witness (BBC);New Tricks (BBC); Jonathan Creek (BBC); McCallum (series regular, STV); Casualty (BBC); Streetwise (series regular); Wish Me Luck (series regular). Film credits include: My Feral Heart; The Island on Bird Street; Out of Africa; 1984; Wildcats of St Trinians; Tess; Swallows and Amazons.

Julia Hills’s (Dolly Bantry) theatre credits include: Worst Wedding Ever (Salisbury Playhouse & Tour);  Calendar Girls (Chichester; Tour & West End); The Cherry Orchard (Tobacco Factory Bristol & The Rose Kingston); Beside Herself (Royal Court); Pygmalion (Manchester Royal Exchange); Our Friends In The North (RSC);  The Hired Man (Leicester Haymarket & West End); The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Savoy Theatre);  Springs Eternal (The Orange Tree Theatre); Stepping Out (New Vic); The School For Scandal (Tobacco Factory Bristol). Television includes: Eastenders (BBC TV); Doctors (BBC); Casualty (BBC); Law and Order UK (ITV); Dad (BBC); Outnumbered (BBC).

Katherine Manners’s (Heather Leigh) theatre credits include: Table (New Vic Theatre); Before the Party (Salisbury Playhouse); The Hundred We Are (Yard Theatre); Life of Galileo (Birmingham Rep/RSC); From Morning to Midnight, The Revenger’s Tragedy, Coram Boy, The House of Bernard Alba, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (National Theatre); Rat Tales (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Richard III (The Bridge Project/Old Vic/ BAM/International Tour); Don’t Shoot the Clowns (Fuel); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith/Warwick Arts Centre); Snowbound (Trafalgar Studios); The Master Builder King Lear (RSC, Academy). Television credits include: The Feed; Press; Bliss; Doctors; War and Peace; Siblings; Holby City; Casualty.

Katie Matsell (Cherry Baker) trained at LAMDA. The Mirror Crack’d will mark Katie’s professional debut.

Davina Moon’s (Ella Zielinksy) theatre credits include: Yellow Face (National Theatre); Privates on Parade (Noël Coward Theatre); Annie Get Your Gun (Young Vic); Miss Saigon (Theatre Royal), Bombay Dream (Apollo Victoria); Around The World In Eighty Days (New York); Wuthering Heights(UK Tour). Television includes: EastEnders (BBC1); Doctors (BBC1). Film appearances include Disney’s Aladdin (Walt Disney Pictures).

Huw Parmenter’s (Giuseppe Renzo) theatre credits include:  Anything is Possible (Pleasance Theatre); After Orlando (Vaults Theatre/Theatre Royal Stratford East); Desert Rats (Arts Theatre); The Late Wedding (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Dark Tourism (Park Theatre); Hearing The Song (Orange Tree Theatre). Huw is Co-Artistic Director of Chaskis Theatre. Television includes: Killing Eve (BBC America), Eastenders (BBC).

 

Gillian Saker’s (Lola Brewster) theatre credits include: Tick Tick Boom (Park Theatre); City Stories (Wilton’s Music Hall/Oxford Playhouse); The Rubenstein Kiss (Nottingham Playhouse/Guildford); Anna Karenina (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Royal Exchange Theatre); The Libertine (Citizen’s Theatre/Bristol Old Vic); Othello (Riverside Studios; Offie nomination for ‘Best Actress’); Stephen Ward (West End); The River (Royal Court Theatre). Television includes: Endeavour (ITV); Ripper Street (BBC); Misfits (E4).

Simon Shepherd (Dermot Craddock) is best known for playing the role of Dr. Will Preston in the popular ITV television series Peak Practice. His theatre credits include: Misalliance; Precious Little Talent (Orange Tree); Evening at the Talkhouse (National Theatre); Hay Fever (Duke of York’s); Duck House (Vaudeville); Posh (Royal Court/Duke of York’s). Other television credits include:Casualty, Father Brown (BBC); Tilly Trotter (ITV).

LISTINGS

THE MIRROR CRACK’D
by Agatha Christie
adapted for the stage
by Rachel Wagstaff

First performance: 15 February 2019
Final performance: 6 April 2019
Opening Night: 25 February

15 February – 9 March 2019
Salisbury Playhouse
01722 320 333
www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk

12 March – 16 March 2019
Gaiety Theatre, Dublin
0818 719388
www.gaietytheatre.ie

19– 23 March 2019
Cambridge Arts Theatre
01223 503333
www.cambridgeartstheatre.com

26 March – 6 April 2019
New Theatre, Cardiff
029 2087 8889
www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk

SELLADOOR WORLDWIDE WINS TENDER TO RUN

QUEENS THEATRE BARNSTAPLE &

THE LANDMARK THEATRE ILFRACOMBE FROM JANUARY 2019 SIGNALLING THE LAUNCH OF ‘SELLADOOR VENUES’

SIR IAN MCKELLEN WILL OPEN THE LANDMARK ON 25 MARCH AHEAD OF HIS ONE MAN SHOW RUNNING AT THE VENUE

AND SELLADOOR ANNOUNCE

KEY NEW MANAGEMENT APPOINTMENTS

Selladoor Worldwide, against stiff competition, have won the tender to run the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple and The Landmark Theatre, Ilfracombe from January 2019 for a minimum of ten years. This is further expansion of the company’s move into venue, which includes the partnership with the Blackpool Entertainment Company, to bring creative life to the historical Pavilion Theatre, Blackpool. 

 

David Hutchinson, CEO Selladoor Worldwide said, “At the heart of Selladoor has always been making diverse, dynamic and daring theatre. We’re delighted to be bringing our mission to create, support, platform and promote quality theatre and artists to our North Devon theatres”

 

Phillip Rowntree, CFO Selladoor Worldwide said, “Over the last ten years of producing in theatres of all scales and sizes, in the UK and around the world, Selladoor has always been acutely aware of the importance of local theatres in the regional landscape.  We could not be more humbled by the trust vested in us by the Council and people of North Devon, nor could we be more excited by this thrilling new chapter in Selladoor’s life.  We cannot wait to begin delivering our vision for the theatres to the communities in Ilfracombe and Barnstaple.”

 

Mark Kentell, Contracts Delivery Manager at North Devon Council said, “Selladoor are an exciting, dynamic theatre company with fresh ideas and a firm commitment to making both of our theatres successes in their own right. We can look forward to thriving theatres in both Ilfracombe and Barnstaple with shows produced at the Landmark touring internationally. Selladoor are everything I’d hoped for in a theatre operator and I’m so pleased to welcome them to North Devon.”

The grand opening of The Landmark, having been under used for a number of years, will be on 25 March 2019 when Ian McKellen will open the theatre with his one man show.  The Ballot for tickets is open from today on www.landmark-ilfracombe.com

Sir Ian McKellen said, “My current UK tour with my new solo show is visiting many places I know well but this is my first time playing in Ilfracombe. It’s a happy opportunity to celebrate my 80th birthday by relaunching this well loved local theatre.”

The Landmark Theatre, Ilfracombe

There will be a focus on growing the theatre as a launch pad for high quality drama and family work. Selladoor Worldwide are looking to build The Landmark into a building with a real focus on family work and engaging young audiences for their first experience at the theatre. The venue, in its picturesque location, and its second space, the Pavilion – lends itself well to other non-typical theatre programming to make the theatre a national destination for youth arts. With this diverse programming, Selladoor Family will be looking to workshop and develop new family work at the venue. They’ll also debut work before national and international touring, evolving The Landmark into a hub for developing creative talent, with a specialism for young audiences.

Queens Theatre, Barnstaple

With just shy of 700 seats – the Queens has a history of attracting high profile names and showcasing local talent. We are looking to grow the programme and attract leading touring dramas and musicals – as the top destination for larger scale work in North Devon. The Queens will also house our annual pantomime – and develop links with leading touring and producing hubs to co-partner on presenting high quality work.

www.selladoorvenues.com

www.landmark-ilfracombe.com

www.queenstheatre-barnstaple.com

Bridewell Theatre – until 24 November 2018

Reviewed by Jason Rath

3***

As a musical theatre lover, I have long heard of the cult following behind the hit Broadway show “Urinetown – The Musical” and have always wanted to see what it is actually like on stage for myself, so when I was offered the chance to review SEDOS’ brand new offering of the show I thought I’d throw myself in and say why not! However, I think I may have been better off saving myself the train fare and just staying at home as this self-indulging “comedy” of a show massively disappointed me. This is not so much a reflection on the cast, who had some lovely performances nestled within, but on the musical itself, with all the forced humour and weak toilet gags you’d expect from an early 2000’s kids TV show. Following the uprising of the common folk against the “Urine Good Company” over the charging levy on toilets and general differences between the corporation and the people, Urinetown delivers a fierce political message but this gets lost in the stupidity of the gags in my opinion.

The show did have some great redeeming qualities though in its splendid cast. Miranda Evans was strong as Hope Cladwell, with great promise in the role although she did sound a bit vocally tired on the night. Joe McWilliam was fabulous as Bobby Strong, with a very believable character showing clear understanding and some lovely harmony work with Miranda’s character. Luke James Leahy was brilliant as Officer Lockstock, with a lovely baritone sound and excellent comedy skills and control of his audience. Dan Saunders was good as Caldwell B Cladwell, with some great promise in the role, however I believe his character could have done with some more conviction to really get this feel of the “Big Bad”. As much as I enjoyed all these performances though, I’m afraid there were a couple of others that I was less fond of, particularly Tal Hewitt as Penelope Pennywise. I was really willing her on but I honestly could not understand a word she was saying when she was singing, the diction really needed some serious improvement, but I do believe this skill is there. Maybe just an off night? However, the real highlight of my night watching it came in a surprising way from this shows brilliant ensemble members, in particular Joshua Yeardley, Adrian Hau and the absolutely stunning actress Tasila Banda. These three cast members, while they weren’t necessarily the “stars”, drew my eye the entire way through the show and showed some beautiful subtle acting choices. Well done guys!

From a more technical point of view, I though the direction was good, making good use of its traverse setting in that theatre and the movement direction was fair. The lighting was well used for effect, but there were some sound issues throughout, even though the cast were obviously microphones on the actors, I was struggling hearing someone two metres away from me. My biggest concern however was the stairs on wheels that were used in the minimalistic set. While I thought this was a nice touch from the directing point of view, I just had my heart in my mouth the entire time as every time a character stepped in them the steps would go skidding off. The Producers have assured me that there were some brakes in use to put me at ease.

In conclusion, while the show might have offered some lovely character performances form it’s amateur cast, I was just let down by the content of the book itself and felt that maybe this was not the show to best serve these actors. However, the upcoming “How to succeed in business without really trying “ and “Jerry Springer the opera” may have more promise so be sure to get down and see them!

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 19^th ANNUAL WHATSONSTAGE AWARDS TO BE ANNOUNCED LIVE ON FACEBOOK

BY LE GATEAU CHOCOLAT

 

WhatsOnStage today announces that the 19^th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards nominees will be revealed via Facebook Live on Wednesday 5 December at 12pm. The stream will be available to watch on WhatsOnStage social media channels and hosted by award-winning cabaret performer Le Gateau Chocolat. After the nominee announcement, voting will open at awards.whatsonstage.com and close on 31 January 2019.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 3 March. As well as seeing the winners crowned across 24 categories, theatregoers will also enjoy a host of performances from top West End talent. Tickets are available at www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk.

Le Gateau Chocolat is an award-winning cabaret performer. As a solo artist he has performed internationally, his work includes his self-titled debut show Le Gateau Chocolat, I Heart Chocolat, In Drag and Black. His other theatre credits include Porgy and Bess (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Threepenny Opera (National Theatre), The Bear/The Proposal (Young Vic), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets (Malthouse Theatre/Victorian Opera, Melbourne) and Effigies of Wickedness (Gate Theatre). In addition, he has toured internationally with Olivier Award winning circus, La Soirée.

awards.whatsonstage.com

Facebook /WhatsOnStage

Twitter @WhatsOnStage #WOSAwards                               

Instagram @WhatsOnStage

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER AND CAMERON MACKINTOSH

ANNOUNCE

DAVID THAXTON

AS

‘THE PHANTOM’

IN

“THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA”

AT HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE, LONDON

FROM 10 DECEMBER 2018

 

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh are delighted to announce that David Thaxton will play ‘The Phantom’ for a limited run from Monday 10 December 2018.

As previously confirmed, Tim Howar will play his contracted dates with Mike and the Mechanics. His final performance as ‘The Phantom’ will be on Saturday 8 December and he will return to the role from Monday 13 May 2019.

Fresh from playing ‘Javert’ in “Les Misérables” at the Queen’s Theatre, David Thaxton’s other West End credits include ‘Enjolras’ in “Les Misérables”, ‘Raoul’ in “Love Never Dies” at The Adelphi Theatre, ‘Pilate’ in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Regents Park Theatre, and ‘Giorgio’ in “Passion” at the Donmar Warehouse, for which he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

David joins Kelly Mathieson as ‘Christine Daaé’, Jeremy Taylor as ‘Raoul’, Amy Manford as the alternate ‘Christine Daaé’, Kimberly Blake as ‘Carlotta Giudicelli’, Ross Dawes as ‘Monsieur Firmin’, Mark Oxtoby as ‘Monsieur André’, Jacinta Mulcahy as ‘Madame Giry’, Paul Ettore Tabone as ‘Ubaldo Piangi’, Georgia Ware as ‘Meg Giry’ and Scott Davies as the standby ‘Phantom’.

The cast is completed by Matthew Barrow, Matt Bateman, James Bisp, James Butcher, Bridget Costello, Sophie Cottrill, Hadrian Delacey, Morven Douglas, Paul Erbs, Hannah Grace, Philip Griffiths, Katy Hanna, Hettie Hobbs, Grace Horne, Lily Howes, Ellen Jackson, Adam Robert Lewis, Kris Manuel, Tim Morgan, Danielle Pullum, Rebecca Ridout, Anna Shircliff, Emily Smith, Rachel Spurrell, John Stacey, Andrei Teodor Iliescu, Claire Tilling, Victoria Ward and Danny Whitehead.

In October 2016 the London production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA celebrated its 30^th Anniversary with a special gala performance at Her Majesty’s Theatre. In October 2011 the London production celebrated its 25^thAnniversary with a spectacular staging of “The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall” which was screened live in cinemas all over the world and subsequently released on DVD. The production has now been playing for over 32 years.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA became the longest running show in Broadway history on 9 January 2006 when it celebrated its 7,486th performance, surpassing the previous record holder “Cats”. This coincided with the Broadway and the US national touring company celebrating an unprecedented 20,000 performances in the United States. On 1 January 2018 it celebrated its 13,000^th performance and later that month on 24 January the Broadway production celebrated an amazing 30 years on Broadway.

 

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has won over 70 major theatre awards, including seven Tony’s on Broadway and four Olivier Awards in the West End. It won the ‘Magic Radio Audience Award’, voted by the public, in the 2016 Laurence Olivier Awards. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 starred Michael Crawford as ‘The Phantom’ and Sarah Brightman as ‘Christine.’ It is produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Theatre Company Limited.

 

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA became the first stage production to reach worldwide grosses of $6 billion. Revenues far surpass the world’s highest-grossing film “Avatar” (at $2.8 billion), as well as such other blockbusters as “Titanic”, “The Lord of the Rings”, “Jurassic Park” and “Star Wars”. Worldwide, over 140 million people have seen THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in 41 countries and 183 cities in 17 languages.

 

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is currently showing in London, New York, Budapest, Copenhagen, Oslo, Prague and Sao Paulo and on tour in the US.

 

LISTINGS

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Her Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket, SW1Y 4QL

Performances: Mondays to Saturdays at 7.30pm. Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.

Currently booking until 5 October 2019.

From 12 November 2018 – 2 March 2019 tickets are priced from £25 – £80

From 4 March – 5 October 2019 tickets are priced from £25 – £85

Tickets are available from Her Majesty’s Theatre box office on 020 7087 7762 orwww.thephantomoftheopera.com.

Mayflower Theatre Southampton – until 23 November 2018

Reviewed by Nicky Wyatt

5*****

Which would you choose True Love or Affection with fine things at a price? This is the choice the young Violetta ( Anush Hovhannisyan) has to make. Living a life of non stop parties and all the frills of being a courtesan, financed by Baron Doupol ( James Cleverton) her wealthy patron or the chance if true love with Alfredo Germont ( Kang Wang). It is during one of the lavish champagne flowing parties that she is introduced to Alfredo. He is asked to make a toast ‘To enjoy lives fleeting pleasures’ what great advice! There is much laughter and frivolity on this very busy courtesan stage, when the time comes for everyone to retire to other rooms Violetta shows us that she is unwell. Alfredo is there and not only protests his love but tells her he has done for over a year. He wants her to move with him to the country and although she resists at first later than night she changes her mind.

They move to the country and start to live the life that dreams are made of. They are happy in their own little world. It is only when Alfredo discovers that Violetta has been selling her possessions to finance their life that he realises the gravity off their situation. He takes off to Paris to seek his father and improve his finances. He isn’t aware that his love is not just sick but actually dying, he promises to return that night. Soon after he leaves a gentleman caller arrives Alfredos father Giorgio Her mind (Roland Wood) arrives. Unfortunately he sees her a caniving woman and wants her to leave his son as he is promised elsewhere. This scene is absolutely heart breaking as she fights for her man and
argues her case but it makes no difference. Although he feels for her situation he insists she must leave his son.

She leaves and goes back to Paris to a big party on the arm of her old patron Doupol, the tongues are out and gossiping that she has left Alfredo. He too is at the party and spies her from afar and believes her when she later tells him she is in love with Doupol. Hurt and angry he lashes out by publicly humiliating her by throwing money at her to repay his debt. Witnessed by all including his father who is horrified how he has shamed Violetta. Alfredo leaves and Violetta is devastated.

She returns to her home and is cared for by her maid and the doctor they both know she doesn’t have many hours left. She keeps hanging on though, she received a letter to say that Alfredo and his father were returning to her. In this scene Violetta is quite incredible as for much of it she is at deaths door. It is so beautifully played out. Alfredo arrives in time to declare his love again and hold her while she passes. So emotional!

Until tonight my only knowledge of this Opera was from that iconic movie Pretty Woman, I like Julia Roberts in the movie, was absolute mesmerized by the whole performance. The music of Verdi played by the superb orchestra conducted by (James Southall) was wonderful. The clarity of voices fabulous. It was a truly wonderful evening, very emotional and I am most definitely an Opera fan now

Leeds Grand Theatre – until Saturday 1 December

5*****

Oh What A Night – not quite late December 1963, but late November 2018 with a Gala Production of Jersey Boys to celebrate the Grand’s 140th Birthday.

Confusingly, with the exception of Frankie Valli, the Seasons were covered by their understudies.  But this should not put you off – the whole cast are exceptionally fantastic whether a main part, an understudy or a swing.  Having the alternate cast on just shows how versatile they all are.

Telling the story of the Four Seasons, each member tells their own story in their own season (Tommy – Spring, Bob – Summer, Nick – Fall and Frankie – Winter), each one giving their own version of the gritty truthful tale.

We start with Spring and Tommy DeVito (Peter Nash), founder member of the group the was eventually to become The Four Seasons – named after a bowling alley that were banned from performing at.  DeVito, along with Nick Massi (Karl James Wilson) discover the golden voice of Frances Castelluccio and Frankie Valli (Michael Watson) was born. When singer/songwriter and one hit wonder Bob Gaudio (James Winter) joins the group it seems success is just around the corner.  A meeting with music producer Bob Crewe (Joel Elferink) ensures that it happens with Sherry being the first of many hit records.

We get to see some of the personal high’s and low’s of the band, the break of up Frankie’s marriage and the death of his daughter.   Tommy’s money problems with the mob, Nick deciding to leave the band mid tour and the night in late December 1963 when Bob lost his virginity.

The joyous falsetto of Frankie Valli is obvious in the many many songs Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like a Man (which stopped the middle of the first act it was so good), My Eyes Adored You, Beggin’, Let’s Hang On, Bye Bye Baby, Working My Way Back to You and Rag Doll among the many others.

The very simple set design means things flow without the need for scene changes, the live band (Francis Goodhand, Sarah Burrell, Ed Hewlett, Christian Sutherland, Sam Edington) off stage and the drummer (Samuel Firsht) who glides across the stage on his rig are wonderful to listen to.

This is a brilliant night out, good music, great acting and wonderful atmosphere, in fact the only thing I would complain about it is that the songs are so good, you want to be up dancing long before the finale

 

York Theatre Royal – until 24th November 2018.

Reviewed by Michelle Richardson

3***

My Mother Said I Never Should is a play by Charlotte Keatley written in 1985 and first performed in 1987. London Classic Theatre are staging this tour and is now playing at York Theatre Royal until this Saturday.

This play is about the different generations in one family, all female, and the intricacies within their relationships with one another. It moves back and forth through the lives of four women, and sets the enormous social changes of the twentieth century against the desire to love and to be loved, Doris (Carole Dance), her daughter Margaret (Connie Walker), granddaughter Jackie (Kathryn Ritchie) and great granddaughter Rosie (Felicity Houlbrooke), though until near the end of the play the latter believed herself to be Jackie’s sister, not daughter.

Set in the North West over several decades. We first get to meet all four characters as children playing on some waste land reciting a rhyme, before seeing this production I mentioned it to a work colleague and she rattled off this same old rhyme that I had never heard of. Doris being the youngest child, even though she is really the great grandmother. All the cast play different aged versions of their characters. All this jumping backwards and forwards through time, plus their ages occasionally being out of sync, was a bit confusing at times as there appeared no rationale be it.

We get to learn that Doris is caught up in a loveless marriage to Jack, Margaret is unhappy, with her husband eventually leaving her, Jackie has a baby and is unable to cope so hands it over to her mother Margaret, who she has a tempestuous relationship with, on the understanding that Rosie knows nothing about her parentage until she is at least 16. The play looks at the consequences of this secret and how it affects each of them. It ends where it should have begun, with Doris in the 1920’s.

Like I have mentioned before the whole chronology of the piece was very confusing leaping all over the place and I found it hard to get over that fact. All four actors worked hard in their roles, couldn’t have been easy swapping and changing timelines.

The main themes of the play are relationships and motherhood. It addresses the issues of teenage pregnancy, careers for women and disappointment in men, and how and if, the different generations break free from their parents’ traditions and culture. If you are a mother or daughter, I’m sure you will find some aspects strike a chord.

THE WORLDWIDE SMASH HIT MUSICAL MAMMA MIA! WILL RETURN TO

EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE FROM 19 – 28 SEPTEMBER TO OPEN THE

MAMMA MIA! 20^TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR

TICKETS ON SALE: ATG CARD – 27 NOVEMBER | GENERAL SALE – 4 DECEMBER

The sensational feel-good musical MAMMA MIA! will return to Edinburgh Playhouse from Thursday 19 – Saturday 28 September, to open a UK Tour celebrating 20 years since MAMMA MIA! premiered in London in April 1999.

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 a sunny, funny tale of a mother, a daughter and three possible dads unfolding on a Greek island idyll.

 

To date, it has been seen by over 60 million people in 50 productions in 16 different languages.  In 2011 it became the first Western musical ever to be staged in Mandarin in the People’s Republic of China.  MAMMA MIA! became the 8^th longest running show in Broadway history where it played a record-breaking run for 14 years. MAMMA MIA! continues to thrill audiences in London’s West End at the Novello Theatre where it will celebrate its 20^th Anniversary on 6 April 2019.

Produced by Judy Craymer, MAMMA MIA! The Movie became the highest grossing live action musical film of all time upon its release in 2008.  A second film, MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN, opened in July 2018 and is the most successful live musical movie sequel of all time.

 

Judy Craymer, Creator and Producer of MAMMA MIA! said: “We are really thrilled to be bringing MAMMA MIA! back to Edinburgh and especially as we celebrate 20 years since the musical first opened in London’s West End. It’s a very special year. We are really looking forward to welcoming new audiences to the show as well as all those who would love to see it again.”

Theatre Director at the Edinburgh Playhouse Colin Marr added: “We are absolutely delighted that MAMMA MIA! is returning to the Playhouse next year, is has to be one of Edinburgh’s favourite shows. We are even more delighted that we will launch the UK Tour on such an important milestone in the show’s history.”

With music & lyrics by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus, MAMMA MIA! is written by Catherine Johnson, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast. The production is designed by Mark Thompson, with lighting design by Howard Harrison, sound design by Andrew Bruce & Bobby Aitken, and musical supervision, additional material & arrangements by Martin Koch.

The MAMMA MIA! 20^th Anniversary Tour is produced by Judy Craymer, Richard East & Björn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association with Universal and NGM.

 

Website:         www.mamma-mia.com

Facebook:       www.facebook.com/mammamiamusical

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/MammaMiaMusical

LISTING DETAILS

MAMMA MIA

THURSDAY 19 – SATURDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2019

Tue – Sat Eve 7.30pm, Thu 26 & Sat Mats 2.30pm, Sun 22 Sep 3pm

HOW TO BOOK

Online: atgtickets.com/Edinburgh

Box Office: 0844 871 3014*

*fees apply.

Tickets on sale…

Tuesday 27 Nov                ATG Cardholders & MM Fans

Thursday 29 Nov              Groups on-sale

Tuesday 4 December      General on-sale

FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR

KING’S HEAD THEATRE’S

REVIVAL OF KEVIN ELYOT’S FIRST PLAY

COMING CLEAN

PLAYING TRAFALGAR STUDIOS 2

FROM 9 JANUARY TO 2 FEBRUARY 2019

 

The King’s Head Theatre, Making Productions and RGM Productions are delighted to announce the full cast for the West End transfer of Kevin Elyot’s Coming Clean.

Tony will be played by Lee Knight. His theatre credits include A Very Very Very Dark Matter (The Bridge Theatre), Adam & Eve (Hope Theatre) and Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndhams Theatre, West End). Film credits include Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, The Spiritualist, Away With Me,Misrule, and The Doorman.

Stanton Plummer-Cambridge will play Greg. He has recently appeared in Macbeth, The Tempest(Southwark Playhouse), Queers (King’s Head Theatre), Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing(Handlebards Summer Tour), and As You Like It (Shakespeare in the Squares). His television credits include Black Earth Rising and The Durrells.

Tom Lambert makes his West End debut in the role of Robert. Tom graduated from Drama Centre London in 2018, and previously studied at Oxford University. He performed in Life According to Saki(Edinburgh Fringe 2016), which won the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, and subsequently transferred Off-Broadway to New York City.

Elliot Hadley will play the role of William/Jurgen. He was an original cast member of the award-winning verbatim drama 5 Guys Chillin’ and, after touring with it nationally and internationally (New York’s Soho Playhouse), won the Micheál Mac Liammóir Award for Best Male Performance.  Previous performing credits include Alfred Cummins in the BBC’s Preston Passion, Dark Matters for Discovery Channel USA, Thomas Kyd in The Dead Shepherd, ITV’s The Halcyon, and Far From The Madding Crowd with Michael Sheen and Carey Mulligan.

Adam Spreadbury-Maher, Artistic Director of the King’s Head Theatre, will direct the production, which will run at Trafalgar Studios 2 from 9 January to 2 February 2019, with a national press night on Friday 11 January 2019.

In 2017, Adam Spreadbury-Maher directed the 35^th anniversary production and the first London revival of Coming Clean, Kevin Elyot’s first play.  The play premiered at the Bush Theatre on 3 November 1982. Coming Clean looks at the breakdown of a gay couple’s relationship and examines complex questions of fidelity and love.

The play is set in a flat in Kentish Town, north London, in 1982.  Struggling writer Tony and his partner of five years, Greg, seem to have the perfect relationship.  Committed and in love, they are both open to one-night stands as long as they don’t impinge on the relationship.  But Tony is starting to yearn for something deeper, something more like monogamy.  When he finds out that Greg has been having a full-blown affair with their cleaner, Robert, their differing attitudes towards love and commitment become clear.

In his foreword to Kevin Elyot: Four Plays (Nick Hern Books, 2004), Elyot writes, “From 1976 to 1984 I’d acted in several productions at the Bush Theatre, and Simon Stokes, one of the artistic directors, had casually suggested I try my hand at a play.  I presented them with a script entitled Cosy, which was passed on to their literary manager Sebastian Born.  He responded favourably and, largely through his support, it finally opened on 3 November 1982 under the [new] title Coming Clean.”

Written 12 years before his most famous play, My Night With Reg, Coming Clean won Elyot the Samuel Beckett Award for writers showing particular promise in the field of the performing arts.

Theatre critic Michael Coveney wrote of Elyot in his obituary for The Guardian in 2014, “In writing about the human heart and the art of living… Elyot transcended categorisation and produced a small body of stage plays that will reward revival, and not just as period pieces.”  Coveney goes on to describe Coming Clean as “an elegiac play about sexual relationships at a time when Aids was still a barely credible rumour in Britain, but there was a sense of foreboding in the final scene.” 

Director Adam Spreadbury-Maher (recent King’s Head Theatre productions include the European premiere of Tommy Murphy’s Strangers in Between, La bohème and Trainspotting) will be joined by set designer Amanda Mascarenhas (For Reasons That Remain Unclear and La Traviata for the King’s Head Theatre) and lighting designer Nic Farman (La Traviata, Shock Treatment, La bohème,Così fan tutte, Madam Butterfly, and F*cking Men for the King’s Head Theatre). 

Coming Clean is being produced in the West End by King’s Head Theatre, Making Productions and RGM Productions.

 

 

LISTINGS INFORMATION

9 January – 2 February 2019

Trafalgar Studios 2

14 Whitehall

London

SW1A 2DY

Performances: Monday-Saturday 7.45pm*, Thursday & Saturday 3pm (*7pm on Friday 11 January)

Ticket Prices: from £25 (previews: all tickets £15)

 

Box Office: 0844 871 7632

 

Website: www.atgtickets.com/venues/trafalgar-studios

‎Twitter: @KingsHeadThtr

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kingsheadtheatre

Instagram: @kingsheadtheatre