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FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR WATFORD PALACE THEATRE’S

ALL-FEMALE PRODUCTION OF MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

 

Watford Palace Theatre Company Presents

Much Ado About Nothing

By William Shakespeare

Director: Brigid Larmour; Composer and Sound Designer: Arun Ghosh;

Designer: Rebecca Brower; Lighting Designer: Aideen Malone; Movement Director: Sita Thomas

4 – 27 October

Artistic Director of Watford Palace Theatre, Brigid Larmour, today announces full casting for Watford Palace Theatre’s all-female production of Much Ado About Nothing. Larmour directs Joanna Brookes (Dogberry/ Antonio), Elly Condron (Don Pedro), Rebekah Hinds (Borachio/ Margaret), Emma Lane (Conrade/ Ursula/ Friar), Juliet Leighton-Jones (Musician), Nyla Levy (Hero/ Sexton), Pepter Lunkuse (Claudio), Anna O’Grady (Benedick), Emily Tucker (Beatrice), Tripti Tripuraneni (Don John/ Verges) and Julia Watson (Leonato).

 

Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy of misunderstandings, given a 1940s twist! Beatrice and Benedick love to hate each other, but their friends suspect them of deeper feelings… War hero Claudio is madly in love with Beatrice’s pretty young cousin, but how well does he really know her?

Set at the height of the Battle of Britain, our affectionate homage to the servicewomen of World War Two is a playful salute to the all-male productions of Shakespeare’s own time. Join us and step back in time to a Palace transported to the 1940s, complete with sandbags, Gin and It, and a Home Guard recruitment stall…

Joanna Brookes plays Dogberry/ Antonio. She returns to Watford Palace Theatre having performed in TheDaughter in Law. Other theatre credits include Monster Raving Loony (Theatre Royal Plymouth/ Soho Theatre), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Birmingham Rep), The Importance of Being Earnest(Nottingham Playhouse), The Physicists (Donmar Warehouse), The Rivals, Spring and Port Wine and TheAdmirable Crichton (New Vic Stoke), The Biggleswades (Southwark Playhouse), The Waltz of The Toreadors(Chichester Festival Theatre) and Romeo and Juliet (Exeter Northcott). Television credits include The Windsors: Royal Wedding Special, Man Down, We The Jury, Uncle, The Tunnel, Mr Selfridge, Law and Order UK, Boomers, Siblings, Taking The Flak, Phoneshop, Dancing on the Edge, Mrs Biggs, Bad Girls, Fifteen Storeys High, Jonathan Creek, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Sir Gadabout, Titmuss Regained and Survival of The Fittest; and for film, Their Finest, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Criminal, Pauline, Kid Gloves, In the Loop, Dreams of a Life, The Infidel, Little Dorrit, Under Suspicion and The Fool.

Elly Condron plays Don Pedro. Her theatre credits include Tempest (RSC, Barbican), Jane Eyre (National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic), Some Girls (Park Theatre), Spokesong (Finborough Theatre), Titus Andronicus (Greenwich Theatre), Macbeth (R-ft Theatre, site-specific). Television credits include The Six Wives with Lucy Worsley, and for film, Wasp, Helping Hand and IT.

Rebekah Hinds plays Borachio/ Margaret. Her theatre credits include Grotty (The Bunker), Humble Boy (Orange Tree), Anita and Me (UK tour), The Government Inspector (Birmingham Rep/Ramps on the Moon UK tour – Olivier Award Nominated), Billy Liar (Royal Exchange), Around the World (Sadler’s Wells & Mint Theater, New York), The Little Prince – Concert (Savoy Theatre) and Sondheim Prom (Royal Albert Hall). For television her credits include Trollied, Inside no. 9, The Syndicate and Shameless; and for film, The Public Benefits and Woman of the Night.

Emma Lane plays Conrade/ Ursula/ Friar. His theatre credits include Priceless, I am the Centre, Faustus(Matchstick Theatre), Dark Sides (Rusi), Just Do Right, The Woyzeck Theory (Atramental Theatre). Television credits Uncle Dad; and for film Waiting and Gathering Storm.

Juliet Leighton-Jones (Musician). She returns to Watford Palace Theatre having performed in I Capture the Castle. Other theatre credits include Wind in the Willows (West Yorkshire Playhouse), eight seasons with The New Shakespeare Company (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Sweeney Todd (National Theatre), Kean (Old Vic), The Music Man (Chichester Festival Theatre), Flowers for Mrs Harris (Sheffield Crucible), Arabian Nights (Derby Playhouse) and six seasons with The International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival.

Nyla Levy plays Hero/ Sexton. Her theatre credits include Different is Dangerous (Two’s Company/Theatre 503), Street/Life (Cardboard Citizens), Like Mother, Like Daughter (Battersea Arts Centre), 100 Stories (Hackney Empire), Punjabi Girl (Rich Mix), The Rebel & The Runaway (G.L.Y.P.T), That Isis Play Innit! (The Space), Keywords(Lyric Hammersmith), Does My Bomb Look Big In This? (Battersea Arts Centre), Prevent Tours (Pint Sized Theatre), The Diary of a Hounslow Girl (UK tour), Magna Carter (National Theatre Studio) and Child of the Divide (UK tour); and for television, Guiding Lights.

 

Pepter Lunkuse plays Claudio. Her theatre credits include Holes (Nottingham Playhouse), Nell Gwynn (Globe/ETT), King Lear (Royal Exchange Theatre/Birmingham Rep/Talawa and broadcast), The Crucible (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Vertical Hour (Park Theatre), Liberian Girl (Royal Court at London 2014 Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict), Antony and Cleopatra (Chichester Festival Theatre). For television credits include Father Brown and King Lear; and for film, Sink.

Anna O’Grady plays Benedick. She returns to Watford Palace Theatre after performing in Time of My Life, Family Business and Our Father. Other theatre credits include Sherlock Holmes: The Final Curtain (Theatre Royal Bath & UK tour), The Events (Mercury Theatre Colchester), Sket (PMJ/Park Theatre), My World Has Exploded a Little Bit (Underbelly), Children of the Sun (National Theatre). For television her credits include Flowers; and for film, My Mum Is My Hero, Black Pond, Mars 1001 and Complicit.

 

Tripti Tripuraneni (Don John/ Verges). Her theatre credits include My Homemade Kite (Tristan Bates theatre), The Jungle Book (UK tour), Romeo and Juliet (National Theatre), Macbeth (National Theatre) and Paradise of the Assassins (Tara Arts).

Emily Tucker (Beatrice). For theatre her credits include Fortune’s Fool (Old Vic Theatre), A Warsaw Melody (Arcola Theatre), Suddenly Last Summer, Lady of the Lake, Fallen Angels (Theatre by the Lake), Shiver- The Tempest (National Theatre Studio), Twelfth Night, Henry V, King Lear, King Arthur (Guildford Shakespeare Company), The Man Who Pays the Piper, The Stepmother (Orange Tree Theatre), After the Ball (The Gatehouse), The Importance of Being Earnest (Courtyard Theatre). For television his credits include Not Safe For Work; and for film, Heretiks, The Seasoning House, Lady Macbeth, Missed Conceptions and Hush.

Julia Watson plays Leonato. She returns to Watford Palace Theatre having previously performed in The Deep Blue Sea. Other theatre credits include The Seagull and My Family and Other Animals (York Theatre Royal) Amy’s View (Nottingham Playhouse), Handbagged (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick), She Stoops to Conquer, Major Barbara and Wild Honey (National Theatre), Tosca’s Kiss, Love’s Comedy, The Stepmother and The Man Who Pays the Piper (Orange Tree Theatre). Her Television credits include series regular in Casualty, Never the Twain, Welcome to Orty-fou, The Yellow Wallpaper and Across the Lake, Not Going Out and Touch of Frost; and for film, Baar Baar Dekho.

Brigid Lamour is Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Watford Palace Theatre. Productions directed for Watford Palace include I Capture the Castle, Arms and the Man, Coming Up, Jefferson’s Garden (Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Best New Play 2015), Love Me Do (co-directed with Shona Morris) and Von Ribbentrop’s Watch, Fourteen, Perfect Match (part of WPT’s 2013 ‘Ideal World’ season), We That Are Left, Mrs Reynolds and theRuffian, Equally Divided, Our Father and My Mother Said I Never Should; and five pantomimes Aladdin, Dick Whittington, Sleeping Beauty (co-directed with Shona Morris), Robin Hood, and Mother Goose. From 1998 to 2006 she was Artistic Director of West End company Act Productions, and adviser to BBC4 Plays. From 1993 to 1998 she directed a series of interactive promenade Shakespeares, Shakespeare Unplugged, for RNT Education. Lamour directed the premiere production of My Mother Said I Never Should at Contact Theatre, Manchester in 1987. She was Artistic Director at Contact from 1989 to 1994, commissioning plays including Excess/XS and Strange Attractors.

Watford Palace Theatre

Listings

20 Clarendon Rd, Watford WD17 1JZ

https://watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk

Box Office: 01923 225671

IAN HISLOP AND NICK NEWMAN’S SATIRICAL PLAY

A TRADEMARK TOURING & WATERMILL THEATRE PRODUCTION

 ANNOUNCE SPECIAL GALA PERFORMANCE ON REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

AT THE ARTS THEATRE, LONDON

IN SUPPORT OF THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

 

To coincide with the commemoration of the end of WW1 there will be a special gala performance of Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s play The Wipers Times on Remembrance Sunday 11 November at 6pm at the Arts Theatre, Londonin support of The Royal British Legion’s Thank You campaign. The evening will include an introduction, post-show talk and Q and A with Ian and Nick and a reception. The play is currently on a UK tour and begins a 7-week season at the Arts Theatre on 18 October.

The Royal British Legion has launched a mass movement to say ‘Thank You’ to all who served, sacrificed, and changed our world during the First World War. The charity is calling on mass involvement from the public to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. Many events have been organised in the run-up to 11 November to say ‘Thank You’ to those who put Britain on the path to becoming what it is today.

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

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

 Defying enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the disapproval of many of the top Brass, The Wipers Times rolled off the press for two years and was an extraordinary tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity. The production originally launched one hundred years after the Battle of the Somme and publication of The Wipers Times.

 The cast includes Emilia Williams, Dan Mersh, Clio Davies, George Kemp, Amar Aggoun, James Dutton, Kevin Brewer, Chris Levens, Joseph Reed and Sam Ducane. The Wipers Times is directed by Caroline Leslie, designed by Dora Schweitzer, with lighting design by James Smith, sound design by Steve Mayo. The composer is Nick Green, and Musical Director Paul Herbert. It is produced by Bob Benton & David Parfitt.

 

For tickets to this special performance go to: https://artstheatrewestend.co.uk/whats-on/the-wipers-times-royal-british-legion-charity-performance/

KINKY BOOTS, THE WEST END AND BROADWAY PHENOMENON, COMES TO HULL NEW THEATRE IN 2019

Kinky Boots, the winner of every major Best Musical award, is coming to Hull New Theatre from 11-23 November 2019 as part of its first ever UK tour.

From a gentlemen’s shoe factory in Northampton to the glamorous catwalks of Milan, Kinky Boots is the heart-warming tale of Charlie Price who is struggling to live up to his father’s expectations and continue the family shoe business, Price & Son. With the factory’s future hanging in the balance, help arrives in the unlikely but spectacular form of Lola, a fabulous performer in need of some sturdy new stilettos.

Inspired by true events, the show has proved an international success scooping three Olivier Awards, three WhatsOnStage Awards as well as six Broadway Tony® Awards.

With a book by Broadway legend and four-time Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles), and songs by Grammy® and Tony® Award-winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, this joyous musical celebration is about friendship, and the belief that you can change the world when you change your mind.

Composer and Lyricist, Cyndi Lauper said: “It has been a wonderful adventure and a privilege for me, to play a part in creating Kinky Boots. Everyone can relate to this universal story, and I am overwhelmed that people in the UK have embraced it with open arms. I am thrilled that this fabulous show will be touring the country!”

With direction and choreography by two-time Tony® Award-winner Jerry Mitchell (Legally Blonde, Hairspray), who said: “I am delighted to see this big-spirited musical going on tour. Kinky Boots is very close to my heart, and I am really looking forward to taking this British musical all over the UK .”

Kinky Boots is produced by Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Playful Productions, CJ E&M, Jayne Baron Sherman, Just for Laughs Theatricals/Judith Ann Abrams, Yasuhiro Kawana, Jane Bergère, Allan S. Gordon & Adam S. Gordon, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Lucy and Phil Suarez, Bryan Bantry, Ron Fierstein & Dorsey Regal, Independent Presenters Network, Jim Kierstead/Gregory Rae, BB Group/Christina Papagjika, Brian Smith/Tom & Connie Walsh, Warren Trepp, and Jujamcyn Theaters, in association with Cameron Mackintosh.

Tickets for Kinky Boots at Hull New Theatre from 11-23 November 2019 go on sale to Extra Members from 10am on Thursday 27 September 2018 and from 10am on Friday 28 September 2018 to the general public. Book at the Hull City Hall Box Office, call 01482 300 306 or visit www.hulltheatres.co.uk.

 

Star support for London Award Ceremony that seeks to abolish gang violence and street crime

Croydon Conference Centre, Saturday 29 September,

Time: 7-11pm

AAA Foundation Awards – Challenging Behaviours and Changing Lives

www.aaa4success.co.uk

An award and dinner ceremony, with an ambition to tackle gang violence and street crime, will be taking place in London for the 5th year anniversary on 29th September 2018.

AAA (Antoin Akpom Achievements) Foundation is a registered charity set up in memory of Antoin Akpom, a football coach from Leicester, who was tragically murdered in September 2013.  The charity will be hosting the event and nominating young people in deprived communities across various industry categories. Popular rapper and MOBO award winningKrept and Konan have been nominated for an Enterprise Award for their newly opened restaurant, Crepes and Cones.  All categories in the award ceremony are as follows:

• Sports
• Community Contribution Awards
• Enterprise Awards
• Future Star
• Performing Arts

For the first time, AAA Foundation will also be giving special recognition to two individuals who have demonstrated exemplary success and achievements within their sector.   TheHonorary Award, is an accolade that distinguishes the achievements of those that have inspired generations over decades with pioneering qualities and attributes.  The Educational Awards recognises significant services and contribution within in the sector.

The award ceremony has attracted major support since its inception.  This year the Mayor of Croydon, Her Worship Bernadette Khan, who will be opening the ceremony.  Other VIP support at the event include:

• William George Ellis (Actor) Dark Night & Pirates of the Caribbean
• Director of BAFFTA Awards – Dr Pauling London
• Chief Mrs Ezenwanyi Egbunike-Agbakoba
• Lady Lauryn Bouvier

Ms Cheryl Armatrading, set up the AAA Foundation in memory of her son, Antoin.  The Foundation’s aim is to continue his legacy which began as a community enterprise, (AAA Strike 4 Success), using arts and sports as a platform to deter young people from street crime.

Ms Armatrading says, “I am doing this not only for my son’s legacy but also for the youth’s he inspired.  Recognition such as the AAA Foundation Awards can really create change within a community as it is so important that people start to identify with positive achievements and community contribution. Bringing such values and positive dialogue forward can help to inspire, motivate people within deprived areas and naturally move young people away from street crime and gang culture”.

AAA Foundation runs a range of skills development workshops including scriptwriting, drama and acting and prop making events as well as gala award ceremonies fun days to engage young people between the ages of 16yrs – 25yrs to develop key transferable skills and core values.

 

Event Details

Date: Saturday 29 September

Venue: Croydon Conference Centre, 5 – 9 Surrey Street, CR0 1RG. 

Time: 7pm – 11pm. 

Park Theatre – until 20 October 2018

Reviewed by Adam Craddock

3***

The Other Place’s tale of a strong willed career minded woman slipping into the ugly grasp of dementia is a story that sits very close to my heart, having seen this personally with one of my very close family members and upon seeing that this show was to be playing at The Park Theatre, I got very excited indeed to see what it may hold. “The Other Place” follows Juliana, a scientist and speaker who is struggling with some inner demons that she is incorrectly diagnosing, and her husband Ian, a doctor seeking to find the answers to her problem. The book of the show handles the subject matter truthfully and respectfully given the circumstances but does sometimes suffer from some pacing issues slightly.

Neil McCaul plays strongly as Ian, really showing the troubling tortured life of a person whose spouse has dementia. He had a beautiful mix of anger, pain and blissful ignorance that really resonated with me and stayed extremely true to the truth of what happens in this situation. Eliza Collings did well as “the woman”, with some great character work as the daughter and good control as the doctor. Rupinder Nagra was good as “the man”, working well with what limited stage time he had, although sometimes I feel like he did get swallowed up a bit on stage. However the star of the show was of course Karen Archer as Juliana. Her brilliant slow burn portrayal of a strong woman slipping into dementia was perfect and, greatest of all in my opinion, was that it was delivered with the unexpected dry wit and sass that these people tend to have. Her performance was spot on in my opinion and her breakdown at the end really touched me. Well done Karen! The direction for Claire van Kempen was good, working well with the limited set and lighting that she chose to have and, to be honest, I think that this really made the piece; stripping it back to the basics and just delivering a real story was spot on.

The Other Place runs at the Park Theatre until 20th October.

Storyhouse, Chester – until Saturday 29th September 2018

Reviewed by Julie Noller

5***** 

When I was asked to review The Full Monty, I hoped it would be as iconic as the 1997 smash hit that took UK cinemas by storm. This could be one of the quickest reviews I could possibly write, it surpassed even my expectations, it was simply magnificant. Slick and well polished, the audience whooped with delight, we clapped and cheered. This really is a must see production.

1997 was the year I got married and I noticed more than one “hen” in the audience sporting their veils with pride. I have to admit to being surprised at the number of men happily taking their seats, for you just assume the women would far outnumber them. The Full Monty has been adapted for the stage quite brilliantly by Simon Beaufoy, he manages the transition from screen to stage in a somewhat seamless fashion. I could quite easily believe I was sat in my front room watching the boys learn their craft, such is the joy of Storyhouse.

The Full Monty for those unaware is set in a time of political upheaval in the UK; our first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was at the same time the most revered yet most hated politician ever, this is an era I remember well as a young girl. Strikes and unpopular policies, the declining industries in areas that just expected those industry jobs to always be there as they always had, left men lost and the balance of working practice was starting to shift. This is the power of behind the scenes for this production, forget the big names and music that makes you reminisce; think of all those taboo subjects of the 1980’s given a fresh twist and you see homosexuality, depression, mental illness. Add to those the fact that men just weren’t facing up to reality that the life they had always known was simply gone, never to return. The Full Monty tackles those issues head on, shows us all that there is a way out but you must have a need, want to change and fight for it tooth and nail. Only then do you stand a chance of succeeding.

Each and every actor on that stage deserved their standing ovation. As a team of merry brothers (and sisters) they have bonded wonderfully as if they really had worked together for years, I could quite easily believe that. So many one liners that had me laughing and honestly crying at times, no one left the theatre without a great big smile, what a hoot.

Gary Lucy as Gaz, now I hold my hands up I questioned his accent at first tonight, it was something I couldn’t quite place my finger on. But I soon forgave him, as I was drawn to his bad boy character, a cheeky lad about town, mischief maker, a loving Dad who may not be perfect but you could never doubt the utter devotion for his son Nathan (Fraser Kelly) who happens to be the actual brains of the family, perhaps in another era a chip off the old block. There’s lovable Dave (Kai Owen) the archetypal best mate, getting dragged along in Gaz’s antics. All whilst hiding his own insecurities and emotions from his own wife. Poor old Lomper (Joe Gill) the somewhat simple guy, initially looking to commit suicide, that shocking episode and the humour that follows may make light of a serious topic but it’s a few minutes that do so much to highlight male helplessness. What can I say about Guy (James Redmond) bringing homosexuality to the forefront, brazen and open if you remember the film where he drops his trousers; well he quite literally brought the house and curtains down. Horse (Louis Emerick) would you expect any more than his character to be played with anything other than a scouse accent? Although set in Sheffield, Yorkshire. It just doesn’t appear strange at all. And we accept it happily, almost joyously. He’s rather an old snake hips, well if it wasn’t for the arthritis; amusing really for a wannabe male stripper. Gerald (Andrew Dunn) completes our band of misfits, a former foreman, constantly lying to his wife for six months, that every morning he leaves for work. This is pre internet, pre satellite but you have to question how he managed the pretence. How his pride must have suffered to lose a prestigious job. Yet it ends with him losing everything, home, possessions and his wife. He and the other men come down to the conclusion; that one nights humiliation is nothing for they have nothing.

Could the ending be the highlight of my night, possibly, it’s fun, fast paced and accompanied by Tom Jones. Although I have to say the Job Centre scene accompanied by Donna Summers Hot Stuff, quite easily gives the film a run for its money. You know it’s coming but they delay it, drive up the anticipation. The humour throughout is so very typically British, there will be something for everyone to laugh at. I loved the use of music and dancers for the subtle change of sets. The set itself is simple yet effective and fully believable from working men’s club to long abandoned steel works, with the Sheffield skyline poking through the doors in the dead of night. This play needs congratulating for bringing back memories of a film that won multiple awards and was the highest grossing film of the year. Anyone who was anyone went to watch it and the same should be said for this stage version. If only for the cheeky flash of Gary Lucy’s bum from under his dressing gown, we were already standing up cheering.

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford – until 29 September, then touring

Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert

4****

Two ageing, failing actors stuck in a trailer with nothing to do but bicker – what could possibly go wrong? Even more than you think, actually, when the trailer is on a shifting Icelandic glacier with a volcano erupting underneath. So far, so much fun in this new play by Adrian Edmondson and Nigel Planer, who also play the sharp-tongued old luvvies, with Lois Chimimba as their harried assistant.

For those of us of a certain age (ahem), Edmondson and Planer are pretty much comedy royalty, who made their names in the 1980s with The Comic Strip and The Young Ones , the scuzzily brilliant sitcom about life in a student house. This play might as well have been called ‘The Old Ones’ – it has a lot of laughs, but it’s also a rather wonderful look back at lives spent in acting, which becomes more and more thoughtful as the play goes on. There are the reliable, perfectly timed jokes you might expect about acting and actors, but we also get an inkling of what it is actually like to spend your life in that world. And we get to hear Planer and Edmondson sing a little, which is charming in a quiet way.

Meanwhile, the volcano is getting hotter. A round of applause, please, for designer Simon Higlett’s beautifully recreated trailer interior, inconveniently placed on the erupting Eyjafjallajökull. Mic Pool (sound) and Murray Gold (music) provide jolly background effects. Steve Marmion directs.

New production by James Wilton Dance will sweep you off your feet

The Storm

Monday 15 October

Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds

theatreleeds.com

James Wilton Dance, one of Europe’s most in-demand dance companies, returns to Leeds next month to present their new production The Storm. From multi-award winning, internationally acclaimed choreographer James Wilton, this is a show guaranteed to blow audiences away, and will be performed at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre on 15 October 2018 for one night only.

 

Featuring a thundering electro-rock soundtrack and thousands of pieces of paper in a literal storm of confetti, this fusion of acrobatics, breakdance and martial arts is about more than just the weather.Inspired by the psychology of how we process the ‘storm’ of human emotions, seven dancers will explore how we can remain happy and not get swept away by the turbulent, challenging world around us.

 

Choreographed by Artistic Director James Wilton, who is renowned for creating breathtakingly physical dance works, The Storm is set to an original score composed by prog-rock superstar MichałWojtas, with costumes by Sarah Jane Taylor and lighting design by James Wilton.

 

James Wilton says: ‘I have always been fascinated by the inner workings of the human mind, in particular how we process and understand emotions. Physically […] our unique blend of martial arts, break dance, capoeira, acrobatics and dance is continually evolving, and The Storm will be the next step of this. It will be more physical, athletic and energised than anything we’ve previously created, but with more softness and texture.’

 

Tickets for The Storm by James Wilton Dance at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds are onsale now and can be booked online at theatreleeds.com or by calling the Box Office on 0113 220 8008. Tickets are priced at £13.50.

 

 

DADAFEST ANNOUNCE THEIR 2018 FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

VENUES ACROSS THE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION TAKE PART IN INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DISABILITY AND D/DEAF ARTISTS

DaDaFest International returns to Liverpool City Region venues this autumn showcasing a series of high-quality cutting-edge work which challenges stereotypes and celebrate disability and D/deaf cultures.

Comedian Francesca Martinez, theatre-maker and comedian Jess Thom, Stop Gap Dance Company, artists Faith Bebbington, Jonathan Griffith, Simon McKeown and Martin O’Brien, and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Fisher are among the 2018 line-up.

They are part of a busy programme that includes more than 50 exhibitions, performances, talks and workshops by both well-known mainstream audience artists and new emerging artists, all responding to the festival’s theme Passing: What’s your legacy?

 

Artists have been invited to explore the concepts of ageing, death and disability (passing time) and the changing nature of all our journeys and the legacies we leave (passing on).

The festival will also commemorate the end of the First World War as a key moment for modern recognition of disability as a social construct.

Events will be held at a wide range of venues across the city centre and beyond including St George’s Hall, Royal Court Liverpool, the Bluecoat, Tate Exchange, Constellations, the Unity Theatre and World Museum.

 

Award-winning artist Simon McKeown’s interactive No Passengers vintage disability cars installation will be seen at St George’s Hall from 21 November – 8 December.

And this year DaDaFest is also expanding its geographical reach with a performance by the acclaimedStop Gap Dance Company taking place at Storyhouse Chester.

 

Visual art is represented by Gina Czarnecki whose special exhibition of eco-friendly coffins designed by local and national artists Who We Are Now will be staged in the Oratory in the grounds of Liverpool Cathedral from November 1-18.

The Unity will host Jonathan Griffith’s Retrospective throughout the festival period, and the artist will take part in special talks at the theatre on November 20 and in Chester Lane Library in St Helens on November 22.

And Martin O’Brien’s video installation Until The Last Breath is Breathed comes to St George’s Hall from November 21 – December 8. He will also be doing a performance lecture at the same venue on 29 November.

Jess Thom showcases Samuel Beckett’s Not I, the story of a woman’s life told at top speed by a disembodied character, ‘Mouth’, at the Bluecoat on November 23-24.The Touretteshero and Battersea Arts Centre production in association with the Albany sees performer Thom reclaiming Mouth as a disabled character.

Meanwhile laugh-out-loud comedy comes from Francesca Martinez (What the **** Is Normal) at theUnity Theatre on November 23 and to Chester Lane Library in St Helens on November 24. Laurence Clark will also be live at the Unity on November 24 with The Irresponsible Father’s Guide to Parenting.

Finally, DaDaFest team up with Action Transport and Unity Theatre for a seasonal show collaboration, for the highly theatrical and bold retelling of the classic family tale – Beauty and the Beast!

Beauty and the Beast shows that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder and that everyone’s attitude can, at times, be beastly!

DaDaFest Artistic Director Ruth Gould said: “I’m delighted by the programme we’re presenting during DaDaFest International 2018. We have some fantastic, absorbing and thought-provoking work developed by hugely talented artists working across a wide range of genres, from dance to visual art, music to comedy.

 

“The theme of this year’s festival, Passing: What’s your legacy? is a great starting point for conversations, both verbal and artistic, and I’m really looking forward to some exhilarating exchanges of thoughts and ideas over the course of DaDaFest International 2018.

 

“The programme includes moments that affirm, celebrate and inform on the very essence of what it is to live as people who are disabled, Deaf, young, old and the many interactions and happenings that we encounter as we journey through life. We all have stories, we all matter as we all part of the human race.”

See the full programme at www.dadafest.co.uk/eventsFollow @DaDaFest on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook #DaDaFest18

 

DaDaFest International talks and workshops programme will be announced 10 October.

FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR

SHEFFIELD THEATRES AND OUT OF JOINT’S CO-PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD PREMIÈRE OF KATE BOWEN’S CLOSE QUARTERS

 

STUDIO

A Sheffield Theatres and Out of Joint Co-Production

World Première

CLOSE QUARTERS

By Kate Bowen

25 October – 10 November 2018

Director: Kate Wasserberg; Designer: Max Jones; Lighting Designer: Sarah Jane Shiels

Composer & Sound Designer: Dyfan Jones

Casting Directors: Sooki McShane CDG & Lucy Jenkins CDG; Fight/movement Director: RC-Annie LTD

 

Sheffield Theatres and Out of Joint today announce the full cast for their co-production of the world première of Kate Bowen’s Close Quarters. Kate Wasserberg directs Ruby Barker (Private Sarah Findlay), Bradley Banton(Sergent Adeyemi), Chloe-Ann Tylor (Private Alison Cormack), Dylan Wood (Lance Corporal Brian Armstrong), Sophie Melville (Private Clare Davies) and Kathryn O’Reilly (Captain Anna Sands). The production opens on 29 October, with previews from 25 October, and runs until 10 November.

 

“You were the only folk out of five thousand who got through – you’re legit badass.”

 

Cormack, Findlay and Davies are the elite. They are the first generation of female soldiers to serve in the British infantry in close combat roles, ever. They’ve aced physical tests only 5% of female soldiers can pass; they’ve been trained to shoot, fight and kill. They’ve proven their exceptional skill and discipline – while everyone around them questions whether they should even be allowed to serve. And now they’re about to join the action.

Kate Bowen’s taut, funny and powerful play follows three very different, pioneering young women in the world’s most dangerous workplace.

Kate Bowen’s debut play Shutter Speed was developed and workshopped by the National Theatre of Scotland/Dundee Rep company in 2011. Her other writing includes Super Sunday, a Five Minute Theatre piece for National Theatre Scotland, the audio play The Prize Fighter (part of the Traverse 50 programme at the Traverse Theatre), and The Lawyers for Play, Pie and a Pint’s Three Minute Theatre project in Glasgow. Bowen was winner of the Playwright’s Studio Scotland New Writer’s Award in 2012, awarded a place on the Channel 4 Playwright’s Scheme Bursary to work with Out of Joint throughout 2017, and last year given a place on the National Theatre of Scotland’s Starter for Ten scheme to develop a new project, Stunt.

Ruby Barker plays Private Sarah Findlay. Her theatre work includes York Mystery Plays (York Minster) and Mankind (Hidden Theatre Company). For television, her work includes Wolfblood; and for film, The Banana Dream.

 

Bradley Banton plays Sergent Adeyemi. His theatre work includes The Island (Linbury Studio). His television work includes Vera; and for film, His House and Judy.

 

Chloe-Ann Tylor plays Private Alison Cormack. For theatre, her work includes Hansel and Gretel, Trainspotting(Citizens Theatre), The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), The Merchant of Venice (Bard in the Botanics) and Titus Andronicus (Dundee Rep).

 

Dylan Wood plays Lance Corporal Brian Armstrong. For theatre, his work includes Teddy (The Watermill Theatre and UK tour), Electric Eden (Shanghai Arts Festival/Not Too Tame Theatre Company) and Julius Caesar(Edinburgh Festival); and a short film, In the Night.

 

Sophie Melville plays Private Clare Davies. For theatre her work includes Iphigenia in Splott (Sherman Theatre, National Theatre and Edinburgh Festival), Romeo and Juliet (Sherman Theatre), Under Milk Wood (Theatr Clwyd), The Shape of Things, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, See How They Run (Theatre by the Lake) and Romeo and Juliet (Sam Wanamaker Festival).

 

Kathryn O’Reilly plays Captain Anna Sands. Her theatre work includes Arms and the Man (Watford Palace Theatre), Caught, hamlet is dead. no gravity (Arcola Theatre), Rift (Brewhouse Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Trafalgar Studios), Lover on the Tracks (Soho Theatre), Oedipus (national tour), Don Juan (Rose Theatre), and A View from Islington North and Our Country’s Good (Out of Joint). Her television work includes Random, Call the Midwife, Rough Justice and The Watcher; and for film, The Little Stranger, Zebra Crossing and Halal Harry.

Kate Wasserberg is Artistic Director of Out of Joint for whom she has directed Rita, Sue and Bob, Too (Bolton Octagon, Royal Court Theatre and tour). She was the founding Artistic Director of The Other Room in Cardiff, where her directing credits included The Dying of Today, Play/Silence, Sand and Seanmhair. Her other directing credits include The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Glengarry Glen Ross, Roots, Gaslight, The Glass Menagerie and A History of Falling Things (as Associate Director for Theatre Clwyd), All My Sons and Insignificance (Theatre Clwyd), The Barnbow Canaries (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Ten Weeks (Paines Plough), The Knowledge (Dirty Protest at the Royal Court Theatre) and Saturday Night Forever (Aberystwyth Arts Centre/Edinburgh).

www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

Twitter: @crucibletheatre @SheffieldLyceum