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FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR SHAKESPEARE IN THE SQUARES’ A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM –

TOURING TO LONDON SQUARES AND PARKS THIS SUMMER

Shakespeare in the Squares presents

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Tatty Hennessy

19 June – 11 July 2019

Shakespeare in the Squares today announces the full cast for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the company’s fourth production touring London’s glorious private squares and gardens. Tatty Hennessy directs Gemma Barnett (Hermia/Snug/Fairy), Paul Giddings (Theseus/Oberon/Quince), Jodie Jacobs (Bottom/Egeus), Sioned Jones (Hippolyta/Titania), David Leopold (Lysander/Starveling), Riad Ritchie (Demetrius/Snout), Hannah Sinclair Robinson (Helena/Flute) and James Tobin (Puck/Philostrate). The production runs from 19 June to 11 July, with press night at Arundel and Ladbroke Gardens on 25 June.

Shakespeare’s wild play of love and magic is transplanted to 1920s Britain, a country bruised by battle and economic hardship where our lovers chafe against the constraints and conventions of an older generation and seek to find freedom in the forest. There they stumble upon a riotous world untouched by time, still revelling in illusion. Moonlight suffuses this drama, bringing romance and a touch of madness – even in an oppressive world, all manner of things can happen under cover of night.

Gemma Barnett plays Hermia/Snug/Fairy. Her theatre credits include A Hundred Words For Snow (VAULT Festival/Trafalgar Studios), Lola (VAULT Festival), Cinderella: A Wicked Mother of A Night Out (UK tour), Flog(Camden People’s Theatre), Roosting (Park Theatre), Oil and Matter (The Bunker), Cousins (Soho Theatre) andSpring Storm (The North Wall).

Paul Giddings plays Theseus/Oberon/Quince. His theatre credits include Time and Tide (Park Theatre), People Like Us (Union Theatre), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Rose Theatre Kingston/UK tour), My Night with Reg (Apollo Theatre), The Vote (Donmar Warehouse), Handbagged (UK tour), The Mousetrap, The Woman In White,Besame Mucho (Charing Cross Theatre), 1000 Polar Bears On A Beach In Kent (Southwark Playhouse), Spitting Image, Superman and Me (King’s Head Theatre), Entertaining Mr. Orton (Arcola Theatre), Clench (Greenwich Theatre) and Be Civil, Disobey (Lost Theatre). His television credits include The Vote; and for film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle and The Hippopotamus.

Jodie Jacobs renews her collaboration with Shakespeare in the Squares to play Bottom/Egeus, having appeared in As You Like It. Other credits include Unexpected Joy, Bananaman and Carrie (Southwark Playhouse), Dick Whittington (Lyric Hammersmith), Myth (The Other Palace), Lizzie (Greenwich Theatre), Disaster – The Musical(Charing Cross Theatre), Oliver! (Grange Park Opera), Rock of Ages (Garrick Theatre), Footloose, The Wedding Singer (UK and Ireland tour), We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre), Fame (Aldwych Theatre), Evita (Adelphi Theatre) and Little Shop of Horrors (Duke of York’s Theatre). Her work for television includes The Amazing World of Gumball and Drop Zone.

Sioned Jones plays Hippolyta/Titania. Her theatre credits include 13, Women Beware Women, All’s Well That Ends Well, Oedipus, Never So Good (National Theatre), A Woman of No Importance (Vaudeville Theatre), Lettice and Lovage (Menier Chocolate Factory), Shakespeare in Love (Noël Coward Theatre), Shadowlands (Novello Theatre/Wyndham’s Theatre), The Letter (Wyndham’s Theatre), Glorious! (Duchess Theatre), Tolstoy (Aldwych Theatre), Henry VI (Wales Millennium Centre), The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me (Birmingham Rep), 101 Dalmatians (The Castle Theatre) and Pippin and The Wild Party (Union Theatre). Her television credits includeCadfael; and for film, Happy Now and Dark Signal.

David Leopold plays Lysander/Starveling. His theatre credits include Bury the Hatchet (The Hope Theatre), Late Company (Trafalgar Studios/Finborough Theatre), Muted (The Bunker), Burnt Part Boys (Park Theatre), Little Sure Shot (Theatre Royal Bath) and Uncle Vanya, Polar Bears and The Crucible (West Yorkshire Playhouse).

Riad Ritchie plays Demetrius/Snout. His theatre credits include The Show in Which Hopefully Nothing Happens(Unicorn Theatre), Timon of Athens, Tartuffe, Tamburlaine (RSC), Macbeth, Frankenstein (Ovalhouse), Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Royal Bath) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (Tower of London).

Hannah Sinclair Robinson renews her collaboration with Shakespeare in the Squares as Helena/Flute, having appeared in Romeo and Juliet. Her theatre credits include Water Bread and Salt (Tangle International), Timothy (VAULT Festival) and Border Control (UK tour). Her television credits include Killer Cops; and for film, Urban Decay

James Tobin plays Puck/Philostrate. His theatre credits include The Snow Queen, Finding Peter (Theatre N16), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry IV, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors (Merely Theatre), Pyramus and Thisbe, MATES, The Wall (Rift Theatre), Valley of the Weird (VAULT Festival) and No Allergens (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch).

Tatty Hennessy is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg and director. She continues her collaboration with Shakespeare in the Squares with A Midsummer Night’s Dream following her productions of As You Like It andRomeo and Juliet for the company. Her previous directing credits include her own adaptation of The Snow Queen (Theatre N16), a revival of her first play All That Lives (Ovalhouse Theatre) and Acorn (The Courtyard Theatre). Hennessy was the Baylis Assistant Director at The Old Vic in 2018, where she assisted on Max Webster’s production of Fanny & Alexander.  As a writer, she won the Heretic Voices competition in 2017 with her play A Hundred Words for Snow, which received an acclaimed production at the Arcola Theatre in 2018 before a run at Trafalgar Studios this year.

ABOUT SHAKESPEARE IN THE SQUARES

Founded by Sue Fletcher and Martin Neild in 2016, Shakespeare in the Squares is a not-for-profit touring theatre company that stages a Shakespeare play across London squares and parks every summer. The productions are tailored to the individual garden squares, and the company works with the garden committees and other local organisations to create a unique community celebration around the play. The company aims to provide a showcase for talented young theatre practitioners and to introduce audiences to the stars of the future. The company’s previous productions include As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing which performed to sell-out audiences.

www.shakespeareinthesquares.co.uk

Twitter: @shakessquares

Facebook: shakespeareinthesquares

Instagram: @shakespeareinthesquares

Schedule for Summer 2019

All performances at 7pm unless stated

Wednesday 19 June                        Leinster Square, W2

Thursday 20 June                            St James’s Gardens, W11

Friday 21 June                                   Norland Square, W11

Saturday 22 June                            Queen’s Park, NW6

Sunday 23 June                                 Camden Square, NW1      

Tuesday 25 June                               Arundel and Ladbroke Gardens, W11 2EP (press night – nearest tube stations are Ladbroke Grove and Holland Park)

Wednesday 26 June                        Paulton’s Square, SW3

Thursday 27 June                             St James’s Square, SW1

Friday 28 June                                   Paddington Street, W1 (3pm matinee)

                                                           Paddington Street W1 (7pm evening)

Saturday 29 June                             Little Wormwood Scrubs Park, W10

Sunday 30 June                                 Ladbroke Square Gardens, W11

Tuesday 2 July                                   Cornwall Gardens, SW7

Wednesday 3 July                            Connaught Square, W2

Thursday 4 July                                 Elgin and Arundel Gardens, W11

Friday 5 July                                       Bedford Square, WC1 (part of the Bedford Square Festival)

Saturday 6 July                                  St Peter’s Square, W6

Sunday 7 July                                     The Courtyard at le Gothique, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, Wandsworth, SW18 (3pm matinee)

Tuesday 9 July                                   The Courtyard at le Gothique, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, Wandsworth, SW18 (7pm evening)

Wednesday 10 July                          Formosa Garden, W9. (NB GARDEN)

Thursday 11 July                               Cleveland Square, W2

Shakespeare in the Squares kindly thanks the following sponsors for their support:Carringtons, Chestertons, Domus Nova, Durbar Restaurant, Garden Square News, Hayes Parsons, Jeroboams, John D Wood & Co, Knight Frank, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Vickers Independent Estate Agent, Westbourne Block Management.

DIANA VICKERS & SARA CROWE JOIN

SHANE RICHIE IN THE UK TOUR OF

JOHN OSBORNE’S

THE ENTERTAINER

Curve, Leicester: 27 – 31 August 2019

UK Tour: 27 August – 23 November 2019

New casting was announced today (8 May 2019) for the upcoming tour of John Osborne’s funny and heartbreaking play The Entertainer starring Shane Richie as Archie Rice.  Sara Crowe joins the cast to play Phoebe Rice and Diana Vickers to play Jean Rice.

Director Sean O’Connor, who has changed the setting of Osborne’s play for the very first time from 1957 to 1982, said: “I fell in love with Diana’s feisty but vulnerable LV in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice when I saw it in the West End and am very excited about what she’ll bring to the role of Jean in The Entertainer, a young woman whose political conscience has been awakened by the Falklands war and who struggles in her combative relationship with her feckless father, Archie.”

“And I’ve long been an admirer of Sara’s extraordinary work and am thrilled that she is taking on one of Osborne’s greatest female roles as Phoebe, the hapless, hopeless wife of the washed up showman, Archie Rice.”

Diana Vickers first came to the public eye as a semi-finalist in The X Factor in 2008.  Her previous theatre work includes I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical, Myth, Son of A Preacher Man, Big,  The Rocky Horror Show, The Duck House, Hatched and Dispatched and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice in the West End. Herfilm credits include: Awaiting, To Dream and The Perfect Wave and television appearences include: Josh, Top Coppers and Give out Girls.

Aberdeen born and Olivier Award-winning Sara Crowe most recently appeared as Ruth in the first UK Tour ofCalendar Girls, the Musical, and was seen on screen in the 2019 Comic Relief reboot of Four Weddings & A Funeral – One Red Nose Day and a Wedding. This Christmas she can be seen on BBC4 in the ghost story ‘Martins Close’ written and directed by Mark Gatiss.

This new adaptation of The Entertainer will open at Curve in Leicester on 27 August 2019 and then tour the UK until 23 November, to Milton Keynes, Malvern, Plymouth, Woking, Eastbourne, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Brighton, Manchester, Bromley, Cheltenham and Shrewsbury.

Osborne’s play was chosen by Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington as one of the greatest plays of the 20^thcentury.

1982: Archie Rice is a washed-up entertainer playing a summer season. As his soldier son sails with the Task Force to liberate the Falklands, his daughter Jean returns from campaigning against the war, and Archie’s professional and personal lives collide with devastating consequences.

Shane Richie has balanced a hugely successful forty year career between theatre, film & TV; and he has been a regular fixture on prime time television hosting such shows as Lucky Numbers (ITV), The Shane Richie Experience (ITV), Win, Lose or Draw (ITV), Don’t Forget the Lyrics! (SKY1), Reflex (BBC) and Win Your Wish List(BBC) to name but a few.  Shane is well known for playing Alfie Moon in EastEnders and is currently performing in the West End in Everyone’s Talking about Jamie.

The Entertainer is a co-production between Curve, Anthology Theatre, and Simon Friend Entertainment.

Further casting and creative team to be announced.

To find out more about Curve, visit www.curveonline.co.uk

For further details on The Entertainer, visit www.TheEntertainerPlay.co.uk

PETER ANDRE AND ARLENE PHILLIPS JOIN CAST MEMBERS AT GREASE PRESS LAUNCH

Peter Andre (Teen Angel) and Arlene Phillips (choreographer) recently joined newly cast Dan Partridge (Danny) and Martha Kirby (Sandy) at an exclusive event at City Varieties Music Hall to launch the first new production in 25 years of Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey’s iconic musical Grease which is set to premiere at Leeds Grand Theatre from Wednesday 19 June to Saturday 20 July 2019.

Pop and reality TV star Andre, and ex-Strictly Come Dancing judge Phillips, were in town for a whistle-stop tour of press calls and photo shoots, whilstDan and Martha performed debut live versions of Sandy, Hopelessly Devoted To You and You’re The One That I Want.

In a Q&A with producer Colin Ingram, Andre commented that growing up Grease was his favourite musical, and to play the iconic roll of Teen Angel was an honour after playing Danny in a high school production, whilst Philips, who choreographed the original tour, said: “I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to choreograph a new production of Grease. This new production is going to be edgy, vibrant and certainly takes a new look at this very exciting musical. The cast are incredible, many of them fresh out of college and ready to burst onto the stage.” 

Grease is at Leeds Grand Theatre from 19 June to Saturday 20 July

Book online at leedsgrandtheatre.com or call Box Office on 0844 848 2700

MICHAEL LONGHURST’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION OF

FLORIAN ZELLER’S THE SON TRANSFERS TO THE WEST END

★★★★★     ★★★★★     ★★★★★     ★★★★★

Daily Telegraph        Observer          Times               Daily Mail

★★★★        ★★★★        ★★★★        ★★★★

     Guardian    Evening Standard    Financial Times     The Stage

FIERY ANGEL AND GAVIN KALIN PRODUCTIONS PRESENT THE KILN THEATRE PRODUCTION OF

THE SON

By Florian Zeller

In a translation by Christopher Hampton

Director: Michael Longhurst; Designer: Lizzie Clachan; Lighting Designer: Lee Curran

Composer and Sound Designer: Isobel Waller-Bridge; Casting Director: Amy Ball

24 August – 2 November

‘Florian Zeller’s remarkable play… Michael Longhurst’s immaculate production…

I’d defy anyone not to be moved’ Guardian

Following a critically acclaimed sell out run at Kiln Theatre, Michael Longhurst’s production of Florian Zeller’sThe Son, in a translation by Christopher Hampton, transfers to the West End. The production opens at theDuke of York’s Theatre on 2 September, with previews from 24 August, and runs until 2 November. Amanda Abbington, Laurie Kynaston, John Light and Amaka Okafor reprise their lauded performances for the strictly limited 10 week run. The Son marks the first West End transfer for the Kiln Theatre since it reopened last September, and is presented in the West End by Fiery Angel and Gavin Kalin Productions.

‘This final part of Florian Zeller’s trilogy is the most powerful of all’

The Times

‘A compulsive, involving, emotionally stirring evening – theatre’s answer to a page-turner.’

Observer

Written by the internationally acclaimed Florian Zeller, lauded by The Guardian as ‘the most exciting playwright of our time’, The Son is directed by the award-winning Michael Longhurst and forms the final part of the critically acclaimed trilogy with The Father and The Mother.

I’m telling you. I don’t understand what’s happening to me.

Nicolas is going through a difficult phase after his parents’ divorce. He’s listless, skipping school, lying and thinks that moving in with his father and his new family may help. A fresh start. When he doesn’t settle there either, he decides that going back to his mother’s may be the answer. When change feels like the only way to survive, what will he do when the options begin to run out?

‘Exceptional… Fizzes with raw emotion… It totally blew me away.’

Daily Mail

Florian Zeller is a French novelist and playwright. Zeller won the prestigious Prix Interallié in 2004 (Fascination of Evil) and several Molière Awards for his plays La Mère(The mother)and Le Père(The father). L’Autre, le Manège, Si tu mourais, Elle t’attend, La Vérité(The truth)andUne heure de Tranquillité were successfully produced in France and internationally. L’Envers du décor, starring Daniel Auteuil was produced in Paris in 2016. Avant de s’envoler was on the same season, and recently played at the Wyndham’s Theatre (The Height of the Storm) with Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins (Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress) directed by Jonathan Kent. Le Père (The father), was nominated as Best New Play at the 2016 Olivier Awards, with Kenneth Cranham winning for Best Actor in a Play. It also received two nominations for the 2016 Tony Awards – Best Play and Best Performance by an Actor, the latter was won by Frank Langella. This play has been performed in over 35 countries and is being adapted into a feature film with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman which Zeller will direct. Christopher Hampton has translated most of Zeller’s plays into English; and his plays have received many international awards.

Christopher Hampton has translated plays by Ibsen, Molière, Chekhov, Yasmina Reza (including Art and Life x 3) and Florian Zeller’s The Father, The Mother and The Truth. He won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the adaptation of his own play, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (released as Dangerous Liaisons). He was nominated again in 2007 for adapting Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement. His television work includes adaptations of The History Man and Hotel du Lac.

‘The surgical precision of the writing achieves a devastating visceral impact’

Daily Telegraph

Amanda Abbington plays Anne. Her theatre credits include The God of Carnage (Theatre Royal Bath), A Little Princess (Royal Festival Hall), Abigail’s Party (Theatre Royal Bath/UK Tour), God Bless This Child (Royal Court), Love Me Tonight (Hampstead Theatre), The Safari Party (Stephen Joseph Theatre /Hampstead Theatre), Something Blue (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Taming of the Shrew (Queen Mother Theatre) and Tin Soldiers (New End Theatre/Grace Theatre). For television her credits include Flack, Safe, Sherlock, Mr Selfridge, Being Human, Case Histories, Psychoville, Man Stroke Woman, Booze Cruise, Teachers and Coupling; and for film, We The Kings, Crooked House, Another Mother’s Son and Ghosted.

Laurie Kynaston plays Nicolas. His theatre credits include The Ferryman (Gielgud Theatre), Jumpy, The Winslow Boy (Theatre Clwyd). For television, his work includes Derry Girls, The Feed, Cradle to Grave, Murder Games and Our World War; and for film, How To Build a Girl, Undercliffe and England is Mine.

John Light plays Pierre. Theatre credits include Uncle Vanya (Theatre Royal Bath), Mary Stuart (Duke of York’s Theatre), The Winter’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe), Three Days In The Country(National Theatre), Taken at Midnight (Chichester Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket – Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor), The Blackest Black (Hampstead Theatre), Julius Caesar (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) (The Print Room), Luise Miller (Donmar Warehouse), The Master Builder, Certain Young Men (Almeida Theatre), True West (Sheffield Crucible) and Apologia (Bush Theatre). For television, his work includes Agatha Raisin, Mars, Maigret, Father Brown, Silk, Dresden, North and South, Cambridge Spies, Band of Brothers, Love in a Cold Climate and Aristocrats; and for film, Albert Nobbs, Scoop, The Lion in Winter and A Rather English Marriage.

Amaka Okafor plays Sofia. Her theatre credits include I’m Not Running, Macbeth, Saint George and The Dragon, Peter Pan (National Theatre), Hamlet (Almeida Theatre), Grimly Handsome, I See You (Royal Court Theatre) and Hamlet (Barbican).

Michael Longhurst directs. He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, and opens his inaugural production there – David Greig’s Europe – on 20 June. His recent credits include the recent revival of Caroline or Change (Chichester, Festival Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, and Playhouse Theatre – nominated for 3 Olivier Awards, including Best Musical Revival, with Sharon D. Clarke winning the Best Actress in a Musical Award), and Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus (National Theatre) and Nick Payne’s Constellations starring Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall at Royal Court Theatre and in the West End, and with Ruth Wilson and Jake Gyllenhaal on Broadway. Longhurst also worked with Gyllenhaal on his American stage debut in If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Roundabout Theatre, New York). Other credits include Gloria (Hampstead Theatre), Belleville (Donmar Warehouse), Bad Jews (Theatre Royal Bath/West End), and Linda (Royal Court Theatre).

Based in Kilburn, Kiln Theatre creates internationally renowned, high-quality, engaging and innovative work which presents the world through a variety of different lenses, amplifying unheard voices into the mainstream. Led by Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham and Executive Director Daisy Heath, it makes theatre that crosses continents and tells big stories about human connections across cultures, race and languages.

We encourage artists of all ages and backgrounds. Our work is commissioned specifically for our theatre and produced by Kiln Theatre’s artistic team, as well as additional work which is programmed in collaboration with national or international partners.

Recent productions include White Teeth by Zadie Smith, adapted by Stephen Sharkey, Holy Sh!t by Alexis Zegerman, Approaching Empty by Ishy Din, The Son by Florian Zeller and The Half God of Rainfall by Inua Ellams. Recent collaborations include the National Theatre, Tamasha and Sundance Theatre Lab (US).

The ambitious Creative Learning programme aims to champion the imagination, aspiration and potential of the Brent community young and old. It invests in creating meaningful relationships with young people to inspire and encourage their creativity, their confidence and self-esteem. It works with older people to create a thriving community around the theatre.

Listings                                                                                                                                                       The Son

Duke of York’s Theatre

St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2B 4BG

24 August – 2 November

Press Night: 2 September at 7pm

Box Office: 0844 871 7623

Online:  www.thesonwestend.com

Twitter @thesonwestend

Instagram @thesonwestend

Facebook /thesonwestend

Monday to Saturday 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinee 3pm

Tickets from £15

Yvonne Arnaud – until 11th May 2019

Reviewed by Heather Chalkley

5*****

A world-renowned playwright, Shaffer wrote Equus in 1973. This was an era when gay right activists were gaining a voice and this is a play full of dysfunctional heterosexual relationships! Delving into psychology, mysticism, erotica and sexuality, Equus is as intense as it is dynamic.

The Narrator is the psychiatrist, Martin Dysart (Zubin Varla). He takes us through the unfolding of a young man’s pathology, culminating in the blinding of 6 horses. The young man, Alan Strang (Ethan Kai), has created his own equine worship, Equus. More than once Dysart (Varla) is questioning which reality is better? The boy with great passion or the man in a sterile marriage; the fervour of Alan Strang’s (Kai) equine worship or the placid, everyday existence that his life will become once cured? To ‘fix’ the boy, Dysart (Varla) has to delve deeply into Alan Strang’s (Kai) mind, a challenge to his own mental health. The fluid delivery of Varla’s (Dysart) dialogue draws you into his world immediately. The natural innocence of Kai (Strang) opens up his world for you to see. Both characters totally believable.

The physicality of the performance is mesmerising. Ira Mandela Siobhan as the horse called Nugget, flexes every sinew of his body leaving you in no doubt what he is. Shelley Maxwell, Movement Director, has managed to bring the spirit of the animal to the performance of all 6 horse actors. The ease and flow of their movements make this fine art look simple. The use of floor to ceiling silks and a bare floor as the set is inspired, giving the Creative Team full rein, using lighting and sound effects to create the different spaces and times. The result is dramatic and impactful.

Amongst the drama a stand out moment for me is the sustained look of fear and shock on Frank Strang’s (Robert Fitch) face, when his son (Alan Strang) catches him at the cinema, watching an adult film. His explanation sent a ripple of laughter through the audience, breaking the tension perfectly. The professional delivery of all the supporting cast is outstanding – not something you get to say very often.

Ned Bennett is brave and bold in his direction of Equus, making it as accessible to students as it is seasoned theatre goers. Well worth a watch.

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh – until 12 May 2019

Reviewed by James Knight

4****

Before JK Rowling, Harry and Hogwarts, there was Jill Murphy, Mildred and Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches. Mildred Hubble and her friends have had an enduring charm over the years, with various films and TV incarnations, and now Emma Reeves has adapted her adventures for the stage. Reeves is also responsible for the latest TV adaptation on CBBC, so she knows her stuff.

The Worst Witch is essentially a play within a play – Miss Cackle’s Academy is recruiting new students, and so what we see is Mildred Hubble’s first year at the school performed as a school play. It immediately involves the audience, with the actors interacting with them pre-show. The story is instantly recognisable for anyone who has had to start at a new school – rules are confusing, teachers are intimidating and then there’s the fact that you don’t know who anyone actually is. Accident-prone Mildred (Danielle Bird) has arrived at the wrong school, and, despite not actually being a witch, quickly makes friends with Maud (Rebecca Killick) and enemies with Ethel Hallow (Rosie Abraham).

Mildred gets into various mishaps in her first year, to the disgust of Miss Hardbroom (a fearsome Rachel Heaton, evidently loving every moment), and these are only worsened by the arrival of Enid Nightshade (Consuela Rolle), a mischief-loving prankster who has been expelled from seventeen schools. Can Mildred reconcile her friendship with both Maud and Enid? And is something more sinister on its way?

The live music by Luke Potter and performed by Molly-Grace Cutler, Meg Forgan and Megan Leigh Mason (also playing Miss Bat, Fenella and Miss Drill respectively) is fantastic, and wonderfully expressive. The band’s comic timing is perfect, with various magical sounds used to subtle, almost unnoticeable effect, particularly in the potions class. Other highlights include a flying broomstick formation sequence which goes spectacularly wrong, leading to both Mildred and Maud having to fall onto crashmats to get down afterwards (Maud achieves a perfect dismount to my amusement). And despite the assertion of Miss Cackle (Polly Lister) that no magic will be used in the production (health and safety et cetera), this promise goes out the window when her evil twin sister Agatha (also Polly Lister extracting great fun from the two very different sisters) shows up.

The all-female cast is exceptionally strong and provides a spell-tacular evening of entertainment, with enough frivolity to lighten the mood of even Miss Hardbroom. The perfect blend of that other famous child wizard and his own play, and ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, The Worst Witch is truly magical.

WENDI PETERS, KIMBERLEY WALSH & MATTHEW KELLY

TO JOIN JAY McGUINESS IN

BIG THE MUSICAL

AT THE DOMINION THEATRE

FOR A STRICTLY LIMITED 9-WEEK SEASON

FROM 6 SEPTEMBER TO 2 NOVEMBER 2019

WITH A GALA NIGHT IN AID OF MAKE-A-WISH® UK

ON TUESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2019

Wendi Peters, Kimberley Walsh and Matthew Kelly will star as Mrs Baskin, Susan Lawrence and George MacMillan respectively.  They join the previously announced Jay McGuiness as Josh Baskin.  Based on the smash-hit movie starring Tom Hanks, BIG The Musical makes its West End premiere at the Dominion Theatre for a strictly limited nine-week season from 6 September to 2 November 2019, with a Gala Night in aid of Make-A-Wish on Tuesday 17 September.

Wendi Peters is best known for her role as Cilla Battersby Brown in Coronation Street – a role that she played for over four years, returning briefly in 2014.  Wendi plays the recurring character Cook Jenkins in Hetty Feather (BBC) and her other television credits include Queen Shania in Hacker Time (BBC), Kelly in Sadie J (BBC), Marion in Crime Stories (ITV) and ‘Podger’ Pam Jolly in Bad Girls (ITV).  Theatre credits include Princess Puffer in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Arts Theatre, West End), Grumpy Old Women Live 2 – Chin up Britain (National Tour and Novello Theatre, West End), Vagina Monologues(National Tour), and Martha Watson in White Christmas (Dominion Theatre). Most recently, Wendi could be seen in the National Tours of Salad Days, Quartet, Wonderland and Oh What a Lovely War and as Dorothy Needham in the world premiere of Hatched ‘n’ Dispatched at Park Theatre, London.

Kimberley Walsh rose to prominence in the record-breaking girl band Girls Aloud. During their 10 years together, the group achieved twenty consecutive top ten singles in the UK, including four number ones, with over 4.3 million single sales and 4 million albums sold in the UK alone.  In 2012, Kimberley was runner up in Strictly Come Dancing.  As an actress, Kimberley has starred as series regular Rebecca in Disney’s The Lodge, played Claire Butterworth in the second series of Channel 4’s Ackley Bridge, and appeared in children’s movies Horrid Henry and All Stars.  In the West End, she starred as Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical, Jovie in Elf the Musical, and joined Denise Van Outen for a week-long run at Cadogan Hall in Sweet Charity.

Matthew Kelly’s many television credits include the award-winning thriller Cold Blood, Benidorm, Bleak House and Moving On,although heis probably best known for presentingYou Bet! and Stars in their Eyes.His West End appearances include the original Stanley in Funny Peculiar (a role he had created at the Liverpool Everyman), Waiting For Godot with Ian McKellan and Roger Rees, Tim Firth’s play Sign of the Times, the musical Lend Me A Tenor! and as Lennie in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s production of Of Mice and Men at the Savoy Theatre, for which he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor.  His other most recent theatre credits include W.H. Auden/Fitz in the first revival of Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art, Pride & Prejudice (Regents Park Theatre & UK Tour), The Jew Of Malta, Volpone and Love’s Sacrifice for the RSC, TOAST (Park Theatre & 59E59 in New York), the musicals Spamalot and Legally Blonde(National Tours), Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare’s Globe) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Trafalgar Studios,London). 

Jay McGuiness originated the role of Josh Baskin at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in 2016.  Jay came to fame as part of the successful boy band The Wanted.  His fame widened when he won Strictly Come Dancing in 2015 with professional dancer Aliona Vilani.  He and fellow bandmate Siva won last year’s celebrity version of Channel 4’s Hunted, raising money for Stand Up To Cancer.  Jay is also a regular contributor to the BBC’s The One Show and is currently starring in Rip It Up – The 60’s in London’s West End until June.

BIG is a joyous, heart-warming musical about 12 year-old Josh Baskin who longs to be big.  When a mysterious Zoltar machine grants his wish, he finds himself trapped inside an adult’s body and he is forced to live and work in a grown-up world, but his childlike innocence has a transforming effect on the adults he encounters.

With music by David Shire and lyrics by Richard Maltby, BIG has a book by John Weidman and direction and choreography by Morgan Young.  Associate choreographer is Helen Rymer, orchestrator and musical supervisor Stuart Morley, set and costume designer Simon Higlett, lighting designer Tim Lutkin, video designer Ian William Galloway, and sound designers Terry Jardine and Avgoustos Psillas, wig and hair designer Richard Mawbey, musical director Jeremy Wootton, illusions by Chris Fisher, casting directors Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion Casting and Sarah Bird CDG, and general management by David Pearson for Encore Theatre Productions Ltd.

Based on the Twentieth Century Fox Film BIG written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, Michael Rose, Damien Sanders and Paul Gregg for Encore Theatre Productions Limited present the Theatre Royal Plymouth production of BIG.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

BIG

6 September – 2 November 2019

Dominion Theatre

268-269 Tottenham Court Road

LONDON W1T 7AQ

Box Office 0845 200 7982

Tickets from £29.50 (£1 from every ticket sold will be donated to Make-A-Wish® UK)

Performances Monday to Saturday 7.30pm*, Thursday & Saturday 2.30pm(*7pm on 17 September)

Website www.BigTheMusical.co.uk  

 #BigTheMusical 

NEW EPISODES OF THE TRAP DOOR PODCAST INCLUDE TAMARA HARVEY AND

MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE

The Trap Door podcast today announces upcoming episode guests, including West End director Tamara Harvey on May 15, and comedian Marcus Brigstocke on June 12. Other announced guests include Paul Ready and Harry Peacock.

On the next episode, Tamara Harvey sits down with host Sophie Black to talk about having children later in life, and the challenges of beginning her tenure as Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd as a brand new mum: “I suddenly realised I was in the very privileged position of having a job and therefore not worrying about whether people weren’t going to employ me in the immediate future because of being a mum. Therefore, probably, I had a responsibility to talk about it, and to breastfeed in auditions, and to breastfeed in board meetings, and to talk about those challenges. And it’s something’s that continued to feel important to continue to talk about it… it just feels like all of us have got to start talking about it more.”

Fighting daily with the chaos, joy and absurdity that only parenting can bring, seasoned radio producer Sophie Black launched the podcast The Trap Door, talking to comedians, actors, writers and other people in the public eye about the emotional impact of having children, and how it has altered the relationships with their partners, families, careers and sense of self.

Recently released episodes include BAFTA winning actress Katherine Parkinson, star of the Oliver Award-winning production Home, I’m Darling; and actress and comedian Hayley Jayne Standing.

Katherine Parkinson talked to Sophie about balancing motherhood with being in a West End show, and pursuing acting opportunities as a new mother (https://bit.ly/2DztCip): “When my youngest was born I decided to get quite fat in pregnancy and enjoy myself because I was looking forward to a long period off, and then this big sexy job came through, Humans, and I was like literally sort of in a bowl of triple choc M&S cereal, breastfeeding her thinking ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to be on camera in a few minutes!” 

Hayley Jayne Standing spoke about her struggles in getting pregnant, and working throughout the traumatic experience of terminating her non-viable pregnancy (https://bit.ly/2Vl94oR): “I was booked in to this BBC writers’ week away to Preston… I had the termination on the Saturday and I still went on this writing thing on the Monday to Thursday where you were like pitching your ideas and stuff, and I didn’t tell anyone what had happened. I just went to this thing in the middle of nowhere and just kept it to myself. I felt it was the right thing to do because I thought it was a good opportunity for work and I didn’t want to turn it down! But actually, it was a bit crazy because I’d dealt with something quite emotional and yet I was pitching for Cbeebies and CBBC shows”

You can subscribe to The Trap Door via Apple iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, audioBoom and all other major podcast hosts.  New episodes will be available every other Wednesday.

To listen to the podcast, please go to: www.thetrapdoor.net

From May 15, The Trap Door will be sponsored by Bea & Co., a unique London members’ agency specialising in providing families and organisations with excellent child care from the highest quality creative people.

Sophie Black regularly produces the highly successful podcasts Nick Clegg’s Anger Management and Remainiacs and frequently contributes audio stories for BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts. She has worked as a radio producer for almost 20 years starting off at BBC GLR and leaving there to help launch BBC 7 in 2002.  Since then she has produced radio programmes, podcasts and short-form content across all the major BBC radio networks and independent outlets including the award-winning Prison Radio Association. In 2014 she produced Raw Meat Radio, a 3 hour Chris Morris special for BBC Radio 4 Extra which received much critical acclaim. 

Sophie is also a comedy writer – she was nominated for the Edinburgh Best Newcomer Award in 2006 as part of a sketch group called Fat Tongue and went on to appear in TV shows such as 10 O’Clock Live, Anna & Katy, The Royal Wedding Crashers, Lee Kern’s Celebrity Bedlam and Comedy Shuffle.  She also wrote, starred in and produced the film Single White Feline for the BBC which went on to get over 3 million hits online.

Artwork by Henry Petrides

Twitter: @TrapDoorPodcast

Instagram: @trapdoorpodcast

CHARLES VENN TO JOIN

NEIL AND KATYA JONES

IN

SOMNIUM: A DANCER’S DREAM

SADLER’S WELLS 20 – 22 JUNE 2019

British actor and 2018 Strictly star Charles Venn is to join the cast of SOMNIUM: A Dancer’s Dream, the explosive dance show starring World Latin Showdance Champions and Strictly professionals Neil and Katya Jones which comes to Sadler’s Wells in London for a limited season from 20 – 22 June 2019. Charles will be taking on the role of Richard Porter, Neil and Katya’s former dance coach who narrates the show’s story of how a boy from Britain and a girl from Russia met, fell in love and overcame the odds to become dance stars.

Actor Charles Venn plays a regular role in BBC’s Casualty playing Jacob Masters. He was also a recent quarter finalist contestant on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. Other TV credits include Miranda, (BBC), The Musketeers(BBC), Eastenders (BBC), Moving On (LA Prods), Dream Team (Sky), Holby City (BBC) and The Bill (ITV). His theatre credits include Kingston 14 (Theatre Royal Stratford), The First Wife (Soho Theatre), Annie Get Your Gun(Young Vic) and Ali the Great (Soho Theatre). Film credits include Monochrome (Electric Flix), Ghost Recon Alpha (RSA Films), Wrong Turn 3 (20th Century Fox), The Dark Knight (Warner Bros), The Bourne Ultimatum(Universal) and Return to the House on Haunted Hill (Warner Bros). 

Joining Charles, Neil and Kayta onstage are a host of international dancers. 

Italian dancer Simone Arena has travelled the world performing with Burn The Floor. He has appeared on the Italian dance TV show Amici and performed on Strictly Come Dancing in Blackpool.

Portuguese dancer Renato Baros Nobres was the winner of Hip Hop International 2018. Hehas performed onDancing with the Stars, Eurovision Song Contest (2014 and 2019), The Voice, the Golden Globes, The X Factor,Portuguese Idol and with Madonna.

Australian champion Jeremy Basile is the current British National Professional Latin Show Dance Champion. He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars Australia and has performed on international tours of Burn The Floor(2010-2016). 

British dancer Kate Basile (alongside her husband Jeremy) is the current British National Professional Latin Show Dance Champion. She is the previous British Closed Ballroom world champion and has represented Britain in two World Championships. She has also performed on international tours of Burn The Floor (2013- 2016). Dancing clearly runs in the family as she is also Neil’s cousin.

Michael Danilczuk became Polish national champion in 2014 with his partner Jowita.  He has appeared on So You Think You Can Dance (Poland) and Poland’s Got Talent. He is currently performing with Burn The Floor.

British dancer Kerri-Anne Donaldson holds 7 National, 5 International and 2 British Open titles. She reached the semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent with her troupe Kings and Queens in 2013. For several years she worked as a choreographer for the French version of Strictly Come Dancing and now works on the UK show.

Giada Lini is an Italian Show Dance champion and represented Italy in the World Championships in 2013. She won the Show Dance World Cup in 2014. For 3 years she performed on the Italian dance TV show Amici and has toured the world with Burn The Floor. She has danced on Strictly Come Dancing in Blackpool and London (her partner is Strictly professional Graziano Di Prima).

Jowita Przystal became Polish national champion in 2014 with her partner Michael.  She has appeared on So You Think You Can Dance (Poland) and Poland’s Got Talent. She is currently performing with Burn The Floor.

British dancer Korina Travis has held numerous Ballroom and Latin titles including British Under 21 Latin champion, Amateur Latin South of England Champion and Manhattan DanceSport Championships Under 21 Latin Champion. She was also the Junior Solo Cheerleading champion in 2004. She was runner up on the BBC’s Dinky Dancing Competition in 2006.

Break-dancer Chris Arias completes the main cast alongside 8 dancers from The Vale School of Dance in Stockport. Each performance will also see 15 new dance students take part in one number. The students are from Performers College, Bird College, Dance Connection and All Stars Academy, taking the cast up to 37.

Directed and choreographed by Neil Jones, SOMNIUM: A Dancer’s Dream tells the story of a boy from Britain and a girl from Russia who met, fell in love and overcame the odds to become dance stars. Starring real life couple Neil and Katya Jones and a company of dancers, the show features vivid storytelling and sensational Latin and ballroom choreography to produce a dance show like no other. It also depicts a complicated modern love story, exploring how the path of love doesn’t always run smoothly. SOMNIUM was originally created for Lichfield Festival and has been re-worked for this London run.

Born on a British Army camp in Germany, Neil is a creative and innovative choreographer as well as dancer.  Katya was born in St Petersburg, Russia and started dancing at the age of 6. In 2008 she formed a partnership with Neil and they went on to marry in 2013 before becoming World Champions

                     

StrattonOakmont Productions Ltd presents

By Jordan Belfort
Adapted and Directed by Alexander Wright
 

• WORLD PREMIERE IMMERSIVE PRODUCTION OF THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, BASED ON JORDAN BELFORT’S INFAMOUS MEMOIR, AS MADE FAMOUS BY THE OSCAR-WINNING MOVIE BY MARTIN SCORSESE STARRING LEONARDO DICAPRIO, TO OPEN IN CENTRAL LONDON IN SEPTEMBER 2019
   
• FROM THE TEAM BEHIND THE GREAT GATSBY, THE UK’S LONGEST RUNNING IMMERSIVE SHOW
   
• TICKETS NOW ON SALE AT WWW.IMMERSIVEWOLF.COM

The Wolf of Wall Street is coming to London in a brand new immersive production based on the memoir of the infamous ‘90s New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort, as depicted by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie of the same name by Martin Scorsese. The world premiere production will plunge audiences into a world of greed, power and excess, bringing to life the highs and lows of Jordan Belfort’s millionaire lifestyle in a night of Class A entertainment. Adapted and directed byAlexander Wright (The Great Gatsby), the show will preview in a central London location, from 5 September 2019. Further casting and venue details will be announced in due course.

Jordan Belfort. Stock-market millionaire at 26. Federal convict at 36. By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could. 


Stratton Oakmont is hiring. The FBI is closing in. You’re either with him or you’re against him.

Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street, said: “You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the film, now you can experience The Wolf of Wall Street in person. It’s going to be the greatest f**king show you’ve ever seen. Get your fun coupons now.”

Louis Hartshorn and Brian Hook of Stratton Oakmont Productions Ltd, said: “The Wolf of Wall Street is a fascinating account of the extremes of capitalism and hedonistic behaviour and how obsession with money can bring humanity to its knees. Creating this show in an immersive format is mind blowing – there’s no better way to tell this story. We’re building a world over four storeys in central London featuring iconic 1990s’ New York, trader schemes and even supercars. You’ll be able to eat in our restaurant, drink in our bars, trade with Jordan, or work for the FBI. Our guests can expect the outrageous, the spectacular and the downright ridiculous.”

The Wolf of Wall Street is presented by Stratton Oakmont Productions Ltd and comes from the minds behind The Great Gatsby – the longest-ever running immersive show in the UK which continues an open-ended run in London Bridge, as well as playing in other cities across Europe. Producers Louis Hartshorn and Brian Hook’s current shows also include Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 The Musical in the West End and Amelie The Musical (UK Tour). The Wolf of Wall Street is adapted and directed by Alexander Wright.

Tickets are now on sale at www.immersivewolf.com