Home

Morphic Graffiti presents

The Country Wife

By William Wycherley

 

28 March – 21 April

Director: Luke Fredericks; Set and Costume Designer: Stewart Charlesworth

Movement Director: Heather Douglas; Lighting Designer: Sam Waddington

Co-Artistic Directors of Morphic Graffiti, Luke Fredericks and Stewart Charlesworth, today announce casting of the ‘Bright Young Things’ for their new adaptation of William Wycherley’s restoration comedy The Country Wife. Luke Fredericks directs EastEnders’ Eddie Eyre as Harry Horner, Call the Midwife’s Leo Staar (Harcourt), West End stars Siubhan Harrison (Alithea) and Nancy Sullivan (Margery Pinchwife) with Daniel Cane (Sparkish), Mabel Clements (Lucy/ Dainty Fidget) and Joshua Hill (Dorilant) completing the company. Thrust into the excesses and seductions of late 1920s London: a city exploding with a heavy mix of jazz, gin and scandalous affairs the production, opens at Southwark Playhouse on 4 April, with previews from 28 March, and runs until 21 April. Full casting still to be announced.

“Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power”. Oscar Wilde

Renowned playboy, Harry Horner, has made it known in the society pages that he is now impotent. For the jealous husbands, this cunning lothario is neither a threat to their wives nor their reputations.

Meanwhile, business brings the newly married Jack Pinchwife to the city with his much younger wife Margery in tow. Dazzled by everything laid out in front of her, Margery is determined to savour it all, regardless of the consequences.

This is the Twenties, the ladies are now very much on top and they alone will decide what, and indeed who, comes their way.

With the decadence of the London social scene and the creative and sexual revolution of the ‘Bright Young Things’ movement, it won’t just be the hemlines that are rising at Southwark this spring.

 

www.morphicgraffiti.com

Twitter: @morphicgraffiti

Facebook: Morphic Graffiti

 

The Country Wife

Listings

Southwark Playhouse

77-85 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BD

28 March – 21 April

Box Office: 020 7407 0234

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

 

Tickets:

£12 (Wednesday 28 March to Monday 3 April 2018)

£20/£16 (concessions)

Performance Schedule:

Monday to Saturdays 7.30pm. Matinees on Saturdays and Tuesdays at 3pm

Age guidance: 12+

David King for Summer Holiday Theatre Ltd presents

BRITISH SINGER-DANCER RAY QUINN

JOINS THE 2018 UK TOUR OF

 

BRAND NEW STAGE MUSICAL

 

SUMMER HOLIDAY

Brand new stage musical Summer Holiday is set to tour the UK from May 2018, with the famous red double-decker bus making its first stop at the Liverpool Empire on Tuesday 8^th May.

Based on the iconic 1960’s film of the same name, starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows, Summer Holiday will include all of the number one hits from the movie, plus some additional Cliff Richard classics.

Taking on the lead role of Don made famous by Cliff Richard, is singer-songwriter Ray Quinn. Ray shot to fame as the runner-up in ITV1’s The X Factor in 2006. This spurned a career in both music and of late musicals, with his debut album ‘Doing it My Way’ entering the charts at Number 1, and quickly gaining platinum status. Ray is perhaps best known of late for ‘doing the double’ on ITV1’s hugely successful show Dancing on Ice, winning for the first time in 2009, and then again on Dancing on Ice: Champion of Champions in 2014. Ray’s theatre credits include Danny Zuko in Grease (West End), Dirty Dancing (West End), Legally Blonde (UK Tour) and most recently, The Wedding Singer (UK Tour).

Summer Holiday tells the story of Don and his fellow London Transport mechanics as they journey together in a red double-decker bus through Paris, the Alps, Italy and Greece. Along the way they pick up a girl singing group and a young American pop star who is on the run from her domineering mother!

This hit – filled musical features many of 1960’s biggest songs including In the Country, Summer Holiday, Travellin’ Light, Bachelor Boy, Move It, Living Doll, The Young Ones and On the Beach.

Tickets for Summer Holiday are on sale now. Further casting to be announced in due course.

 

WEBSITE| TWITTER

 

SUMMER HOLIDAY

 

Stage Adaptation by Michael Gyngell and Mark Haddigan

 

Based on the film SUMMER HOLIDAY, Directed by Peter Yates

Screenplay by Ronald Cass and Peter Myers

By special arrangement with StudioCanal

 

Orchestrations by Keith Strachan

 

Presented by arrangement with

Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited

On behalf of Josef Weinberger Limited

 

Executive Producer

David King

 

Director and Choreographer

Racky Plews

SUMMER HOLIDAY – 2018 UK TOUR DATES

Tuesday 8 – Saturday 12 May                                                     Box Office: 0844 871 3017

Liverpool Empire                                                                              Website: www.atgtickets.com/liverpool

Tuesday 15 – Saturday 19 May                                                   Box Office: 0844 871 7652

Milton Keynes Theatre                                                                  Website: www.atgticket.com/miltonkeynes

Tuesday 22 – Saturday 26 May                                                   Box Office: 0844 871 7645

New Victoria Theatre, Woking                                                    Website: www.atgtickets.com/woking

Tuesday 29 May – Saturday 2 June                                           Box Office: 0844 871 3024

Grand Opera House, York                                                             Website: www.atgtickets.com/york

Tuesday 5 – Saturday 9 June                                                       Box Office: 020 3285 6000

Churchill Theatre, Bromley                                                          Website: www.churchilltheatre.co.uk

Tuesday 12 – Saturday 16 June                                                  Box Office:  0844 871 3011

New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham                                      Website: www.atgtickets.com/birmingham

Tuesday 19 – Saturday 23 June                                                  Box Office: 0844 871 3014

Edinburgh Playhouse                                                                     Website: www.atgtickets.com/edinburgh

Tuesday 26 – Saturday 30 June                                                  Box Office: 01752 267222

Theatre Royal, Plymouth                                                              Website: www.theatreroyal.com

Tuesday 17 – Saturday 21 July                                                    Box Office: 0844 871 7650

Theatre Royal, Brighton                                                                 Website: www.atgtickets.com/brighton

Tuesday 24 – Saturday 28 July                                                    Box Office: 0844 856 1111

Blackpool Winter Gardens                                                           Website: www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk

Tuesday 30 July – Saturday 4 August                                        Box Office: 0844 848 2700

Leeds Grand Theatre                                                                      Website: www.leedsgrandtheatre.com

Tuesday 14 – Saturday 18 August                                              Box Office: 029 2063 6464

Wales Millennium Centre                                                             Website: www.wmc.org

Tuesday 22 – Saturday 27 August                                               Box Office: 01702 351135

Cliffs Pavilion, Southend                                                                Website: www.southendtheatres.org.uk

Tuesday 4 – Saturday 8 September                                          Box Office: 01322 220000

Orchard Theatre, Dartford                                                           Website: www.orchardtheatre.co.uk

Tuesday 11 – Saturday 15 September                                     Box Office: 01244 409113

Chester Storyhouse                                                                        Website: www.storyhouse.com

Tuesday 18 – Saturday 22 September                                     Box Office: 0844 871 7646 ON SALE SOON

New Wimbledon Theatre                                                             Website: www.atgticket.com/wimbledon

Tuesday 25 – Saturday 29 September                                     Box Office: 01325 405405 ON SALE SOON

Darlington Hippodrome                                                                Website: www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk

Tuesday 2 – Saturday 6 October                                                Box Office: 0844 871 7649 ON SALE SOON

Regent Theatre, Stoke                                                                   Website: www.atgtickets.com/stoke

Tuesday 23 – Saturday 27 October                                           Box Office: 0844 871 7607 ON SALE SOON

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre                                                     Website www.atgtickets.com/aylesbury

Tuesday 30 October – Saturday 3 November                       Box Office: 0844 871 7647 ON SALE SOON

Kings Theatre, Glasgow                                                                 Website: www.atgtickets.com/glasgow

FURTHER DATES FOR 2018 AND 2019 TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

Darliington Hippodrome – until 24 February 2018

5*****

Perennial favourite Blood Brothers returns to the newly restored and renamed Darlington Hippodrome this week and received a rapturous reception.  This joy of a show is from the Bill Kenwright stables; with book, music and lyrics written by Willy Russell

Every version I have seen of this show has been different and every actor brings a different take on their part so it never gets the chance to be stale, however this version appears to have new life breathed into it with what seemed like shiney new sets and the cast being able to take full advantage of the new larger Darlington stage.

Telling the story of the Johnstone twins, the boys, Mickey and Edward, grow up on opposite sides of the track and disaster is predicted should they ever meet … but destiny draws them together and without knowing they are siblings, they become blood brothers

Set in Liverpool in the seventies, Mathew Craig snarls his way through the role of Narrator, spreading malevolence in his role of Devil in human form. Even in scenes where he doesn’t speak his presence just exudes menace.

Lyn Paul was unfortunately indisposed so we were treated to  Sarah Jane Buckley in the role of Mrs Johnson.  Buckley had been playing Mrs Lyons on the tour so by stepping into the new role we had Sarah Rayner in her first night as Mrs Lyons.  Buckley is phenomenal as matriarch Mrs Johnstone.  Her playing age seems to fit better and her Scouse accent is not as pronounced as it could be which gives the image of nice convent girl gone bad after meeting a man. She has a powerhouse of a voice, squeezing every bit of feeling out of her vocals. Her show stopping rendition of Tell Me it’s Not True takes your breath away and your heart genuinely breaks with the raw emotion in her performance.  Watching her visibly age with the last few scenes is amazing.  The mixture of weariness and warm affection with which she regards her children is palpable throughout. And at the end, with her twin sons lying dead before her, her face is a clenched mask of grief as she sings the climactic anthem with a power and bitterness that sends shivers racing down the spine.

Sarah Rayner as the desperate Mrs Lyons is outstanding.  Her desire to have a baby leading her to make the pact with Mrs Johnson for one of the twins, and the guilt for what she has done  shapes her life and causes the inevitable mental breakdown.  Keeping the secret from her husband (Tour Director Tim Churchill). But Mrs Lyons plays the final fatal part in telling Mickey about Linda and Eddie’s friendship and planting the seeds of doubt in Mickey’s fragile brain.  She might as well have shot the gun herself for the part she plays in this terrible tragedy

The twins are played by Mark Hutchinson as upper class and indulged Eddie, the child who was given away, and Sean Jones as Mickey the child who was kept. Jones delivers an outstanding performance ranging in age over the best part of 20 years. In his hand me down jumper and ragged shorts he is genuinely believable seven year old who is nearly eight, his 14 year old is hilarious and his tragic spiral down into despair in his later years is distressing to watch. Such is the performance that you really do believe in his problems and forget that he is acting.

Danielle Corlass plays Linda, the innocent caught in the crossfire, in love with both brothers and both in love with her. But it is Mickey who marries her after getting her pregnant although it is Eddie who helps her and Mickey in the later years.  She manages to layer the part with subtlety and show genuine tragedy

The whole company take on many roles throughout, and are adept and highly skilled in morphing into many diverse characters, from many walks of life, of various ages.  Watching brother Sammy (Daniel Taylor) age from a 10 year old tearaway to an adult career criminal.  A milkman become a gynaecologist with referenced humour and best change of all, for me, Graham Martin going from Private School Tutor to State School Teacher was fabulous.

Powerful, apt orchestration and superb lighting sets each scene impeccably, and add essential dynamic to the dramatic effect.  As an audience we laughed, we cried and we jumped in surprise 

Although plot, music and execution are exceptional, it is the immense overwhelming rush of emotions that you experience during the show that stays with you for along time after you have left the theatre.  

Do not attempt to see it without a stack of tissues.

In Darlington until Saturday 24 February and on tour around the UK.

The Lowry, Salford Quays – until Saturday 24th February 2018.  Reviewed by Julie Noller 

5*****

Brief Encounter based on Noel Cowards 1936 play Still Life, remembered fondly by many as the black and white film directed by David Lean, released in the aftermath of War in 1945. It’s often hailed as one of cinemas greatest love stories. Set in England on the eve of World War 2. No one can fail to be moved with emotion at the thought of a doomed love affair and the sadness of families ripped apart not only by a stiff upper lip attitude but by the impending heartache of war. It’s an English love affair without the froth of Hollywood, there’s no happy ending here, it was an excuse to weep those tears freely. Tears for lives that might have been.

How could this theatre production live up to that? Amazingly well, it’s given a modern twist by Emma Rice who adapted and directed Brief Encounter with Kneehigh Theatre. She celebrates those famed longed for Thursday encounters between Laura and Alec (Isabel Pollen & Jim Sturgeon) whose love you sense washing over them like the waves on the screen behind them, you want them to be winners, to run away and just be happy. Alas life is far from rosy. Alec is everything Fred (Laura’s husband) isn’t. Fred dependable, unemotional, tall, dark, just Fred, home with the children, allowing Laura her 1 single day a week. Yet is the grass greener on the other side of the train track? As with the film you never do quite know and part of the joy of Brief Encounter is your interpretation of the situation unfolding. Do they or don’t they? Did they or didn’t they? You are constantly catching your breath in those moments of wonder.

The modern twist comes in the form of those other character interactions, the budding relationships. Most take place within the station café. You see the fun filled youth without a care of the bleak future facing them. Beryl (Beverly Rudd) has to be everyone’s favourite character whizzing around on her scooter, nipping out for a bag of chips on her way home. Her wonderfully naive nature you want to cradle and long for it to survive those darkest hours that lie just around the corner. Musical numbers backed up by the jazz band on stage bring an uplifting element to a serious love affair and help us to feel the emotion building. I’ve mentioned the screen this is used to bring those black and white images to life, paying homage to the 1945 film. Characters climbing in and out of the screen. Making the film seam ever more realistic. Moving trains, characters running and climbing aboard. It’s slow moving at times, almost making you shout ‘for god sake man, get a move on and just kiss her’ then fast moving, you want to rewind and stop time.

There’s plenty of humour which I must say surprised me, I expected melodrama. I issued a mascara warning, took tissues. For it is not a spoiler to say we all know the ending here. Alec is the most chivalrous of English knights and falls on his sword by leaving for South Africa, before families are destroyed. The humour helps in those moments of tissue dabbing. During those moments of wave crashing you witness Laura under water, you actually wonder is she lost? Drowning under the weight of expectation as a Wife and Mother, or is she learning to swim for her freedom against expectation?

Brief Encounter is simply magnificent, it’s a brave thing to take a small cast and re-imagine one of the greatest love stories. Yet Emma Rice has done an incredible job, bringing human love, suffering and angst to a younger audience in a way they and us golden generation can truly appreciate and long to watch again. The cast more than deserved their standing ovation, they were superb.

Brief Encounter is heading for a run on The West End after Saturday sees it’s run at The Lowry finish. It’s well worth watching whether your with your friends or your partner.

The Thelmas: Coconut
Ovalhouse, Kennington: 11th – 28th April 2018
UK Tour: 16th May – 30th June 2018

Based on writer Guleraana Mir’s real experience of interracial and intercultural
relationships, Coconut will embark on a UK tour this summer. This fresh new play challenges dated Asian female stereotypes with an honest portrait of the contemporary British Asian experience. With its unremitting humour, Mir explores the impact of religion and faith – and the lack of it – in modern romance

As her faith wanes, Rumi enjoys a glass of wine and a bacon sandwich more than a trip to the mosque. A British Pakistani woman, born and raised a Muslim, she may have hit the jackpot with Simon who is willing to convert to Islam to keep her family happy. But, as Simon begins to explore his faith, Rumi’s world begins to spin off its axis

Coconut will see the professional debut of Kuran Dohil as Rumi. The cast will also include Jimmy Carter (The Giant Killers, Edinburgh Fringe; Othello, Baron Court’s Theatre; Romeo and Juliet, Iris Theatre) as Simon and Tibu Fortes (A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Shakespeare’s Globe; Requiem, BBC/Netflix; People Just do Nothing, BBC3) who will play Riz and the Imam

Although irreverent in tone, this dark comedy tackles grey areas of emotional and religious coercion. Coconut refers to the controversial term used to describe someone who is brown on the outside and white on the inside and this production does not shy away from interrogating the contemporary British Asian experience

Mir’s writing is side-achingly funny at times … and deeply affecting at others … hits both a zeitgeist and the universality of coming to terms with your own identity.(FemaleArts)

Writer Guleraana Mir explains, Coconut is a story I don’t see being told, it is genuinely representative of the realities of living in a multicultural society; relatable, regardless of what culture you’re from. It was very important to me, when creating the characters of Rumi and Simon, that they were honest, both to themselves and each other. Sometimes that honesty is hilariously funny, and other times it is painfully uncomfortable. But at the heart of the play is a woman trying to stay truthful to herself, in a way that we wouldn’t really expect from an Asian stereotype, which is why audiences have loved her

Beginning life as a fifteen minute monologue produced as part of the Camden Fringe, the current production of Coconut is the result of research, development and support from the New Diorama Theatre’s BAMER programme, Diorama Arts Studios and Park Theatre’s Script Accelerator programme. The production is funded by Arts Council England. This tour is supported by In Good Company, the East Midlands’ flagship artist professional development programme

Tour Dates

11th -28th April Ovalhouse, London
52-54 Kennington, Oval, London, SE11 5SW

16th May ARC Stockton Arts Centre, Stockton on Tees
Dovecot Street, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1LL

19th May Derby Theatre, Derby
15 Theatre Walk, St Peter’s Quarter, Derby, DE1 2NF

24th May Oldham Coliseum, Oldham
Fairbottom Street, Oldham, OL1 3SW

26th May The Curve, Slough
William Street, Slough, SL1 1XY

18th June Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham
St. Peter’s Hill, Grantham, NG31 6PZ

19th June Brewhouse Arts Centre, Burton Upon Trent
Union Street, Burton Upon Trent, DE14 1EB

27th June Lincoln Drill Hall, Lincoln
Freeschool Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1EY

28th June Old Library, Mansfield
Leeming Street, Mansfield, NG18 1NG

29th June South Holland Centre, Spalding
23 Market Place, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE11 1SS

30th June Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester
University of Leicester, Lancaster Road, Leicester, LE1 7HA

The Lyric Hammersmith and Filter announce casting

for the UK Tour of

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Sean Holmes

A Lyric Hammersmith & Filter Production

The Lyric Hammersmith and Filter’s critically acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night’s Dreamtoday announces the casting for the UK tour, which opens at the Lyric Hammersmith on Friday 13 April 2018. The cast and band includes Allyson Ava-Brown, George Fouracres, Daniel Fraser,David Ganly, Harry Jardine, Matt King Smith, Amy Marchant, Kayla Meikle, Alan Pagan, Michael Palmer and Dharmesh Patel.

Following the production’s hugely successful run at both the Lyric Hammersmith and Royal Exchange Manchester in 2012, the production was revived in 2016 at the Lyric and then toured to Brisbane Festival and Dublin Theatre Festival. This riotous reinterpretation of one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays now returns for a seven-week UK tour. Featuring original live music, this classic tale of young lovers and warring fairies is given a unique and irreverent twist.

 

Sean Holmes, Director and Artistic Director at the Lyric Hammersmith, said “I’m delighted that the Lyric is back touring the country and especially thrilled that Filter’s Lyric Dream is the focus of this major national tour. We hope new audiences everywhere will delight in its anarchy, its irreverence and its fun.”

Allyson Ava-Brown

For the Lyric: Aladdin

Theatre credits include: The Quiet House (Birmingham Rep/Park Theatre); Etienne Sisters, Beauty and the Beast, Crowning Glory, Jack and the Beanstalk, Martina Cole’s Dangerous Lady (Theatre Royal Stratford East); In Bed (Theatre Centre Works); Snakes and Ladders (UK Tour); Puss In Boots (Hackney Empire); Carnival of the Animals (Riverside Studios); The Swallowing Dark(Liverpool Playhouse/Theatre503); The Wiz (Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse);Moonshadow/Yusuf Islam In Concert (Tour); The Villains Opera, Honk! The Ugly Duckling (National Theatre); Les Miserables (Queen’s Theatre); Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Anthony and Cleopatra(RSC/Stratford/Tour/West End); Hairyfairies (Fick Productions); Simplyheavenly (Trafalgar Studios);Passports to the Promised Land (Nitro); Cinderella (Watford Palace Theatre).

Film and TV credits include: Casualty, Doctors, Bear Behaving Badl, The Wrong Door, Basil Brush Show, EastEnders, Sea Of Souls, Kerching!, Holby City, Secret Diary of A Call Girl, Vera, Sherlock Holmes And The Living Dead, Witness and Ambition to Live.

 

George Fouracres

Theatre credits include: Antigone, Romeo and Juliet, The Cure, The Seventh Seal and Black Comedy(ADC); Babushka, The Red Shoes (Troupe); Diary of a Nobody (Kings Head Theatre); Ecclesiastical Perks (The New Arcadians); Life x 3 (HATS); Pick Me Up (Edinburgh Fringe).

Television credits include: Drunk History, Raised By Wolves and The Woman In Red.

Radio credits include: Daphne Sounds Expensive and Newsjack.

 

Daniel Fraser

For the Lyric: Jack and the Beanstalk

Theatre & Opera credits include: Deny, Deny, Deny (Park Theatre); Flare Path (UK Tour); Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies (RSC Swan/Aldwych/Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway); Chariots of Fire(Hampstead Theatre/Gielgud); Oh, To Be in England (Finborough Theatre); After Lydia (Watermill);Orpheus: The Mythical (Royal Opera House).

Film and TV credits include: Doctors, Holby City, The Patrol, Frequencies, Scar Tissue, Happinessand Lab Rats.

David Ganly

For the Lyric: Cinderella

Theatre credits include: Girl From The North Country (Noël Coward); On Blueberry Hill (Dublin Theatre Festival); Once (Olympia Theatre Dublin); Lonesome West (Tron Theatre); The Plough & the Stars (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/Irish & US Tour); Shakespeare in Love (Noël Coward); Threepenny Opera (Gate Theatre); King Lear (Theatre Royal Bath);  Macbeth (Sheffield Crucible); The Lonesome West (Druid Theatre, The Royal Court/Sydney Festival/Lyceum, Broadway); Of Mice and Men(Watermill); The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium); The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Young Vic),Chicago (Cambridge); The Weir (Gate Theatre); Translations (National Theatre); The Full Monty(Prince of Wales).

Film and TV credits include: Citizen Charlie, Sunset Song, Body of Lies, Hippie Hippie Shake, Dorothy Mills, Widow’s Peak and Space Truckers. 

Harry Jardine

For the Lyric: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Brisbane Festival/Dublin Festival).

For Filter: Twelfth Night (India, US and UK Tour)

Theatre credits include: The Secret Seven (Storyhouse, Chester); Octagon (Arcola); Shakespeare in Love (Noel Coward); Faster Higher Stronger Straighter (Scealta Mora); People of the Town (London Collective).

Film and TV credits include: Doctors, What is Wrong with these People? Journey’s End, Master of Ceremonies, The Thief and In the Heart of the Sea.

Radio credits include: Borgen, What Does The K Stand For?, Woman in Mind, The Oresteia andHome Front.

He is the Artistic Director of Vamp Theatre Company

Amy Marchant

For Filter: Twelfth Night (India/USA/UK tour)

Theatre credits include: Shakespeare in Love (Noel Coward); To Sir, With Love (UK Tour); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest (The Willow Globe Theatre).

Film and TV credits include: Doctors, Confection and Big Day.

She is an Associate Artist of The Willow Globe Theatre.

Kayla Meikle

For the Lyric: Jack and the Beanstalk.

Theatre credits include: Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet (National Theatre); PRIMETIME (Royal Court);Merlin (Nuffield); The Taming of the Shrew (Arts Theatre); All That Lives (Ovalhouse); Streets(Interval Productions)

Film and TV credits include: Will.

Dharmesh Patel

For the Lyric: Beauty and The Beast and Too Close To Home.

Theatre & Opera credits include: The Captive Queen, The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Cymbeline, The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Globe); Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, King Lear, Hamlet, The Comedy OF Errors, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, American Trade, The Grain Store, Morte d’Arthur (RSC); East is East, England Away (UK Tour); Fever Dream Southside(Citizens Theatre); Albion (Bush Theatre); Too Clever By Half (Royal Exchange Manchester); The Snow Queen (Trestle Theatre); Happy and Married (Freedom Studios); Satyagraha(Improbable/ENO/New York); Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (Octagon Theatre, Bolton); Slow Time (National Theatre); Silent Cry (Red Ladder Theatre Co.); The Happy Prince (Leicester Haymarket Theatre).

Television includes: Casualty, Doctors and Ray’s Daze.

Radio includes: Cooking By Heart, Love Boat, Silver Street and Wimmy Road

Tour Dates

Lyric Hammersmith

13 & 14 April 2018

Website: www.lyric.co.uk

Box Office: 020 8741 6850

Hull Truck Theatre

17 April – 21 April 2018

Website: www.hulltruck.co.uk

Box Office: 01482 323638

Theatr Clwyd

24 April – 28 April 2018

Website: www.theatrclwyd.com

Box Office: 01352 701521

Nuffield Southampton Theatres

01 May – 05 May 2018

Website: www.nstheatres.co.uk

Box Office: 023 8067 1771

Exeter Northcott Theatre

08 May – 12 May 2018

Website: www.exeternorthcott.co.uk

Box Office: 01392 726363

Oxford Playhouse

15 May – 19 May 2018

Website: www.oxfordplayhouse.com

Box Office: 01865 305305

Cast in Doncaster

22 May – 26 May 2018

Website: www.castindoncaster.com

Box Office: 01302 303 959

Cambridge Arts Theatre

05 June – 09 June 2018

Website: www.cambridgeartstheatre.com

Box Office: 01223 503333

WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT LIVE ON STAGE

CELEBRATES ITS 10^TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A WEST END RUN THIS SUMMER!

 

We’re going to the WEST END

We’re going to see a Bear Hunt

What a beautiful Play!

We’re not scared….

 

Wednesday 4 July – Sunday 2 September 2018

Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue

 

Ten years after its first UK tour, the smash-hit production of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt returns to the West End at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue from 4 July. Music, laughter, rhymes, rhythms and repetitions together with puppetry, paint, water and mud… not to mention a bear – we’re not scared! – make this fun-filled adventure the perfect theatrical outing for all young families.

Sally Cookson’s hugely inventive production set to Benji Bower’s lively musical score is a mischievous celebration of play, utilising everyday objects and materials to capture the imagination and propel audiences into the world of Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury’s much loved picture book.

Join our intrepid family of adventurers and their musical dog as they wade through the swishy swashy grass, the splishy splashy river and the oozy squelchy mud, in search of a bear. Expect plenty of interaction and a few surprises along the way.

Producer, Kenny Wax said today, ‘I’m absolutely thrilled to be celebrating We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’s 10^th anniversary, and returning to the West End this summer seems the ideal way to do so! Since the show set out on its first UK tour we have had the joy of presenting Sally Cookson and Benji Bower’s unique and brilliant adaptation to young audiences across the UK, Australia, Asia and America. It’s wonderful to continue bringing this much loved story to life for new generations of children and we look forward to doing so for many more years to come.’

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is an action-packed treat for those who love the book and the ideal theatrical experience for first time theatregoers.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is presented by Kenny Wax Family Entertainment and is created by the critically acclaimed production team including director Sally Cookson, composer Benji Bower, designer Katie Sykes, lighting designer Tony Simpson, sound designer Jason Barnes, associate director and puppet designer Marc Parrett. The cast will be announced later this year.

 

Richmond Theatre – until 24 February 2018.  Reviewed by Jessica Brady

3***

The beautiful Richmond Theatre plays host on the national tour of Strangers on a Train a classic 1950’s novel written by Patricia Highsmith and adapted for stage by Craig Warner.

The story follows two men who meet on a train and it takes a turn that will change both their lives forever. Charles Bruno ( Chris Harper ) strikes up a deal with Guy Haines ( Jack Ashton ) over several drinks as drinking is one of Charles’ favourite pastimes and with a clink of a glass the fate of two unsuspecting individuals are sealed whether Guy likes it or not.

Charles and his father have never seen eye to eye and after many drinks, Charles comes up with the idea of a killing pact. Charles would kill Guy’s cheating wife and Guy would kill Charles’ father! Foolproof plan. Guy obviously doesn’t think this is a serious plan and carries on with his own life putting the whole experience down to the ramblings of a drunk making conversation.

What transpires is the over indulgent Charles follows through with his side of the deal killing the wife of Guy and continues to hounds poor Guy to absolute distraction till he carries out his part in killing Charles father. He worm’s his way fully into his life including meeting his new wife Anne ( Hannah Tointon ) at the wedding never giving Guy a chance at normality.

Private investigator and family friend of Charles , Arthur Gerard (John Middleton) makes it his mission to get to the bottom of the murder and there are devastating consequences.

All the cast do a decent job of telling the story, some better than others but the standout is by far is Chris Harper playing the manic and manipulative Charles with truth and a whole colour of emotions and despite playing the villain type gave us a lot of light and shade with his portrayal and giving it all that the character needed.

There were a few times when I wondered why certain decisions had been made with the direction and there were a few occasions where the acting was on one note the entire time, not really allowing us to get to the authenticity of the characters on stage but overall it did the job.

The set of this show was a real spectacle with the use of interchangeable sets all with in an American flag. A clever idea but sadly very distracting as it was so clunky and noisy backstage !

With a handful of well known TV stars, the play had all the set up to be a wonderful performance but it didn’t quite hit the mark, however it was a great story with lots of twists and turns and worth a watch if your into that genre!

REVIEW: (Sunderland Empire) ★★★★

February 20 2018   

For West End Wilma 

https://www.westendwilma.com/review-thriller-live-sunderland-empire/

Thriller Live was performed in the West End for the first time in 2006, embarking on its first UK tour and eventually finding a home at Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in 2008, making it one of the longest running shows in the West End. With tours and shows currently playing in over 31 different countries.

Whatever your thoughts on Michael the man, there is no denying that Michael Jackson the musician was unbelievably talented and his record sales totalling over 1 billion and his earnings last year (2017), 8 years AFTER his death, were over $75 million. So I approached this show with no idea what it was – a musical? A concert? A tribute act? But after seeing it, I can tell you it is a spectacular.

Essentially a greatest hits album on stage; with the songs performed by a number of ‘Jackos’, of different genders, ages and races. Shaquille Hemmans, Adriana Louise, Eddy Lima, Rory Taylor and Resident Director Britt Quintin were all vocally outstanding, giving some amazing versions of Jackson’s songs. The production starts with the early sounds of Jackson 5, actually starting from ABC, before giving us the best of his solo material, including the Thriller and Bad albums.

Eddy Lima embodied the spirit of Jackson best of all and was able to perfectly replicate Jackson’s mannerisms, including the famous moonwalk, incredibly well. Rory Taylor also impressed during the slower and more soulful numbers, giving a hauntingly beautiful version of She’s Out of my Life.

The dancing, it has to be said, shone along side the vocals, accomplished as they were, but let’s face it, Michael was all about the dancing, and it was mesmerisingly good throughout. The brilliant band (Andy Jeffcoat, Rob Minns, Allan Salmon, Jo Phillpotts, Gordon Wilson, Johnny Copland and Tom Arnold) mixed rock, soul and pop and provided emphatic musical support. It was fantastic to see them in vision during some of the show’s epic guitar solos.

The staging was clever and vibrant, supported by some excellent lighting and pyrotechnics. A screen at the back of the stage is used for some clever effects and works neatly in tandem with the choreography. The set is stripped back, with just two sets of steps and a raised catwalk the only permanent fixture, but it is used unbelievably well by the performers, while every piece of additional set, alongside the props, are tailored to bring that extra hint of nostalgia to each song.

Nothing about this show is cheap. It’s a lavish celebration of the life and songs of the King of Pop and it’s a wonderful night out. There is a lot of snobbery about Thriller Live in the theatre world and whether or not it qualifies as a West End show. But a Downs Syndrome gentleman sat by me, was dancing in his sparkly jacket, hat and single glove, loving every minute of the show. His joy was infectious and when it comes to theatre, that is really all that matters.

AWARD WINNING THEATRICAL CHAOS ON ITS WAY TO DARLINGTON HIPPODROME

The Play That Goes Wrong, the West End’s Olivier Award winning box office smash hit will be making its way to Darlington for a week long run in March.

Winning eleven international awards, including the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and a 2017 Tony Award for its Broadway transfer, The Play That Goes Wrong continues to play to sold out houses in the West End, whilst enjoying its new status as Broadway’s longest running play. It is a remarkable rags-to-riches story for a play, which started its life at a London fringe venue with only four paying members of the public at the first performance, and has since played to an audience of almost one and a half million worldwide.

Co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, The Play That Goes Wrong is a highly physical comedy packed with finely-tuned farce and Buster Keaton inspired slapstick delivered with split-second timing and ambitious daring. The play introduces The ‘Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’ who are attempting to put on a 1920s’ murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong… does, as the accident prone thespians battle on against all the odds to get to their final curtain call.

The Play That Goes Wrong runs at Darlington Hippodrome from Monday 5 to Saturday 10 March

To book contact the box office on 01325 405405 or visit www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk