20th Anniversary Production of RENT

A NEW PRODUCTION CELEBRATING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF JONATHAN LARSON’S

PULITZER PRIZE- & TONY AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL

RENT

UK TOUR TO OPEN AT THEATR CLWYD 21 OCTOBER 2016

WITH A CHRISTMAS SEASON AT ST. JAMES THEATRE, LONDON

NATIONAL PRESS NIGHT ON TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016

 

Robert Mackintosh and Idili Theatricals Limited, in association with Theatr Clwyd and Wales Millennium Centre, are presenting the 20thAnniversary production of Jonathan Larson’s ground-breaking Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical RENT.  After opening at Theatr Clwyd for a limited season from 21 October to 12 November 2016, RENT will go on a three-week tour, prior to a Christmas Season at St. James Theatre, London from 8 December 2016 to 28 January 2017, with a national press night on Tuesday 13 December 2016.  2017 tour dates are to be announced.  The new production will be directed by Bruce Guthrie.

Ross Hunter (West End credits: We Will Rock YouLegally Blonde, Drew in Rock of Ages and The Book of Mormon) will play Roger Davis, Billy Cullum (West End credits: MatildaCharlie and the Chocolate Factory) will play Mark Cohen, Ryan O’Gorman (West End credits: Les MisérablesThe Phantom of the OperaBilly Elliot) will play Tom Collins, Shanay Holmes (West End credits: Thriller LiveThe Bodyguard,Close to You) will play Joanne Jefferson, Layton Williams (Billy in Billy Elliot and original Young Michael Jackson in Thriller Live in the West End, Simon in UK Tour of Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies, Duane in UK tour of Hairspray, Stephen in BBC’s Bad Education and the 2015 feature film of the same name) will play Angel Schunard, Philippa Stefani (West End credits: In The HeightsI Can’t Sing!Ghost the Musical and Sister ActHigh Society at Old Vic) will play Mimi Marquez and Lucie Jones (The X Factor finalist whose theatre credits include Elle Jones in Legally Blonde at Curve, Molly Jenson on tour in Ghost the Musical, Victoria in the world premiere of American Psycho at London’s Almeida Theatre and Cosette in the West End production of Les Misérables) will play Maureen Johnson. The cast will also include Kevin Yates, Jordan Laviniere, Christina Modestou, Bobbie Little, Jenny O’Leary and Katie Bradley. Casting for the role of Benjamin Coffin III will be announced shortly. 

Jonathan Larson’s musical, inspired by Puccini’s opera La Bohème, won four Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996. Ben Brantley’s New York Times review was a love letter to the show, calling RENT an “exhilarating, landmark rock opera”. RENT ran on Broadway for 12 years, from 1996 to 2008. The show premiered in London’s West End in 1998 at the Shaftesbury Theatre, where it ran for 18 months. It was adapted into a film in 2005.                                                  

 

Larson’s world is inhabited by a group of bohemian artists who struggle to maintain their friendships and their non-conformist ideals in New York’s East Village. Facing their problems head on, they make personal self-discoveries and find what really matters most in life. The poignancy of the story was heightened when Jonathan Larson died of an aortic dissection on 25 January 1996, the night before the show’s first off-Broadway performance at New York Theatre Workshop.

The much-loved score features songs such as Seasons of LoveTake Me or Leave Me, One Song GloryLa Vie BohèmeWithout YouI’ll Cover YouOut TonightI Should Tell You and the title song.

Director Bruce Guthrie said, “I am delighted to be working with a truly world-class creative team on this new production of Jonathan Larson’s classic musical. Our aim is to serve the fans of the show who have loved it so passionately since its ground-breaking premiere Off Broadway in 1996, while introducing it to a new generation of musical theatre fans. We want to capture the essence of bohemian New York City at the height of the AIDS epidemic. It’s a place of grime and excitement, where voices are fighting to be heard and the inhabitants are fighting to connect with one another, as well as fighting for their lives. The musical is a celebration of life and living in the moment. It’s blood and bone, sweat and tears, laughter and joy, despair, hate and love, all in this one remarkable year shared by a group of friends. It is a privilege to be working on one of the great ‘moment’ musicals and to celebrate 20 years of RENT.” 

Bruce Guthrie’s recent productions include The Last Mermaid starring Charlotte Church (Festival of Voice, June 2016, Wales Millennium Centre), Man to Man co-directed with Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham (Wales Millennium Centre), Lotty’s War (UK Tour), Bakersfield Mist(Duchess Theatre, London) and An Incident at the Border (Finborough Theatre and Trafalgar Studios, London). For the Singapore Repertory Theatre, he has directed Merchant of VeniceOthello and Twelfth Night, all at Shakespeare in the Park. He was associate director to Sam Mendes on The Bridge Project’s Richard III starring Kevin Spacey (Old Vic and World Tour) and to Howard Davies on All My Sons starring David Suchet (Apollo Theatre, London).

Tamara Harvey, Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd, said, “RENT is a powerful and passionately life-affirming musical and we’re delighted to be working with Robert Mackintosh, Idili Theatricals Limited and Wales Millennium Centre to bring it to a new generation in this, its 20th Anniversary year.”

The new production of RENT will have Choreography by Lee Proud, Set Design by Olivier Award-winner Anna Fleischle and Costume Design by Loren Elstein, with Lighting Design by Olivier and Tony Award-winner Rick Fisher, Sound Design by Olivier Award-winner Mike Walker, Video Design by Andrzej Goulding, Musical Direction by Phil Cornwell and Casting by Will Burton Casting.  

RENT has Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson, Musical Arrangements by Steve Skinner, Original Concept and Additional Lyrics by Billy Aronson, Music Supervision and Additional Arrangements by Tim Weil, and Dramaturg is Lynn Thomson.  RENT was originally produced in New York by New York Theatre Workshop and on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Alan S. Gordon and New York Theatre Workshop.

RENT is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Ltd.

For more information, visit www.RentOnStage.co.uk

Twitter: @RentOnStage

Instagram: Instagram.com/RENTsonstage

Facebook: facebook.com/RENTonstage                                                                                       

 

LISTINGS INFORMATION

21 October to 12 November 2016

Theatr Clwyd

Mold

Flintshire

CH7 1YA

Box Office: 01352 701521

Website:  www.theatrclwyd.com

On sale soon

 

15-19 November 2016

His Majesty’s Theatre

Rosemount Viaduct

Aberdeen AB25 1GL

Box Office: 01224 641122

Website:  www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/venues/his-majestys-theatre

Now on sale

22-26 November 2016

Malvern Festival Theatre

Grange Road

Malvern WR14 3HB

Box Office: 01684 892277

Website:  www.malvern-theatres.co.uk

Now on sale

29 November to 3 December 2016

Wycombe Swan

St. Mary Street

High Wycombe HP11 2XE

Box Office: 01494 512 000

Website:  www.wycombeswan.co.uk

Now on sale

 

8 December 2016 to 28 January 2017

St. James Theatre

12 Palace Street

London SW1E 5JA

Box Office: 0844 264 2140

Website:  www.stjamestheatre.co.uk

On sale 8 June

Cast Announcement for Rehearsal For Murder

LEEDS GRAND THEATRE ANNOUNCES CAST FOR

REHEARSAL FOR MURDER

GARY MAVERS, ALEX FERNS, SUSIE AMY, ANITA HARRIS, MARK WYNTER, LAUREN DRUMMOND AND BEN NEALON

 

From the pen of the legendary award-winning writing team Richard Levinson and William Link, the creators of the unsurpassable mystery series Murder She Wrote and the award-winning TV detective seriesColumbo comes this classic ‘whodunnit’ murder mystery.

TV favourites ALEX FERNS (Eastenders, Legend) and SUSIE AMY (Footballers’ Wives, Echo Beach) join a cast of much-loved Agatha Christie Theatre Company regulars including GARY MAVERS (Peak Practice, Emmerdale),  60’s pop legend MARK WYNTER (Cats, Dreamboats and Petticoats, The Phantom of the Opera) and BEN NEALON (Solider Solider). Entertainment icon ANITA HARRIS, Holby City’s LAUREN DRUMMOND, GWYNFOR JONES and GEORGIA NEVILLE complete the cast.

Following the decade-long success of The Agatha Christie Theatre Company, Bill Kenwright Ltd began an exciting new chapter in January 2016 with the launch of The Classic Thriller Theatre Company and its first production REHEARSAL FOR MURDER adapted for the stage by David Rogers.

Playwright Alex Dennison is left heartbroken when his fiancée and leading lady Monica Welles is found dead from an apparent suicide after the opening night of her stage debut. On the anniversary of that ill-fated night, Alex assembles the same cast and crew in the same theatre, for a reading of his new play. But as the reading progresses, the play’s similarity to actual events becomes increasingly uncomfortable for the participants, and it soon becomes clear that Alex believes Monica was murdered and his new play is a devious cat-and-mouse chase to uncover her killer.

 

Rehearsal for Murder is at Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday 4th to Saturday 9th July

Tickets are on sale now priced from £22 to £36

Book online at leedsgrandtheatre.com or call box office on 0844 848 2700

Punk-rock one-man show transfers to the Arts Theatre

5pound5 Theatre and LWL Entertainment Ltd present:

SID
September 19th – October 8th 2016, Above the Arts Theatre

Leon Fleming’s punk-rock one-man play about hero worship transfers into London’s West End after a UK tour, starring Dario Coates (Coronation Street, ITV; Another Country, Chichester Festival Theatre & Trafalgar Studios West End) and directed by Scott Le Crass (Cancel the Sunshine, The Hope Theatre).

★★★★★ “The hairs start to stand on the back of your neck and you unexpectedly find yourself (…) perched on exquisite tenterhooks” (Grumpy Gay Critic)

Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious may have been a junkie and an alcoholic (and, let’s be honest, not much of a musician), but he was PUNK. More than anyone else at the birth of the punk movement, he kicked against the system and spat in the face of polite conformity. For Craig, living in a world that just eats people up and spits them out as mindless zombies, a place where people leave him and are never seen again, this long-dead anti-hero is all he has to keep him on the straight and narrow, to keep him from joining all the other sheep. And he’s not having a good day.

★★★★★ “Immersive theatre (…) gripping and provocative ” (LondonTheatre1)

This new 50 minute one-man play features a “mesmeric” performance (Theatre Wales) from Dario Coates as Craig, best know for playing Alex Neeson on long-running soap opera Coronation Street. Sid is directed by one of the UKs most up-and-coming young directors, Scott Le Crass, who has been directing new work in London’s Off West End for over 8 years. The show comes to London after a rip-roaring successful UK tour, with sell-out performances and great critical acclaim.

★★★★ “Quick, energetic and focussed (…) recommended” London City Nights

If you’ve ever been obsessed with someone; if you’ve ever taken solace in music; if you’re an ageing punk who feels like the world is getting stranger every day – this is the convention-breaking, cutting edge theatre show for you.

Alexandra Burke Returns To Leeds

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CAST ANNOUNCED FOR ALL-NEW PRODUCTION OF SISTER ACT

 

Alexandra Burke took Leeds by storm when she took The Grand Theatre’s stage in the production of The Bodyguard last month, and she is set to return in August with Jamie Wilson’s all new production of Sister Act.

Based on the smash hit movie starring Whoopi Goldberg and Maggie Smith, Sister Act tells the hilarious story of Deloris Van Cartier, a disco diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a murder. Under protective custody she is hidden in the one place she won’t be found – a convent. Disguised as a nun and under the suspicious watch of Mother Superior, Deloris helps her fellow sisters find their voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers her own.

This all new production of Sister Act is directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood with musical supervision and arrangements by Tony Award-Winner Sarah Travis.

Alexandra is joined by Joanna Francis as ‘Michelle’, Jon Robyns as ‘Eddie’, Karen Mann as ‘Mother Superior’ and Rosemary Ashe as ‘Sister Mary Lazarus’. Alexandra Burke will perform the role of ‘Deloris Van Cartier’ at all evening performances. At the matinee performances, the role of ‘Deloris Van Cartier’ will be played by Joanna Francis.

Aaron Lee Lambert will play ‘Curtis’, Sarah Goggin ‘Sister Mary Robert’, Susannah Van Den Berg ‘Sister Mary Patrick’, Allison Harding ‘Sister Mary Theresa’, Ricky Rojas ‘Pablo’, Samuel Morgan-Grahame as ‘Joey’ and Sandy Grigelis as ‘TJ’. The company also includes Nicola Bryan, Jennifer Douglas, Aiesha Pease, Sally Peerless and Justin Wilman.

Sister Act is at Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday 22nd to Saturday 27th August

Tickets are on sale now priced from £22.50 to £48

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

The Bread & Roses Theatre announces its Early Summer & Edinburgh Fringe Preview Season 2016

The Bread & Roses Theatre announces its Early Summer & Edinburgh Fringe Preview Season 2016

 20th June to 6th August 2016 – www.BreadandRosesTheatre.co.uk

 

“This venue is quickly shaping up as one of the most exciting ones amongst the London pub theatres!”  – RemoteGoat

 

The Bread & Roses Theatre in Clapham is going strong in its second year and launching a special Early Summer and Edinburgh Fringe Preview Season this June to early August.

 

The season begins with a series of one-week-runs:

·         Weird Sisters Theatre Company presents Airswimming by Charlotte Jones, directed by Stephanie Goodfellow

Tuesday 21st to Saturday 25th June (Edinburgh Preview). Shortlisted for the Broadway Baby Bobby Award 2016. 1924: Persephone Baker finds herself abandoned at St Dymphna’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane with only ‘unhinged, cigar-smoking, monomaniac transsexual’ Dora Kitson to keep her company.

·         SISATA presents Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy – adapted & directed by Charmaine K Parkin

Tuesday 28th June to Saturday 2nd July. Four actors play multiple roles in what is an enigmatic and fast paced telling of virtue, love and injustice, but above all the impact of this on the human condition.

·         Heckcelsior presents Hardcross written & directed by Dominika Visy

Tuesday 5th to Saturday 9th July. When Rodney Hardcross’ death is announced, his children reluctantly gather, however, before his testament can be revealed, Rodney has one final request that outrages everyone.

·         Goblin Baby Theatre Co. presents Alone Inside the Box monologues by Connor Patrick Carroll, Liam Patrick Harrison, Tessa Hart, Tom Jensen, Sian Rowland, Judy Upton & Naomi Westerman

Tuesday 12th to Saturday 16th July.  From comedy to tragedy, from abstract to literal, these are thought-provoking stories of characters, sometimes stuck in an actual box, sometimes in a metaphorical one, sometimes both.

 

Continuing events around the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death (after the multiple 5 star reviewed hit-revival of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) in our last season), this season Shakespeare’s women get a say! Elicit Theatre Company presents A Merry Regiment Of Women by Rae Shirley from Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th July in which Lady Macbeth assembles five of Shakespeare’s most well-known female characters, however, events do not go according to plan, as three of his popular male characters arrive to shake things up; and from 2nd to 6th AugustShark Eat Muffin Theatre Company presents their Edinburgh preview of Best Intentions, featuring modern adaptations of two pivotal, but often overlooked, women in Shakespeare’s “Othello” and “Romeo and Juliet”.

 

The season also features a lot of exciting one-off Edinburgh Fringe Previews, such as Maxine Jones’Now We Are 60 (June 26th), musical family show Babar the Little Elephant (July 4th), award-winning comedy duo Ellis & Rose (July 28th), Maddy Anholt’s Rent Girl (July 30th) and many more! FromTuesday 26th to Sunday 31st July in particular the theatre is hosting a week dedicated to Edinburgh Previews, with several shows per day. For the complete line-up seewww.breadandrosestheatre.co.uk/edinburgh-previews

 

Other events include Rock Paper Scissors’ highly topical With or Without EU (June 20th), Solace Women’s Aid’s charity comedy night Stand Up 4 Women (July 3rd); and Green Curtain Theatre Company’s Traitors, Cads & Cowards about the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising.

 

The in-house Playwrights Circle is back again as well on Mondays 27th June and 25th July and on Saturday 18th June the theatre invites everyone along to their Season Launch Party, a fun and free opportunity to meet the Bread & Roses Theatre team and mingle with companies involved in the upcoming season (including a free drink per person).

 

“We’ve got an awful lot going on over a short period of time in the next couple of months and are really looking forward to the summertime. Last season we had a major technical upgrade, mainly funded by donations, and it’s really exciting to see the theatre’s steadily continuing growth and the support for it.” – Artistic Director Tessa Hart

 

The pub downstairs has also just undergone a major refurbishment. We are so pleased to have our theatre above a beautifully refurbished pub that is still as charming as ever and better than it’s ever been before.” – Managing Director Rebecca Pryle

 

For details on all listings and more head to www.breadandrosestheatre.co.uk

Oh Darling…

SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME AT LEEDS GRAND THEATRE
STARRING ANTONY COSTA
INTRODUCING LOLA SAUNDERS

From the writers, producers, creators and director of the huge success Dreamboats and Petticoats, Save the Last Dance for Me heads to Leeds next week and promises to take audiences back through the ‘music and magic’ of the early 60s;  a time when each passing week brought another Rock’n’Roll classic.
The production is at Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday 13th to Saturday 18th June.

Lola Saunders, a finalist on The X Factor 2014, will make her theatrical debut in the role of Jennifer starring alongside former Blue member Antony Costa as Milton, with Wayne Robinson as Curtis and Elizabeth Carter returning to the role of Marie.

Written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (of ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’, ‘Birds of a Feather’ and ‘The New Statesman’) the show features the unmistakable music of Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman, authentically recreating the Rock ‘n’ Roll sound live on stage with hits including Sweets for my Sweet, Please Mr. Postman, Viva Las Vegas, Can’t Get Used to Losing You, the title track Save the Last Dance For Me and more that will transport audiences back to music’s golden era.

Save the Last Dance for Me follows two teenage sisters through the summer of ’63 as they embark, for the first time without their parents, on a holiday to the seaside. Full of freedom and high spirits they meet a handsome young American who invites them to a dance at the local U.S. Air force base… But young love and holiday romance is never as simple as it sounds, and the sisters soon realise that while the world around them is still watching itself in black and white, life and love can be much more colourful.

Save the Last Dance for Me is at Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday 13th to Saturday 18th June
Tickets are on sale priced from £19.50 to £35
Book online at leedsgrandtheatre.com or call 0844 848 2700

From the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp, Good Chance arrives in London this summer

From Saturday 30 July to Sunday 7 August, Good Chance will find a London home on Festival Terrace at Southbank Centre’s annual Festival of Love. Entitled Encampment, the project will unite artists from the UK, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Cameroon and Guinea. Across nine days and nights, a sweeping programme of performances and events will take place inside the iconic Good Chance Dome, direct from the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp.

Encampment will offer a mixture of ticketed and non-ticketed events, all free, including theatre, art, music, discussion and workshops, featuring special guests from around the world. The dome structure Good Chance brought to Calais was made into a hub for welcome, exchange and performance by the people from the camp who visited it every day. Encampment will raise awareness of and reinvigorate the dialogue on one of the biggest human migrations in history, giving people in the UK a chance to come together to discover more and to celebrate our extraordinary diversity and humanity.

Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, Artistic Directors and Co-Founders of Good Chance, said: We worked with the residents of the Jungle camp in Calais to bring a theatre to life every day for six months. Much was made in that six months. Theatre, yes, but also paintings, music, song, poetry, puppetry, dance, rap, circus, and most importantly friends. It was a meeting place for expression, where stories could be told or forgotten, if only for an hour or so. Everyone who stepped inside saw the power of art in life, in a place where it’s needed.

We’re proud to be pitching the Good Chance Dome at Southbank Centre this summer, and bringing with it the idea that we’re so much better, bigger and braver when we come together and listen. Together with the incredible artists who will be buildingEncampment with us, we want to offer everyone the chance to meet, mix, talk and think about what we need to do. To have fun together and become excited, rather than scared, about what lies ahead. We have an opportunity here, a good chance, to develop a big new idea of who we are. And we want to seize this moment. Join us!”

Highlights will include: a brand new devised work created by Good Chance; Lebanon’sZoukak Theatre Company’s bracing production, The Last Tablet; an exhibition of art created by residents of the Calais camp; Afghan kite-making with a special guest reading from Michael Morpurgo; a new work from the South London-based migrant and refugee-led theatre company, The Paper Project; childhood games from across the globe, compiled by Pan Intercultural Arts; art, world music and dance from the APOW! project by Refugee Youth; Nassim Soleimanpour’s haunting nomadic play White Rabbit Red Rabbit; poetry from Exiled Writers Ink and Bards Without Borders; live music from The Calais Sessions, the Palestinian Youth Orchestra, 47SOUL, Maya Youssef and Mosi Conde; platform discussions on the role of arts in humanitarian crises and on the voices of refugee women; and much, much more.

Good Chance Encampment is in partnership with Southbank Centre.


A Night of Hope
in aid of Good Chance

Stephen Daldry, Chair of Good Chance, and Quintessentially Foundation have organised A Night of Hope in aid of Good Chance, supported by ATG and Sony Pictures Television, on Monday 4 July at the London Wonderground.

With tickets priced from £60-£495, A Night of Hope features a thrilling line-up of special guests and live performances from some of Good Chance’s biggest supporters, including Tom Odell, Maria Friedman, Songhoy Blues and Giles Fraser; auction masters Stephen Daldry and Steve Coogan; alongside more incredible artists from around the world.

The gala aims to raise funds to allow Good Chance to return to Calais to re-build in the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp and to continue building temporary theatres of hope wherever the need is greatest. Good Chance Calais was unprecedented: a vital and much-loved space for freedom of expression, creativity and dignity, open for all, created for and with the people living in the camp’s incredibly difficult conditions.

Good Chance’s A Night of Hope gala committee is led by Stephen Daldry with Joe & Joe, Ben Elliot, Sonia Friedman, AA Gill, Joyce Hytner, Toby Jones, David Lan, Suzanne Mackie, Tracey Seaward, Juliet Stevenson and Caroline Villamizar Duque.

http://www.londonwonderground.co.uk/whats-on/a-night-of-hope

A Night of Hope in aid of Good Chance is supported by :

&     

in partnership with Quintessentially Foundation & London Wonderground

The Quiet House Review

Park Theatre 8 June – 9 July.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Inspired by writer Gareth Farr’s own experiences, The Quiet House follows Jess (Michelle Bonnard) and Dylan (Oliver Lansley) as they go through IVF treatment.

The play begins with Jess waiting for Dylan to return home so that they can have sex as it is her peak fertile time. Instead he enters in an agitated state and tells a wonderfully convoluted and horrifying story about his visit to the shop. At this point, Jess already appears to be a mother, albeit to the stressed and slightly neurotic Dylan. The dynamics of their relationship change throughout the play, with Dylan becoming stronger and supportive as Jess begins to lose hope.

The reality of treatment is shown and explained unwaveringly, with repeated scenes of Dylan preparing the syringe as Jess waits silently and anxiously. But after every injection, there’s a kiss. Farr’s writing is brutally honest, with the couple turning on each other at times and sharing some bitter home truths, but the strength of their love is shown most powerfully in almost silent scenes that feel very honest and realistic. While the kitchen timer ticked down 2 minutes and Jess and Dylan watched anxiously, the audience was rapt, some were in tears. When the result was negative, there followed the most emotionally raw piece of acting I’ve ever seen. The way the actors moved and looked at each other is spellbinding and heart-breaking. I ran out of tissues at that point.

But, just like real life, the tragedy and stress is mixed up with lighter moments. Dylan and Jess are well written, clever and funny characters, and their narrative is helped along by Dylan’s boss, Tony (Tom Walker) – a kind of hybrid of Doctor Fox and David Brent, and upstairs neighbour Kim (Allyson Ava-Brown) – a new mother with no bladder control who lives upstairs. As well as being comedy gold, these characters highlight other aspects of IVF treatment. Dylan’s reluctance to tell anyone about what is going on leads to complications at work – at one stage they are convinced Jess has cancer! While Jess’ subtle underlying resentment of Kim’s motherhood leads to tension.

Michelle Bonnard portrays the physical need of Jess to have this baby with a fierce intensity and is simply stunning. Oliver Lansley reveals Dylan’s inner strength subtly as the play progresses, but still keeps that wild eyed look that may lapse into complete panic at any time. Their interactions are sublime and fill this love story with passion and hope.

The Quiet House is a funny, honest and emotional play that is brilliantly written and beautifully acted. A must see.

Leftovers Review

Theatre N16 5 – 9 June.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Leftovers plays with the audience, keeping you in a mildly bemused state trying to work out which parts of Lizzie’s story are real and which are fantasy.

A seemingly sweet picture book romance between Lizzie (Gabrielle Sheppard – who also wrote the play) and Harry (Christopher Adams) during an impending invasion of London plays out before the narrative fragments into 2 different strands. We see the couple packing happily for their honeymoon, and then see the same scene but with Lizzie packing to flee and Harry signing up to fight.

Lizzie falls pregnant and has a daughter (Ella Cook), or is it a phantom pregnancy after Harry’s death? We see Lizzie as an old, silent woman visited by her daughter as she plans her wedding, and begin to wonder if this is all the failing and erratic memories of a deteriorating mind, until the final moments, revealing Lizzie’s rescue on the French shore after fleeing London. The imagined lives she could have lived are the story she tells herself and the rescuers to cope with her dire situation as a refugee.

I think.

The use of rhythmic movement and the repeated shouts of “Run!” build tension and are quite unnerving, the exception being the delightfully coy sex scene involving thigh slapping and gasping. The set is basically a heap of clothes, that are moved around to great effect, but you begin not to see this, as you cannot take your eyes off the intense performances.

The cast are fantastic – and very fit (I was out of breath watching them at times), and subtly change their performances in each strand of Lizzie’s life.

Imagining the plight of refugees from London is a wonderful idea when empathy for refugees from Syria is non-existent amongst some UK residents, especially when the story is told in such an evocative and original way. A fascinating play.

THE LIBERTINE starring Dominic Cooper announces further casting

Presented by TRH Productions, Lee Dean and Theatre Royal Bath Productions

Dominic Cooper in
The Libertine

Written by Stephen Jeffreys
Directed by Terry Johnson
www.thelibertineonstage.com

  • Further casting announced to join Dominic Cooper in Stephen Jeffreys’ sexually charged Restoration piece
  • Theatre Royal Bath from 31 August to 17 September, as part of the venue’s Summer Season 2016
  • Theatre Royal Haymarket from 22 September to 3 December with opening night for press on 27 September

 

Further cast members are announced to join the previously confirmed star Dominic Cooper inStephen Jeffreys’ sexually charged masterpiece The Libertine this autumn. Directed by Olivier and Tony Award-winning Terry Johnson, the play will have a limited run from 31 August to 17 September at Bath Theatre Royal as part of the theatre’s 2016 summer season, prior to a West End engagement at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 22 September to 3 December with opening night for press on 27 September.

Fresh from starring in AMC’s new television series Preacher and fantasy blockbuster Warcraft,Dominic Cooper makes a return to the stage to play debauched 17th Century rake the Earl of Rochester alongside Ophelia Lovibond (Elementary, Nowhere Boy, and Guardians of the Galaxy) as Elizabeth Barry. They will be joined by Jasper Britton as King Charles II and Mark Hadfield as Etherege with Will Barton as Alcock, Cornelius Booth as Harris / Huysmans / Constable, Will Merrick as Billy Downs and Richard Teverson as Sackville with further casting still to be announced.

John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester is a charismatic poet, playwright and rake with a legendary appetite for excess. Yet this most ardent of hedonists is forced to reconsider everything he thinks and feels when a chance encounter with an actress at the Playhouse sends him reeling. With flair and wit, this wild romp through 1670s London offers an incisive critique of life in an age of excess.

Dominic Cooper has notable stage credits, particularly at the National Theatre including The History Boys, Mother Clap’s Molly House and more recently in Phedre alongside Helen Mirren. Cooper’s numerous screen credits include The History Boys, The Duchess, My Week with Marilyn, Mamma Mia, Captain America: The First Avenger, Warcraft and AMC series Preacher.

Ophelia Lovibond is known recently in the US playing Kathryn ‘Kitty’ Winter in CBS seriesElementary and in the UK as Izzy Gould in BBC comedy W1A. Film roles include Carina in 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy, Shannon in 4,3,2,1, Marie in John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy as well as roles in Man Up, No Strings Attached, Mr. Popper’s Penguins and Roman Polanski’sOliver Twist. Further Television credits include Mr Sloane (SKY Atlantic), Single (Channel 4),Messiah (BBC), The Poison Tree (ITV), Delta Forever (BBC Three) and is soon to star in SKY1’s upcoming action-adventure series Hooten & The Lady. On stage, Ophelia made her professional debut in Lucy Prebble’s The Effect (Sheffield Theatres).

Jasper Britton has most recently starred in Richard II, The Jew of Malta and as the title role inHenry IV Part I and II for the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Barbican and in New York. His additional stage work includes Race (Hampstead Theatre), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Abbey Theatre), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Sheffield Crucible) Fabrication (The Print Room), The Last Cigarette (Chichester Festival Theatre/West End), Fram (National Theatre), Oedipus(National Theatre), Rhinoceros (Royal Court), Private Lives (Hampstead Theatre), The Taming Of The Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company in Washington D.C./West End), Japes (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Tempest (Globe Theatre) and The Visit (Theatre de Complicite). Film credits include Blood, Anonymous, Morris: A Life With Bells On and The New World.

Mark Hadfield’s recent theatre credits including Richard III (Almedia), The Painkiller (Garrick Theatre), Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre), Jeeves and Wooster: Perfect Nonsense (Duke of York’s Theatre), Singing in the Rain (Palace Theatre) and Thérèse Raquin (National Theatre), for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award. In addition to his extensive stage work, Mark recently starred as Stefan Lindeman in Wallander (BBC). Further television credits includeTrollied (Sky 1), From the Cradle to the Grave (BBC) and Maigret (ITV).

Will Barton’s theatre credits include Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Joking Apart (Nottingham Playhouse/Salisbury Playhouse), The Boy On The Swing (Arcola Theatre). He most recently starred in Toast alongside Matthew Kelly as part of Brits Off Broadway Season in New York. Television and film credits include The Theory Of Everything (Working Title), Holby City (BBC), Switch (ITV), New Tricks (BBC) and Doctors (BBC).

Cornelius Booth is currently starring as Chopper in Land of our Fathers (UK Tour / Soho Theatre). Further theatre credits include Peter Pan Goes Wrong (UK Tour), Of Mice and Men(West Yorkshire Playhouse) and The Machine (Donmar Warehouse).    

Will Merrick is best known for his roles as Alo in Skins (Channel 4) and Jay in Richard Curtis’ filmAbout Time. Theatre credits include The Ghost Train (Royal Exchange Theatre), Merlin (Royal & Derngate), Wendy and Peter Pan (RSC) and Boys (Arcola Theatre). Additional television credits include Brief Encounters (ITV), Fail (BBC), The Rack Pack (BBC), Atlantis (BBC) and Doctor Who(BBC).

Richard Teverson’s theatre credits include Private Lives (ATG Tour), The Winslow Boy (Old Vic), After the Dance (National Theatre) and The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre). Richard is also known for his television work as Dr Ryder in Downton Abbey (ITV), Jamaica Inn (BBC), The Bletchley Circle (ITV) and Spies of Warsaw (BBC).

Stephen Jeffreys is the author of A Going Concern, The Clink and Valued Friends, which won him the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award.

Terry Johnson is a dramatist and director who has won numerous theatre awards including two Oliviers as a playwright for Best Comedy and a Tony for Best Director of a Musical for La Cage Aux Folles. Other directing credits include The Graduate, Entertaining Mr Sloane and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

The Libertine was first performed on tour and at the Royal Court Theatre alongside the Restoration comedy, The Man of Mode, which presented another, contemporary view of Rochester. It later transferred to Chicago’s Steppenwolf starring John Malkovich and directed by Terry Johnson before Johnny Depp took the title role in the 2004 film adaptation.

The Libertine is produced by TRH Productions, Lee Dean and Theatre Royal Bath Productions with Ilene Starger as Executive Producer.