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Dont miss your chance to have a taste of this larger than life show which will leave you happier then when you see an offer for Ben and Jerrys Ice Cream. It promises an abundance of belly laughs so what are you waiting for? ‘Come on in’ and witness this new British musical.

Have you ever looked at a cheese cake and put on half a stone? Do you ever wonder why diets can only ever start on Mondays? Have you ever been described as: bubbly, bonny, voluptuous or well? Helen has! One New Years Eve she decides enough is enough and proves that her heart is ¬one size fits all!`Join Helen and her `Fatbuster` pals on their quest to believing in themselves and achieving their dreams 0ne thing is for sure: You shall walk away with a warm heart, sore cheeks and a few new tunes to hum as you walk to your fridge. A real guilty treat!

The team that brought you the UK revival of Personals is staying true to its ethos and is bringing you something new and exciting! Ain`t No Other productions has teamed with writer Joshua Coley to bring FatBusters to life. This new British comedy springs to the stage at St. Giles in the Fields Church in Tottenham Court Road from the 29th of May. After all, what says weight loss group more than a church hall! We believe that this is a show for everyone. Everyone can relate to this story. Whether it is you that has been to Weight Watchers, or you’ve sat in the hairdressers listening to Linda discussing the sin level of the Indian take away she had last night.

Venue – St. Giles in the Field Address – 60 St Giles High St, London WC2H 8LG Dates – 29th of May to 10th of June 7.30pm. Saturday Matinees at 2.30pm. No show Sundays. Opening night 31st of May. Last show 10th of June 7.30pm. First preview 29th of May

The Cast (in order of appearance)

Fiona – Yvette Robinson

Patricia – Christina Meehan

Sue – Kate Playdon

Nigel -Ian Parkin

Lyn – Frankie Jones

Barry – Mark Bools

Greg – Paul Bradshaw

Saskia – Shani Cantor

Helen – Tiffany Parker

Tom – Danny Knott

Ensemble – Joanna Gregory, Samuel Bailey

Creative Team

Rebecca Westberry – Director

Cameron Hall -Choreographer

Writer/co Director-Joshua Coley

Musical Director/Orchestration Sonum Batra

Set Designer – Justin Williams

Lighting Designer-Hector Murray

Casting – Harry Blumenau at Debbie O’ Brien

Producer – Ain’t No Other Production

Please find the link for tickets to FatBusters the Musical : https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/fatbusters-the-musical

Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre 9 – 28 May.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

If you don’t leave All Star Productions revival of 110 in the Shade with a soppy smile on your face, you must have a heart of stone. Director Randy Smartnick has ensured that this musical gem, last staged in the West End in the 1960s, is still full of warmth and joy.

As the townsfolk wilt and worry about the drought, one family has more important things on their mind – finding a husband for Lizzie. Although she loves Sheriff File, neither of them will risk admitting their true feelings; and, brought up by her father to be forthright and honest, and unable to flirt and fuss like the other girls, Lizzie fears becoming an old maid. When conman Starbuck rolls into town with promises of ending the drought, his razzamatazz brings hope to the people, but Lizzie sees right through him.

Based on his own 1954 play, The Rainmaker, N. Richard Nash’s book is full of sharp and funny lines, and Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones’s songs are full of charm and wit. Under Aaron Clingham’s assured musical direction and with Kate McPhee’s well-judged choreography; from the haunting “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night” to the down-home country “Poker Polka”, there are no duds in this production. The standout comedy number is “The Little Red Hat” with the fantastic Julian Quijano and Rebecca Withers almost stealing the show.

Laurel Dougall is full of ticks and frustration as Lizzie, in a wonderful performance that adds real emotional punch to her songs. Daniel Urch gives Starbuck a real sense of loneliness behind the slick bravado, and Nick Wyschna is in fine form as the stiff and reserved File.

This is a story about loneliness, love, and having the faith to follow your dreams – no matter how big, or small, they may be. The music and innocence of 110 in the shade may have fallen out of fashion, but this show still has a lot to offer modern audiences. Any show that makes you feel this good deserves a wider audience. Funny, warm and ridiculously entertaining, this is well worth a look.

Hull Truck Theatre – until 27 May 2017.  Viaduct Theatre, Halifax  30 May to 3 June.  Reviewed by Marcus Richardson

 

In the 2017 City of Culture the famous Shakespeare play Richard III is being performed at Hull Truck theatre. The play follows the life of Richard III a villain who works his way up into power using betrayal and lies. Now we all know the story and where he ends up, and if you don’t, history is a fun thing to learn. We are given this deformed figure who is described as the devil and is constantly mocked for his appearance, shouldn’t we feel sorry for this man? Not with the acts he commits, killing boys and his brother.

The original story has him with a hunchback, but our actor Mat Fraser, has underdeveloped arms from thalidomide, lending to this attribute he owns the role bringing a comical aspect that a lot of the times you wouldn’t normally see in the play. We see him commit these horrific acts yet I couldn’t find myself hating him with a passion, even until the end he still had a joke or two, he took on the role with such passion and made it his own. Through out the play there is comedy which I really liked as most of his historical play are political and can become a drag, however with the added element of comedy I found that I wasn’t bored at any point in the play. The whole cast was absolutely amazing with various actors taking different roles and reacting to tragic events, which believe me they did very well, mostly on the female part with Ruth Alexander-Rubin being the poor Elizabeth who has bad news every scene pretty much.

The stage and audience was very much like the classic amphitheatre seat and you felt very close to the stage and action, I loved how close we were as none of the actors had microphones and relied on the power of their voices. The stage was incredibly large and the actors made great use of this aspect. If I could sum up the play without talking about the actors I would say drums, this is a play of many drums, and this was absolutely chilling and blows you away.  In the final scene where Richard III goes to war and the stage opens up to its full potential and we are given this drumming band that controls the whole tempo and feel of the scene.

If you love Shakespeare and even if you’ve seen this play before, I would urge you to see this play and experience the power of the drums, the corruption of Richard and the tragedy of every character. If you’re scared that you don’t understand the classical text, don’t worry the actors do an amazing job of making sure you know what is happening, and the language isn’t an issue whatsoever. The show will be at Hull Truck theatre until 27th May, I would say go and see this show and even spend a day in the City of Culture, where arts is booming and spirits are high.

PARK90

Buckland Theatre Company in Association with Park Theatre presents

THE UGLY ONE

By Marius Von Mayenburg

Translated by Maja Zade

Directed by Roy Alexander Weise

1 – 24 June 2017

Press Night: 9 June,

7pm www.parktheatre.co.uk/whats-on/the-ugly-one

Tue – Sat Evenings: 7.45pm

Thu and Sat Matinees: 3.15pm

ABOUT BUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY

The Ugly One is Buckland Theatre Company’s third production at The Park Theatre. Buckland was formed in 2015 by Charlie Dorfman to create high quality productions in intimate spaces.

www.bucklandtheatreco.com

Twitter: @BucklandTheatre

Instagram: @ bucklandtheatreco

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Buckland-Theatre-Company-1616221355330770

Natalie Dormer and David Oakes in

Venus in Fur

By David Ives

Directed by Patrick Marber

• Natalie Dormer and David Oakes to star in David Ives’ play Venus in Fur at Theatre Royal Haymarket for a strictly limited run from 6 October.

• Directed by Patrick Marber with designs by Rob Howell and lighting designs by Hugh Vanstone.

• Tickets are on sale now here

 

TRH Productions will present Natalie Dormer and David Oakes in the West End premiere ofDavid Ives’ hit Broadway play Venus in Fur this autumn for a strictly limited nine week engagement at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. This critically-acclaimed two-hander will run from 6 October to 9 December with opening night for press on 17 October.

Enigmatic actress Vanda Jordan appears unannounced for an audition with director Thomas Novachek. She’s determined to land the leading role in his new production – despite seeming wrong for the part. Over one evening in downtown Manhattan their charged meeting becomes a seductive dance to the end.

Directed by Patrick Marber, designed by Rob Howell with lighting by Hugh Vanstone andcasting by Executive Producer Ilene Starger, Venus In Fur is an intoxicating dark comedy of desire, fantasy and the innate love of fur.

Natalie Dormer is to play Vanda Jordan. Dormer is known globally for film and television roles including Margaery Tyrell in HBO series Game of Thrones, Anne Boleyn in The Tudors for Showtime, Cressida in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, Focus Features’ The Forest, Ron Howard’s Rush, and Ridley Scott’s The Counselor.  Upcoming, Dormer stars opposite Sean Penn and Mel Gibson in The Professor and the Mad Man, and the independent thriller In Darkness, which she also co-wrote. She is currently in production on FremantleMedia’s Picnic at Hanging Rock in Australia. Venus in Fur sees Dormer reunite with Patrick Marber, who wrote After Miss Julie (Young Vic) for which she received widespread critical acclaim in the title role. Her other stage credits include Sweet Nothings (also at the Young Vic) and .45 (Hampstead Theatre).

David Oakes is to play Thomas Novachek. Oakes is best known for portraying Juan Borgia in the Emmy Award-winning Showtime Original series The Borgias, for playing William Hamleigh in Emmy Award-winning mini-series The Pillars of the Earth, for BBC’s The White Queen in the role of George, Duke of Clarence and, most recently, on screen as Prince Ernest in ITV’s Victoria, for which he is currently filming the second series. Stage credits include Kit Marlowe in Shakespeare In Love (Nöel Coward Theatre) and Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre). Oakes will also appear in the film adaptation of Albert Sánchez Piñol’s thriller Cold Skin set for release later this year.

Patrick Marber is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, actor and director. His productions of his own work includes Dealer’s Choice (NT & Vaudeville), After Miss Julie (BBC TV), Closer (NT, Lyric & Music Box NY) Howard Katz (NT), Three Days in the Country (NT) Don Juan in Soho (Wyndhams). His other directing credits include Travesties (Menier Chocolate Factory/ Apollo Theatre) The Caretaker (Comedy Theatre), Blue Remembered Hills  (National Theatre), ‘1953’ (Almeida) and The Old Neighborhood (Royal Court Theatre). Other plays include The Red Lion, The Musicians, The School Film (all for NT) and Hoop Lane (BBC Radio 3).His film credits include Closer (directed by Mike Nichols), Notes on a Scandal (directed by Richard Eyre), Old Street and Love You More. For television his co-writing credits include The Day Today and Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge.  More recently Ivo van Hove directed Marber’s version of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler for the National Theatre starring Ruth Wilson. His plays have won Evening Standard, Olivier, Time Out, New York and London Critics’ Circle and Writers’ Guild Awards. His TV work has received BAFTA, British Comedy and Royal Television Society Awards. His screenplays have been nominated for Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Awards. He received the British Independent Film Award for Notes on a Scandal.

David Ives was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play for Venus In Fur, which has been produced all over the country and the world, and was turned into a film by Roman Polanski. He is also well known for his evenings of one-act comedies All In The Timing and Time Flies. Other plays include New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza; The Liar (adapted from Corneille); The School For Lies (adapted from Molière); The Metromaniacs (adapted from Alexis Piron); Is He Dead? (adapted from Mark Twain); Ancient History, and Polish Joke. A Chicago native, he lives in New York City.

Rob Howell has worked extensively in costume and set design in theatre and opera within the UK and abroad including at the Royal Court, Almeida, Donmar Warehouse, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Welsh National Opera, Royal Opera House and Metropolitan Opera, New York as well as at numerous other West End and Broadway Theatres. Recent credits includeThe Ferryman (Royal Court) and Groundhog Day (UK and Broadway). He has received three Olivier Awards and multiple nominations for Tony and Olivier Awards for both Set and Costume Design, including the Olivier Award for Best Set Designer for Troilus and Cressida, Vassa andRichard III in 2000 and for Hedda Gabler in 2006. He received an Olivier Award in 2012 and a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony Award in 2013 and for his designs forMatilda the Musical in New York and London.

Hugh Vanstone has designed the lighting for over 200 productions and worked extensively with UK national companies and on Broadway. He has received many awards including three Oliviers, a Tony and a Molière. As associate artist at The Old Vic, he has recently lit Art, No’s Knife, Groundhog Day (UK and Broadway), The Caretaker, The Master Builder and  Future Conditional. Other work includes: Dreamgirls (Savoy), Welcome Home, Captain Fox and  Closer (Donmar);The Red Lion (National Theatre, Dorfman); Closer (Donmar and in New York); An Act Of God(New York & tour); Matilda (RSC and internationally); Strictly Ballroom (Australian tour);  Don Quixote (Royal Ballet); Tanz Der Vampire (throughout Europe & Russia); Shrek The Musical (New York, West End & UK tour); Ghost (London and internationally).

Ilene Starger is a Casting Director and Producer. West End theatre credits include The Libertine(as Casting Director/Executive Producer for TRB and TRH); Breakfast at Tiffany’s (as U.S. Casting Director for 2009 TRH production; also for 2016 UK tour.) Broadway credits includeWaiting for Godot, No Man’s Land, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Casting Director & Associate Producer), Marlene, The Elephant Man, Dance of Death, The Diary of Anne Frank, Dirty Blonde, Closer (Artios Award.) Film credits include Custody (also Associate Producer), The Rewrite, Pink Panther 1 & 2, Music and Lyrics, Two Weeks’ Notice, Night at the Museum (Artios Award),School of Rock (Artios Award), Sleepy Hollow, A Simple Plan, The Parent Trap, First Wives’ Club, Marvin’s Room, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, No Way Out. TV credits include: Witness to the Mob, The Great Gatsby, Earthly Possessions. Starger is a former VP of Casting for Walt Disney and Touchstone Pictures.

An adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 novel Venus in Furs that inspired the term masochism, Venus in Fur was first performed off-Broadway, New York in 2010 with Nina Arianda and Wes Bentley, before transferring to the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway with Nina Arianda reprising the role of Vanda Jordan alongside Hugh Dancy as Thomas Novachek. Both productions were directed by Walter Bobbie and won Arianda multiple awards including the 2011/12 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play. In 2012, Roman Polanski directed a film version of the play, in French, starring Emmanuelle Seignerand Mathieu Amalric.

 

LISTINGS

Website: www.VenusOnStage.com
Twitter: @VenusOnStageLDN
Facebook: facebook.com/VenusOnStageLDN

Theatre Royal Haymarket, Haymarket, London SW1Y 4HT

www.trh.co.uk
Box Office: 020 7930 8800

First performance on 6 October
Final performance on 9 December
Opening Night for Press on 17 October

Performances
Monday – Saturday at 7.30pm
Thursday and Saturday at 3pm

Prices
From £15
For full details either visit www.trh.co.uk or call 020 7930 8800

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NO

CAST ANNOUNCED FOR

GRAND OPERA HOUSE PANTOMIME

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

LYNNE McGRANGER (Home and Away) ANTONY COSTA (Blue) DEBBIE McGEE (TV personality) KEN MORLEY (TV’s Allo Allo & Coronation Street)

STUART WADE (York’s favourite for the 5^th year) STEVE WICKENDEN (Britain’s classiest Dame returns) AUDREY LAYBOURNE (One of Les Dawson’s Roly Polys)

and CHARLOTTE MACLACHLAN (as Beauty)

And introducing ERAGON of YORK, Yorkshire’s only flying dragon.

Friday 15 December 2017 – Sunday 7 January 2018

 

BLUE singer Antony Costa and Home And Away soap star Lynne McGranger will join Stuart Wade, Debbie McGee and dame Steve Wickenden in the Grand Opera House pantomime, Beauty And The Beast, this winter in York.

Presented by producers Three Bears Productions in their second year at the Cumberland Street theatre, the show also will feature Ken Morley, from the television series ‘Allo ‘Allo! and Coronation Street and assorted double-glazing adverts; Audrey Laybourne, formerly one of Les Dawson’s Roly Polys, and Lincoln musical actress, model and singer Charlotte Maclachlan.

Three Bears Productions, the company run by writer-producer Chris Moreno, co-producer Russ Spencer and actor-director Stuart Wade, made their Grand Opera House debut last Christmas with Aladdin and now return with another spectacular pantomime, with lots of surprises.  Beauty And The Beast is sure to be the Biggest and the Beast in Yorkshire. Expect new flying special effects with Eragon of York, Yorkshire’s only flying dragon, a truly horrorflying experience!  Plus a scary haunted bedroom scene with ghosts, ghoulies and goblins.

Antony Costa, who will play the Prince/Beast, will be making his second appearance of 2017 at the Grand Opera House. From October 16 to 21, he will star in the The Classic Thriller Theatre Company’s touring production of Ruth Rendell’s A Judgement In Stone.

Lynne McGranger is cast as Wizadora Crabapple after playing the Wicked Queen in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs in 2009-2010 and Witch Blackweed in Jack And The Beanstalk in 2003-2004.

Stuart Wade, in his fifth Opera House panto, will take the daft lad role of Hudson, The Beast’s manservant; Debbie McGee will be in fairy mode as Adorabella Marigold Angelpie, and classy dame

Steve Wickenden will play Mirabelle, Belle’s sister. Ken Morley will be Maurice, Belle’s father; Audrey Leybourne, Potty T Potts, and Charlotte MacLachlan, Belle, alias Beauty.

Mr Moreno said: “Three Bears Productions were thrilled that all panto box-office records at the Grand Opera House were broken last Christmas with Aladdin. We’re pleased to announce a brand new production of Beauty And The Beast with some very exciting special effects and fabulous sets and costumes.”

General manager Lizzie Richards said: “This pantomime title is a first for the Grand Opera House and we’re all looking forward to this year’s star cast.”

BOOK NOW FOR A BEAST OF A PANTOMIME AT

GRAND OPERA HOUSE YORK

Tickets from £15.75 from box office on 0844 871 3024 or online at www.atgtickets.com/york

Schools and Family rates available.

 

Mamma Mia! is getting ready to shimmy its way into Leeds as part of its first ever UK tour.

The Grand Theatre will fling open its doors at the end of May to welcome the hit show for six weeks.

Shall we re-run those stats one more time? At the last head-count, Mamma Mia! has been seen by 60 million people worldwide. There have been 50 productions of the show fashioned from the ABBA songbook. It has been seen in 16 different languages (including Swedish). Plus, of course, there was the massively successful movie starring Meryl Streep. And yet for all its 18 years trotting around the globe, Mamma Mia! has never once toured the UK. Until now. Why is that?

“Partly the success of the show in London,” explains the show’s producer Judy Craymer. “When we opened I asked someone’s advice about what should I be doing re. a UK tour. They said, ‘Watch your midweek matinee because when that begins to go soft then you should think about touring. It never did go soft.’

Instead the show went to Canada and Australia, then toured the US and took up residence in Las Vegas before landing on Broadway the month after 9/11. It stayed for a dozen years. More recent conquests have been of China in Mandarin, while a vast cruise ship tours the Caribbean with a Mamma Mia! that can be seen by 1000 seafarers at a go. Craymer has seen the show on every continent but has yet to be lured aboard the Royal Caribbean. “I was asked when they did the technical rehearsal between Hamburg and the Solent in November,” she recalls wryly.

Craymer is one of the least demonstrative super-producers on either side of the Atlantic. Hers is the only mega-musical to have proved itself unstoppable without any assistance from anyone called Lloyd Webber or Mackintosh or Nunn or be affiliated in any way to Disney or any other film franchise. Or indeed get any help from men at all (unless you thank Bjorn and Benny for the music). The three queens of Mamma Mia!, aside from Craymer, are director Phyllida Lloyd and book writer Catherine Johnson.

The show has been going since 1999, but its producer first had the idea for a film or a stage show based on Abba’s songs many years earlier when she was Tim Rice’s assistant on Chess, the musical he wrote with Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. “I started talking to them about it in the mid-80s, and then in about 1995 Bjorn said, ‘If you can get the right story, maybe.’”

By then she had worked as a producer in television and come across Johnson, a scriptwriter who had also written a couple of sparky hit plays. One of them was Shang-a-Lang, about three women from Chipping Sodbury who hit 40 in a holiday camp where their girlhood idols the Bay City Rollers are playing.

“I explained my thoughts and Catherine said, “What about a mother-daughter story?” and that was it. We have tentatively pitched it to Bjorn and Benny and it kind of worked from there. They trusted me. They weren’t saying, ‘Bring in a star team. We’ll only do it with Tom Stoppard and Hal Prince.’ They let us nurture it. I think timing was everything. It probably wouldn’t have worked ten years before in the same way.”

Craymer is resistant to the idea that Mamma Mia! is just another jukebox musical. “To me those songs were written by Bjorn and Benny for Mamma Mia!” In fact they were increasingly written about their own failing marriages to the band’s two singers, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. “’The Winners Takes It All’ was the inspiration for me. I kept thinking, that is a great 11 o’clock number, as they say on Broadway. It’s ‘Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina’. But what’s the story?”

The story centres on the search for a father. Twenty-year-old bride-to-be Sophie has grown up on a Greek island where her mother Donna runs a rackety taverna. Sophie doesn’t know who her father is, so rummages through her mother’s diary from twenty years back and secretly invites three potential candidates. As a feel-good plot it is a long way from the doom-laden blockbuster musicals which dominated in the 1980s and 1990s and Craymer thinks that helps explain its longevity.

“The show has a big heart and people love it so they return. In the audience sometimes one member will turn to the other and say, ‘Is this your first time?’ It’s like ‘welcome to the club’. It’s also a show that people like to see in a community atmosphere. They like to bring friends and family. Kids are brought up on the DVD of the movie and now’s their chance to see the show.”

The film – which also starred Julie Walters, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan – came out in 2008. At the time it felt like a final frontier for the show and Craymer looked about for alternative inspiration. It came in the idea of doing a Spice Girls musical. Viva Forever!, with a book written by Jennifer Saunders, opened in the West End in 2012. Alas it did not live up to its title and closed after six months.

“Although I do think it had potential’ she concedes, ‘there’s all kinds of reasons why it didn’t work, but I was very proud of it.” One thing that has changed is the power of social media to make or break a show. Mamma Mia! had good reviews but it mainly conquered the world by word of mouth – and, of course, wonderful songs. The show’s creators had no real idea how deep those songs are in all our bloodstream until they first launched them upon an audience.

“They stood up and cheered at the end and everybody was dancing. Somebody said to me, ‘This is just the first preview audience. Don’t expect this to happen again.’” People have been dancing at the end of the show ever since to “Waterloo” and “Dancing Queen”, sung by Donna and the Dynamos in wonderful Seventies spandex outfits. One night the audience proved so immovable that the front of house staff had to make an announcement that ‘the Dynamos had left the building’ otherwise the audience would have stayed all night. On another occasion they were joined onstage by Anna-Frid Lyngstad. “Frida came quietly one night, she wanted no fuss. She loved the show so much that she asked if she could go onstage at the end with cast, she did and she sang ‘Dancing Queen’ in front of the audience. And that was her quiet night out’.

Although the show has grown and grown, Craymer travels a great deal less than she used to. “Ten years of being on a plane all the time, I used to get remembered by the staff at BA quite a lot.” What spare time she can muster she spends reigniting her original passion for equestrianism. She was a “goodish” showjumper who competed at Hickstead as a junior. Now she is an ambassador of the British showjumping team and owns five baby National Hunt horses. One has gone off to Ireland to stud. Another is called Rock Chick Supremo.

“I’ve got ambitions to do dressage. I feel that’s more controlled and stately. I don’t really want to be charging over fences. I’m always joking that I will be a stable girl again.”

In the mean time there just may be another twist in the Mamma Mia! story in the shape of a second film. “I think it would be a companion piece. It would only happen if we all agreed it was the right thing. People love that film and those characters and love being in that moment of escapism on the Greek island. It’s good for us to always be thinking.”

The Mamma Mia! UK Tour opened at the Bristol Hippodrome in March 2016, and has continued onto Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cardiff, Southampton, Edinburgh, Plymouth and other UK venues.

“Mamma Mia! has been thrilling audiences of all ages all around the world, and now the party comes to Leeds Grand Theatre for the first time,” says the theatre’s General Manager, Ian Sime. “It promises to be a sensational feel-good show.”

Mamma Mia is at Leeds Grand Theatre from Tuesday May 30th to Saturday 8th July

Tickets are priced from £26 to £59.50

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

Developing Artists and Shubbak present

A new dark political comedy about retaining innocence in Palestine

From the team behind 2016’s acclaimed Queens of Syria

UK Premiere Tour from 27 June – 22 July 2017

Following the earliest footsteps of life through a warzone, And Here I Am is a coming-of-age story that witnesses the comedic absurdities of growing up in one of the world’s most troubled conflict zones. A world away from headlines and news bulletins, And Here I Am charts the intimate truths of Ahmed Tobasi’s personal odyssey. From his birth in a Palestinian refugee camp; to unwittingly escaping invading soldiers by playing hide and seek; And Here I Am is a tale of everyday human experiences against a backdrop of inhumane circumstances.

Combining fact and fantasy, tragedy and comedy, spanning both the first and second Palestinian Intifadas, And Here I Am follows Tobasi through his transformation from armed resistance fighter to artist; his journey as a refugee in the West Bank to Norway, and then back again.

In a series of tragicomic episodes vividly brought to life by award winning writer Hassan Abdlrazzak, And Here I Am is directed by Zoe Lafferty, whose directing credits include Queens of Syria (Young Vic/New London Theatre/West Yorkshire Playhouse/Everyman, Liverpool).

“A raw yet artful reminder of our common humanity… graceful, painful, unsentimental”

★★★★★ The Times (Queens of Syria)

Born in Jenin refugee camp during the first Intifada, Tobasi’s childhood was overshadowed by the Israeli occupation. After joining the armed resistance at the age of 17, Tobasi was shot during the ruthless invasion of his camp that saw friends and family murdered, and his home razed to the ground. After being arrested and incarcerated for four years in an Israeli desert prison, Tobasi eschewed pressure to return to armed resistance.

Instead he opted to continue fighting with art, leading him to political asylum in Norway whilst studying at the prestigious Nordic Black Theatre. In 2013 he returned to Jenin Refugee Camp, and to The Freedom Theatre, contributing to the local artistic movement which focused on using culture as a form of resistance.

Developing Artists is a registered charity working to support the arts in conflict nations and marginalised communities. The development of the project has been supported by The Shubbak Festival, Nordic Black Theatre, The British Council, Fritt Ord, The Freedom Theatre, Jenin Refugee Camp, Al Qattan Foundation and The Arab Fund For Arts and Culture.

www.AndHereIAm.co.uk

 

UK TOUR DATES

Tue 27 – Wed 28 June                                                                            Box Office: 01242 572573

Cheltenham, The Everyman Theatre                                                                       Website: everymantheatre.org.uk

Fri 30 Jun – Sat 1 July                                                                                                      Box Office: 023 8067 1771

Southampton, The Nuffield Theatre                                                                       Website: nstheatres.co.uk

Thu 3 – Sat 8 July                                                                                                              Box Office: 020 7503 1646

London, Arcola Theatre (Shubbak Festival)                                                          Website: arcolatheatre.com

Mon 10 – Tue 11 July                                                                                                      Box Office: 0843 208 6000

Salford, The Lowry (Shubbak Festival)                                                                    Website: thelowry.com

Wed 12 July                                                                                                                        Box Office: 0151 709 4988

Liverpool, The Unity Theatre (Shubbak Festival)                                                Website: unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk

Fri 14 – Sat 15 July                                                                                                            Box Office: 01392 434169

Exeter, The Bike Shed Theatre (Part of the Boat Shed Festival)                   Website: bikeshedtheatre.co.uk

Mon 17 – Tue 18 July                                                                                                      Box Office: 0131 220 4348

Edinburgh, Assembly Rooms                                                                                      Website: assemblyroomsedinburgh.co.uk

Wed 19 July                                                                                                                        Box Office: 01865 319450

Oxford, The North Wall                                                                                                 Website: thenorthwall.com

Thu 20 & Fri 21 July                                                                                                          Box Office: 01223 300085

Cambridge, ADC Theatre                                                                                              Website: adctheatre.com

Sat 22 July                                                                                                                           Box Office: 0300 3033 211

Halesworth, The Cut Arts Centre                                                                              Website: newcut.org

 

• CASTING IS ANNOUNCED FOR THE UK PREMIERE OF TAYLOR MAC’S ‘HIR’ AT THE BUSH THEATRE

• ARTHUR DARVILL, GRIFFYN GILLIGAN, ASHLEY MCGUIRE AND ANDY WILLIAMS WILL PERFORM IN THIS NEW PRODUCTION DIRECTED BY NADIA FALL

Ovalhouse’s Summer Season 2017 Ovalhouse,

52-54 Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW

Friday 5th May – Saturday 29th July 2017

Ovalhouse’s exciting Summer Season explores three powerful themes – migration and what it means to ‘belong’, the nature of violence in our society, and love and loss. By continuing to present challenging and inspirational theatre that speaks to a world beyond the mainstream, Ovalhouse acts as a vital home for boundary-pushing art, artists and audiences with an eye on the future.

Home invites audiences with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities into an immersive experience of unfamiliar landscapes; Bound explores the dark underworld of people trafficking; and One Item Only follows one boy’s journey seeking refuge from his troubled homeland. Two powerful new plays examine the pervasive nature of violence in our society: The Believers Are But Brothers explores how young men use the internet to enact violent fantasies while Kieran Hurley’s new play An Injury explores the harm that we do to one another.

The season closes with three plays about loss including Associate Artist Bella Heesom’s much loved antidote to grief My World Has Exploded a Little Bit.

Owen Calvert-Lyons, Ovalhouse’s Head of Theatre & Artist Development, comments, I am very proud to be presenting the work of three of our Associate Artists, Bella Heesom, Donnacadh O’Briain and Koko Brown, this season. We are supporting, developing and nurturing some of the most exciting artists in London and these are the first plays to come out of this programme. I am particularly excited by Trinity this season; we will be taking over the derelict chapel of a former asylum in Peckham to stage this beautiful production. Across the season our artists present you with challenging visions of our present as well as hopeful visions of our future and invite us to reflect on where our own journey will lead us.

The fantastic Summer Season 2017 is as follows:

Home by Frozen Light Theatre, in association with New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich (5 th – 6 th May, 11am and 1.30pm)

This exciting production for audiences with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD), explores a new and unknown world. This multi-sensory story of discovery explores a world that is not how Scarlet and Olive remember it. Where are they now and where is their home? Together, they must learn how to survive and create a future in an environment that is full of surprises.

Identity Crisis by Phina Oruche (9th – 13th May, 7.45pm)

Beginning with the real life story of the sudden death of Phina’s 1-year- old niece in her house in 2011, this show presents us with 60 images of Phina in fashion and provides an illuminating, humorous and candid exposition of life under the glare of the media spotlight. Phina portrays nine characters: Black, White, Old, Young, Male and Female, and explores identity struggles that are common to all.

Bound (9th – 13th May, 7.30pm)

Inspired by true accounts of human trafficking, Justice in Motion present a compelling tale of dreams and broken promises, of hope and resilience in the face of harrowing circumstances. Driven by the desire for a brighter future, three desperate, but very different people unknowingly take the biggest gamble of their lives. Told through a dynamic fusion of dance, circus, music, projection and spoken word, Bound is a beautifully crafted story of strength in the face of adversity

My World Has Exploded a Little Bit (23rd – 27th May, 7.30pm)

Bella Heesom’s debut play, directed by Donnacadh O’Briain, is part true story, part farcical performance lecture. It tells a deeply personal story of loss and love, through a darkly comic step-by-step guide to bereavement. Mixing tender intimacy and unflinching honesty with hardhitting philosophy, clownish silliness and an enchanting live piano score, it takes the audience on a powerful emotional journey, shot through with jet black comedy.

The Forever Machine (30th May – 3rd June, 2pm)

After the success of Eloise and the Curse of the Golden Whisk, award- winning company The Wardrobe Ensemble return to delight families at Ovalhouse during half-term, using bold stagecraft and out of this world soundscapes to bring this curious tale to life. Get carried away on this wild sci-fi adventure. Leap through vortexes in time and space! Fight demons in the past! Dance disco in the future!

One Item Only (1st – 3rd June, 11.30am and 2.30pm)

If you had to take a long journey and could only take one item with you – what would it be? Follow one boy’s journey across continents in search of refuge from his troubled homeland, in this eventful and uplifting story of hope and resilience where the human spirit triumphs. Inspired by recent events, and created by Bristol-based Greek artist, Margarita Sidirokastriti, family audiences will share the challenges of his adventurous journey towards an uncertain but ultimately optimistic future.

Trinity by Brave New Worlds (19th – 22nd, 26th and 27th June, 7.30pm)

Trinity is a visually stunning, design-led performance staged in a beautiful derelict gothic chapel that transports audiences to other worlds. A collaboration with acclaimed international artists, the show explores the aesthetics of gender and female iconography in our society’s visual culture, from pagan and religious artefacts to bedroom selfies, to create a highly visceral visual landscape with an immersive sound experience. This is an offsite event taking place at The Asylum, a ten minute walk from Queens Road Peckham station.

The Believers are But Brothers – Edinburgh preview (12th – 15th July, 7.30pm)

We live in a time where old orders are collapsing and tech savvy and extremist groups rip through twentieth century political certainties. Amidst this, a generation of young men find themselves burning with resentment. This crisis of masculinity leads them into an online world of fantasy, violence and reality. Writer and theatre maker Javaad Alipoor spent time in this digital realm, exploring the blurry and complex world of extremists, spies, journalists and fantasists. This bold one-man show weaves together their stories.

An Injury (18th – 22nd July, 7.30pm)

After their award-winning collaboration on Heads Up, writer Kieran Hurley (Beats, Hitch) and director Alex Swift (How to Win Against History, Mess) team up once again to create a thrilling new play about violence, love, the distance between us, and the harm we do to each other. Morvern wants to get up and walk away from this desk. Danny wants to write something revolutionary. Joe wants to protect what good we still have left. And then there’s Isma. We don’t know much about Isma. We know she’s twelve. We know she speaks only Arabic. We know she’s here. And we know she’s watching. Here, in this room, four speakers pick through the fragments of four shattered lives.

I am a Tree – Edinburgh preview (27th – 29th July, 7.30pm)

Writer Jamie Wood presents a show like no other. A show that is something else entirely. A dance party with ghosts, in a forest, in a theatre. A hopping ritual. An invitation to drink deep: to face the shadows that growl on your insides and laugh big. Hold on tight!

As with every Ovalhouse season, the Summer programme also include two exciting new worksin-development, a chance to see raw new ideas that might develop into a bigger piece, or might be a way to explore an idea. The new FiRST BiTES are:

WHITE (20th – 22nd July, 7.45pm)

Koko Brown considers the concept of mixed-race privilege as she tries to connect clashing cultures and explore what it means to be mixed in contemporary Britain. A show about identity which blends spoken-word with live vocal looping and asks ‘What are you when you are always the other?’

Juliet and Romeo’s work in progress (25th – 26th July, 7.30pm)

Ben Duke’s Lost Dog will be sharing something of their as yet unstarted and definitely still unfinished version of Shakespeare’s deeply pessimistic teenage love story. A humorous and heartfelt investigation into love, loss and longevity.