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Sarah Thomas presents:

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN SPONGE

A spongy new adventure awaits Darlington families as a new commission for early years children sees Big Imaginations pushing the boundaries of creative play with SPONGE coming to Central Hall, Dolphin Centre, Darlington on Thursday 23 February.

The Spark Arts, Big Imaginations and Turned On Its Head continue their wonderful obsession with bringing brilliant children’s theatre to the north east with a brand new commission for 2016! This time it’s an adventure with Sponge.

Sponge embraces all things spongy. Alluding to a child’s ability to soak things up ‘like a sponge’, a lovely piece of cake, or simply the springy, squashy, malleable, texture which fascinates us and children alike. Set to an original score fused with 1970s interludes by composers such as Henry Mancini, the performers will reveal and explore small and large scale sponge environments and props for children to squash, roll, pop and squeeze.

Turned On Its Head artistic director Liz Clark said: ”We want to make theatre that places experiences of the child at the heart of it. For me, making this work was a response to the frustrations of taking my own non-hearing son to theatre performances and him not understanding that he couldn’t get on stage or touch the magical world that was being presented. I wanted to create theatre that was close up, personal, invitational and above all, inclusive. Why shouldn’t a child’s first experience of theatre be about being so close to the performer they can touch them?

We also want to co-create our theatre with our audience. What you’ll find when you come to see our work is that the children become immersed in the theatrical experience on their own terms and our performances give space for engaging and respecting each child’s response. The result is beautifully moving theatre which is about each child’s own journey.”

Sponge comes to Central Hall, Dolphin Centre, Darlington on Thursday 23 February with performances at 11am and 2pm.

Tickets £5, Family Ticket £16 (4 people, minimum 1 adult)

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555

Last chance to see RSC’s celebrated pairing of Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing at Theatre Royal Haymarket

·         Strictly limited West End season of these hugely acclaimed productions must end on 18^th March, 2017

·         Last chance to see Edward Bennett and Lisa Dillon starring in Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedies.

Audiences now have just six weeks left to see the RSC’s critically acclaimed 2014 pairing of Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing (or Love’s Labour’s Won), having been charming audiences at Theatre Royal Haymarket. For the past two months, Edward Bennett and Lisa Dillon have starred in these elegant, captivating productions. Following runs at Chichester Festival Theatre and Manchester Opera House, these two noteworthy productions directed by Christopher Luscombe opened at Theatre Royal Haymarket, London in December. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, these sparklingly funny romances enter their final weeks of this limited season, ending on 18^th March 2017.

The RSC productions, with dazzling country house designs by Simon Higlett and glorious music by Nigel Hess, are set either side of the First World War. Love’s Labour’s Lost conjures up the carefree elegance of a pre-war Edwardian summer, while in post-war Much Ado About Nothing, the world has changed forever, with the roaring Twenties just around the corner.

Love’s Labour’s Lost

Summer 1914. In order to dedicate themselves to a life of study, the King and his friends take an oath to avoid the company of women for three years. No sooner have they made their idealistic pledge than the Princess of France and her ladies-in-waiting arrive, presenting the men with a severe test of their high-minded resolve.

Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy mischievously suggests that the study of the opposite sex is the highest of all academic endeavours. Only at the end of the play is the merriment curtailed as the lovers agree to submit to a period apart, unaware that the world around them is about to be utterly transformed by the war to end all wars.

Much Ado About Nothing or Love’s Labour’s Won

Winter 1918. A group of soldiers returns from the trenches. The world-weary Benedick and his friend Claudio find themselves reacquainted with Beatrice and Hero. As memories of conflict give way to a life of parties and masked balls, Claudio and Hero fall in love, while Benedick and Beatrice reignite their own, altogether more combative, courtship.

Shakespeare’s comic romance (possibly known in his lifetime as Love’s Labour’s Won) plays out amidst the brittle high spirits of a post-war house party, as youthful passions run riot, lovers are deceived and happiness is threatened – before peace ultimately wins out.

Edward Bennett reprises his roles as Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. Edward made his name when he took over the title role in Hamlet from David Tennant at the Novello Theatre in 2008. His recent theatre credits include Photograph 51 with Nicole Kidman in the West End, and the National Theatre’s One Man, Two Guvnors on tour.

Lisa Dillon plays Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. Lisa recently starred as Moll in The Roaring Girl and as Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew, both at the RSC, and opposite Stephen Mangan as Lisa in Birthday at the Royal Court. Her other theatre credits include A Flea in Her Ear and Design For Living (Old Vic), The Knot of the Heart(Almeida), Private Lives and Under The Blue Sky (West End). On television, she is best known for her role as Mary Smith in Cranford.

These productions are presented by The Royal Shakespeare Company, Chichester Festival Theatre, TRH Productions, Jonathan Church Productions and Duncan C Weldon.

The Lowry’s 2016 Christmas Appeal raises record-breaking £39,500
to help children in care

The Lowry has raised £39,500 from its 2016 Christmas Appeal – the largest amount since the annual appeal began in 2011.

The money will be used to support young people from Salford that are in, or have recently left, the care system – in particular, helping them develop confidence, self-esteem and key life skills whilst also experiencing the arts for the first time.

Fundraising for the year-long programme of activity has included bucket collections after shows between November (2016) and January (2017) as well as individual activity undertaken by Lowry staff and volunteers.

The 20 young people – who live across Salford and Manchester – will now begin a year-long drama project resulting in a production to be performed on The Lowry’s Quays Theatre stage in autumn 2017.

The programme will involve a creative residential with professional theatre company 20 Stories High, trips to see theatre shows, and masterclasses in stand-up comedy, theatre, playwriting and performance.

The young people will also work towards gaining an Arts Award qualification, which is a GCSE equivalent.

Julia Fawcett OBE, chief executive of The Lowry, said: “The Christmas Appeal is one of our most important, annual fundraising events. It cuts to the very heart of what The Lowry is all about – opening up the arts to all, and using the arts to improve people’s lives.

“At almost £40,000, this year’s total is the best yet – and we are incredibly grateful to our theatre audiences for their generosity.”

The Lowry is a registered charity no: 1053962.

Bucket collections took place on the following shows: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Horrible Christmas, Blood Brothers, The Peony Pavilion and Be My Baby.

The Pensive Federation presents:

Theatres Trust announce six theatres to be awarded grants from UK Theatres Small Grants Scheme

Theatres Trust is pleased to announce that it is awarding six small capital grants to a range of theatres across the country from its UK Small Grants Scheme. Launched in April 2012, the Theatres Trust receives support from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and Judy Craymer MBE awarding grants of up to £5,000 to theatres across the UK with charitable status to address urgent building repairs and help theatres in need and at risk.

Grants from the UK Theatres Small Grants Scheme are awarded as follows:

The Place Theatre, Bedford
Plough Arts Centre, Great Torrington
Leatherhead Theatre
Market Theatre, Ledbury
Grand Pavilion, Matlock Bath
Carnegie Theatre and Arts Centre, Workington

Jon Morgan, Director at the Theatres Trust said: “I’m proud that our UK Theatres Small Grants Scheme, now in its ninth round, continues to help theatres make significant improvements to secure and improve their buildings’ fabric. The results will provide a more accessible and welcoming customer experience for their communities.”

The UK Theatres Small Grants Scheme aims to target theatres across the UK run by charities and not-for-profit groups that can clearly demonstrate the value capital improvements to their theatres would make to their work in local communities.

The Place Theatre, Bedford receives £3,335 to support interior and access improvements. Part of the project will involve purchasing a portable ramp which will make the stage more accessible to disabled performers and participants. In addition, it would involve creating a backstage shower room which would support the theatres’ ambition to present more physical theatre and dance. The 130-seat theatre is housed in a building that was originally a Boys Club. Over the last four years the theatre has introduced professional touring work and programmes up to 40 events a year covering contemporary theatre, music events, spoken word and family theatre.

Plough Arts Centre, Great Torrington, Devon receives £4,462 for its ‘Smartening Up’ project which will see the roof, guttering, windows, exterior doors and external lighting repaired. The arts centre receives no regular funding despite sitting in a prominent position within Great Torrington and welcoming 70,000 visitors in 2015. Improvements to the Arts Centre will have a significant effect on the economy and profile of the local high street where it is located.

Market Theatre, Ledbury receives a grant of £5,000 towards a new, purpose-built, multi-purpose Studio, which will be used for rehearsal space and as an additional dressing room space – where currently it has neither. Built in 2000, it is a volunteer-run community theatre that programmes live, touring, professional and amateur drama, music, dance and film for Ledbury, its rural catchment, as well as visitors to the town, with 9,000 paid attendances in 2015.

Grand Pavilion, Matlock Bath, receives £5,000 to support its ‘Keeping the Water Out’ project. The building is currently not water-tight and the grant will contribute towards the replacement of the guttering and the rainwater management systems to prevent further water ingress and damage to both the exterior and interior of the building. The Grand Pavilion’s condition has deteriorated in recent years and the vision is to position it back into the heart of the local community, by establishing it as a fully refurbished theatre, multifunctional arts venue and community space. Ensuring that the building is watertight is a critical element to the future of the theatre.

Leatherhead Theatre, Surrey, receives £5,000 to fund repairs to the external concrete of the building, which, if not carried out, will lead to further spalling and deterioration of the metal structure below the concrete. Building repairs are now required to reinstate the affected areas. The Grade II listed theatre was previously known as the Thorndike Theatre and incorporates the external features of a 1930s cinema, with the interior designed by architect Roderick Ham. It is now recognised as being one of the best and most influential theatre designs of its time. The theatre mainly serves people living in the communities of Leatherhead and surrounding areas and as well as performances and other events, the theatre runs a theatre school and performing arts classes.

Carnegie Theatre and Arts Centre, Workington receives £5,000 towards the cost of accessibility improvements. The purchase and installation of double aluminium automated self-opening and closing doors will replace a set of wooden double doors from inside the main entrance foyer leading into the main café and box office, and will make the building more accessible to people with disabilities, as well as older people and parents with pushchairs. The Carnegie, a Grade II listed building, serves one of the most deprived communities in the UK.

Trustees of the Theatres Trust consider applications twice a year and will meet in June 2017 to consider further Small Grants Scheme awards. The deadline for Round Ten applications is 16 May 2017. Further details including criteria and an application form can be found: theatrestrust.org.uk/grants

Vault Festival 1 – 5 February.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Kane Power’s mother Kim is bipolar. We all have an idea of what bipolar is, but do we ever think about the impact on the sufferers’ family and relationships? In Mental, Power explores his mother’s mental health “with music, stories, and medical notes.” This may sound pretentious – Power himself admits this in his introduction – but in practice, these aspects are weaved together skilfully and sensitively to create a powerful and beautiful show.

Power does incredibly clever things on synthesizer thingies with lots of buttons and pedals (not a clue what was going on there, but I loved it!) to produce hypnotic and haunting music to accompany monologues, and adds simple repetitive lyrics that punch you in the gut. Interspersed with his own personal stories are recordings voices reading definitions of mental health terms, and the reports of Kim’s mental health reviews. Hearing her actions and delusions described calmly and coldly as Power sorts through piles of medical reports is chilling.

Power and his mother describe her mental health in more human and accessible terms – through musical and travelling analogies that allow you a peak at her disorientation. Tales of her manic episodes when he was a child, and his guilt about how he copes with her episodes now are interspersed with voicemail messages left by her. Singing and full of love in some, and foul-mouthed hatred in others. Power’s face as he shrugs at the audience after one tirade just makes you want to jump up and give him a hug.

Still in development, the show is entertaining and emotional throughout. There are a few slow sections that I was unsure of at first, but, on reflection, I think that they fitted in well with the tone of the show, feeling like natural lulls in the conversation where everyone is taking a breath. Some of the standout moments are Power’s “I’m Fine” song – about the impact his mum’s behaviour has on his life, a fabulous poem about medication and side effects, followed by a devastating visual demonstration of the damage done to Kim’s relationships.

This isn’t a pity-fest though. Rather it is a celebration of the human spirit – showing Kim’s strength, bravery and resilience as well as her frustration and loneliness. When Power puts on his mother’s shawl and speaks as her, describing her life and symptoms baldly but poetically “I can enter your world, but you can’t enter mine” he almost disappears and you see Kim standing there – a proud woman who is much more than her illness, and wants and deserves our understanding.

Vault Festival 1 – 5 February, then on tour.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

When Jolie Booth moved into a Brighton squat in 2002, the flat had been left untouched since the death of its last owner. Amongst the clutter, diaries, letters, pictures – and a hip bone were found. Booth started reading these letters, and developed this personal and nostalgic show about the life of Anne Clark.

Born in 1939, Anne lived in 1970’s Brighton and was the “herb lady” at Infinity Foods, and Booth found items in the flat documenting her hedonistic life. But there was a long period of silence before her death at 59. Booth’s mission to find out what happened to Anne revealed a descent into alcoholism and a lonely death. The links Booth feels with Anne are obviously profound, and her attempt to create a sense of place using incense, 70’s drapes and nibbles, and a wonderfully simple but evocative descriptive introduction to the flat is wonderfully convincing. The sense of connection and ideas of tribes are explained through aboriginal song lines, and Booth lays herself bare talking about the parallels between her life and Anne’s.

Using a gloriously low-tech OHP, photos, drawings and timelines are displayed as Booth shares Anne’s life with the audience. Letters and diaries (of both women) are passed around the audience, and the musty smell of the old paper will probably cause a few Proust moments. Members of the audience are asked to read some aloud, bringing a different slant to every show. The audience also gets to choose which aspects of Anne’s life are shared by picking from a selection of paper bags labelled with mother, lover, hedonist, artist etc.

At first, you feel like an intruder in this life, but the stories and objects draw you in, and you feel like you are getting to know a friend. In an hour. That takes some doing, and Booth’s show is balanced perfectly between psychological and sociological investigation and celebratory storytelling.

Ghost – The Musical
extends UK tour to include visit to
The Lowry

Mon 24 – Sat 29 April 2017

Bill Kenwright’s production of the timeless story of love, despair and hope, Ghost – The Musical, will extend its current UK tour with a visit to The Lowry, Salford from Mon 24 – Sat 29 April 2017. Taking its inspiration from the classic movie, this innovative reimagining features an expanded book, new music and original staging.

Carolyn Maitland will continue in the role of Molly alongside Andy Mossas Sam.  Carolyn’s musical theatre credits include ‘Ellen’ in Miss Saigon (Prince Edward Theatre), ‘Joelle’ in Groundhog Day (Old Vic), ‘Rose’ in From Here to Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre) and ‘Kate’ in Kiss Me Kate (Old Vic, West End & Chichester).

Musician and actor Andy Moss, best known for the role of Rhys Ashworth in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, one he played for 8 years, will continue to wow audiences around the UK as ‘Sam’. His credits also include Cutting It, Coronation Street and most recently he appeared as Paul Cuthbert in the long running BBC soap opera Doctors.

West End musical theatre star Jacqui Dubois (original London cast of Rent and Children of Eden, other credits include The Lion King, Fela and most recently People, Places and Things) plays ‘Oda Mae Brown’, the part made famous in the film by Whoopi Goldberg. Sam Ferriday (Jersey Boys, Blue Man Group, The Prodigals) plays ‘Carl’, alongside Leo Sene as ‘Willie’, James Earl Adair haunting proceedings as the ‘Hospital Ghost’, and Gary Lee Netley as the ‘Subway Ghost’. Tarisha Rommick plays ‘Louise’ and Simbi Akande ‘Clara’. Completing the cast is Lori Baker, Ethan Bradshaw, Lauren Drew, Matthew Vinetot, Mike Ward and Kelly Hampson.

The Double Academy Award winning movie is a huge success story, both critically and at the box office, where it was the highest grossing film in the year of its release. It starred the late Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Tony Goldwyn and Whoopi Goldberg and was directed by Jerry Zucker. Bruce Joel Rubin’s script won the Oscar® for Best Original Screenplay and Whoopi Goldberg won the Oscar® for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The film’s most iconic and moving scene was famously performed to The Righteous Brother’s Unchained Melody, which also features in the musical version.

Walking back to their apartment late one night a tragic encounter sees Sam murdered and his beloved girlfriend Molly alone, in despair and utterly lost. But with the help of a phony storefront psychic, Sam, trapped between this world and the next, tries to communicate with Molly in the hope of saving her from grave danger…

Bill Kenwright said; “Ghost is a story full of hope, and is one of those films which never leaves you. The book by Bruce Joel Rubin and score by Dave Stewart and Glenn Ballad come together wonderfully in one of my favourite new musicals in years.”

Bruce Joel Rubin said; “This is a show with such a strong emotional and musical life that it can mould to many visions and interpretations.  It can be performed on any scale, and its vibrant heart will still captivate an audience and allows the imagination to flourish. It is purely theatrical in the greatest sense.  We are very excited by the potential that the new version holds”.

Listings Info
Ghost- The Musical
The Lowry
Mon 24 – Sat 29 April 2017
7:30pm, Wed & Sat 2pm
Box office: 0843 208 6000
Website

Further casting and new dates announced for the

UK Tour of Moira Buffini’s

GABRIEL

UK Tour Opens March 2017

Theatre6 and Catherine Schreiber are delighted to announce further casting for the UK Tour of Moira Buffini’s Gabriel, which opens in London at Richmond Theatre on Tuesday 28 March 2017, with a national press night on Friday 31 March 2017. This will be the 20^th anniversary production of Gabrieland is only the second professional production since it was first staged at the Soho Theatre in 1997.

Belinda Lang will be joining the company in the lead role of Jeanne. Belinda is best known for playingBill in 2 Point 4 Children. Other television credits include The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries, Second Thoughts, Dear John, Justice in Wonderland, The Bretts and To Serve Them All My Days. Belinda has also appeared in many theatre productions including Alan Bennett’s Single Spies, The Glass Menagerie, Oklahoma! UK Tour and Hay Fever (Haymarket Theatre and Royal Exchange Theatre).

Jules Melvin will also join the production in the role of Lake. Jules’s theatre credits include Private Lives (Hampstead Theatre), The Rose Tattoo (National Theatre) and Othello, Pericles, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe).

Belinda and Jules will be joining the previously announced Paul McGann (Withnail and I, Doctor Whoand The Monocled Mutineer) as Von Pfunz, Robin Morrissey (Twelfth Night) in the title role of Gabriel, Sarah Schoenbeck (CBBC’s 4 O’Clock Club) as Lily and Venice van Someren (Thérèse Raquin at Southwark Playhouse) as Estelle.

The story of Gabriel is based in 1943 Nazi-occupied Guernsey. Widow and mother Jeanne does whatever it takes to keep her adolescent daughter Estelle and daughter-in-law Lily safe on an island filled with danger and fear. Her toughest test arrives in the form of the terrifying Commander Von Pfunz, whose romantic advances may be the only way to keep her family alive. But tensions intensify when a mysterious young man is washed ashore with no memory of who he is. Fluent in German and English, is he an RAF pilot, an SS interrogator, a local boy with amnesia or a saviour sent from heaven? The stakes are high and getting it wrong means certain death. 

Theatre6 is joined by lead producer Catherine Schreiber. Catherine is a Tony Award-winning producer who brought the award-winning The Scottsboro Boys to London. She is currently a producer onDreamgirls in the West End and a Lead on The Play that Goes Wrong opening April 2017, Broadway and The Life, opening March 2017 in London. They will be joined by co-producers Adam Roebuck (Blithe Spirit West End, and Single Spies UK Tour) and Bruno Wang (Dreamgirls West End, School of Rock West End, and A Streetcar Named Desire Young Vic).