Home

Newcastle Theatre Royal is delighted to announce that TV presenter and children’s favourite, Chris Jarvis, will host the Relaxed Performance of Dick Whittington on Tuesday 12 January.

Best known for his work as a presenter on CBeebies, Chris will join the cast at Newcastle Theatre Royal, for its first Relaxed Performance since it became the first theatre in the UK to be awarded the Autism Access Award (AAA) from the National Autistic Society.

The well-known TV personality will host the Relaxed Performance, which is specifically designed to welcome people with an Autistic Spectrum Condition, learning disability or sensory and communication disorder into the theatre.

Chris said: “I am thrilled to be returning to the most spectacular and hilarious of pantomimes for this year’s relaxed performance ofDick Whittington. We all enjoy laughing and joining in at Panto, well now absolutely everyone is included thanks to the hard work and dedication of the team at Newcastle Theatre Royal.  The thought and care that goes into this unique performance ensures the audience feels safe and completely comfortable without destroying any of the magic – which this show has in abundance.”

The relaxed performance is designed to provide an opportunity for people who would otherwise find it difficult to go to see a show – for example people who make involuntary noise, or are likely to need to talk a lot, or move around. During a regular performance this can disturb the other audience members, and the show, but at a relaxed performance it’s expected that the auditorium will be noisy and our staff are trained to support this.

The show will have a less formal, reassuring atmosphere in order to reduce anxiety levels. Lighting and special effects will be slightly altered – including removing strobes and flashing lights and reducing very loud noises, however the content of the show will not be specifically changed so all the magic of pantomime is maintained.

Chief Executive, Philip Bernays, said: “We are very proud that as an AAA accredited theatre, we will once again be flying the flag for Relaxed Performances. We are one of only a handful of theatres in the UK to offer these specially tailored performances and we are delighted that by doing so, we bring the best panto in the UK to hundreds of children, families and adults who might otherwise never experience its magic. We are dedicated to making our theatre as accessible as possible and have already started taking bookings for next year’s Relaxed Performance of Cinderella too!”

Dick Whittington Relaxed Performance plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal on Tuesday 12 January at 12 noon. Tickets can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Group Bookings team on 08448 11 21 22 (all calls are charged at 7p a minute plus your phone company’s access charge, calls from mobiles may vary, please contact your operator for details) or select your own seat and book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk

GET READY TO HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

Darlington Civic Theatre hosts Sing-a-long-a Dirty Dancing on Saturday 23 January.

Darlington Civic Theatre will host Sing-a-long-a Dirty Dancing, when the unique, interactive screening of the hit musical film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey rolls into town.

It’s the summer of 1963, it’s college boys versus dancing hunks, it’s one of the best loved movies of all time and, yes, there is a guy as great as your dad.

Join Baby and Johnny in a fun-filled screening of the 1987 classic dance film where YOU are the star of the show. Your host will lead a vocal warm-up, show you how to use your ‘magic moments fun pack’ and have you dancing in the aisles, and remember, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner”. This is your chance to show Patrick and Jennifer how it’s done.

Sing-a-long-a Dirty Dancing is at Darlington Civic Theatre on Saturday 23 January at 7.30pm. Tickets* are priced £13 & £15, discounts available.

*All prices include a £1 restoration levy

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk

YOUR CHANCE TO REALLY LET IT GO

Darlington Civic Theatre hosts Sing-a-long-a Frozen on Saturday 23 January.

Darlington Civic Theatre will host Sing-a-long-a Frozen, when the unique, interactive screening of the worldwide phenomenon Frozen rolls into town as part of a nationwide UK tour.

Disney’s Frozen is the Sing-a-long-a must see! A screening of Disney’s Frozen with lyrics on screen to help you sing along with Elsa and Anna and all your favourite characters. The evening is introduced by a live host who will show you how to use your interactive prop bag and then just sit back and ‘Let it Go’! YOU the audience can be the stars!

Remember to dress up as your favourite character and be a Snow Queen for the day or Olaf the snowman, the coolest iceman ever!

Disney’s Frozen has taken the world by “snowstorm” and has become the biggest animated film in the world. In this heart-warming tale, fearless optimist Anna sets off on an epic journey, teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven, to find her sister Elsa whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom.

The Academy Award winning song “Let it Go”, which has now sold over 250,000 copies in the UK, will feature as part of Sing-a-long-a-Frozen, along with the rest of the platinum certified soundtrack making this sing-a-long one not to be missed.

Sooooo ‘do you wanna build a snowman…..?’

Sing-a-long-a Frozen is at Darlington Civic Theatre on Saturday 23 January at 3pm.

Tickets are priced:

Adults £13 & £15, Children £10

2 adults & 2 children £46

1 adult & 2 children £33

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk

Whistleblower – the story of Edward Snowden

Waterloo East Theatre Brad Street SE1 8TN from the 8th February to 6th March 2016

`Whistleblower is always watchable. Events unfold with a thriller-like momentum…’
Lyn Gardner The Guardian 11 July 2014

`What’s impressive is the theatrical ballsiness of this London fringe production’        Kate Bassett The Times 11 July 2014

‘Glad to see Whistleblower is coming back.  It sticks closely to the events as they unfolded in Hong Kong and does justice to Edward Snowden’s revelations about the scale of state surveillance.’                  Ewen MacAskill the journalist who broke the story for the Guardian.

Snowden `should be hanged by his neck until he is dead’.  Former CIA Director James Woolsey.

`The surveillance carried out by the U.S. Intelligence services is mass, indiscriminate surveillance.’  The European Court of Justice September 2015

Glint of Light presents:

ALEXANDRA BURKE

TO STAR AS ‘DELORIS VAN CARTIER’ IN THE ALL NEW PRODUCTION OF

AT LEEDS GRAND THEATRE THIS AUGUST

DIRECTED AND CHOREOGRAPHED BY

CRAIG REVEL HORWOOD

Leeds Grand Theatre is delighted to announce that Alexandra Burke will star as ‘Deloris Van Cartier’ in the all new production of the hit musical comedy SISTER ACT, directed and choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood. 

Craig said “I am truly thrilled that Alexandra is going to be our leading lady in this all new production of Sister Act. Alexandra is such a fantastic singer and actress and I know she is going to be amazing. I couldn’t think of anyone better to play the role of the smart and funny Deloris’.

Alexandra said “I’m over the moon to be given the opportunity to play the wonderful Deloris in Sister Act. It’s such an iconic role and a part I’ve always wanted to play. I love touring the UK and I’m thrilled to be working with Craig and his amazing creative team. I can’t wait to get started!”

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.

Sister Act comes to Leeds Grand Theatre – the only Yorkshire venue on the tour – from August 22^nd to 27^th.

Tickets are on sale now priced from £22.50 to £45.

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

With award season in full swing, Empire Cinemas have offered people the chance to join in the fun by launching their own Award Season Bingo. To play along at home this Sunday for the Golden Globes, print out the bingo grid and mark off each section as it happens. Tweet your cards or suggest your own bingo ideas to @EmpireCinemas on Twitter.

Cabbages and Kings presents:

SHEFFIELD THEATRES ANNOUNCES FULL CASTING FOR

WAITING FOR GODOT AND THE NAP

With the critically acclaimed Show Boat currently running in the Crucible, and Partus and A Raisin in the Sun in rehearsals, Sheffield Theatres’ Artistic Director Daniel Evans announcesthe full casts for the forthcoming productions of Waiting For Godot and the world première of Richard Bean’s comedy thriller The Nap, both at the Crucible this spring.

Sheffield Theatres’ Associate Director Charlotte Gwinner (The Distance, Crave, 4.48 Psychosis) opens the 2016 season with Beckett’s masterpiece of modern theatre Waiting For Godot (Thu 4 – Sat 27 February). In her first production for the Crucible stage, Charlotte directs Richard Cordery,currently appearing as Sir Leicester Dedlock in BBC One’s Dickensian, as Pozzo, Lorcan Cranitch, well-known to television audiences for his roles in Hornblower, Spooks, Shackleton and as DS Jimmy Beck in ITV’s Cracker, plays Vladimir.  Bob Goody, who returns to the Crucible having previously appeared in The Country Wife, plays Lucky and Jeff Rawle, familiar to audiences from  Drop The Dead Donkey, Hollyoaks and as Amos Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, playsEstragon.  The Boy will be played by young local actors Toby Allwood and William Oxley.

Samuel Beckett’s most famous play is a masterpiece of modern theatre that follows two friends as they await the arrival of a mysterious character. They wait. And wait. And wait. As time passes, the men muse on their friendship, their favourite jokes and what it all means until their patience begins to wane.  And then they spy something coming towards them on the horizon…

Joining the previously announced BAFTA Rising Star winner Jack O’Connell, who plays up and coming snooker player Dylan Spokes in Richard Wilson’s production of The Nap and making their Sheffield Theatres debuts are Mark Addy and Ralf Little. Well known for his starring roles in the iconic film The Full Monty and the hugely successful Game of Thrones, Mark plays Dylan’s wheeler dealer Dad, Bobby Spokes, with Ralf Little, star of The Royle Family and Lewis, as his cocky manager Tony DanLino.  Also appearing are Chris Brailsford, who returns to Sheffield having previously appeared in An Enemy of the People, Esther Coles (The Syndicate, Shameless), Louise Gold (Gypsy, Oliver! Mary Poppins), Dermot Crowley (Luther), Youssef Kerkour, also familiar to Sheffield audiences from his role in Plenty (David Hare Season) and Rochenda Sandall (Pomona – National Theatre/Manchester Royal Exchange. They are joined by professional snooker player John Astley.

A world premiere from Richard Bean, the award-winning writer of One Man, Two Guvnors, The Napis a laugh out loud comedy thriller about love, honour and not getting snookered, set at the World Snooker Championships.

Tickets for Waiting For Godot and The Nap are on sale now and can be purchased from Sheffield Theatres’ Box Office in-person, by phone on 0114 249 6000 or online at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.

Producers have announced the full cast for the first national tour of Peter Whelan’s The Herbal Bed, which opens at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton next month.

Emma Lowndes (Downton Abbey, Thérèse Raquin) leads the cast alongside two time Olivier-nominee Charlotte Wakefield (The Sound of Music, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Philip Correia (The History Boys, National Theatre), Patrick Driver (Curious Incident, Apollo Theatre), Jonathan Guy Lewis (An Inspector Calls, Aldwych Theatre), Michael Mears (Conversations with my Father, Old Vic) and Matt Whitchurch (Pine, Hampstead Theatre).

Royal & Derngate artistic director James Dacre directs the play, a co-production from English Touring Theatre, Royal & Derngate and Rose Theatre Kingston, which is the first major revival of Whelan’s play.

The production will tour to Cambridge, Liverpool, Exeter, Brighton, Manchester, Bath and Oxford, before completing its run at the Rose Theatre Kingston in May.

The Herbal Bed, which will also feature original music by Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurðsson, recounts real events surrounding the public trial of Shakespeare’s daughter, who was accused of adultery with her neighbour.

It was first produced to great acclaim by the Royal Shakespeare Company before transferring to the West End and Broadway, winning the Writer’s Guild and TMA Awards.