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Russell Tovey will star alongside Mark Strong in A View from the Bridge when the Young Vic’s Olivier Award-winning production transfers to Broadway later this year.

Tovey will play Rodolpho alongside original cast members Nicola Walker (Beatrice),Pheobe Fox (Catherine), Emun Elliott (Marco), and Michael Gould (Alfieri) and Richard Hansell (Louis).

A View from the Bridge runs from 21 October 2015 to 21 February 2016 at the Lyceum Theatre.

Directed by Ivo van Hove, the production features scenic and lighting design by longtime van Hove collaborator Jan Versweyveld, costume design by An D’Huys, and sound design by Tom Gibbons.

Russell Tovey last appeared on Broadway in the National Theatre production of The History Boys playing Rudge, the role he originated.

TOMMY THE ROCK OPERA

12 September 2015  – 26 September 2015,

TOMMY opens on Saturday September 12 and plays through to Saturday September 26. This multi award winning adaptation of the original chart topping album tells a powerful tale of a deaf, mute and blind pinball player who becomes an international messiah.

Starring Joe McElderry & Antony Costa

This smash hit Broadway and West End show will be directed by stage and screen star PAUL NICHOLAS who starred alongside Elton John, Roger Daltrey and Tina Turner in the 1975 film release of the show. The new show coincides with the 40 year anniversary of the film.

This colourful, exciting, imaginative and thought provoking new production will be enhanced by exhilarating choreography and will feature first class rock musicians. TOMMY was first performed by The Who in 1968 and was conceived by Pete Townsend and Kit Lambert with contributions to its development by John Enstwhistle, Keith Moon and Roger Daltrey.

It is not the first time that Blackpool audiences will be thrilled by The Who classics – the legendary rockers played the world famous Opera House twice in August 1964 and October 1961 to critical acclaim.

The Menier Chocolate Factory revival of Funny Girl starring Sheridan Smith has become the theatre’s fastest-selling show.

The production went on public sale at midnight and was sold out by 10:30am.

Directed by Michael Mayer, Funny Girl opens on 2 December 2015 (previews from 20 November), and runs until 5 March 2016.

Presented in association with Sonia Friedman Productions and Scott Landis, it is being hotly tipped for a West End transfer following its run at the Chocolate Factory.

The production sees Funny Girl return to the London stage for the first time since its 1966 UK premiere. With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Isobel Lennart, the show originally starred Barbra Streisand.

It centres on Fanny Brice, who rose from the Lower East Side of New York to become one of Broadway’s biggest stars under producer Florenz Ziegfield. While she was cheered onstage as a great comedienne, offstage she faced a doomed relationship with the man she loved.

The score features classics such as “People”, “You Are Woman, I Am Man” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade”.

Full casting has been announced for Simon Armitage’s The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead, which premieres at Liverpool Everyman next month.

The production reunites Armitage with director Nick Bagnall after their recent collaborations onThe Last Days of Troy and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The cast will feature Colin Tierney as Odysseus, alongside Lee Armstrong, Simon Dutton, Roger Evans, Polly Frame, David Hartley, Ranjit Krishnamma, Chris Reilly, Sule Rimi, Danusia Samal and Susie Trayling.

Armitage said: “The new gods sit in Whitehall and Downing Street, no less image-obsessed and power-hungry than their ancient counterparts, and a latter-day borderless Europe forms the backdrop to Odysseus’ travels, to a journey that begins at the confluence point of East and West, a place of conflict from the Siege of Troy to the present day.”

The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead opens at Liverpool Everyman on 30 September 2015 (previews from 25 September), and runs until 17 October.

The production, which is co-produced by English Touring Theatre, then tours to venues including Richmond Theatre (20-24 October), Brighton Theatre Royal (27-31 October), Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe (3 -14 November), Cambridge Arts Theatre (17-21 November) and Exeter Northcott Theatre (24-28 November).

The Old Vic is set to transform its Pit Bar into Penny, an all-day cafe and late night bar.

The new cafe is designed by Lauren Johns, who with her partner Jules Porter designed Milk in Balham and Fields in Clapham. Johns is also an occasional actress who appeared in new Old Vic artistic director Matthew Warchus’s  hit film Pride.

She told the Evening Standard she got the gig after a chance encounter with Warchus in Fields: “I recognised him and we got talking. He said how much he liked the place and it was his local. A little while later we got an email from him saying he wanted to think about changing the Pit Bar and could we come and see him.”

Penny is named after the Penny Lectures held at the Old Vic in 1882; they cost a penny and were designed to encourage new thinking and ideas.

According to press material: “The space will be inclusive and functional. During the day it will be a place to meet, have good coffee and/or brunch over a meeting, but will then seamlessly transition into a place to drink modern and engaging wines and grab something delicious to eat.”

The Old Vic’s front of house spaces are also being “refreshed”, marking the start of a five-year project to completely restore the historic Grade II listed theatre.

Penny opens in September. Its opening hours will be 8am-1am Monday to Wednesday, 8am-2am Thursday to Friday and 10am-2am on Saturdays.

Ocean Film Festival World Tour

Friday 25th September

7.30pm

Ocean Film Festival World Tour is set to make a splash this autumn!

The PLAYHOUSE Whitley Bay is delighted to inform that North East audiences will be able to immerse themselves in the wonders of the ocean, without getting their feet wet as the Ocean Film Festival World Tour returns the theatre this autumn, on September 25th. After a highly successful first Tour in 2014, the festival which originates in Australia, will feature a brand new selection of the world’s most captivating ocean-themed short films and will be shown in 24 towns and cities across the UK.

Designed to mesmerise and enthral, the Ocean Film Festival World Tour showcases more than two hours of sublime footage taken above and below the water’s surface. The films document the beauty and power of the ocean, and celebrate the divers, surfers, swimmers and oceanographers who live for the sea’s salt spray; who chase the crests of waves; and who marvel at the mysteries of the big blue. Heart-stopping shots of big wave surfing and adrenalin-inducing scenes of divers swimming with white sharks will leave audiences on the edges of their seats. The films also encourage viewers to dive head first into ocean culture as the festival is filled with touching interviews and insightful narrations from the characters whose lives are inspired by the ocean.

All films convey a deep respect and appreciation for the world’s oceans and the creatures that call them home. A selection of 2015 highlights includes Devocean; South African born Bruno has spent the majority of his life in or on the water, but in 1998 a tragic event left him with severe disabilities. In an instant he plunged from carefree surf guide, sailor, scuba diver and traveller to the depths of despair. A chance wave and the restorative powers of the ocean showed Bruno a new path in life, one that would be rich, full, diverse and salty. Devocean is an inspirational story of life’s lessons as taught by the sea.

Oceanminded; the film, follows champion freediver Hanli Prinsloo along the coast of South Africa and Mozambique. Her underwater journey takes her into the realm of the ocean’s most feared predator – the shark. The often feared creatures are portrayed in a very different light, one of beauty and respect. It´s an adventure full of risks and passions all on one breath.

A Small Surfer; Known as the Flying Squirrel, Quincy Symonds may well be the best six-year-old surfer and skater on the planet.   The Queenslander only started surfing about 18 months ago and, in a very short time, has captured the attention of the surfing world, gained multiple sponsors and garnered a fanatical following on social media. Prepare to be gobsmacked!

The Ocean Film Festival World Tour should be missed by no sports fan, nature fan or adrenaline junkie. With a wealth of new talent to be seen 2015 is guaranteed to exhilarate. What’s more The 2015 UK Ocean Film Festival World Tour will donate 25p from every ticket sold to Project Aware and Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). Project AWARE Foundation is a growing movement of scuba divers protecting the ocean planet one dive at a time. SAS is an environmental charity protecting the UK’s oceans, waves and beaches for all to enjoy safely and sustainably. Ocean Film Festival are very pleased to be working in partnership with both charities and hope the Tour will raise awareness of the essential work undertaken by these organisations, while at the same time, raising valuable funds to continue their work.

Tickets are on sale now and are priced at £12.50, £11 conc.

Tickets are available from the Box Office open Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm, Saturday 10.30am -2.30pm plus until show start on event days. Tickets can also be purchased on the booking hotline 0844 248 1588 or online at www.playhousewhitleybay.co.uk.

The King’s Head have announced that their production of F*cking Men, Joe DiPietro’s serio-comic contemporary adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde set within the gay subculture of a big city, will be extending its run at the King’s Head through into September.

The play is a moving portrayal of hunger and desire as it follows the erotic encounters of 10 men in their interconnected search for sexual satisfaction. Each scene in the play is a frank, candid and sometimes brutally honest depiction of the lustful transaction between two men. It is a loose adaptation of the 19th century play La Ronde in which pairings of characters are featured in scenes preceding and succeeding sexual encounters.

This extension proves the continued popularity of the show, after the original premiere run in 2009 began at the Finborough Theatre, from which it transferred to the King’s Head to play for 9 months (the longest ever Off West End run of a play). It then transferred into the West End to the Arts Theatre. This new production by director Geoffrey Hyland, who directed the South African premiere of The Blue Room, follows on from his hit success Between, which toured internationally before playing with us in August last year and extending with a further run in January this year as well.

Now in its 45th year, The King’s Head Theatre is celebrating this anniversary with an exciting new artistic policy after the departure of OperaUpClose, becoming a crucible for new writing and critical rediscoveries. Work from Irvine Welsh, Richard Cameron, Richard O’Brien and Arthur Miller, as well as Mike Bradwell directing for the first time since the 1970s, guarantees that if it’s on here, you won’t see it anywhere else. Led by Adam Spreadbury-Maher, second artistic director following Dan Crawford (who set up the King’s Head as the first pub theatre in 1970), the theatre is the first unfunded venue to have an Equity agreement to pay theatre-makers fair wages since 2011, and continues to do so despite receiving no public funding.

Cast:
The Escort Chris Wills
The Soldier Harper James
The Graduate Student Ruben Jones
The Student Euan Brockie
The Married Guy Jonathan McGarrity
The Other Married Guy Richard De Lisle
The Porn Star Haydn Whiteside
The Playwright Darren Bransford
The Actor Johnathon Neal
The Journalist Richard Stemp

F*CKING MEN
5th August – 30th August, 7pm (3pm matinees weekends)
5th September – 26th September, 7pm and 9.30pm
(weekend matinees, see online for details)
http://www.kingsheadtheatre.com/

In July 1995, alone in his cramped study, among thousands of show business artefacts, film stock and memories the comic legend Bob Monkhouse realises his treasured joke books have been stolen. This is something of a disaster in the world of the obsessive performer and joke-smith. As the reality of the situation sinks in, he is forced into an uneasy introspection. The Man Called Monkhouse traces his life through a difficult childhood, via the vertiginous heights of television superstardom, the dent in his status during the ‘new wave’ comedy of the late ‘80s and finishes with a re-born Bob, back on TV and finally feted as the comic genius he undoubtedly was.

Regarded as a man with a ‘Teflon’ showbiz veneer, at the height of his fame Bob Monkhouse divided the viewing public. Among many accolades that were bestowed upon him, he was simultaneously voted Most Loved and Most Hated Entertainer in a 1978 TV poll. Alex Lowe (Barry From Watford BBC Radio 4) writes and Bob Golding (Olivier Award winning – Morecambe) directs Simon Cartwright in the part he was born to play. The Man Called Monkhouse is an affectionate, funny and moving exploration of the life and personality of one of this country’s best loved and possibly most misunderstood comedians.

Since attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Simon Cartwright has performed on numerous TV shows including Opportunity Knocks with Mr Monkhouse himself and later on Sky Star Search ITV, Pot of Gold ITV, and Who Do You Do? ITV/SKY. He also contributed to The Monkhouse Amuseum for Radio 4 Xtra. In the eighties Simon formed a double act with Alistair McGowan appearing at the London Comedy Store as the McCarthy Boys and subsequently performing all over the UK. Bob Monkhouse is a large part of Simon’s life and he has often been invited to speak on broadcast documentaries on Bob’s life. More notably Simon was the voice of ‘Bob’ on the Prostate cancer campaign TV commercial that ‘brought Bob back from the grave’ in 2007. Simon formed a friendship with Bob Monkhouse and over the years Bob followed Simon’s career with great interest once proclaiming “You do me better than I do”.

Alex Lowe is a writer and actor who’s previous writing credits for Edinburgh include Shooting from the New Hip in 2013 and Let’s Get On With It in 2006, both for the Pleasance. As a solo performer, in 1998 he adapted and performed Simon Garfield’s book The Wrestling and in 1999 he adapted and performed Garfield’s book The Nation’s Favourite, both for the Pleasance. His TV writing credits include. Maracattack with Miranda Hart, Common Ground for Sky Atlantic, The Watson and Oliver Show BBC, Paul O’Grady Live ITV, The Big Impression BBC. Other writing credits include: two plays for BBC Radio 4 Drama; My Pregnancy Test and The Block. He also wrote from 2003-4 for Radio 4’s Loose Ends, Jamie Theakston’s Heart Breakfast Show and regularly writes for Christian O’Connell’s Absolute Radio Breakfast Show. Since 2009, he has been written and performed as Barry from Watford for Radio 2’s Steve Wright in the Afternoon. He is currently writing a series commissioned by Radio 4 Comedy called Barry’s Lunch Club in which he plays his own creation; Barry from Watford.

Bob Golding has had a varied career as an actor, a director and voice artist and musician. His theatre work is extensive and has taken him all around the country. Best known for his embodiment of Britain’s best loved comedian Eric Morecambe in Tim Whitnall’s Olivier Award winning play Morecambe for which he himself received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in an Entertainment. The original production of Morecambe premiered at the Assembly venue Rainy Hall at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was immediately snapped up for a West End run. It has since enjoyed two successful major tours. Bob also performed as Eric at the Royal Variety Show . His TV work includes, Mr Selfridge (ITV drama), Peter Kay’s Britain’s Got the Pop Factor & Possibly a New Soapstar Super Strictly on Ice, comedy sketch show Watson & Oliver. He has been co-host on Dave Gorman’s Sunday Morning Show on Absolute Radio and provided the voices of ‘Milo’ and ‘Max’ in BBC’s Tweenies. Bob was last at The Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 directing the play No Direction by Albert Welling.

Denise Silvey for Cahoots Theatre Company in association with Gary Morecambe and Bob Golding presents
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE MAN CALLED MONKHOUSE
Starring Simon Cartwright as Bob Monkhouse, Written by Alex Lowe and Directed by Bob Golding

AUTUMN TOUR: THE TAN, THE CUFF, THE WINK, THE OBSESSIVE.

THE MAN CALLED MONKHOUSE
September 5th
Shrewsbury Theatre
Severn
01743 281 281
http://www.theatresevern.co.uk

September 18th
Court Theatre Pendley
Tring
http://www.courttheatre.co.uk

September 28/29
Royal and Derngate
Northampton
01604 624811
http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk

October 3rd
Lighthouse Theatre
Poole
0844 406 8666
www.lighthousepoole.co.uk

October 4th
The Place
Bedford
01234 354321
http://www.theplacebedford.org.uk

October 16/17
Devonshire Park
Eastbourne
01323 412000
www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk

In Autumn 2015, Black Coffee Theatre are embarking on a UK tour with ONE LAST WALTZ. This funny and touching new play deals with coming to terms with Alzheimer’s disease.

Black Coffee Theatre whose previous work includes the 2013 national tour of a brand new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull and the 5* new play ‘Found’ take to the road in October 2015 with this latest play from Luke Adamson that is based on real life experiences of Alzheimer’s.

Black Coffee Theatre are working with international theatre and dance producers Dep Arts to bring this show to theatres around the country culminating in a residency in London’s The Hope Theatre. One Last Waltz is being supported by The Alzheimer’s Society who will be delivering post show discussions with the BCT team which will be free for all ticket holders. The tour is also supported by funds from Arts Council England and the play was written with the help of a grant from the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.

“Alice is becoming more and more forgetful. Her daughter Mandy is always on hand to help out but the strain is becoming too much. A long forgotten photograph stirs a memory and lures Alice back to the Crown Hotel in Blackpool. Hoping for a chance to dance in the tower ballroom one last time mother and daughter set out, but Blackpool isn’t how Alice remembers and things become too much for her as she finds herself getting lost in the past.”

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, affecting around 496,000 people in the UK and is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally by 2050. Luke Adamson follows his successful debut play ‘Found’ with this new play based on his real life experiences of Alzheimer’s disease. He says: “My grandad was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and the diagnosis gave us some sort of explanation for his increasingly baffling and often erratic behaviour that had begun to cause a deal of tension amongst those around him. Once we had the diagnosis and we were able to start to manage the disease things became somewhat easier but I started to think about how much of that tension could have been avoided if we’d have come to the diagnosis sooner. Having had no previous experience of the disease we missed the tell tale signs, I was spurred to write this play as a way of raising awareness of these tell tale signs. It is very much based upon my own and my family’s dealings with granddad, a kind of tribute to him.”

ONE LAST WALTZ TOUR DATES
Thursday 8th October 8pm
Marlowe Theatre Studio, Canterbury
Tickets £12 (Concs available)
www.marlowetheatre.com
01227 787787

Friday 9th October 1.30pm
The Atkinson Arts Centre, Southport
Tickets £8
www.theatkinson.co.uk
01704 533 333

Wednesday 14th October 8pm
Customs House, South Shields
Tickets £12/10
www.customshouse.co.uk
0191 454 1234

Thursday 15th October 8pm
Seven Arts, Leeds
Tickets £10/£8
www.sevenleeds.co.uk
0113 26 26 777

Sunday 25th October 7pm
Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester
Tickets £10/£5
0116 252 2455

Thursday 29th October 7.30pm
Spring Arts & Heritage Centre, Havant
Tickets £12.50/11.25
www.thespring.co.uk
023 9247 2700

Thursday 5th November 7.45pm
Cast, Doncaster
Tickets £10.50/£8.50
www.castindoncaster.com
01302 303959

Monday 9th November – Saturday 14th November 7.45pm (Sat matinee 3.30pm)
The Hope Theatre, Islington
Tickets £14/12
www.thehopetheatre.com
0333 666 3366

Tickets for all performances are available from www.blackcoffeetheatre.co.uk/one-last-waltz

FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR

ELF THE MUSICAL

AT THE DOMINION THEATRE

24 OCTOBER 2015 TO 2 JANUARY 2016

The full cast for the London premiere of the smash hit musical ELF has been announced. The company is led by Ben Forster as Buddy, Kimberley Walsh as Jovie, Joe McGann as Walter Hobbs and Jessica Martin as Emily Hobbs, with Jennie Dale as Deb, Mark McKerracher as Santa and Graham Lappin as Store Manager. Also in the cast are Katie Bradley, Charlie Bull, Nicola Coates, Alex Fobbester, Anton Fosh, Charlotte Gale, Francis Haugen, Matt Holland, Tash Holway, Paul Hutton, Mark Iles, Ceili O’Connor, Debbie Paul, Joanna Rennie, Barnaby Thompson and Ed White. Harry Collett, Ilan Galkoff, Noah Key and Ewan Rutherford will alternate the role of Michael.

ELF will run at London’s Dominion Theatre for a strictly limited 10-week season from 24 October 2015 to 2 January 2016. The Gala Opening Night on Thursday 5 November will be in aid of Alzheimer’s Society.

Based on the beloved 2003 New Line Cinema hit starring Will Ferrell, ELF is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Unaware that he is actually human, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, discover his true identity, and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.

ELF features a book by Tony Award winners Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone), with songs by Tony Award nominees Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer). The production will feature direction and choreography by Morgan Young (Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), set design and costumes by Olivier Award winner Tim Goodchild, lighting design by Olivier Award winner Tim Lutkin, vocal arrangements by Phil Reno, dance arrangements by David Chase, orchestrations by Doug Besterman, video design by Ian William Galloway and sound design by Clement Rawling.  Musical direction and supervision will be by Stuart Morley.

Michael Rose and U-Live in association with the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin present the Theatre Royal Plymouth production of ELF at the Dominion Theatre, London.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

24 October 2015 to 2 January 2016

Dominion Theatre

268-269 Tottenham Court Road

London W1T 7AQ

Performances:  Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm*, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2.30pm**

*7.00pm on Thursday 5 November, no evening performance Thursday 24, Friday 25, Saturday 26, Thursday 31 December & Friday 1 January

**extra 2.30pm matinees on Thursday 29 October, and, in December, on Monday 21st, Tuesday 22nd, Thursday 24th, Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th & Thursday 31st

See website for ticket prices:  www.elfthemusical.co.uk / www.dominiontheatre.com

Box Office:  0845 200 7982

Running Time: 2 hours 25 minutes (including interval)