Regent’s Park
Open Air Theatre

• FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR J.M. BARRIE’S PETER PAN AT REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE, WITH LEAD CASTING CONFIRMED FOR THE SEAGULL AND SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS

• HIRAN ABEYSEKERA WILL PLAY PETER PAN ALONGSIDE DAVID BIRRELL AS CAPTAIN HOOK IN J.M. BARRIE’S PETER PAN

• JANIE DEE WILL PLAY IRINA ARKADINA WITH SABRINA BARTLETT AS NINA AND MATTHEW TENNYSON AS KONSTANTIN IN THE SEAGULL

• LAURA PITT-PULFORD WILL PLAY MILLY BRADON AND ALEX GAUMOND WILL PLAY ADAM PONTIPEE IN SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS

Casting for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 2015 production of J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan has today been announced, with lead casting for The Seagull and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers also confirmed. The season opens for previews on 15 May.

The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is delighted to be unveiling a brand new impactful and atmospheric redesign of the Summer Café, Main Bar and Interval Café by B3 Designers in time for the 2015 season.

PETER PAN

Hiran Abeysekera will play the title role alongside David Birrell as Captain Hook, who returns to Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre following roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ragtime. Also returning to Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre will be Beverly Rudd (Smee) and George Bukhari (Nibs).Peter Pan will run from 15 May – 14 June.

Hiran Abeysekera recently performed in Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre. Previous theatre credits include The Taming of the Shrew (RSC) and Rats’ Tales (Manchester Royal Exchange).

David Birrell previously appeared at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2012 as Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and as Father in Ragtime. He won Best Supporting Actor in the 2015 Manchester Theatre Awards for Journey’s End (Octagon Theatre), and won the Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland Best Male Performance for Sweeney Todd (Dundee Rep), for which he was also nominated for the TMA Award for Best Performance in a Musical.

Beverly Rudd previously appeared at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre as Little Red Ridinghood in Into the Woods, and as Lucy Lockit in The Beggar’s Opera.

George Bukhari previously appeared as Piggy in Lord of the Flies, and as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Further casting includes Kae Alexander (Wendy), Patrick Osborne (John), Thomas Dennis (Michael),Rachel Donovan (Tinker Bell), Eben Figueiredo (Tootles), Thomas Pickles (Slighty), Richard James-Neale (Curly), Jacob James Beswick & Chris Lew Kum Hoi (Twins), Carl Prekopp (Gentleman Starkey), Okorie Chukwu, Owain Gwynn, Jonathan Holby and Arthur Kyeyune (Pirates), Melanie Pappenheim, Daniel Bradley, Candida Caldicot, Zands Duggan & Tamara Young (Musicians) and Joe Swain (Show Climber).

Peter Pan is directed by Timothy Sheader and Liam Steel, who have previously worked together for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre productions of Lord of the Flies, Into The Woods (Oliver Award, Best Musical Revival) and the 2015 Olivier Award nominated production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. The set will be designed by Jon Bausor whose credits include Lord of the Flies, The Crucible, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ragtime and To Kill a Mockingbird (all for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre)and MAMETZ (National Theatre Wales) for which he won Best Design in the UK Theatre Awards 2014.

Peter Pan will have costumes designed by Olivier Award winner Jon Morrell, Puppet Design by Rachael Canning (Into The Woods), Composition and Sound Score by Nick Powell, Musical Supervision and Direction by Candida Caldicot, Lighting Design by Rick Fisher, Sound Design by Nick Lidster for Autograph and Polly Jerrold as casting director.

“I ran away the day I was born,” said Peter, “cause I heard Father and Mother talking of what I was to be when I became a man. I want always to be a little boy and to have fun, Wendy”. But this could not be for the Darlings; all children, except one, grow up.  1914 is a very different world. Faced with this reality, their only escape is to let imagination take flight to Never Land.

George Llewelyn Davies, killed in action in WW1, was one of the children who inspired this iconic character. Remembering him, and a generation of lost boys, Timothy Sheader and Liam Steelrediscover J. M. Barrie’s original stage play.

Recommended for all ages 9+. By arrangement with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

THE SEAGULL

Olivier Award winner Janie Dee will star as Irina Arkadina in Chekhov’s The Seagull, with Sabrina Bartlett as Nina and Matthew Tennyson as Konstantin. The Seagull will run from 19 June – 11 July and will be directed by Matthew Dunster with set design by Jon Bausor.

Janie Dee has previously starred in Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre productions including Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night. Janie won the Olivier, Evening Standard and Critic’s Choice Awards for Best Actress for Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential which she performed in London and New York, and the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Carousel, directed by Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre. She appeared alongside Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit, and has just finished a run as Helene Hanff in 84 Charing Cross Road (Salisbury Playhouse). She is currently in rehearsal for Ah, Wilderness! at the Young Vic and, following The Seagull, will play the title role in Mrs Henderson Presents at Theatre Royal Bath.

Sabrina Bartlett can currently be seen playing Keren Daniel in BBC1’s drama Poldark and recently starred in BBC1’s Passing Bells.

Matthew Tennyson won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Newcomer for Making Noise Quietly (Donmar).

Further casting for The Seagull to be announced.

Matthew Dunster’s directing credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, The Love Girl & The Innocent and You Can Still Make a Killing (Southwark Playhouse).  As a playwright, his play Children’s Children premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2012 and his re-imagining of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Most Incredible Thing, a collaboration with The Pet Shop Boys and choreographer Javier de Frutos, opened at Sadler’s Wells in 2011.

As guests assemble at a country house for the staging of an avant-garde open air play, artistic temperaments ignite a more entertaining drama behind the scenes, with romantic jealousies, self-doubt and the ruthless pursuit of happiness confusing lives, loves and literature.

Celebrated as one of the most important plays of the nineteenth century, The Seagull will have movement by Charlotte Broom, Lighting Design by Philip Gladwell, Sound Design by Christopher Shuttand casting by Julia Horan and Lotte Hines.

SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS

Featuring Alex Gaumond as Adam and Laura Pitt-Pulford as Milly, director Rachel Kavanaugh reunites the creative team behind 2013’s award-winning production of The Sound of Music. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers will run from 16 July – 29 August.

Laura Pitt-Pulford played Maria in The Sound of Music at the Curve, Leicester and also appeared at the Curve in Piaf and Hello, Dolly!, as well as The Light Princess at the National Theatre.

Alex Gaumond recently played opposite Robert Lindsay in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy), and played Miss Trunchbull in Matilda The Musical (Cambridge Theatre). Previous credits include Top Hat, We Will Rock You and Legally Blonde.  He is currently playing Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd at the ENO.

Rachel Kavanaugh directed The Sound of Music (Best Musical Revival, WhatsOnStage Awards) for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and her production of Oklahoma! is currently on UK tour. Rachel was Artistic Director at Birmingham Rep, directing productions including His Dark Materials, Racing Demon,The Madness of George III and A Doll’s House, and for Chichester Festival has directed An Ideal Husband, The Way of the World and Love Story.

From the Golden Age of the movie musical, this much-loved musical includes Bless Your Beautiful Hide, Goin’ Courtin’, Wonderful, Wonderful Day, and the dance spectacular, Barn Dance.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers will have Set and Costume Design by Peter McKintosh, Choreography by Alistair David, Musical Supervision and Dance Arrangements by Gareth Valentine, Musical Direction by Stephen Ridley, Lighting Design by Tim Mitchell, Orchestration by Larry Blank, Sound Design byNick Lidster for Autograph and Casting by James Orange.

LORD OF THE FLIES

2015 dates have been confirmed for the UK tour of Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s classic story of survival, superstition and immorality, adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams. Timothy Sheader’s acclaimed 2011 production returns to Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre for just 14 performances from 3 – 12 September prior to a UK tour which starts at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking on 16 September 2015. Tour dates can be found below.

Timothy Sheader and Liam Steel will reunite to co-Direct with Set Design by Jon Bausor and Music composed by Nick Powell. Lighting Design will be by Paul Keogan, Sound Design by Avgoustas Psillas for Autograph and Casting by Pippa Ailion.

Casting and 2016 dates are still to be announced.

The UK tour of Lord of the Flies is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

• PUNCHDRUNK ANNOUNCE PUBLICATION OF THEIR FIRST EVER BOOK – A COFFEE TABLE SIZED COLLECTION OF PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIAN ABRAMS CAPTURING THEIR LANDMARK SHOW THE DROWNED MAN: A HOLLYWOOD FABLE

In the spirit of Mr Stanford’s wish that the cameras keep rolling and the action never stops, two years after the doors of Temple Studios first opened for The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, Punchdrunk release their first ever book; a collection of extraordinary images by renowned interiors photographer Julian Abrams capturing the world of the show and its inhabitants.

The Drowned Man, Punchdrunk’s biggest show to date, was seen by over 200,000 people during its year long run.  Inspired by Büchner’s fractured masterpiece Woyzeck, the production took place in a vast building in Paddington transformed into a seedy Hollywood underworld filled with dreamers from the fringes of the movie industry.

Published to create a lasting memory of Temple Studios, the new hardback book, which will be 330mm x 280mm, will feature over 130 full colour and never before published photographs taken in the final few months before the doors of the studios closed forever.  It will be released in June as a Limited First Edition print run to mark the anniversary of the show. It is possible to pre-order copies of the book by visiting: http://www.tdmbook.bigcartel.com/

Working in close collaboration with Punchdrunk, photographer Julian Abrams has perfectly captured the otherworldly aesthetic of Temple Studios in his strikingly cinematic images.  Specialising in photography for interiors and architecture, Abrams has a passion for light that evolved from a love of shooting nocturnal landscapes. Working with key architectural lighting practices he has developed a specialist technique which allows him to shoot projects without additional lighting.  This technique has enabled him to capture the atmospheric worlds created by Punchdrunk like never before.

Led by Felix Barrett, Punchdrunk is the internationally acclaimed theatre company whose previous award-winning productions include Faust, The Masque of the Red Death, Tunnel 228, It Felt Like A Kiss, The Duchess of Malfi, Sleep No More and The Crash of the Elysium. Their current New York show Sleep No More won a 2011 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and a Special Citation For Design And Choreography at the 2010-11 Obie Awards.

New book The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable will be published as a landscape hardback with debossed cover.  The book is priced £49 + delivery – and as a self-published title, is available to buy athttp://www.tdmbook.bigcartel.com/

SOUL LEGENDS

GRAND OPERA HOUSE YORK

Thursday 8 October at 7:30pm

SOUL LEGENDS With special guest Jaki Graham. Brand-new from the producers of Magic of Motown. . . it’s the smash-hit, Stateside spectacular featuring more soul classics than any other production.

Special guest Jaki Graham dips into her  collection of classic soul hits which includes Could it Be I’m Falling in Love, Ain’t Nobody and Set Me Free.

A huge, all-star cast of talented singers and musicians bring to life hits by Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Lionel Richie, Barry White, Wilson Pickett, Earth Wind & Fire, George Benson, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, The Emotions, Kool & the Gang, Chaka Khan, Edwin Starr in “soulsational” style.

Elaborate costumes and jaw-dropping choreography truly revive everyone’s favourite soul classics: Respect, Soul Man, Ain’t Nobody, Knock On Wood, Midnight Hour, Sex Machine, Proud Mary, You’re My First My Last My Everything, Best Of My Love, River Deep Mountain High, Ain’t No Stopping Us Now, Beat It, Three Times a Lady, Get Down on It, I Feel Good and more.

It’s all aboard the soul train for the show of the year, embarking from soul’s heady Sixties origins. . . steaming, non-stop, through to the present day. . .via everyone’s favourite Seventies and Eighties dance classics it’s the feel good show of the year!

www.easytheatres.com

“. . . a packed stage. Together they belted out Respect, Soul Man, Ain’t Nobody, Midnight Hour and Ain’t No Stopping Us Now. . . excellent musicianship and decent voices” Liverpool Echo

Jaki Graham – “She made it all look so easy as she showed off genuine star quality” Liverpool Echo

 Tickets: £25.50

Box Office: 0844 871 3024

Online Booking: www.atgtickets.com/york

Following a brief hiatus…of 8 years, the greatest 5-a-side tournament you never heard of is rising like a Phoenix from the flames!

All proceeds will go to three cancer charities; Macmillan, Cancer Research and CLIC Sargent, as part of the ‘Three in Three’ campaign, in which Simon will be running three marathons in three weeks.

We can’t guarantee sunshine, a contract with your favourite Mancunian team or even a trophy, but we can promise you an amazing day of footballing antics
followed by a swift beer or two.

Please do sign up and get stuck in – either enter your company or grab some mates and get involved. There is a minimum recommended donation of
£90 per team of up to 9 players. 
(Please do feel free to donate more!).

SPREAD THE WORD! TELL YOUR PALS!!! 

To sign up or for more information then email [email protected]

SUNDAY : 3rd MAY : 1100HRS

Lucozade Powerleague, Manchester South, M16 8GW
www.threeinthree.com

BAY CITY ROLLERS

Starring LES McKEOWN

Grand Opera House York

Tuesday 10 November 2015

The Rollers’ first hit single Remember reached No. 6 in the UK charts in 1973; that was quickly followed by Shang-A-Lang, Summerlove Sensation and All Of Me Loves All Of You all hitting the Top 5. Bye Bye Baby was their first UK No. 1 in May 1975 followed by Give A Little Love in July. Their first album, Rollin’, was the first debut album to top the charts. Between 1975 and 1978, they toured all over the world and played to sold out crowds in the across the world. Les McKeown put together a new band of talented musicians in the early 90s and today audiences are treated to all the old BCR hits reworked for the new millennium, alongside exciting new material.

Tickets: £18.50 & £19.50

Box Office: 0844 871 3024

Online Booking: www.atgtickets.com/york

GRAND OPERA HOUSE YORK

Monday 14 September

“We are not equipped for this century, it’s too hard, too fast, and too full of fear; we just don’t have the bandwidth. Our brains can’t take so much information in a world where we’re bombarded by bad news and force-fed information. I can just about take in the weather then I’m exhausted. You open a newspaper, everyone’s dead. We’re only supposed to know what our neighbour is up to; if the woman next door to you is having sex with the man next door to her we need to know; but four doors down and it’s none of our business.”

Sane New World – The Tour helps us understand why we sabotage our own sanity and provides a manual on how to survive the 21st century, using Ruby’s knowledge from her recent Masters Degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy at Oxford University spiked with comedy.

Ruby Wax – comedian, writer and [/mental-health.html]mental health campaigner – shows us how our minds can jeopardize our sanity.  With her own periods of depression to draw from, she explains how our busy, chattering, self-critical thoughts drive us to anxiety and stress.  If we are to break the cycle, we need to understand how our brains work, rewire our thinking and find calm in a frenetic world.

RUBY WAX: SANE NEW WORLD – THE TOUR will visit venues across the UK and Australia in 2015.

Tickets on sale Wednesday 8 April at 10am

Performance: 7:30pm

Tickets: £19.00 & £21.00

Box Office: 0844 871 3024

Online Booking: www.atgtickets.com/york

Pick Me Up Theatre present

THE ADDAMS FAMILY

The perfect Halloween treat for all the family – Pick Me Up Theatre bring Andrew Lippa’s Broadway musical version of The Addams Family to York’s Grand Opera House

Wednesday 28 – Saturday 31 October

The loveable family of creepy kooks is alive and well and living in their super spooky mansion in Central Park.

Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice

Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa

Based on characters by Charles Addams

As the curtain rises, the last dead leaf of autumn falls from the Family Tree, and all is right with the morbid, macabre world of Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Grandma, Wednesday, Pugsley and Lurch.  They’ve gathered – where else? – in the family graveyard, to celebrate life and death in a yearly ritual to connect with their past and ensure their future.  They seem at peace, not just with each other and their inimitable, unchanging Adams-ness, but with their dead ancestors, too – who emerge from their graves on this night each year to join in the celebration of continuity.

But, at the end of the ritual, Fester blocks the ancestors’ return to their graves. Those unchanging Addams family values are about to be tested. Fester enlists their help to set things right, just in case a new family secret goes terribly wrong.  What’s the secret? Wednesday Addams, that irresistible bundle of malice, has grown up and found love.  So what’s the problem? The young man, Lucas Beineke, is from Ohio, and his parents are coming to dinner to meet the family. Two different worlds are about to collide.  Will love triumph, or will everyone go home vaguely depressed.

Performances: Wed, Thur, Sat 7:30pm, Fri 5pm & 8pm, Thu & Sat mats 2:30pm

Tickets: £11.00 – £25.00

Box Office: 0844 871 3024

Online Booking:  www.atgtickets.com/york

Artistic Director Jonathan Church and Executive Director Alan Finch announced today that they are to step down from their respective roles at Chichester Festival Theatre at the end of September 2016, following Festival 2016.

Both Church and Finch joined Chichester Festival Theatre in 2005, overseeing the organisation’s 50^th anniversary in 2012 and the recent £22 million redevelopment of the Festival Theatre. Under their tenure, the company has produced over 100 productions including 22 new plays, winning over 40 awards for the work and more than doubling audience numbers, playing to 95% capacity in 2014.

The Theatre has also enjoyed significant success beyond Chichester during their leadership with 48 productions transferring to the West End or securing international and UK tours. These include Lucy Prebble’s ENRON, Macbeth with Patrick Stewart, Singin’ in the Rain, Sweeney Todd, Private Lives, King Lear with Frank Langella, The Pajama Game and, more recently, Jonathan Church’s production of Taken at Midnight and Gypsy directed by Jonathan Kent.

Jonathan Church said: “It has been a privilege and a joy to have been the custodians of this very special theatre for the last decade and to have worked alongside some of the country’s most skilled actors and creative teams. I hope, between us, we have helped contribute to the current strength of British theatre and demonstrated the important role of subsidy in creating vibrant regional arts organisations that are rooted in their community but also have the ability to provide national and international impact. It will be painful leaving a theatre that feels like our creative home but regional theatres thrive on new ideas and new energies. I like to think we will hand this wonderful theatre over to its next caretakers in an excellent position to build further on its extraordinary history.”

Alan Finch said: “We are incredibly fortunate to have some of the most loyal audiences, generous supporters and sponsors I have ever come across. Without their support, Jonathan and I would never have been able to achieve what we have. I’m immensely proud to have led the team that delivered our renewed Festival Theatre and Steven Pimlott Education Building, both on time and on budget. These past ten years have been the most exciting and rewarding of my career but it’s the right time for us to pursue new opportunities and pass the baton to a new leadership team.”

Sir William Castell, Chairman of Chichester Festival Theatre, said: “Jonathan Church and Alan Finch have led Chichester Festival Theatre to extraordinary levels of success, and our artistic standards and reputation have never been higher. They are inspiring leaders and it has been a pleasure to work with them both. We will be sad to see them leave but they are committed to our phased succession plans and will deliver the next two Festivals to ensure a smooth handover as we head into the Theatre’s next chapter.”

The formal process to appoint a new Artistic Director will begin in August with the Board expected to announce a successor at the end of 2015. The new Executive Director will be appointed once the Artistic Director Designate is in place. The selection committee will be advised by Genista McIntosh who has worked extensively with the RSC and National Theatre.

JONATHAN CHURCH
Artistic Director

As Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre Jonathan has directed: Taken at Midnight, Amadeus, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Singin’ in the Rain, The Critic/The Real Inspector Hound (co-directed with Sean Foley), The Grapes of Wrath, The Circle, Hobson’s Choice, Pravda and, co-directed with Philip Franks, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

West End productions include Taken at Midnight (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Singin’ in the Rain (Palace Theatre), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Duchess Theatre), Of Mice and Men (Savoy Theatre and The Old Vic), The Witches(Wyndhams Theatre), A Busy Day (Lyric Theatre) and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Gielgud Theatre).

National touring productions include Singin’ in the Rain, The Grapes of Wrath, The Crucible, The Witches, Of Mice and Men, The Diary of Anne Frank, Hobson’s Choice, God and Stephen Hawking, Romeo and Juliet, The Circle and Master Class.

International productions include Singin’ in the Rain (Tokyo, Australia, New Zealand), The Last Confession (Toronto, Los Angeles, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney) and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Princess of Wales Theatre Toronto).

Jonathan trained as Assistant Director at the Nottingham Playhouse. He was Associate Director of Derby Playhouse (1994-1995), Artistic Director of Salisbury Playhouse (1995-1999), Associate Director of Hampstead Theatre (1999-2001) and Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre (2001-2006).

ALAN FINCH
Executive Director

Alan Finch joined Chichester Festival Theatre in 2005 as Executive Director and, together with Artistic Director Jonathan Church, has been responsible for the programming and management of the Festival and Minerva Theatres since Festival 06.

He has spearheaded the £22 million RENEW project to refurbish and develop the Festival Theatre, culminating in its reopening during Festival 2014. He has also played a pivotal role in building CFT’s reputation, facilitating production transfers to the West End, Toronto and New York, as well as national tours.

The roll-call of successes in recent seasons includes acclaimed productions of Macbeth, ENRON, South Downs and The Browning Version, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, King Lear, Another Country and The Pajama Game which have all gone on to enjoy success beyond Chichester. During 2015, Taken at Midnight, Stevie and Gypsy have all transferred to London while Singin’ in the Rain continues its international tour.

Alan led the project to open the Steven Pimlott Education and Rehearsal Building at CFT in 2009. The new building has substantially increased CFT’s capacity to work with disenfranchised young people and other communities across the region.

Born in Nottingham, Alan started his career in theatre at the City’s Playhouse Theatre, and was later appointed Head of Production for Plymouth Theatre Royal. In 1999, he took up the post of the Theatre Royal’s General Manager, overseeing the creation of TR2, Plymouth’s award-winning £8.2 million production facility.

The husband and wife who built a theatre empire

If the career of multimillionaire husband and wife theatre impresarios Rosemary Squire and Howard Panter was ever made into a play, then a red car would probably play a central role in the first act.

The car in question was a small BMW, which Ms Squire had to use as her office when they bought their first theatre, the Duke of York, in London’s West End.

This was back in 1992. With the help of a number of wealthy friends, the couple had managed to raise £3.05m to purchase the Grade II listed in building in Covent Garden.

Yet with backstage space in the 123-year-old building being severely limited, and no spare cash available to rent an office, Ms Squire instead parked the car outside the theatre, and worked from there.

So while having to dodge Westminster City Council’s enthusiastic traffic wardens, she would sit in the driver’s seat and do all the paperwork.

That was until a few months later, when in the summer of 1992 – always the quietest time of year for theatres in the northern hemisphere – money was so tight that the couple had to sell the car to help pay staff wages.

Ms Squire says: “Running a theatre can be a nightmare in the summer, especially if you are a small business.

“We simply had to sell the car, and Howard had to take out another mortgage on the house. It did focus our minds.”

Thankfully for the couple, the theatre thereafter soon became a success under their ownership, and within a few years they were buying more venues, both in London and across the UK.

Fast forward to today and their company – the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) – is the UK’s largest theatre business, with 3,500 employees.

 

It owns and runs 38 theatres across the UK, and one on Broadway in New York, and enjoys an annual turnover of between £300-400m.

And instead of working from her car, Ms Squire has a decent-sized office in the firm’s headquarters in the town of Woking, in Surrey.

Looking back on how ATG has grown over the past 23 years, she says that a core reason for its success is the fact that before she and Mr Panter set up the business they had both worked for many years in the theatre industry. She had done so for 10 years and he for nearly two decades.

Ms Squire says that this collective experience and knowledge was vital.

‘Good with numbers’

Born and bred in Nottingham, Ms Squire says she was “bitten by the theatre bug” as a child, thanks to her parents regularly taking her and her sister to the city’s Playhouse theatre.

“Famously, aged 16, I told my best friend on the stairs of the Nottingham Playhouse that this is what I want to do, I want to be a theatre manager,” she says.

“I didn’t know exactly what it meant, or what was required, but I knew that going to the theatre is a unique experience… something special and irreplaceable.”

 

After working at her local cinema while she was in school, first tearing tickets, and then helping staff the box office, Ms Squire started her long career in theatre at the Mayflower in Southampton, where she worked while she studied Spanish at the city’s university.

She says: “I worked there all through university, starting in the box office, and then graduating to accounts. I’ve always been pretty good with the numbers.”

After a further year studying at Brown University in the US, Ms Squire moved back to the UK and got a job with the then second-largest theatre group in London, rising through the ranks to senior managerial positions.

She then met Mr Panter, and they would go on to marry. While her role in theatres has always been the management side, the running of the business, he is the creative one, with a long background in production, in actually putting on the plays. This is how they have always shared the work at ATG.

Their aim for ATG from day one was that it would both own theatres, and produce its own plays. Ms Squire calls this an “integrated model”, and says it gives the business more resilience – the venues can more easily find good plays to stage, and vice versa.

Today, ATG produces around a quarter of the plays or musicals at its venues.

It balances what it productions it puts on, between “bankers” on the one hand – such as popular musicals, and plays with big name stars in – and new shows, which may or may not be commercially successful.

‘Commercial partners’

To help grow the business in recent years, Ms Squire and Mr Panter have accepted investment from private equity firms, first in 2009 and then again in 2013.

As a result, while the couple still run ATG as joint chief executives, they have given up their former majority stake in the firm. Ms Squire says this not been a problem in any way.

“We have had a very positive experience with private equity firms,” she says. “They are our commercial partners, but they absolutely look to us for the experience and expertise of running the company.”

Looking ahead, Ms Squire says she wants to continue to grow ATG globally, which is set to open a second theatre on Broadway, and its first in Sydney, Australia.

The current Ernst & Young UK entrepreneur of the year, her advice for anyone thinking of setting up their own business is to first get as much experience as they can of working in that industry – and allow yourself to dream.

“It is really important to indulge yourself a bit, and have a picture of where you want your business to end up.” she says. “Paint it in, give it some texture, and then work towards that goal.

“And always remember that you can take more than one route to get there.”

David Hutchinson and Phillip Rowntree for Sell a Door Theatre Company present

BRITAIN’S GOT BHANGRA

RETURNING FOR A NEW UK TOUR

OPENING AT MANCHESTER PALACE THEATRE ON 3 SEPTEMBER 2015

After acclaimed runs in 2010 and 2011, the five-star hit musical Britain’s Got Bhangra will return for a UK Tour this Autumn in a brand new production, opening at Manchester Palace Theatre on Thursday 3 September, with a press night on Monday 7 September.

Charting the rise of British Bhangra from the sequin-clad 80s through to the RnB fusion in today’s charts, Britain’s Got Bhangra follows Twinkle, a farmer’s son from Punjab, India who comes to England to make a better living for himself and his wife. A gifted singer, he goes from making a living as a van driver in Southall to becoming a rising star in the fast-growing Bhangra music scene. Winner of the ‘People’s Favourite Musical’ at the 2010 Offie Awards, this imaginative musical takes a journey though multicultural Britain and the evolution of a music scene.

‘An exuberant celebration”

The Times

Britain’s Got Bhangra is written and directed by Pravesh Kumar of award-winning British Asian Theatre Company Rifco Arts. Rifco’s other productions include The Deranged Marriage, Happy Birthday Sunita and Break the Floorboards.

Britain’s Got Bhangra is produced by Sell a Door Theatre Company. Formed in 2007, Sell a Door creates touring productions aimed at engaging young adults in live theatre. Current productions include the UK Tours of Avenue Q, The History Boys and Jekyll and Hyde.

Britain’s Got Bhangra is written and directed by Pravesh Kumar, with music and Bhangra direction by Sumeet Chopra.English Lyrics are by Dougal Irvine with Punjabi lyrics by Bittu Denowalia. Britain’s Got Bhangra is produced by Sell a Door Theatre Company, and was originally co-produced by Rifco Arts and Theatre Royal Stratford East in association with Warwick Arts Centre.

David Hutchinson from Sell a Door Theatre said today: “We are delighted to be opening our autumn season at Manchester Palace Theatre with this critically acclaimed smash hit musical. The writers have created a fantastic celebration of dance and culture within the modern narrative of a talented artist aspiring to fulfil their dreams. In the reality TV age, his story taps into the aspirations of so many, against the colourful backdrop of the British Asian community. We look forward to reaching out to new and returning audiences across the UK with Britain’s Got Bhangra.”

Casting to be announced.

@BritsGotBhangra

Facebook.com/SellADoorTheatre

@Sell_A_Door

TOUR LISTINGS

Thursday 3 – Saturday 12 September 2015

MANCHESTER Palace Theatre

Press Night: Monday 7 September, 7.30pm

Box Office www.atgtickets.com/manchester | 0844 871 3019

ON SALE NOW

Monday 14 – Saturday 19 September 2015

BRISTOL Hippodrome

Box Office www.atgtickets.com/bristol | 0844 871 3012

ON SALE NOW

Monday 21 – Saturday 26 September 2015

GLASGOW King’s Theatre

Box Office www.atgtickets.com/glasgow | 0844 871 7648

ON SALE NOW

Monday 28 September – Saturday 3 October 2015

WIMBLEDON New Theatre

Box Office www.atgtickets.com/wimbledon | 0844 871 7646

ON SALE NOW

Monday 12 – Saturday 17 October 2015

BIRMINGHAM Alexandra Theatre

Box Office www.atgtickets.com/birmingham|0844 871 3011

ON SALE NOW

Monday 19 – Saturday 24 October 2015

WINDSOR Theatre Royal

Box Office www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk | 01753 853 888

ON SALE NOW

Monday 26 – Wednesday 28 October 2015

WATFORD Colosseum

Box Office www.watfordcolosseum.co.uk | 0845 075 3993

ON SALE NOW

Thursday 29 – Saturday 31 October 2015

BRADFORD Alhambra

Box Office www.bradford-theatres.co.uk | 01274 432000

ON SALE NOW