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Ambassador Theatre Group and Royal & Derngate, Northampton

 

Announce major UK tour

of

King Lear

by William Shakespeare

Starring Michael Pennington

 

 

“It will come: humanity must prey on itself, like monsters of the deep.”

Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) has announced that a major new Royal & Derngate, Northampton production of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy, King Lear, will embark on a UK tour to nine regional venues from April to July.

After a three week run at Royal & Derngate from 1 – 23 April, with a press night on Tuesday 5 April, the venues for this tour include Oxford Playhouse (25–30 April),Theatre Royal Brighton (3-7 May), Richmond Theatre (9-14 May), Grand Opera House, York (23–28 May), Manchester Opera House (31 May–4 June), Theatre Royal Bath (6-11 June), The Hall for Cornwall Truro (13–18 June), Cambridge Arts Theatre (20–Sat 25 June) and Malvern Theatre (27 June–2 July).

The renowned Shakespearian actor and two time Olivier award nominee Michael Pennington will reprise the role of King Lear after his highly acclaimed performance at the Shakespeare Center New York in 2014.

The Brooklyn Eagle said of his performance: “Michael Pennington will break your heart.  One of England’s foremost classical actors, this is a King Lear to grieve for in Shakespeare’s darkest play”.

Michael Pennington is joined by a distinguished cast of thirteen actors.

The production is directed by Philip Franks, whose extensive directing credits include a 5 year period as an Associate Director at Chichester Festival Theatre. Productions at Chichester include The Master Builder, The Deep Blue Sea, and Rattigan’s Nijinsky.  Other productions incude A Talent to Amuse (Royal Academy of Music), The Duchess of Malfi (West Yorkshire Playhouse) The Tempest (Liverpool Playhouse) and Private Lives (National Theatre).

In Shakespeare’s epic tragedy, an ageing tyrant’s decision to divide his kingdom tears his family apart, sparks catastrophic civil war and destroys all that he has.

Driven from his home, King Lear endures madness, blindness and great suffering as he battles a great storm. Yet with madness he finds reason, from blindness he gains new sight, after betrayal he discovers loyalty and through his suffering a better world emerges.

ATG Joint Chief Executive Sir Howard Panter commented: “The eyes of the world will be on Britain this year, the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.  To mark this significant year, we are delighted to be bringing this major new production of King Lear to so many regional British playhouses and I am particularly proud that Michael Pennington, one of the finest Shakespearian actors of our time, will be playing Lear.”

Michael Pennington’s (Lear) stage career spans over 50 years.  He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1964 to 1966, and again from 1974 – 1981.  In 1984 his role in Tolstoy’s Strider at the National Theatre won him an Olivier award nomination.

In 1986, Pennington and director Michael Bogdanov founded the English Shakespeare Company. As joint artistic director, he starred in the company’s inaugural productions of The Henrys and, in 1987, the seven-play history cycle of The Wars of the Roses, which toured worldwide and was televised. Pennington played such parts as Richard II, Prince Hal/Henry V and Jack Cade, for which he received an Olivier Award Nomination.

His West End work includes Peter Shaffer’s Gift of the Gorgon, Filumena (Eduardo di Filippo), in which he played opposite Judi Dench for the third time, Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw (National tour), Alan Bennett’s The Madness of George III and Dr Dorn in Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed by Peter Stein for the Edinburgh Festival.  In 2003 he directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and The Hamlet Project for the National Theatre in Bucharest.

In 2006 he premiered his second one man show on Shakespeare, Sweet William, and in 2009 he worked with Peter Brook for the first time in Love is My Sin for a European Tour and in New York.

In 2012 he played his fifth consecutive Chichester season as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra opposite Kim Cattrall.

Recent notable performances have been as Edgar in Strindberg’s The Dance of Death, adapted by Howard Brenton at the Gate Theatre, John of Gaunt in Richard II (RSC), and as Anthony Blunt in Alan Bennett’s Single Spies at the Rose Theatre Kingston.

He played Michael Foot in The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep; and among his notable TV appearances have been in the title role of Oedipus the King and in the television movie The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

 

Cast also includes Beth Cooke (Cordelia). Beth trained at the Drama Centre in London. Her extensive stage experience includes the role of Cordelia in King Lear at The Abbey Theatre, Dublin.  She played Hero in The Old Vic Production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Mark Rylance, and played Lois Fisher in The Children’s Hour directed by Sarah Frankcom for Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester and Irina in Three Sisters also directed by Sarah Frankcom for Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester.

Pip Donaghy (Gloucester) trained at the London Drama Centre.  His theatrical career includes extensive work at Sheffield, Nottingham, Watford and Cambridge and two years at the Liverpool Everyman as well as seasons with 7:84 and Joint Stock.

Other cast members include Joshua Elliott (Fool), Gavin Fowler (Edgar), Scott Karim (Edmund) and Daniel O’Keefe (Oswald).

 

NB: The production is suitable for ages 14+

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday 20 January at 10am

 

Tickets from £15.25, available from box office on 0844 871 3024 or book online at www.atgtickets.com/york  

TOUR DATES

 

Royal & Derngate, Northampton

Fri 1 – Sat 23 April

01604 624811

www.royalandderngate.co.uk

National Press Night: Tuesday 5 April 7pm

Oxford Playhouse

Mon 25 – Sat 30 April

01865 305305

https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com

Theatre Royal Brighton

Tue 3 – Sat 7 May

0844 871 7650

http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/theatre-royal-brighton

Richmond Theatre

Mon 9 – Sat 14 May

0844 871 7651

http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre

Grand Opera House York

Mon 23 – Sat 28 May

0844 871 3024

http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/grand-opera-house-york

Manchester Opera House

Tue 31 May – Sat 4 June

0844 871 3018

http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/opera-house-manchester

Theatre Royal Bath

01225 448844

Mon 6 – Sat 11 June

http://www.theatreroyal.org.uk

The Hall for Cornwall Truro

Mon 13 – Sat 18 June

01872 262466

https://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk

Cambridge Arts Theatre

Mon 20 – Sat 25 June

01223 503333

http://www.cambridgeartstheatre.com

Malvern Theatre

Mon 27 Jun – Sat 2 July

01684 892277

http://www.malvern-theatres.co.uk

Opera & Ballet International proudly presents an Ellen Kent production with international soloists, highly praised chorus and full orchestra

 

PUCCINI TOSCA

 

AN EXPLOSION OF LOVE AND TREACHERY

 

Starring Vladimir Dragos as Scarpia with International Sopranos Maria Tonina and Alyona Kistenyova as Tosca*

 

Grand Opera House York

Friday 4 March at 7:30pm

 

A magnificent, traditional, fully-staged opera, Tosca is set against the dramatic landscape of Rome and the Napoleonic Wars and the corrupt Italian regime of that time. With a spectacular new set built in the UK by Set Up Scenery, who builds sets for the Royal Opera Covent Garden.

 

Directed as a Gothic, Victorian horror story, Puccini’s Tosca is an epic tale of true love and treachery featuring torture, murder and suicide alongside some of opera’s best-known music, and is based on a play by Victorien Sardou, it was once described as a “shabby little shocker.” It tells of Floria Tosca’s true love for artist Mario Cavaradossi. Tosca is forced to enter into a deal with the Chief of Police Baron Scarpia, in order to save Cavaradossi, her lover, from execution. Scarpia’s price is Tosca’s seduction, but she cannot go through with it, and in desperation she stabs Scarpia to death.  Cavaradossi is executed and, realising all is lost, Tosca throws herself from the battlements to her death

 

Puccini was inspired by seeing Sarah Bernhardt in the Victorian melodrama Tosca in Manchester.

 

In preparation for the current tour and her new staging of Tosca, Ellen took a trip to Puccini’s house in Italy. She said: “It was quite magical. I didn’t think it would be quite so inspiring. It was almost eerie – exactly as you would imagine Puccini to have created, with beautiful memorabilia everywhere. There were his shoes and clothes and pipes and all the models of his operas and his actual scores with all his notes on them.

 

“My productions are always rather beautiful and I suddenly realised that in my view, I have been doing what Puccini would have liked and wanted. It felt like meeting somebody I knew.”

 

The shows also feature local children from *local stage schools and include a boys’ choir and a shepherd boy’s solo.

 

This most popular of operas, with its tender and moving arias Recondita Armonia, Vissi d’Arte and E Lucevan le Stelle, is a heady mixture of true love, torture and treachery, with two of the best roles for tenor and soprano, plus a pure evil villain as the baritone. 

VLADIMIR DRAGOS returns to sing his most famous role of Scarpia after his acclaimed portrayal of Rigoletto on Ellen Kent’s last tour.

 

 

“Brilliantly sung by Vladimir Dragos” THE TIMES Royal Albert Hall

 

“Tonina is very, very good” Newcastle Journal

“Alyona Kistenyova was all one could wish for” Darlington Times

 

‘…the solos are simply stunning’

EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS

 

‘Tosca lived up to all my hopes and expectations’

IRISH EXAMINER

 

 

*Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

A NIGHT WITH DOLLY AND KENNY

Celebrating the queen and king of country music, Islands In The Stream comes to Darlington Civic Theatre on Thursday 4 February.

Stacked with country music’s greatest hits: Jolene, Ruby, 9 to 5, Lucille, Here You Come Again, The Gambler, I Will Always Love You, Coward of the County, Love is Like a Butterfly and Lady – Islands In The Stream is a celebration of two country music legends – Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

With awesome vocals and the gentle humour of Dolly and Kenny’s legendary live shows, bring-the-house-down performances, a superb score and supreme musicianship, the show tells the story of the simple Smoky Mountains farm girl’s rise to country music’s biggest superstar.

So, leave your 9 to 5 worries at the door and sail away to another world with this all-new, spectacular stage show.

Islands In The Stream is at Darlington Civic Theatre on Thursday 4 February at 7.30pm. Tickets* are priced £21.50 & £23.50

*All prices include a £1 restoration levy

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

 Young Voices

20^th Anniversary Arena Tour

Sheffield Arena

Monday 18th-Friday 22^nd January 2016

The largest Children’s choir in the world, Young Voices is celebrating their 20^th anniversary in style by completing a marathon of 20 arena dates up and down the country with over 120,000 excited singing school children aged from 6-13.

Over 25,000 local children will be performing at Sheffield Arena this week with Young Voices over 5 nights from Monday 18^th-Friday 22^nd January.

Tickets purchased online at www.sheffieldarena.co.uk or by phone on 0114 256 5656 are priced £23.65 including booking fee.  Tickets purchased in person at the Arena box office are priced £22.58 including booking fee.

Young Voices provides an unrivalled musical opportunity for primary school children to perform all styles of music including folk, pop, rock and classical. Young Voices is designed to unify children from across the region, boost their confidence and provide lifelong memories for them and their families. Teachers & Pupils practice the dance routines and learn the songs in their music lessons for many months before they excitedly come together for the penultimate show at their local arena. This is an unmissable opportunity for local school choirs to sing in huge arenas alongside some of the most talented & well known artists from the world of music.

Their choirs range from 4,500 to 8,500 children, all performing at the same time to capacity audiences of friends and family. Nothing can prepare you for the sound of thousands of children singing in harmony. Young Voices combines the power of singing together as one, with accompaniment from a wide range of musicians and artists, to create an amazing performance.

Every year, schools across the country practise their music in class with their teachers to prepare themselves to take part in these massive concerts. Over the years the children in the choir have performed with artists such as Alexandra Burke, Joss Stone, and Gary Barlow as well as raising over 1 million pounds for Children’s charities such as CLIC Sargent.

“The most amazing time of my life” – X-factor winner Alexandra Burke on her time at Young Voices

Ben Lewis, Managing Director of Young Voices is adamant that “every pupil should be exposed to music at an early age, whether the joy is singing, playing an instrument or loving the sound of music, the potential benefits are huge. My father David, started Young Voices 20 years ago, I can’t believe how much we’ve grown. 20 arena dates to mark our 20^th anniversary is such an achievement and shows the we are making a real difference to the children and schools”

“It was a most fabulous experience! All the children sung brilliantly and enjoyed shining their torches to create incredible effects. We all enjoyed the dancing and listening to all the singers and groups. “Music Teachers at Foresters Primary School 

Nuffield have announced a special evening with the stars of the internationally-acclaimed TV series Downton Abbey on Sunday 7th February at the Nuffield Theatre, in Southampton.

Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith Crawley) and Samantha Bond (Lady Rosamund Painswick) will talk about their lives in TV, theatre and film at this special one-off event to raise funds for Nuffield’s charitable activities. The evening will be hosted by BBC South Today presenter Sally Taylor MBE.

Laura Carmichael, who made her West End debut in 2012, is from Southampton and starred in Nuffield’s 2008 production of The President’s Holiday. Other theatre credits include Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville Theatre), Plenty (Sheffield Crucible), The Fitzrovia (The Swan at the Globe) and films; Madame Bovary (Left Field Ventures) and Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (Studio Canal/Working Title).

Samantha Bond originally found fame on Nuffield’s main stage in the world premiere of Daisy Pulls It Off before it transferred to the West End. Other credits include Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy Theatre), Passion Play (Duke of Yorks Theatre); What the Butler Saw (Vaudeville); King James Readings (National Theatre); alongside BBC TV’s Outnumbered and as Miss Moneypenny in James Bond.

“It is therefore my pleasure to invite two actresses who started out on the Nuffield stage back to Southampton to reflect on their own experiences.” Both actresses are Nuffield Associate Actors, alongside actor Tom Hiddleston and actress Celia Imrie, who are ambassadors supporting the vision for Nuffield as the leading producing theatre company in Southampton.Sam Hodges, Nuffield Director said, “In today’s climate, it’s essential to keep reminding everyone, from our audiences to our stakeholders, of what an important role regional theatre can play in developing and nurturing talent who then go onto make a global case for this country’s arts ecology.”

Tickets for Downton Abbey – An Evening with Laura Carmichael and Samantha Bond are available online at nuffieldtheatre.co.uk or from the Box Office 023 8067 1771.

From 1^st February 2016, the cast of The Book of Mormon at The Prince of Wales Theatre London, will be led by KJ Hippensteel as Elder Price and Brian Sears who continues in the role of Elder Cunningham. They will be joined by Asmeret Ghebremichael as Nabulungi, Stephen Ashfield as Elder McKinley, continuing in the role he originated for the West End production, with Delroy Atkinson, Richard Lloyd-King and Dean Maynard.

The full cast will include Kelly Agbowu, Philip Catchpole, Christopher Copeland, Brendan Cull, Joseph Davenport, Jonathan Dudley, Harry Francis, Lydia Fraser, Tyrone Huntley, Reece Kerridge, Alex Lodge, Joshua Lovell, Tania Mathurin, David McMullan, Brianna Ogunbawo, Oliver Ormson, Sean Parkins, David O’Reilly, Stephen Rolley, Jacade Simpson, Rhys Taylor, Kayi Ushe, Ellena Vincent, Rodney Vubya and T’Shan Williams.

The Book of Mormon
Prince of Wales Theatre
31 Coventry Street, London, W1D 6AS
Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Age Restrictions: Not suitable for young children. Ages 17 and up.

Show Opened: 26th Feb 2013
Booking Until: 2nd Apr 2016
Important Information: Contains swearing, sexual content, offensive content.
Evenings: Monday to Saturday 7.30pm
Matinees: Wednesday and Saturday 2.30pm

Full casting for the Donmar’s production of Elegy has been announced with Harlequinade and Harry Potter star Zoe Wanamaker starring in the three-hander.

Wanamaker, who takes the role of Lorna, will also be joined by Barbara Flynn (Copenhagen and Hamlet, The Revenger’s Tragedy) as Carrie and Nina Sosanya (The Young Chekov Season, The Vote) as Miriam.

The world premiere of Nick Payne’s play will be directed by Josie Rourke and appears to continue the scientific themes of Payne’s smash-hit Constellations being set in a very-near future in which advances in medical science mean that it’s now possible to augment and extend life.

Elegy will run at the Donmar Warehouse from 27 April to 18 June.

Full casting has been announced for the UK tour of Chicago.

Joining the previously announced John Partridge, Hayley Tamaddon and Sam Bailey will be Jersey Boys and Wicked actress Sophie Carmen-Jones as Velma Kelly, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole star Neil Ditt as Amos Hart and A.D. Richardson (The Pirates of Penzance International tour) as Mary Sunshine.

The cast will be completed by Daniele Arbisi, Nicola Coates, Frances Dee, Adam Denman, Francis Foreman, Waylon Jacobs, Justin-Lee Jones, Dann Kharsa, Chelsea Labadini, Ellie Mitchell, Peter Nash, Helen Siveter, Kerry Spark, Lindsey Tierney and Emily Warner.

The award-winning musical is based on real life events from the 1920s and follows nightclub singer Roxie Hart, double-murderess Velma Kelly and smooth talking lawyer Billy Flynn as they fight to keep Hart off death row after she shoots her lover.

Chicago, which is based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, has a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb and includes well -known songs such as “All That Jazz”, “Razzle Dazzle” and “Cell Block Tango”.

Chicago will open on 12 February at the New Theatre, Oxford.

King’s Head Theatre 15-30 January.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

“Could Adolf come to the diary room?”  – Best housemate ever!

After receiving a second rejection letter from university, Adolf tries to kill himself, but wakes up in a strange place to find a homosexual in leopard skin top and pink shorts singing Cilla Black songs at him. That goes down well.

Hew Rous-Eyre and Max Elton’s play is a fantastic and timely satire demonstrating how easily a charismatic leader can manipulate isolated, ill-informed and disenfranchised people into accepting doctrine and carrying out acts of cruelty on certain parts of society.

The housemates are worrying that they are boring, and Adolf’s arrival (they have never heard of him) brings great excitement. Inside the house are Felix – gay, upbeat and always glugging red wine; M-Cat – eager to please and making Ali G look credible; Lucy – basically Katy Hopkins; Charlie – left wing and femi-gender (don’t ask!) and Rachel – quiet, motherly… and Jewish.

Watching Hitler playing ridiculous games and taking part in team tasks (he calls his team the Ubermenschen!) is a highlight – Felix’s description and impression of Gandalf, and Adolf’s frustration when his team haven’t heard of Frederick the Great are brilliant moments. On winning a task, Adolf’s luxury item request is better cleaning equipment – this is one meticulous man.

The insanity of the situation enables the audience to laugh as Adolf begins to rant about Rachel. (Stephen Chance is fantastic mimicking the familiar gestures and facial expressions, and also manages to give Hitler’s childishly defiant, snooty little comments a certain amount of warmth.) More sinisterly, he gently encourages the housemates to discuss and blame her for perceived injustices.

The constant animal metaphors and allegories Adolf spits at his bewildered housemates, among more familiar soundbites work their magic, and Adolf makes it through to the final three, alongside Charlie and Felix – “one of the most entertaining sub-humans I’ve ever met”!

This is a play full of belly laughs and surreal moments. The memory of Adolf Hitler sitting in the diary room chair with Felix in tight Tshirt and lip print shorts sitting on his lap will haunt me for months, along with the final, chilling image that brought reality crashing down on the audience.

Thought-provoking, funny and extremely relevant, this is a play you need to see.

King’s Head Theatre 15-30 January.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Set on one hot day in 1960s Indiana, Paul Minx’s play revisits familiar themes of racial inequality and dysfunctional families, but does so with style.

The characters are basic stereotypes – the teenage daughter, spoiled rotten and used to manipulating every man she meets (Lydea Perkins – coquettish and so convincingly brattish you want to give her as slap); the alcoholic mother (Imogen Stubbs – simply amazing. There should be a new award for best drunk acting. Showing no vanity, with makeup becoming more and more panda-like, Stubbs stumbles around the stage and makes you feel increasingly guilty for laughing at her character); the brutish father (Michael Brandon – brilliantly switching from clownish dad to menacing master in an instant, and drawing audible gasps from the audience); and their “help”, noble, bible-quoting Andre (Cornelius Macarthy – effortlessly portraying Andre’s constant struggle to keep calm and dignified) and his outspoken girlfriend Grace (Krissi Bohn – all flaring nostrils and barely concealed anger at the world).

Andre and Grace want to collect their wages and leave to drive to Alabama to join the civil rights movement and start a new life with Andre’s daughter, but young Ivy doesn’t want Andre to leave, and will try anything to keep him there. Throughout the day, secrets from everyone’s past are revealed, leading to tense confrontations and a downbeat but wholly satisfying conclusion

We have seen these themes and characters many times before, but Minx manages to keep the story interesting with his sharp and witty writing, and the wonderful cast give committed and memorable performances. This play will make you angry, make you squirm (Ivy and her daddy – just wrong), but most of all, it will make you laugh.