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Godalming’s Cinderella helps more people to enjoy the magic of Panto this December through its Pay What You Can scheme

Even more theatre-goers shall go to the ball as Wysch Productions is again offering a Pay What You Can scheme at The Borough Hall, Godalming, to help those who would not otherwise be able to attend a Pantomime this year due to financial restraints. Cinderella, from 11 – 26 December 2021, is open to all.  

Producer Nick Wyschna said: “I’m over the moon to be able to bring back our Pay What You Can tickets. We are a professional Pantomime for the community of Godalming and I believe everyone should have the chance to see Cinderella. Just send us a message via our website (www.godalmingpanto.com) or social media, or telephone the Box Office on 01483 361101, and we’ll sort your tickets out for you!”

Terms and conditions apply and the offer is subject to availability. No refunds or exchanges are available on Pay What You Can tickets.

Cast and creatives, as previously announced, are as follows: Stephanie Costi, who is currently in her final year of training at Guildford School of Acting, is delighted that she shall go to the ball as Godalming’s very own Cinderella. Her fabulous sparkly Fairy Godmother will be played by Emily Cochrane. This traditional family Panto wouldn’t be complete without the Ugly Sisters to make Cinderella’s life a misery, and Josh Bamling as Astra and Christian Andrews as Zeneca will make a formidable and hilarious pair. Vying for Cinderella’s attention, will be Joseph Foyster as the suave Prince Charming with Clark James returning to Godalming Panto, this time as the ever affable and funny Buttons. Laura Kent and Elli Hosier will be joining the cast as Ensemble/Swing.

Cinderella is written by Andrew Pollard, co-directed by Jo Kirkland, co-directed and choreographed by Charlotte Wyschna, cast by Denise Silvey and produced by Nick Wyschna.

To book standard tickets, visit www.GodalmingPanto.com or telephone the Box Office on 01483 361101. There is disabled access throughout the venue. There is a relaxed performance on Sunday 19 December at 6 pm. This show will be specifically adapted for those on the autism spectrum, individuals with sensory and communication disorders, those with learning disabilities and anyone who would benefit from a more relaxed environment. Tickets for this performance have been reduced to £18 and can purchased by calling the Box Office only.

LISTINGS
Show: CinderellaDates: 11 – 26 December 2021

Times: Varies – matinee and evening performances; see website or call the Box Office

Running Time: 2 hours (including interval)

Venue address: The Borough Hall, The Burys, Godalming, GU7 1HY

Tickets: £22 standard, £20 concessions (OAPs, under 16’s, unemployed). Prices include booking fees. Children aged 2 and under go free but they must sit on a lap.

Book at www.GodalmingPanto.com or call 01483 361101.

Category: Theatre, Pantomimes, family shows, professional theatre

Age guidance: suitable for all ages

Access: There is disabled access throughout the venue. On 19 December at 6pm there will be a relaxed performance specifically adapted for those on the autism spectrum, individuals with sensory and communication disorders, those with learning disabilities and anyone who would benefit from a more relaxed environment. Tickets for this performance can only be purchased by calling the Box Office on 01483 361101.

Richmond Theatre – until 30 October 2021

Reviewed by Carly Burlinge  

5***** 

The Dresser is brought to you by Ronald Harwood and Directed by Terry Johnson. Whilst Air Raids are going off and bombs are being dropped in the year of 1942. Sir (Matthew Kelly) is trying to perform his 227^th performance on stage as King Lear, after discharging himself from hospital. Things are not going according to plan as Sir is very vulnerable, having journeys of madness before returning to some form of normality. He finds himself reciting the wrong words of the play he’s meant to be in! He’s becoming very emotional, feeling self-pity towards himself and his health on the other hand is clearly not on his side! If they cancel the play this will be the first time its every happened. Norman (Julian Clary) his dresser of 16 years who has lots of experience of his ways is very devoted towards him, always talking him up to make his presence more magnificent than it really is! He comes across very caring but also bitter at times but proceeds throughout to get him ready as the show must go on! It seems to me that without each other, things wouldn’t take place. 

Sir – Matthew Kelly plays his part exceptionally well, a stubbornly ruthless actor that refuses to give in as he has a duty to perform. He offered some extraordinary body language and facial expressions throughout which conveys his characters true and emotional side – just amazing!! 

Norman – Julian Clary plays a spectacular part of being the structure in which Sir needs around him to proceed. Hes gentle, calm but also hides a touch of bitterness towards him. He comes across very witty at time and had the audience laughing on many occasions! 

The stage was done brilliantly as an old tatty dressing room with a dressing table and big lights surrounding the mirror, costumes hanging up on a rail at the back with different well used wigs on the shelves and a chaise longue. With an ascending piece of the stage revealing the backdrop of the curtains behind the scenes and all that happens whilst the show must go on. 

What a fabulous performance with great acting that won’t disappoint, a play which has both comical moments and an element of tragedy. 

DONMAR WAREHOUSE ANNOUNCE RE-RELEASE OF

DIGITAL PRODUCTION ASSEMBLY TO MARK COP26 –

ALSO ANNOUNCED IS DONMAR ASSOCIATE ZOË SVENDSEN’S

WORK AS CLIMATE DRAMATURG

With Love and Other Acts of Violence currently running at the Donmar Warehouse, Artistic Director Michael Longhurst and Executive Director Henny Finch, today announce the re-release of the company’s first Donmar Local production, Nina Segal’s ASSEMBLY, an innovative digital performance that looks at the climate crisis and how to build a better future. First broadcast live via YouTube from the Donmar Warehouse and locations across the UK during lockdown in March 2021, the recorded digital production will be available on Donmar Warehouse’s YouTube channel from 31 October – 12 November to mark COP26.

Continuing the company’s commitment to exploring the climate emergency, Donmar Associate Zoë Svendsen is acting as Climate Dramaturg and undertaking an 18 month collaborative action research project – Climate Conversations – bringing together artists and producers to reframe the conversation around the climate crisis and the process of making theatre. Whilst the theatre industry must urgently reduce its carbon footprint, the project seeks to bust the myth that sustainability is only about doing or using ‘less’.  The project aims to find ways for great art to pursue climate conscious ethics and still flourish. During this project Svendsenwill work with representatives across the Donmar Warehouse’s workforce and productions, running workshops that explore new, climate conscious working practices. She will also host a series of live talks and podcasts, to open up the conversation with audiences. The project culminates with a wider industry sharing of her findings.

Clare Slater, Head of New Work, said today, “We’re delighted to be undertaking this important work with Zoë. At the Donmar, we want to make thrilling and resource-conscious theatre. And we want to do so with care for the people who make it and see it, and for the planet. With Zoe’s significant track record in climate dramaturgy, this research project should help us find change points in the theatre-making process that will help us achieve these goals. We really look forward to sharing what we learn. This is what theatre can do: bring about change by rehearsing it first.

“As part of our commitment to this urgent moment, we’re also proud to re-release our digital production, ASSEMBLY, to coincide with COP26. Nina Segal’s provocative play, made in lockdown with members of our local community, invites you to play your part in this chapter of change.”

Zoë Svendsen also commented,“Climate Conversations takes the climate crisis not just as a ‘topic’, but explores it as the context of everything we do – in theatre and in our lives. Through the project we will be examining what stories we tell, who for and how. How can facing these challenges sharpen our ingenuity and rigour as artists, as we grapple with the most urgent questions of our time. In an era of extreme jeopardy, where the very future of people across the globe is at stake, we will be asking, who are we? How do we need to change for the planet to survive? And who might we become?”

Zoë Svendsen is an associate artist at the Donmar Warehouse and a director, dramaturg and researcher. As artistic director of METIS Zoe creates research-led interdisciplinary performance projects exploring contemporary political subjects, including Love Letters to a Liveable Future (Season for Change/Cambridge Junction), Factory of the Future (Oslo Architecture Triennale), WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE MAY BE (Barbican Pit), World Factory (New Wolsey Theatre/ Young Vic), 3rd Ring Out – TippingPoint Commission Award. As dramaturg she has worked with Shakespeare’s Globe, Young Vic, the National Theatre and the RSC. Svendsen lectures in Drama and Performance at the University of Cambridge.

ASSEMBLY
By Nina Segal 

The Assembly Company: Rita Barry, Patrick Burrows, David Cunningham, Ubah Egal,Martin Fisher, Angie Lieu, Brian McGinnis, Sadhbha Odufuwa-Bolger, Josiah Phoenix, Pen Riley, Paul Ringo, Stephen Rooney, Jenneba Sie-Jalloh, Youyangg Song, Michael Turney, Victoria Valcheva and Karen Walkden

Director: Joseph Hancock; Video Designer and Director of Photography: Andrzej Goulding

Set and Costume Designer: Frankie Bradshaw; Composer and Sound Designer: Max Pappenheim Lighting Designer: Sam House; System Designer, Programmer and Operator: Dan Trenchard Assistant Director: Eleanor Clack; Producer: Liz Bate 

Mixing live performance, animation and sound, ASSEMBLY looks at the impact of humans on nature and what we might build together for a better future. It’s about trying, failing, and trying again. In times of emergency, it is about hope.

This is the first production from the Donmar Local Company – members of the community who live and work in the Donmar’s home boroughs of Camden and Westminster.

ASSEMBLY is dedicated to the memory of Michael Turney, a founding member of our Local Company

Nina Segal (she/her) is a playwright and television writer. Her theatre credits include In the Night Time (Before the Sun Rises) (Gate Theatre), Dismantle This Room (Royal Court Theatre/Bush Theatre), Big Guns (The Yard Theatre), (This Isn’t) A True Story (Almeida Young Company), and Danger Signals (New Ohio, NYC). Her latest play O, Island! was a winner of the 2022 Playwrights’ Scheme Bursary and shortlisted for the 2020 George Devine award.

Joseph Hancock (he/him) previously took part in Donmar on Designand has worked on the Donmar Discover project‘Take the Stage’. He is a director from Dudley, and trained at the Young Vic through the Jerwood Assistant Director programme and with a JMK regional bursary. Directing credits include (This Isn’t) A True Story, Re-Imagining Machinal (Almeida Young Company), Great British Mysteries: 1599?, Great British Mysteries? (Soho/Pleasance), Emily Brown and The Thing and a Squash and a Squeeze (Discover Children’s Centre), Shell and Davey at the Start and the End (VAULT festival), And Yet It Moves (Young Vic). Assistant/Associate credits include If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Young Vic), The Hairy Ape, Rise (The Old Vic), It Felt Like A Kiss (Punchdrunk/MIF). He is a Mentor Director on NT Connections and Education Associate at The Old Vic.

Donmar Warehouse thank the following individual, corporate and trust and foundation supporters of Discover, all of whom enabled the Donmar’s work with young people and the local community while the theatre’s doors were closed: Anonymous, Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation, Chapman Charitable Trust, Clore Duffield Foundation, The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation, Adam and Victoria Freudenheim, John Lyon’s Charity, Kirkland and Ellis, The Oak Foundation, The Thompson Family Charitable Trust and Universal Consolidated Group.

The Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield – until 30 October 2021.

Reviewed by Sophie Dodworth

4****

Upon entering the auditorium at the Lyceum, you are aware of the buzz created by the excitement of the upcoming performance. Many children are present to see this show, which was originally made for people of that age. However, you also have the adults ready for a good reminisce, that lovely feeling you get when you are catapulted back to your childhood and can almost feel those carefree days…if you are after that, then this is for you. The quintessentially British Bedknobs and Broomsticks will give you a belly full of comfort as it whizzes you back fifty years.

The story is set during World War 2 and follows 3 evacuees Charlie (Conor O’Hara), Carrie and Paul. They are sent to live with Miss Eglantine Price (Dianne Pilkington), who, as it turns out is an apprentice witch. Charlie blackmails Miss Price that if he is to keep her witchcraft a secret, she must give him something, so she takes a bedknob from her late father’s bed and places the “famous magic travelling spell” on it, but only Paul can make the magic happen. They first land in London where they meet Emelius Browne (Sam Lupton) who is a former headmaster of a witchcraft school, Miss Price explains to him that she has a plan to find the magic words for a spell known as ‘Substitutiary Locomotion’, which brings objects to life…

Where to start with the cast?! There are far too many to mention in a short write up. The 2 youngest children and were just perfect, the voice on Paul was just so sweet and well trained, he performed perfectly! He never looked at the audience, he was totally engaged and had his ‘stage face’ on at all times, truly a professional in the making. O’Hara fitted in to playing a much younger role very well, a task that must take some real effort. The voice of Pilkington was beautiful and shone during all of her lead numbers. The comedic talent of Sam Lupton stood out and he gained collective giggles from the crowd more than a few times. But the real undebatable talent of the entire ensemble really made this show, never has there been a more suitable cast! There were some outstanding performances here and without them, there would not be anywhere near as magnetic. Huge credit especially to Susannah Van Den Berg, who was just mesmerising and so committed to her role, and even though only on stage for minimal time compared to the mains, that time was invaluable.

The puppetry section of the show was superb, extra claps to Matthew Elliot-Campbell for taking the stage by storm and grabbing the audience by their collars with his performance as the Lion.

Highlights of the show, without a doubt, was the musical number of Portabello Road, what a number! This was the first time that you really see full use of the entire stage. You get dancing, singing, harmonising, extravagant costumes and a whimsical atmosphere! It truly is a magical number, what a treat!

Maybe the show is slightly too long for the youngest people in the audience at 2.5 hours and maybe there could be a few more big chorus numbers like Portabello Road and The Beautiful Briny Sea, but still, this show is a dreamy, wonderland, wonderful hit.

Southampton Mayflower – until 30 October 2021

Reviewed by Lucy Hitchcock

4****

Mischief and Penn and Teller have come together to from the most hilariously dangerous magic you will ever see!!

We follow Mickey, played by Daniel Anthony, as he hosts a magic fundraiser to honour his late father-death by props! Together with his 6 acts, they will wow and entrance you whilst messing up and defying the odds!

This is a very family friendly show, with heaps of audience participation, especially when you meet Rory Fairborn as ‘Mind Mangler’, where he will have you in stitches whilst also performing some brilliant tricks that will really mangle your mind!! Bär und Spitzmaus, played by Chloe Tannenbaum and Jocelyn Prah were a perfect pairing. A German duo who performed quick changes and cannonball tricks that mostly worked to perfection with a few mistakes-but it still left the audience oohing and ahhing; The whole cast were brilliant. This is a technically demanding piece and it was almost more impressive that the tricks were going wrong and we still couldn’t work out how in some cases!!

A perfect family entertainer, be warned there was a little swearing in the show but it was few and far between. This is ideal for parents and kids, and a wonderfully entertaining spectacle.

CONDRAGULATIONS!

DELIGHTFUL DIVINA DE CAMPO STARS ALONGSIDE LOLA LASAGNE & DON ONE

IN CORBY’S FIRST EVER DRAG PANTOMIME SLEEPING BEAUTY

Imagine Theatre and The Core at Corby Cube announce their first ever drag Pantomime as Ru Paul’s Drag Race favourite Divina De Campo leads the cast of Sleeping Beauty as the evil Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty from Friday 17 to Friday 31 December joined by Drag Legend Lola Lasagne and Drag King Don One as Prince Eric.

A seasoned British drag queen known for her fabulous high soprano and 4-octave vocal range, Divina has featured on national television programmes including The Voice, All Together Now and most recently a finalist on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Divina is currently touring the UK in Chicago The Musical and can’t wait to be turning on her bad girl persona for the role this Christmas.

“I am so excited to be appearing in Sleeping Beauty at The Core this Christmas. I love what the producers are doing by colliding the world of drag and pantomime in a show that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community. Drag is for everyone, and this show proves it. I am going to be wickedly fabulous so watch out Corby, DDC is coming to get you!”

Joining Divina will be drag legend Lola Lasagne, one of the most successful and popular drag queens on the UK circuit.  Lola will be “whipping her hair back and forth” as Nanny Lola, looking after Princess Beauty whilst dealing with the tempers, tantrums and traumas caused by Carabosse – the most wicked fairy in the land. 

And that’s not all!  The show’s producers, Imagine Theatre, are thrilled to announce that joining those two fantastic queens will be hugely popular drag king and West End star (Death Drop), Don One who will be playing the deliciously dashing Prince Eric.

Laura Taylor Associate Producer & Head of Celebrity Casting at Imagine Theatre says ‘Not to be mistaken for an adult pantomime, with our casting of Sleeping Beauty we hope to celebrate and showcase the fantastically popular Drag artists in the UK in a traditional Pantomime.  With fabulous sets, glamorous costumes and more sequins than Strictly, it’s going to be camp, it’s going to be glitzy and audiences will ‘sashay away’ into the night with huge smiles on their faces.  With a suggested age guidance of 12+ this is a fabulously festive show with just a little more sass!”

Sleeping Beauty plays at The Core at Corby Cube from Friday 17 – Friday 31 December. Tickets start from £10, for more information and to book tickets go to www.thecorecorby.com or call
01536 470470.

THE DUKES THEATRE ANNOUNCE WINTER PLANS FOR 50^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

BELLE & MARY

(18-20 NOV, 50^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION: 20 NOV AT 7:30PM)

BEAUTY & THE BEAST

(3-31 DEC AT 7PM)

The Dukes in Lancaster have announced their plans to celebrate the theatre’s 50^th Anniversary over the Winter season.

Since opening the doors in 1971, The Dukes has been committed to placing arts and culture at the heart of the Lancashire and Lancaster City region. As Lancashire’s only producing theatre, over the years The Dukes has welcomed the likes of Dame Harriet Walter, Gloria Grahame, Andy Serkis and most recently, Sir Ian McKellen.

Beginning a year of celebration until Summer 2022, the 50-year-old theatre will debut two new productions: a new retelling of the infamous Buck Ruxton case, Belle & Mary (18-20 November), and this year’s annual in-the-round Christmas production, Beauty & the Beast (3-31 December).

The Dukes’ Chief Executive Karen O’Neill said of leading the theatre into its next 50 years, “It is so wonderful to be celebrating the Dukes 50^th Birthday! This is a milestone year for the Dukes and we are so pleased to be sharing it with our team, volunteers, audiences, artists and community. The Dukes has been at the heart of Lancaster since 1971 as both a theatre and independent cinema and has achieved so much since then. We are so proud of the Dukes’ legacy and thank everyone who has been part of the journey so far. We are so excited for the future and we look forward to creating more memories, creative projects and continuing to be part of what makes Lancaster a great place to visit or call home. Thank you to our core funders Arts Council England and Lancaster City Council and to all our supporters, partners, funders, audiences and creative professionals. Here’s to the next 50 years!”

The festivities will also celebrate the theatre’s long-standing team members including Data & Audience Development Manager ​Karen Chandisingh and Technical Manager Brent Lees, who have both worked at the theatre for over 25 years, as well as The Dukes’ team of volunteers who have supported the venue for many years.

Karen Chandisingh said of the anniversary and time with the theatre, “I feel so lucky to have spent much of my working life with The Dukes. Over the past 30 years I’ve worked with the most amazing people and have been privileged to see some amazing theatre.  I’m so happy to be celebrating my 50^th along with The Dukes and I am very much looking forward to our next chapter.”

Marketing & Communications Manager Jay Walton said of The Dukes’ volunteers, “For many years our volunteers have supported The Dukes, welcoming our wonderful audiences and theatre companies. They mean a lot to us and we can’t thank them enough for their support. We are delighted to be celebrating our 50th Birthday with them as much as our beloved audiences.” 

Belle & Mary

­The Dukes, in association with Adam Z. Robinson, will bring the infamous Lancaster true-crime tale of Buck Ruxton to the stage in Belle & Mary. The Dukes-commissioned piece by Adam Z. Robinson, which will be performed as if a radio play, will turn the tables on the narrative with the production focusing on the perspectives of Ruxton’s victims Isabella “Belle” Ruxton and Mary Jane Rogerson.

When several wrapped bundles containing human remains are discovered in Moffat, Scotland in 1935 a landmark police investigation begins that will eventually lead back to two women in Lancaster and to the man who killed them. Based on the true story of the murders of Isabella “Belle” Ruxton and Mary Jane Rogerson. Still regarded as one of the most shocking crimes of the last century, this infamous case of jealousy, deception and tragedy also marked a pivotal moment in forensic detection.

The production, directed by Martha Simon, will run from 18-20 November with the show’s final performance welcoming an invited audience to celebrate and commemorate the venue’s 50^th Birthday.

Beauty & the Beast

The Dukes will host bring Beauty & the Beast to The Round Theatre from 3-31 December as their in-the-round Christmas production for their 50^th anniversary.

Beauty & the Beast will welcome back the creative team of Daniel Bye (writer & co-director) and Sarah Punshon (co-director), who previously collaborated on The Dukes’ highly acclaimed productions of Cinderella: A Fairytale and Sleeping Beauty. This brand-new production will provide a thoroughly festive adventure for all audiences; promising to be filled with magic, dancing and songs that everyone will love to sing along to.

Bella and her mother live alone in the countryside, scrimping and saving to make ends meet. But, not far from their farm, in the forest, there is a terrible secret waiting to be uncovered that has made the land barren.

Kidnapped by the fearsome Beast, Bella discovers that he might not be the mean-spirited creature that she has been told about – and that the curse he is under can be broken.

The theatre will also welcome touring productions to Lancashire over the upcoming months including Double Life: Guy in VR (13 November), The Little Prince (27 November) and Christmas Gothic (3-4 December).

Tickets for all productions are now on sale with tickets available at dukeslancaster.org or by calling the theatre’s box office at 01524 598500.

FURTHER CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR

BRAND-NEW LIFE-AFFIRMING BRITISH MUSICAL

THE RHYTHMICS

PREMIERING AT THE SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE

2 DECEMBER 2021 – 8 JANUARY 2022

www.therhythmics.co.uk
Twitter – @TheRhythmics_

Producers Aria Entertainment, Metta Theatre and Edward Prophet are pleased to announce details of further casting for the premiere of brand-new life affirming musical THE RHYTHMICS this winter, playing at the Southwark Playhouse from 2 December to 8 January, with a press night on Tuesday 7 December.

As previously announced, Noel Sullivan (School of Rock, Years and Years and Gavin and Stacey) will star as ‘Grey’ alongside Zweyla Mitchell Dos Santos making her professional debut playing ‘Silva’. Joining the cast are Ken Christiansen (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, It’s a Sin, Mother Courage and her Children) as ‘Nick’, Kinny Gardner (Godspell, The Rocky Horror Show, The Mousetrap) as ‘Sid’, Rebecca Hayes (A Christmas Carol, Cylch Sialc, The Pact) as ‘Robin’, Andrew Patrick-Walker (Jerry Springer – The Opera, Brooklyn the Musical, The Muppets Most Wanted) as ‘Jeremy’, Joshua Steel (Aladdin, Friendsical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) as ‘Connor’, and Phil Snowden (Billy Elliot, Les Miserables and Bridgerton) as ‘Dennis’.

A brand-new music video for one of the numbers in the show – ‘Daddy, You’re My Hero’ – has also been released, with the leads coming together for the first time performing together. Like the music video Got Your Back, created to accompany the release of the album, the full production will also feature BSL integrated choreography from Deaf men Dancing’s Mark Smith, as well as captions throughout all performances, to make the show accessible for D/deaf and hard of hearing audiences. A cast album for the show was created during lockdown last year under socially distanced rules in studios across London, Brighton and Glasgow, and released in July 2020. The album is available via Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Apple Music and other digital platforms.

With book and lyrics by Metta’s Artistic Director P Burton-Morgan, and music and lyrics from Stiles + Drewe award winner Ben Glasstone (Reanimator), THE RHYTHMICS explores the crisis of masculinity via a collection of oddballs belting their way through a thrillingly catchy guitar-led score.

Hapless single-dad Grey is in a rut. Teenage daughter Silva packs him off to revive his rockstar dreams, successfully auditioning for ‘Nick & the Rhythmics’ only to realise… he’s actually signed up for an All-male Rhythmic Gymnastics troupe. Against the odds these burly blokes make it as far as the World Championships – twirling their ‘ribbons of fire’ – and along the way Grey finally learns to commit to life. Calendar Girls meets The Full Monty in this joyous new British musical.

P Burton-Morgan says, “I’m so thrilled to be collaborating with this bunch of theatrical legends – we were blown away in auditions by the talent and enthusiasm in the room. Maybe it’s this show, maybe it’s the 18 month career hiatus we’ve all had, but never have I been met with such commitment and passion. Can’t wait to share the joy of this brilliant company who are pouring their heart and soul into this life-affirming new show – truly a tonic for our times.”

THE RHYTHMICS is directed by P Burton-Morgan, with choreography by Mark Smith, with Ellie Verkerk as Musical Supervisor, Erika Gundesen as Musical Director, James Nicholson as sound designer, Francine Huin-Wah as costume designer, Jane Deitch as casting director, and Will Reynolds as set and lighting designer.

Award-winning Metta Theatre is one of the UK’s leading mid-scale touring companies – making exceptional theatre and opera that represents and celebrates the diversity of our world. They are known for combining emotionally powerful performances with imaginative theatricality and striking visual style. After their smash hit street-dance Jungle Book (Theatre Royal Windsor, UK & Int. tours), circus-musical Little Mermaid (Theatre By The Lake & UK tour) and BSL integrated hip hop musical In The Willows (Exeter Northcott & UK tour) Metta Theatre have spent the last year recording and releasing 5 cast albums of their new original British musicals including The Rhythmics, HouseFire, In The Willows, Little Prince & Cells. Other previous productions include Mouthful (Trafalgar Studios) and Arab Nights (Soho Theatre & UK tour).

Aria Entertainment was founded in 2012 by Katy Lipson. In 2017, Katy was awarded the Best Producer award by the Off-West End Awards and is a recipient of a Stage One Bursary and Start Up Award. She took part in the first ever UK/US Producer Exchange in 2019 and was nominated for International Producer Of The Year in 2020 by the League Of Professional Women in New York. She made “The Stage 100” a list of the most influential people working in British Theatre in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and also 2021. Katy recently produced CRUISE at The Duchess Theatre and is producing The Addams Family Tour as well as THE LAST 5 YEARS at the Garrick Theatre. She was Producing Artistic Director at the Hope Mill Theatre from 2016-2019 where she produced and general managed 13 in house musicals. 

Andrew Lloyd Webber to host a special gala performance of Cinderella with Malala Yousafzai

LONDON – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit new musical Cinderella is to hold a special gala performance to raise money for Malala Yousafzai’s work to empower women and girls around the world.

With the backdrop of a worsening global refugee crisis, which has interrupted the education of millions of young women, Malala Fund wants those who have lost everything to retain access to the opportunities they need to build a better future.

More than 130 million girls are out of school today and Malala Fund is working for a world where every girl can learn and lead through access to a free, safe and quality education.

The Cinderella gala performance will be held on Monday 22nd November. The show has been donated by Andrew Lloyd Webber and every penny raised will be donated directly to Malala Fund.

Malala Yousafzai: “Since age 10, I’ve been fighting for a world where every girl can learn and lead. But in the past two years, girls in many countries have faced enormous setbacks to their education – from Covid to economic pressures to conflict and displacement. I am grateful to my friend Andrew for all his support, and I want to thank the cast and crew of Cinderella for arranging this special performance to support Malala Fund.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber: “I am an enormous admirer of Malala. She is an extraordinary person and you can imagine my delight when I discovered that she loved musical theatre. Malala and her fund work to empower women and girls to be the best version of themselves and the people they truly want to be. Recent events in Afghanistan, and the worsening of the global refugee crisis, which will be inevitably exacerbated by climate change in the years to come, have brought into sharp focus the importance of Malala’s work.

“We wanted to do this gala performance of Cinderella because our heroine is a strong-willed and mischievous young woman whose lesson is: don’t change to please others. I want to thank everyone who supports this gala and enables us to do more to help women and girls to achieve their dreams.”

Emerald Fennell: “Malala Yousafzai is a true hero and a beacon of light to so many of us. It is an honor to be able to support her work in any small way, especially at such an urgent and terrible time for the women and girls around the world.”

The Cinderella gala event will also feature the work of a contemporary Afghan artist, Shamsia Hassani, and the stories of female Afghan musicians.

“[Cinderella is]a romcom with a progressive message: you don’t have to change yourself to find love.”
The Daily Telegraph

Tickets for the gala performance of Cinderella are on sale here.

National Theatre Live relaunches new programming for the first time since February 2020 with exciting new programme of four productions in cinemas worldwide

The four productions are Leopoldstadt, The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage, Hex and Henry V

The National Theatre today announces the return of National Theatre Live with a new programme of four productions to be broadcast to audiences worldwide in cinemas, starting in the UK and Ireland in January, and with tickets now on sale.

The productions are Tom Stoppard’s Olivier-Award winning play Leopoldstadt from Sonia Friedman Productions in the West End which will be broadcast to cinemas from January; Bryony Lavery’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage from the Bridge Theatre in February; Tanya Ronder, Jim Fortune and Rufus Norris’ new musical Hex from the NT will be broadcast in March and the Donmar Warehouse’s production of Henry V starring Kit Harington will be in cinemas from April.

National Theatre Live has been broadcasting to cinemas for almost 12 years, and has sold 11 million tickets worldwide, presenting 88 shows, in 65 countries.

Lisa Burger, Executive Director and Joint Chief Executive of the National Theatre, said: “I am delighted to announce the return to cinemas of National Theatre Live with four new productions bringing the best of British theatre back into cinemas. Over the last year, while theatres and cinemas have been closed around the world, it’s been brilliant to share National Theatre Live recordings through National Theatre at Home. The audience response has shown us the huge appetite for these productions which now stretch back over 12 years. But it’s so great to be able to share theatre as a communal experience in cinemas once again. So, whether you come to watch a show live on the South Bank, visit a venue across the UK, book into your local cinema or tune in from home, there are now more ways than ever to experience the National’s work.”

Since March 2020, National Theatre Live has broadcast in cinemas with special encore screenings of Follies from 2 September 2021 and the NT’s feature film Romeo & Juliet was also broadcast to cinemas from 28 September 2021.

The NT’s next feature film Death of England: Face to Face will be in Curzon cinemas on Tuesday 2 November. The film will then be broadcast, for free, on Sky Arts at 9pm on Thursday 25 November (Freeview channel 11).

Sky Arts is the Headline Partner of National Theatre Live in the UK.

The new season of productions are:  

Leopoldstadt
From Sonia Friedman Productions
Thursday 27 January in the UK
Thursday 27 January 2022 internationally (except US, Canada, Austria and Czech Republic)
Thursday 1 December 2022 – 30 June 2023 in Japan
A new play by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Patrick Marber
 

Tom Stoppard’s Olivier Award-winning new play Leopoldstadt is a passionate drama of love, family and endurance.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Leopoldstadt was the old, crowded Jewish quarter of Vienna, Austria. But Hermann Merz, a factory owner and baptised Jew now married to Catholic Gretl, has moved up in the world.

We follow his family’s story across half a century, passing through the convulsions of war, revolution, impoverishment, annexation by Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. A company of 40 actors represent each generation of the family in this epic, but intimate play.

The cast is Sebastian Armesto (Jacob/Nathan/Ludwig), Jenna Augen (Rosa), Rhys Bailey (Young Nathan), Cara Ballingall (Jana), Faye Castelow (Gretl), Joe Coen (Policeman/Zac), Felicity Davidson (Hilde), Mark Edel-Hunt (Civilian/Fritz), Clara Francis (Wilma), Arty Froushan (Leo), Ilan Galkoff (Pauli), Caroline Gruber (Emilia), Sam Hoare (Percy), Natalie Law (Hanna), Avye Leventis (Sally), Aidan McArdle (Hermann), Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Eva), Jake Neads (Mohel/Policeman), Aaron Neil (Ernst), Alexander Newland (Kurt), Macy Nyman (Hermine), Noof Ousellam (Otto), Sadie Shimmin (Poldi), Griffin Stevens (Aaron), Eleanor Wyld (Nellie).

The children’s cast is Rafael Shbero (Young Jacob), Ollie Kohn (Young Leo), Osian Salter (Heini), Noa Alberts (Young Rosa), Lexi Hudaly (Young Sally), Audrey Kattan (Bella) and Shoshana Shbero (Mimi).

Set designs are by Richard Hudson, with costume designs by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting by Neil Austin, sound and original music by Adam Cork, and movement by Emily Jane Boyle. Casting is by Amy Ball CDG, with children’s casting by Verity Naughton.

Filmed live on stage in London’s West End, at the Wyndham’s Theatre.

The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage
From the Bridge Theatre
Thursday 17 February 2022 in the UK
Thursday 7 April 2022 internationally
by Philip Pullman, adapted by Bryony Lavery
Directed by Nicholas Hytner

Set twelve years before the epic His Dark Materials trilogy, this gripping adaptation revisits Philip Pullman’s fantastical world in which waters are rising and storms are brewing.

Two young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the centre of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. And as the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others.

Eighteen years after his ground-breaking production of His Dark Materials at the National Theatre, director Nicholas Hytner returns to Pullman’s parallel universe.

The cast is Julie Atherton, Holly Atkins, Wendy Mae Brown, Pip Carter, Samuel Creasey, Ella Dacres, Ayesha Dharker, Heather Forster, Naomi Frederick, Richard James-Neale, John Light, Dearbhla Molloy, Tomi Ogbaro, Sid Sagar, Nick Sampson and Sky Yang. 

The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage is adapted by Bryony Lavery, co-directors are Emily Burns and James Cousins with designs by Bob Crowley, puppet design and direction by Barnaby Dixon, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound by Paul Arditti, video designs are by Luke Halls and Zakk Hein and music by Grant Olding.  James Cousins is also movement director, Kate Waters is fight director and illusions are by Filipe Carvalho.

Broadcast live from London’s Bridge Theatre.

Hex
a new musical based on Sleeping Beauty
From the National Theatre
Thursday 17 March in the UK
Thursday 5 May internationally
Book by Tanya Ronder, music by Jim Fortune and lyrics by Rufus Norris
Directed by Rufus Norris

A vividly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty, a mythic, big-hearted new musical that goes beyond the waking kiss. 

Deep in the wood, a lonely fairy longs for someone to bless. When she is summoned to the palace to help the princess sleep, her dream turns into a nightmare and her blessing becomes a curse. Soon, she is plunged into a frantic, hundred-year quest to somehow make everything right.

Rufus Norris directs Rosalie Craig (As You Like It, Threepenny Opera) in this new musical filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, with music by Jim Fortune, book by Tanya Ronder.

The cast is led by Rosalie Craig as Fairy, Tamsin Carroll as Queenie, Kat Ronney as Rose and Michael Elcock as Bert, alongside Christopher Akrill, Delroy Atkinson, Esme Bacalla-Hayes, Madeline Charlemagne, Ebony Clarke, Sonya Cullingford, Hanna Dimtsu, Tamsin Dowsett, Joe Foster, Ben Goffe, Eleanor Kane, Daisy Maywood, Kody Mortimer, Joseph Prouse, Shaq Taylor and Sargon Yelda.

Orchestrations by Simon Hale, music supervision by Marc Tritschler, music direction by Tarek Merchant, lighting design by Paul Anderson, choreography by Jade Hackett with consultant choreography by Bill Deamer and sound design by Simon Baker.

Filmed live at the National Theatre.

Henry V
From the Donmar Warehouse
Thursday 21 April in the UK
Thursday 2 June internationally
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Max Webster

Shakespeare’s ever popular play is a thrilling study of nationalism, war and the psychology of power. 

Kit Harington leads the cast in the Donmar Warehouse’s exciting modern production directed by their Associate Director Max Webster, exploring what it means to be English and our relationship to Europe, asking: do we ever get the leaders we deserve?

Design by Fly Davis, lighting design by Lee Curran, sound design by Carolyn Downing, video design by Andrzej Goulding, movement direction by Benoit Swan Pouffer, composition by Andrew T. Mackay, fight direction by Kate Waters and casting director is Anna Cooper CDG.

Full cast to be announced.

Filmed live at the Donmar Warehouse.