“She wanted spontaneity, adventure … I said I can be spontaneous … I just need a little bit of time to plan.”
Brickdust and Project One are delighted to present the first major revival of Chloë Moss’s fascinating and funny play How Love Is Spelt. Directed by Charlotte Peters (Associate Director War Horse UK Tour and An Inspector Calls West End), How Love Is Spelt opens at Southwark Playhouse on Wednesday 4th September and runs until Saturday 28th September, with a national press night on Friday 6th September. Casting to be announced.
Set in 2004, How Love Is Spelt tells the story of Peta, who’s new in town and ready for whatever London has to throw at her. She’s looking for romance, for friendship, for exciting people to lead her on big adventures. But being an independent woman in the new millennium isn’t easy, especially when there’s a constant reminder of the life you’re trying to escape. With each new encounter, Peta flirts with what might have been, but has the journey to London put enough distance between her and her past?
This nostalgic and honest meditation on love and relationships from Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning playwright Chloë Moss (This Wide Night, Soho Theatre; Dickensian, BBC), was first produced and performed at the Bush Theatre in 2004.
Mischief Theatre, creators of Olivier award-winning The Play That Goes Wrong, arrives in Edinburgh with The Comedy About A Bank Robbery. Immediately different from their previous shows in that it has nothing to do with the Cornley Polytechnic Society, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery takes everything to be enjoyed about previous Mischief shows, fast wordplay, extended slapstick and creative sets, and places them in an homage to 50s crime movies.
In Minneapolis, where ‘everyone’s a crook’, the City Bank is taking care of Prince Ludwig of Hungary’s Maguvin Diamond. So, naturally, it has to be stolen. Multiple elements are seamlessly woven together, with hardman Mitch Ruscitti (Liam Jeavons) breaking out of prison with the help of his idiotic guard Cooper (David Coomber). His girlfriend, Caprice (Julia Frith) has moved on since he was imprisoned, now scamming men into sending her cheques. Her father happens to be Robin Freeboys (here played by understudy Eddy Westbury), the manager of Minneapolis City Bank, and being a banker, is just as crooked as anyone else. Add in new love interest, a James Dean-alike conman Sam Monaghan (Seán Carey), helpless punching bag and intern for thirty years Warren Slax (Jon Trenchard) and a meddling FBI agent Randal Shuck (Killian Macardle), the stage is set for all sorts of mayhem.
There’s a lot to appreciate in the show – the verbal wordplay begins almost immediately, and doesn’t stop for the whole show. It’s the ‘Who’s on First’ variety show. Various running gags sprint through the entire show with seagulls, giant moustaches and Monaghan’s various identities as a lawyer-doctor-rabbi and more. Scenes are changed with impressive renditions of 50s songs, complete with all the doo-wap-a-doo and sha-boogie you could hope for.
Highlights include a manic game of charades to pass off one character as another, a seagull’s eye-view of an office and the actual diamond heist itself, as cast members dangle from the ceiling while singing ‘Hush-a-Bye Baby’. Credit also to George Hannigan as ‘Everyone Else’, who gets his moment to shine as every single one of Caprice’s various love interests at the same time.
While the characters may not be as carefully constructed as in other Mischief shows, let’s be honest, we’re here for the laughs and the outrageous set pieces, and boy, do they deliver. Hilarious, witty and clever, you’ve got nothing to lose except your valuables.
The performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat was a absolute showstopper from start to finish. The introduction began with a fantastic rendition from the band, who were exceptional through the whole performance. The curtains open to a choir of children and an opening number from Trina Hill as the Narrator. Jacob and sons are swiftly introduced and a group number was soon unfolding, Joseph, the favourite son, was slowly introduced to be an amazing singer, with vocals from pop band Union J’s Jaymi Hensley, and as Joseph he did not disappoint.
The first half of the performance was everything I wanted it to be and more and with a large build up there was much awaited second half after a short interval. You are welcomed back into the second half of the performance with an amazing performance from the Children’s Choir, from Mark Jermin Stage School. The second half featured amazing choreography and also featured more songs in which Jacob’s other sons got the opportunity to shine, Matt Jolly as Gad was a personal favourite with a standout performance.
Overall this production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat was incredible and featured some absolutely incredible performers, it will leave you tapping your toes and wanting to sing for days.
Michael Linnit and Michael Grade bring Man of La Mancha back to London for the first time since 1968, and have thrown everything, including the kitchen sink, at this production to make it a success. Ultimately, there is nothing that can rescue this show from its awkward and dated book.
The story of Don Quixote is an old favourite, and writer David Wasserman has Miguel de Cervantes (Kelsey Grammar) and his faithful servant Sancho Panza (Peter Polycarpou) thrown into prison as they await their trial by the Spanish Inquisition. To stop the prisoners burning his precious manuscript, Cervantes mounts his defence in this informal court by enlisting the prisoners and performing the story of Don Quixote. The classic story of the delusional old man who believes himself a knight errant, tilting at windmills and wooing the virtuous Lady Dulcinea.
The set – apparently representing the bombed-out basement of a museum, and the costumes of the prisoners give the opening a futuristic dystopic vibe, which is a little confusing after the stirring overture from the ENO orchestra. I was expecting Snake Plissken to burst in at any moment. When the prisoners start putting on Cervantes’ costumes, the mood lightens and the show builds some momentum, but the lines the cast must work with are very hit and miss. Peter Polycarpou milks every bit of comedy and pathos from his role, and Nicholas Lyndhurst is terrific as the squiffy innkeeper, but even their acting chops can’t save the show. Kelsey Grammar has a fine voice but hasn’t the power or charisma to carry the show, seeming physically ill at ease as he moves around the stage. The role of Aldonza/Dulcinea is shared by Danielle de Niese and Cassidy Janson – I saw Janson and she gives a passionate and energetic performance, capturing the fatalism of Aldonza as she is used and abused by men until Don Quixote shows her honour and respect.
There are some odd choices that jar – the strange prison setting, the Muslim prisoner becoming the Padre, Janson as a Spanish serving girl with a strong Scottish accent, the inclusion of the overlong and frankly unnecessary “abduction” of Aldonza by the muleteers – basically gang rape as a ballet – and the casting of Grammar.
Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion’s music and lyrics are wonderful, full of flamenco rhythms and instantly familiar as so many artists have performed them over the years. The weakest link is the most famous song from the show – The Impossible Dream – it really doesn’t gel with the rest of the score, and Grammer’s delivery is frankly underwhelming (I went home and listened to the Carter USM version instead), although the final rendition by the prisoners reaches the levels of emotion needed.
This is definitely not a great musical – more of a curiosity – but the wonderful music carries the show along, and it is an enjoyable night out with some excellent performances.
The first images of Birmingham Hippodrome and Leicester Curve’s production of Tony Award-winning Broadway production The Color Purple have been released, with T’Shan Williams set to take the role of Celie. This brand new production comes to Birmingham Hippodrome from 16th – 20th July 2019.
T’Shan Williams joins the cast as heroine Celie. T’Shan’s previous credits include Heather Duke in Heathers The Musical (Theatre Royal, Haymarket & The Other Palace); Caroline, or Change (Hampstead Theatre) and Queen in The Life (Southwark Playhouse) for which she won the Off-West End award for Best Female in a Musical.
She joins the previously announced cast including Joanna Francis as Shug Avery, Ako Mitchell as Mister, Simon-Anthony Rhoden as Mister’s son Harpo, Karen Mavundukure as his wife Sophia, Danielle Fiamanya as Celie’s sister Nettie and Delroy Brown as Pa.
The cast is completed by Geoff Aymer, Owen Chaponda, Perola Congo, KM Drew Boateng, Danielle Kassaraté, Anelisa Lamola, Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah, Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy, Landi Oshinowo and Jo Servi.
Directed by Tinuke Craig, The Color Purple is filled with a soul-raising musical score of jazz, ragtime, gospel and blues. The landmark musical, from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel, classic hit film and Tony Award-winning production on Broadway, follows heroine Celie as she discovers her own identity and power over the course of 40 years in 19th century southern America.
The Color Purple comes to Birmingham Hippodrome from 16th – 20th July 2019. To book visit birminghamhippodrome.com or call 0844 338 5000 (4.5p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge).
Creative Team
Director Tinuke Craig Set & Costume Designer Alex Lowde Musical Supervisor and Musical Director Alex Parker Orchestrator Martin Higgins Choreographer Mark Smith Lighting Designer Joshua Pharo Sound Designer Tom Marshall Hair & Make-up Designer Cynthia De La Rosa Casting Director Kay Magson CDG Co-producers Birmingham Hippodrome and Curve
Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s comedy about love and treachery, has been reimagined by Northern Broadsides in conjunction with the New Vic Theatre. Currently playing in York as part of its UK tour, ending next week in Harrogate, before opening the Shakespeare Festival in Germany in June.
Set in 1945 after six long years of fighting, World War Two is finally over. Set in Messina, servicemen in British RAF uniforms are returning from the battlefields, land girls working in the fields, and in the air, is hope, optimism, and much needed laughter. Two young dreamers, Hero and Claudio, fall head over heels, whilst Benedick and Beatrice have a love hate relationship, who are then tricked into declaring love for one another. Yet amid all this hope, treachery is afoot, a vengeful brother plotting the downfall of the Prince, Don Pedro. How will it all end, can true love overcome, or will gossip and rumour win out?
Sarah Kemeela Impey as Hero and Linford Johnson as Claudio are sweet as the young, innocent couple, before heartbreak descends. Robin Simpson as Benedick and Isobel Middleton as Beatrice are the complete opposite. Their relationship is hilarious and you just know what will happen after their distaste for each over. They had great chemistry together when they were at loggerheads, and the scenes when they were both set up gave the audience laughs aplenty. I must say that the star of the show was Simpson, his acting was brilliant and he showed great comic timing. His interaction with the audience had us all laughing and even had the rest of the cast couldn’t help themselves. Brilliant.
The production is interspersed with music, the cast breaking into song and a band of musicians popping up playing various instruments. By no means is this production a musical, but the music is certainly a key element in the story telling. It showcased the multi-talented cast in how adaptable they were.
The staging and props were very simple, in fact the staging didn’t alter at all, just the props, a few chairs, newspapers and buckets and not much else to be honest, but that is all that was needed.
I have seen a few of Shakespeare’s plays now and I have a bit of a love, hate relationship with them. I have come to the conclusion that I’m not so keen on the more serious wordy plays, but I enjoy the comedies. I have never read the play or seen it in theatre or even in film and had no idea of the story beforehand, so was unsure of what to expect. At just short of three hours long I did not hold up much hope, I honestly thought I would flag, how wrong I was, it was a superb show. At times I was crying with laughter. Could it have been shorter? Maybe, but the time flew by and I was thoroughly captivated by the whole tale.
This production is a great introduction to Shakespeare, with great comic relief but with a darker element. Catch it whilst you can and be captivated just as I was.
Applications open today for first of two major new theatre commissioning programmes from HOME, Manchester
HOME has announced that it will be working with Trafalgar Entertainment Group on a major new commissioning opportunity for theatre-makers wanting to expand their practice.
The HOME 2020 Commission provides a rare opportunity for theatre makers who have been working in smaller spaces to make a step change in their careers. Through an open call out to any artist who has been producing work at a small scale for at least three years, HOME and TEG will provide a full commission and comprehensive development opportunities.
Following a bespoke residency and intensive periods of R&D, HOME will then commit to premiering the new production in its 500 seat theatre.
The first HOME 2020 Commission is specifically for theatre-makers who make musicals or plays with music. There will be a further HOME 2020 Commission announced later in the year, which will be delivered in partnership with English Touring Theatre.
HOME’s Director & CEO Dave Moutrey said:
“All too frequently some of the most pioneering artists can find themselves ghettoised in terms of scale and budget. The larger stages in our institutions often feel like the domain of a limited number of practitioners. With the HOME 2020 Commission we want to provide a critical step-change in practice for theatre-makers to create on a bigger scale, and make work for a larger audience.”
The HOME 2020 Commission is just part of a new artistic approach which will see HOME provide opportunities for artists to take a step-up in scale. This will include a new show by acclaimed cabaret artists Bourgois and Maurice, which will form part of the programme next year. Moutrey believes presenting this as an “open call” to artists is critical:
“Speaking to artists from across the country, its not just the lack of opportunities to develop their practice that cause frustration – but that they only feel available for closed networks. We want to be clear that the HOME 2020 Commission is an open call to artists from across the country to make a show on our T1 stage. We want to meet new people, and discover new talent. Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not.”
Sir Howard Panter, Joint CEO and Creative Director for Trafalgar Entertainment, said; “We’re delighted to be supporting the HOME 2020 Commission in discovering and developing home grown productions in Manchester, a city already bursting with creativity as a result of its incredible cultural heritage. We are huge admirers of the work HOME has been doing to unearth and nurture new talent and are very excited about the projects we expect to emerge. We share HOME’s commitment to helping artists make the difficult jump to the next stage in their careers and hope, ultimately, that both projects and artists involved in the initiative will soon be playing on our stages in London’s Trafalgar Studios and further afield as well.”
This spirit of open opportunity for artists is also a key feature of all HOME’s artistic opportunities. Earlier this month HOME launched a new round of Made at HOME funds, open applications for artists to access funding and support to explore and develop ideas and platform them at HOME.
Applications open today, Monday 13 May until Monday 10th June. Commissions will be announced in July.
DANCE UMBRELLA ANNOUNCES FINAL SHOWS IN LINE-UP FOR FESTIVAL 2019 INCLUDING A CUNNINGHAM CENTENARY TRIPLE BILL, MORE OUT OF THE SYSTEM EVENTS, A DU DEBUT FROM LUCY GUERIN AND THE FULL DU:FAIRFIELD TAKEOVER PROGRAMME
Artistic Director and Chief Executive Emma Gladstone said ‘Dance Umbrella today announces the final third of its 2019 programme. Sixteen of the eighteen artists this year are making their DU debuts and in his centenary year we are proud to present works by Merce Cunningham at the Linbury Theatre. Our pan-London festival is taking place in thirteen different boroughs spanning zones 1 to 5; so charge your oysters and prepare to come on a journey that crosses continents and reveals what dance is and can be. Come and join us.’
DU: THE FUTURE BURSTS IN Amala Dianor (Fr/Senegal) Somewhere in the Middle of Infinity – UK Premiere CCN – Ballet De Lorraine (France) For Four Walls UK premiere CCN – Ballet de Lorraine Sounddance by Merce Cunningham (USA) Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House: Thursday 24 – Saturday 26 October 7.45pm Matinee Sat 26 October 2pm Opening this celebratory evening is a radiant trio by Senegal-born Amala Dianor, replete with fluid, looping gestures exploring human bonds, Somewhere in the Middle of Infinity seduces with serene yet powerful encounters derived from a 21st-century meeting of African, hip-hop and contemporary styles. In the second half, CCN – Ballet de Lorraine’s connection with Cunningham is reflected in a re-reading of a once-lost 1944 work. Retaining John Cage’s piano score, For Four Walls sets 24 dancers in motion to new choreography by Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley inside a mirrored space. To end, the unpredictability and riotous dynamism of Cunningham’s 1975 classic,Sounddance – provides a perfect salute to his Centennial.
PANEL DISCUSSION: MERCE IN THE UK Siobhan Davies Studio: Wednesday 23 October 7.30pm Chaired by Jeremy Millar, panellists Richard Alston, Gavin Bryars, Julie Cunningham and Siobhan Davies will talk about the lasting legacy and influence of Merce Cunningham.
FREDDIE OPOKU-ADDAIE – OUT OF THE SYSTEM In the third and final year of DU’s Out of the System initiative, choreographer, performer and educator Freddie Opoku-Addaie’s curational acumen reaches for the glitter ball in the sky with this timely and FUN-tastic vogue ball, which runs alongside a tantalising quadruple bill of UK talent; Freddie has also programmed an afternoon of Sunday Cinema as previously announced.
OUT OF THE SYSTEM – THE BIG PINK VOGUE BALL Jay Jay Revlon & Cai Revlon (UK) Shoreditch Town Hall: Saturday 12 October 8.30pm (Doors 8pm) – LATE Anyone who came to CRXSS PLATFXRM last year will have a sense of how DU and Freddie embrace dance as a social, shareable and (optionally) participatory activity and with the recent storming success of TV show Pose, everyone is going to want to get in on this act! The Big Pink Vogue Ball will be a spectacle with a party atmosphere to end all party atmospheres. Get on down and strike a pose!
OUT OF THE SYSTEM – MIXED BILL Becky Namgauds (UK) – Exhibit F THĒO INARTS(UK) – FIM (Fragility In Man) Part 1 Ffion Campbell-Davies and tyroneisaacstuart (UK) – Beyond Words Jonzi D (UK) – Aeroplane Man Bernie Grant Arts Centre: Tuesday 22 – Wednesday 23 October, 7.30pm Becky Namgaud’s Exhibit F is a creature of the night; half bold, free and sensual, half weak, suppressed and controlled. Veering between victim and predator, testing measures of power and submission in equal magnitude; we encounter the female form under a new gaze. The male form is the intimate focus of THĒO INART’s solo Fragility in Man, alive with telling symbolism and visual storytelling. Collaborating in Beyond Words, Ffion Campbell-Davies and tyroneisaacstuart call on their exploration of dance, music and authenticity to question how humans converse. Inspired by the experience of working-class racism and continual reminders from white England that ‘you ain’t really from here…’ Aeroplane Man is Jonzi D’s now iconic, true story of a young black man’s global quest to find his spiritual homeland. A unique fusion of rhyme and lyrically motivated movement, this critically acclaimed ‘choreo-poem’ is delivered with Jonzi’s trademark wit and closes the evening.
OUT OF THE SYSTEM – PANEL DISCUSSION Tick Box / Break Glass / Look Pretty Young Vic: Saturday 12 October 5.15pm Examining the changes and opportunities in the arts for women of colour, this discussion explores how we can carve new and enduring pathways in and outside of the current system. Facilitated by Dawn Estefan (psychotherapist, writer, trainer & speaker) panellists including: Julia Cheng (dancer, choreographer & Artistic Director of House of Absolute), Nike Jonah (Visiting Research Fellow, Central School of Speech and Drama), Tracy Gentles (Co-Director,The Sick of the Fringe).
SPLIT Lucy Guerin (Australia) – UK Premiere The Place: Saturday 12 – Sunday 13 October 7.30pm With one dancer clothed, one naked, two fearless female performers dance in flawless unison; their movements first poised, then animalistic. Moving impeccably through their compelling duet, they navigate the terrain of a stark and diminishing set to a shamanistic, looping drum score by British electronic composer Scanner with increasing tension and an undercurrent of conflict.
DU: FAIRFIELD TAKEOVER Boy Blue (UK) – REDD The Urban Playground Team (UK/France) To Fly Before We Fall – UK premiere Mythili Prakash – Here and Now – UK premiere Philippe Saire – Hocus Pocus – London premiere (DU Orbital Tour) Fairfield Halls, Croydon: Friday 18 – Saturday 19 October
Filling and spilling out of Fairfield Halls’ beautifully redeveloped spaces, this weekend Takeoverfeatures a mix of international dance, pop-up events, performance-parkour thrills, homegrown talent, workshops and mayhem for all ages to the heart of Croydon. Joining previously announced artists Mythili Prackash and Philippe Saire, The Urban Playground Team is known for its authentic fusion of free running and streetwise dance. Superstar hip-hop company Boy Blue performs its latest large-scale production, wrapping up the weekend with the final Takeover performance.
There are so many more ways to get involved, including your chance to become a DIY choreographer – see www.danceumbrella.co.uk for the full programme.
GALA NIGHT IN AID OF THE ALBERT KENNEDY TRUST 24 JULY
Tyrone Huntley will star as Wes in the European premiere of new LGBTQ+ musical THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, which runs from 18 July to 24 August at Soho Theatre, with a press night on Tuesday 23 July and a special gala night in aid of the Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT) on 24 July.
He joins the previously announced Andy Mientus, Declan Bennett, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Cedric Neal and John Partridge who will play Patrick, Dale, Inez, Willie and Buddy respectively. Completing the cast are Carly Mercedes Dyer as Henri, Gary Lee as Freddy, Joseph Prouse as Richard and Derek Hagen as Cops/Realtor.
Tyrone Huntley was recently shortlisted for an Ian Charleson Award for his portrayal of Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Watermill, Newbury). He received the Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award and an Olivier Award nomination for the role of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Broadway World Award nominations for Gator in Memphis (Shaftesbury Theatre) and Doctor in The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales). Some of his more recent theatre work includes Obi in Leave to Remain (Lyric, Hammersmith), Justin Laboy in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street (The Courtyard Theatre) and C.C. White in Dreamgirls (Savoy Theatre). This year Tyrone made his directorial debut with Ain’t Misbehavin’ which received rave reviews at both The Mercury Theatre, Colchester and Southwark Playhouse.
A special gala night in aid of AKT will take place on 24 July with all proceeds from ticket sales going to the AKT, the national LGBTQ+ youth homelessness charity, providing safe homes and better futures for people aged 16-25.
AKT supports young LGBTQ+ people facing homelessness or living in a hostile environment, most of who have experienced rejection or abuse from their families and communities. AKT operates service centres in London, Manchester and Newcastle and operates across the UK with an online service, so that no young person has to choose between a safe home and being who they are.
The musical opens in present day when Wes, a young fashion designer buys an abandoned space, not realising this had been the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant ’70s gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans, which, in 1973, was burned down in an arson attack, killing 32 people, and making it the worst attack on the LGBTQ+ community until the 2016 shooting at The Pulse nightclub in Orlando. THE VIEW UPSTAIRS brings to life this forgotten community and takes the audience on an exhilarating journey of seduction and self-exploration, celebrating the lives of those forgotten, while featuring a soulful, rock and jazz score.
THE VIEW UPSTAIRS opened to rave reviews Off-Broadway in 2017, where Entertainment Weekly described it as “a moving homage to LGBT culture, past and present”, and the musical gained support from some of the LGBTQ+ community’s biggest advocates, including RuPaul. There is an original cast recording available on Broadway Records.
The London production of the musical is one of ten that have been and are being mounted around the world between 2017 and 2019. As well as a triumphant run Off-Broadway, THE VIEW UPSTAIRS has enjoyed multiple regional US productions and a recent Australian premiere.
The musical is written by young up-and-coming artist Max Vernon and will be directed in London by Jonathan O’Boyle (Aspects of Love, Pippin, Hair), with choreography by Fabian Aloise (Evita at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2019, The Rink, Our House, Working). The show will have set and costume design by Lee Newby, lighting design by Nic Farman, sound design by Adam Fisher, with casting by Will Burton CDG.
THE VIEW UPSTAIRS is produced in London by Jack Maple & Brian Zeilinger for Take Two Theatricals and Ken Fakler, with Creative House Productions and Associate Producers Ben Lockwood and Sue Marks.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
18 July – 24 August
21 Dean St,
Soho,
London W1D 3NE
Performance Times:
Monday – Saturday at 7.15pm
Thursday and Saturday at 2.30pm
Tickets: from £10 (standing) and £19.50 (£18.50 concessions) seated. Please note, £1 restoration levy on all tickets.
Wise Children’s adaptation of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers, co-produced by York Theatre Royal in association with Bristol Old Vic, will star Rebecca Collingwood as Gwendoline Lacey, Mirabelle Gremaud as Irene Bartlett, Vinnie Heaven as Bill Robinson, Izuka Hoyle as Darrell Rivers, Renee Lamb as Alicia Johns, Francesca Mills as Sally Hope and Rose Shalloo as Mary Lou Atkinson. Adapted and directed by Emma Rice, the musical opens on 25 July 2019 at The Passenger Shed in the company’s home city of Bristol, before embarking on a national tour to Cambridge, York, Exeter, Manchester and Oxford.
Rebecca Collingwood has previously appeared in Much Ado About Nothing and Love’s Labour’s Lost for the RSC at Chichester Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket. Mirabelle Gremaud has worked for dance-theatre and circus companies in Switzerland and England and was cast in Emma Rice’s first production of her new company, as Young Nora in Wise Children (Old Vic and UK Tour). Vinnie Heaven is a non-binary trans performer. They are an associate artist of Strike A Light who produced She’s A Good Boy, written and performed by Vinnie,which toured nationally in 2019. Vinnie’s recent performance credits include Pingu in Cuckoo at Soho Theatre and Imaginary Friend in the national tour of Half The World Away. Vinnie is also the co-artistic director of Raised Eyebrows Theatre, which is touring Charmane, a family show written by Vinnie, autumn 2019 to spring 2020. Izuka Hoyle has previously played Emily Davison in Sylvia (Old Vic), The Boy in The Selfish Giant (Royal & Derngate / Vaudeville), Catherine Parr in Six (Arts Theatre) and Selina in Working (Southwark Playhouse), as well as Mary Seton in the Working Title film Mary Queen of Scots. Renee Lamb has previously played Armelia in Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Southwark Playhouse, Mercury Colchester), Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors (Regent’s Park Open Theatre) and Catherine of Aragon in Six (Arts Theatre).
Francesca Mills has appeared most recently in The American Clock (Old Vic), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sheffield Crucible), Pity (Royal Court), The Two Noble Kinsmen (Shakespeare’s Globe), A Tale Of Two Cities (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), and she was nominated for the 2017 Ian Charleston Award for her performance in The Government Inspector (Birmingham Rep). Her television work includes seasons two and three of Harlots (ITV) and film work includes Zoolander 2.
Rose Shalloo has previously played Little Boy in The Selfish Giant (Vaudeville Theatre, Royal & Derngate), Margalit in To Paint the Earth (Southwark Playhouse), Chava in Fiddler on the Roof (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Shannon in A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer (National Theatre). Her television roles include Ellen Maccoubrie in Holby City (BBC), Tasha in The Five (Sky), Hannah Commander in The Scandalous Lady W (BBC) and June Colter in Call the Midwife (BBC) and her film credits include Hannah in Emma (Working Title).
The windows shone. A green creeper climbed almost to the roof. It looked like an old-time castle.My school! thought Darrell, and a little warm feeling came into her heart. How lucky I am to be going to Malory Towers!
Nostalgic, naughty and perfect for now, Malory Towers is the original ‘Girl Power’ story, filled with high jinks, high drama and high spirits, all set to sensational live music and breathtaking animation.
Darrell Rivers is starting school with an eager mind and fierce heart. Unfortunately she also has a quick temper! Can she learn to tolerate the infuriating Gwendoline Lacey, or value the kind-hearted Sally Hope? Can she save the school play and rescue terrified Mary Lou from the grip of a raging storm? If she can do these things anywhere, she will do them at Malory Towers!
Adapted and directed by Emma Rice, this is a show for girls, boys, and all us grown up children who still dream of midnight feasts and Cornish clifftops. With set and costume design by Lez Brotherston, lighting by Malcolm Rippeth, sound and video by Simon Baker and original music by Ian Ross.
This production is generously supported by Bristol City Council Culture Team and Sherborne Girls School.
The show is officially licensed by Enid Blyton Entertainment, a division of Hachette Children’s Group (HCG). Karen Lawler, Head of Licensed Content at HCG, says, “Enid Blyton created incredible female characters at Malory Towers: strong, capable and always, always kind. ‘Women the world can lean on,’ in Enid’s own words. We share Emma’s passion for these characters and we couldn’t be more excited to see Emma’s vision of Malory Towers come to life.”
Emma Rice on Malory Towers…
I’ve always been drawn to the years that followed the Second World War. It’s a time that feels close enough to touch, as I vividly remember my grandparents and how the war affected their lives. My Mum’s parents – poor and largely uneducated – decided that their children would have access to all the things that they hadn’t. I don’t know how they managed it on a railway worker’s pay, but my mother was sent to a remote grammar school in Dorset: Lord Digby’s School for Girls.
Whilst not a boarding school, Lord Digby’s was an extraordinary place of learning that changed my mother’s, and by extension my own, life. The tendrils of passion and education that Lord Digby’s stood for reach out across 60 years and more. They reached out over my inner city comprehensive education and have shaped my own beliefs and choices to this day.
My adaptation of Malory Towers is dedicated to the generation of women who taught in schools in that period. With lives shaped by the savagery of two wars, these teachers devoted themselves to the education and nurture of other women. It is also for the two generations of men that died in those same wars, leaving us with the freedom to lead meaningful, safe and empowered lives. And it is for Clement Attlee and his Labour government of 1945 who looked into the face of evil and chose to do what was right. These people changed the political landscape in their focus on care, compassion and the common good.
Malory Towers was written at the heart of this political revolution, and embodies a kindness, hope and love of life that knocks my socks off. ‘Long live our appetites and may our shadows never grow less!’ the girls cry.
My mother wrote to her teachers at Lord Digby’s until they died and is still friends with many of the girls she met there. And when I see my Mum, born into the poorest of rural backgrounds, enjoying Dickens and Almodovar and speaking French to her childhood pen-friend, I am stopped in my tracks. She went on to dedicate her life to the NHS and the helping of others whilst never losing her appetite for life, culture and hope. I salute her, and I cheer the education that threw this mind and soul into the air and said, “be a woman that the world can lean on”.
So that’s why I am making Malory Towers, with gratitude, hope and sheer pleasure! I call it my ‘Happy Lord of the Flies’ and it is joyfully radical to its bones. Imagine a world where (left to their own devices), people choose kindness. Imagine a world where difference is respected and arguments resolved with thought and care. Imagine a world that chooses community, friendship and fun. Now that’s a world I want to live in and, at Malory Towers, you can!
Tour Listings
The Passenger Shed – Station Approach, Bristol BS1 6QH
