Empire Cinemas to raise money for charities nationwide with Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day

Empire Cinemas will be taking part in Ben & Jerry’s Annual Free Cone Day for the 13^th year running – this year raising money for UK charities nationwide.

The 38th ice cream celebration will run in Empire Cinemas nationwide from 12pm – 8pm on Tuesday 4^thApril across all sites (with the exception of Slough and Sutton Coldfield). Each Empire Cinemas will be choosing their own local charity with all donations being passed on to fantastic causes. Free Cone Day has become one of the most prevalent days in the calendar at Empire Cinemas. 2016 saw thousands of people around the country come and get their free cone and, in-turn, raised money for MediCentre in the process. Empire Cinemas are hoping to raise even more money across a range of charities this year.

1979 marked the first ever Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day in the history of history!  It was their way of thanking everyone for all the love and support they showed Ben & Jerry’s during their first year of business in a renovated petrol station in Burington, Vermont, USA.  Since then, Free Cone Day has only got bigger and better and is now celebrated all over the world!

Those involved can show their support by donating and tweeting @EmpireCinemas with #freeconeday.

Gordon MacDonald, Retail Manager for Empire Cinemas, said “Ben & Jerry’s are a key part of our cinema experience and we’re delighted to welcome Free Cone Day again to our cinemas. This is a fantastic way to raise money for charity and we are honoured to support so many great causes and give back to our amazing customers.”

Manchester Opera House

8 September 2017 – 30 September 2017

Sheffield Lyceum Theatre

4 October 2017 – 14 October 2017

Bradford Alhambra Theatre

17 October 2017 – 28 October 2017

Southampton Mayflower Theatre

31 October 2017 – 11 November 2017

Llandudno Venue Cymru

14 November 2017 – 25 November 2017

Stoke Regent Theatre

28 November 2017 – 9 December 2017

Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre

9 January 2018 – 20 January 2018

Liverpool Empire Theatre

23 January 2018 – 3 February 2018

Norwich Theatre Royal

6 February 2018 – 17 February 2018

Canterbury Marlowe Theatre

20 February 2018 – 3 March 2018

Hull New Theatre

6 March 2018 – 17 March 2018

Leeds Grand Theatre

20 March 2018 – 31 March 2018

Newcastle Theatre Royal

3 April 2018 – 14 April 2018

Bristol Hippodrome

17 April 2018 – 28 April 2018

Birmingham Hippodrome

1 May 2018 – 12 May 2018

Plymouth Theatre Royal

15 May 2018 – 26 May 2018

Northampton Royal & Derngate

29 May 2018 – 9 June 2018

Nottingham Theatre Royal

12 June 2018 – 23 June 2018

Glasgow King’s Theatre

26 June 2018 – 7 July 2018

Edinburgh Playhouse

10 July 2018 – 14 July 2018

Northern Ballet brings history’s greatest lover to Salford with the
World Première Tour of
Casanova

At The Lowry Wed 3 – Sat 6 May

Northern Ballet is bringing history’s most notorious lover to Salford in May 2017 with its sensual new ballet Casanova. The internationally acclaimed company will transport audiences to 18^th century Venice, telling the story of the infamous Italian adventurer in a seductive masquerade of passion and politics. Northern Ballet will perform Casanova at The Lowry in Salford from Wed 3 – Sat 6 May 2017 as part of its World Première Tour.

In Northern Ballet’s Casanova the fiercely intellectual Giacomo Casanova leads a controversial life consumed by his desires. He dabbles in careers as a scam artist, violinist, alchemist and church cleric but with a penchant for gambling and women, his exploits lead him into a whirlwind of scandal and excess resulting in imprisonment and exile. A true story so sensational you won’t believe it’s real.

watch

Casanova will be choreographed by award-winning Kenneth Tindall who was most recently nominated for Best Classical Choreography and the Emerging Artist Award at the 2015 National Dance Awards. In addition to creations for Northern Ballet and other international organisations including John Neumeier’s Bundesjugendballett and English National Ballet’s Emerging Artist Competition, he recently collaborated with celebrated artist Linder Sterling and the British Art Show on Children of the Mantic Stain.

With a stellar creative team, Kenneth Tindall will co-create the scenario with actor, dramatist and historical biographer Ian Kelly, author of the 2008 Sunday Times Biography of the Year Casanova. The production will be set to an original score by modern classical, film and television composer Kerry Muzzey, played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia. Sets and costumes will be designed by Tony and Olivier award winningChristopher Oram, whose recent credits include Hughie for the Booth Theatre, New York and The Winter’s Tale for the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company at the Garrick Theatre. Lighting will be designed byAlastair West whose Northern Ballet credits include Giselle, I Got Rhythm, Jane Eyre and Kenneth Tindall’s Luminous Juncžture and The Architect.

Casanova is the first of an unprecedented three full-length World Premières to be held by Northern Ballet in 2017. It will be followed by the upcoming World Premières of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in May 2017 and The Little Mermaid in September 2017.

CURRENTLY WOWING WEST END AUDIENCES,

IAN HISLOP AND NICK NEWMAN’S SATIRICAL PLAY

THE WIPERS TIMES

TO TOUR THE UK THIS AUTUMN

Following a sold-out UK tour in 2016, and a fast-selling limited season in the West End – currently playing until 13 May at the Arts Theatre –the producers of The Wipers Times are pleased to announce that the production will once again tour the UK this autumn.  It will open at the New Theatre Cardiff on 12 September 2017, and visit Oxford, Richmond, Southend, Guildford, Salisbury, Manchester, Cheltenham and Glasgow. Full tour dates at www.wiperstimesplay.co.uk with casting to be announced.

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s The Wipers Times – a stage adaptation of their award-winning BBC film – tells the true and extraordinary story of the satirical newspaper created in the mud and mayhem of the Somme, interspersed with comic sketches and spoofs from the vivid imagination of those on the front line.

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman said:

“Following an amazing audience and critical reaction in the West End which was almost over the top, Wipers Times is on manoeuvres again around Britain. We look forward to sharing the remarkable trench humour of the Wipers Times with new theatre-goers around the country. We are delighted it is not Journey’s End but the tour will all be over by Christmas. “

In a bombed out building during the First World War in the Belgian town of Ypres (mispronounced Wipers by British soldiers), two officers discover a printing press and create a newspaper for the troops.

Far from being a sombre journal about life in the trenches they produced a resolutely cheerful, subversive and very funny newspaper designed to lift the spirits of the men on the frontline.

Defying enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the disapproval of many of the top Brass, The Wipers Times rolled off the press for two years and was an extraordinary tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.

The production originally launched one hundred years after the Battle of the Somme and publication of The Wipers Times.

The Wipers Times is directed by Caroline Leslie, designed by Dora Schweitzer, with lighting design by James Smith, sound design by Steve Mayo. The composer is Nick Green, and Musical Director Paul Herbert.

THE WIPERS TIMES – FULL TOUR DATES

Tuesday 12 – Saturday 16 September                                                                    Cardiff New Theatre

Monday 18 – Saturday 23 September                                                                    Oxford Playhouse

Monday 25 – Saturday 30 September                                                                    Richmond Theatre

Monday 9 – Saturday 14 October                                                                          Palace Theatre, Southend-on-Sea

Monday 16 – Saturday 21 October                                                                        Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford

Monday 23 – Saturday 28 October                                                                        Salisbury Playhouse

(Tickets on sale Saturday 13 May)

Tuesday 31 October – Saturday 4 November                                                        Manchester Opera House

Tuesday 7 – Saturday 11 November                                                                       Glasgow Theatre Royal

Monday 13 – Saturday 18 November                                                                    Cheltenham Everyman Theatre

York Theatre Royal – 1 April 2017.  Reviewed by Marcus Richardson

Based on The Melancholy Death Of Oyster Boy, a novel written by Tim Burton, Haste Theatre decided to adapt the wacky story line to the stage. Through the use of devising they came out with an oddly sad but hilarious play

Now excuse me if my review is less than detailed, as there was no programme and I had to spend some time researching. The play was set in 1950s America, where dreams can come true for anyone.  It’s the bittersweet tale of ice cream sellers Jim and Alice who fall in love, on the beach. However, their lives are turned upside down by the arrival of their son Sam, born with an oyster shell shaped head!  The play explores the issues Sam faces growing up, we see before his birth and throughout his life. This was an amazing way to explore issues that are controversial as it takes away race and swaps it with something else.

The all female cast of 6 took an abstract approach to an abstract story.  4 of the women worked creating characters with a mainly comical setting; from two doctors who are on the incompetent side, to a pair of twins who becomes Sam’s friends they see through his condition and represent childhood purity.  The other actors played the parents of Sam, One who went to the USA from Italy to make a living and Sam’s mother a plain American gal.  At points the acting was very funny and made me laugh, but at other points it did feel rather flat, and I couldn’t hear some of them speak on stage especially when there was music playing.

I left the theatre very bewildered as its not something you see every day and it was hard to process. The style was very interesting to watch as it relied a lot on the actors with skills that you don’t always use in normal commercial theatre, I loved the story as it was a great way to explore the issues. If you can I would say go and see the show, as it’s important to expose yourself to the wacky and bizarre, and it was good to watch the set of actresses bring this story to life

Regan De Wynter Williams Productions present

Sasha Regan’s all-male

The Mikado or The Town of Titipu

UK Tour: April – July 2017

Following the highly successful all-male tours of H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, Sasha Regan returns with the world premiere of the irresistible The Mikado – one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most famous operettas.

In true topsy –turvy fashion, Gilbert and Sullivan’s inherent humour and timeless tunefulness are married with Regan’s wicked sense of fun. This vibrant production successfully pokes playful fun at British politics and institutions. The crazy storyline takes us to 1950s England where a school camping trip is visiting the far away land of Titipu – a place where flirting is banned on pain of death and where tailors can become Lord High Executioners but cannot cut off another’s head, until they have cut off their own!

Regan’s idea to transform these much-loved classics into all-male productions stems from her own experiences performing Gilbert and Sullivan at a single-sex school. Her shows are now renowned for playing on the humour that can emerge from these gender changes.

Regan comments, Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing our work playing in some of the most beautiful theatres our country has to offer. 2017 is going to be a great year for us as we bring a brand new staging to our audiences – it’s beyond exciting.

Rollickingly silly, beautifully sung and imaginatively reframed (Libby Purves – H.M.S. Pinafore 2016

Sasha was recently awarded the Special Achievement Award at the Off West End Awards 2017 for her contribution to musical theatre.

Performance Dates

18th – 22nd April Theatre Royal, Bath Sawclose, Bath BA1 1ET

24th – 29th April Theatre Royal, Winchester Jewry Street, Winchester SO23

9th – 13th May Edinburgh Kings Theatre 2 Leven Street, Edinburgh EH3 9LQ

23rd – 27th May Richmond Theatre Little Green, Richmond TW9 1QJ

30th – 31st May East Riding Theatre 10 Lord Roberts Road, Beverley HU17 9BE

1st – 3rd June The Spa Bridlington South Marine Drive, Bridlington, YO15 3JH

6th- 10th June Exeter Northcott Theatre Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QB

13th – 17th June Theatre Royal, Brighton New Road, Brighton BN1 1SD

27th June – 1st July Cambridge Arts Theatre 6 St Edward’s Passage, Cambridge CB2 3PJ

4th – 8th July Malvern Festival Theatre Grange Rd, Malvern WR14 3HB

13th – 15th July Hall For Cornwall Back Quay, Truro TR1 2LL

17th – 19th July Dorking Halls Reigate Rd, Dorking RH4 1SG

20th – 22nd July Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury SY3 8FT

25th – 29th July Quays Theatre , Lowry Salford The Lowry, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ

Park Theatre 22 March – 22 April.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

The European premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish at the Park theatre is a fast and funny comedy of misunderstandings and misinterpretation.

Guiyang city is building a new cultural centre, and American businessman Daniel (Gyuri Sarossy) is bidding for the contract to provide the signs. Unfortunately, doing business in China is slightly more complicated than in the states; as explained by British consultant Peter (Duncan Harte) it’s all about the guanxi – relationships. The cultural and linguistic differences are explored with sharp wit and the foibles and hypocrisy on both sides are exploited beautifully. The legendary labyrinthine dealings of Chinese business and politics leave Daniel, and the audience, giggling in exasperation and amusement.

Beginning with a presentation of some of the best examples of Chinglish signs from the internet, and explanations of the misinterpretations (it’s all Chairman Mao’s fault apparently), the bilingual production shows Daniel’s various meetings with Ministers and magistrates. These are a full-on laugh-fest of botched translations by wonderfully over the top translators (Siu-see Hung, Windson Liong and Minhee Yeo) providing lines that range between the deadpan overly literal to sexual innuendo as the actual translations are displayed on stage. Minister Cai, a put-upon old-school official (Lobo Chan – in a hysterical performance) and Vice-Minister Xi Yan (Candy Ma) both have their own agendas, and Daniel is caught in the middle. When Daniel and Xi begin an affair, things become more complicated, and more personal.

Candy Ma is fantastic as Xi, making her a strong, modern woman who is trapped by the expectations and obligations of tradition. Her attempts to explain what the bonds of marriage mean in China, and her quiet moments pondering whether she is any different from her grandmother with her bound feet and arranged marriage are very moving. Duncan Harte is impressive in both languages as the lost and slightly manic Englishman seeking a role in a more accessible China now that he “isn’t even that tall anymore”, and Gyuri Sarossy’s Daniel is a sweetly befuddled not-so-innocent abroad.

Director Andrew Keates keeps things tight and fast-paced, thanks in a large part to Tim McQuillen-Wright’s brilliantly multi-functional set. A wall of wooden blocks is transformed into bars, board rooms and hotel rooms by the cast with slick movement and creative lighting – inspired.

Chinglish is a triumph – written, directed and performed with exquisite skill, and most importantly, very, very funny.