10 Things to do in a Small Cumbrian Town Alphabetti Theatre, St James’ Blvd, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4HP Tuesday 23rd November – Saturday 11th December 2021
10 Things to do in a Small Cumbrian Town is a hilarious one-woman play written and performed by Hannah Sowerby who grew up in a small North West town. A proud Cumbrian, Hannah wants to show that living in the regions isn’t all hiking, lakes and kayaking. This funny and honest production is about finding connection when you’re lonely, about finding solid ground when you’re lost at sea and holding on when everything’s hanging from a thread.
All Jodie wants to do is kiss a woman, but the only woman available in Penrith seems to be her friend’s Mam… 19-year-old Jodie hasn’t gone to uni like most of her friends, but has been forced into taking a job shelf-stacking by her very sweary Nana. Join Jodie as she attends counselling with her shit, yet hot, counsellor, keeps bumping into everyone she’s ever met in the local supermarket and is repeatedly invited to a very strange man’s static caravan…
Hannah Sowerby comments, 10 Things is a fictional story, but it draws inspiration from my own experience of growing up in a small Cumbrian town, which was even smaller than the one in which the play is set. It’s a comedy drama about the love/hate relationship of being a young person growing up in a rural area, where there is very little to do, and the ridiculous and creative things you end up doing to amuse yourself. The play follows Jodie Bell, who has lost herself and is incredibly isolated, which I’m sure many people will relate to after a year in which mental health has been an important and pressing issue globally. This is a play about finding things to laugh at in the darkest of times, finding strength inside you that you didn’t know you had and riding around on tractors with strange men…
Director Jonluke McKie comments, Hannah has an amazing knack for exploring darker issues in a way that highlights the beauty and poignancy in life. It’ll make you think, make you belly laugh, bring a tear to your eye, and most of all give you a fantastic night out.
Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss created Six while they were students, and their musical has become a worldwide hit. Gustav Holst and Fritz B Hart’s comic operetta never reached those heights, destined to become one of those works that is “rediscovered” as a lesser early piece. It definitely has the feel of a student composition – the Victorian equivalent of a Monty Pythonesque riff on Gilbert and Sullivan. There are hints of the great things to come in Holst’s music, and librettist Hart has some sly and sharp lines in between some groan-inducing rhymes.
The King (Ross Hobson) is miserable – he is sick of Roly Poly for pudding every day, but the Queen (Valeria Perboni) insists on him eating it. Adding to his misery, their sentry (Simon Mulligan) has the newest verses from the dreadful poet Buffy and reads them to his unwilling audience. When the Prime Minister (John Stivey) recovers from a long illness and announces that he has had an idea it is a shock to the entire palace. He suggests that, as the current situation in the country is grim, the men and women should swap roles. This leads to comic scenes of servant Mona (Elena Hogg) trying to handle a rifle without shooting herself, and sweet revenge for the King.
It’s a fairly static show, with director Paula Chitty keeping the running time under an hour and just a couple of instrumental “dance” breaks. This means the cast must convey the lunacy with facial and hand gestures rather than big physical comedy, and most do a fine job. Valeria Perboni is the star of the show, with a gorgeous voice and her Queen obviously wearing the trousers under a voluminous crinoline. Ross Hobson is funny as the milksop King who couldn’t run a bath alone. There are lots of giggles to be had from modern parallels with the duplicitous, self-serving PM having a ridiculous idea and backtracking when things go wrong. Laurie O’Brien and Patrick Vincent perform the music on stage and do a fine job, with the company’s voices blending nicely.
The Idea is obviously the work of two not yet fully developed musical talents, but Irrational Theatre’s production this sweet and silly show is well worth a look.
SENSATIONAL CAST SET TO BRING A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS TO CURVE IN
A CHORUS LINE
Directed by Nikolai Foster
Choreography by Ellen Kane
Featuring Adam Cooper as Zach and Carly Mercedes Dyer as Cassie
Curve theatre in Leicester has revealed the full cast of its Christmas musical A Chorus Line, including world famous dancer Adam Cooper and West End and Curve favourite Carly Mercedes Dyer.
Adam will play the role of Zach, the director / choreographer responsible for putting the performers through their paces in the show’s audition. Having gained acclaim for creating the lead role of the Swan/Stranger in Matthew Bourne’s production of Swan Lake – a role he also performed in the 2000 film Billy Elliot as the adult Billy – Adam is internationally renowned as a musical theatre performer, dancer and choreographer.
Carly Mercedes Dyer will star alongside Adam as Cassie, an auditionee and Zach’s ex-lover. Carly, who is currently performing in Anything Goesat The Barbican in London, recently appeared in the Curve at Home production of The Color Purpleas Shug Avery, which streamed in Spring 2021, and as Anita in the Made at Curve 2019 production of West Side Story
A smash-hit Broadway masterpiece, A Chorus Line will run at Curve from 3 to 31 December. The musicalfeatures iconic songs including ‘One’, ‘I Hope I Get It’, ‘Nothing’ and the hit ballad ‘What I Did For Love’.
The production reunites Curve’s Artistic Director Nikolai Foster and Choreographer Ellen Kane, who last worked together on the five-star Made at Curve production of West Side Story.
The cast features a host of familiar faces to Curve, including West Side Story company members Ronan Burns as Bobby Mills, Beth Hinton-Lever as Bebe Benzenheimer, Katie Lee as Kristine Ulrich and Redmand Rance as Mike Costa
The cast is completed by Emily Barnett-Salter as Sheila Bryant, Bradley Delarosbel as Gregory Gardner, Lizzy-Rose Esin-Kelly as Diana Morales, André Fabien Francis as Richie Walters, Ainsley Hall Ricketts as Paul San Marco, Joshua Lay as Al Deluca, Kanako Nakano as Judy Turner, Hicaro Nicolai as Swing, Jamie O’Leary as Mark Anthony, Tom Partridge as Don Kerr, Rachel Jayne Picar as Connie Wong, Chloe Saunders as Val Clarke, Charlotte Scott as Maggie Winslow, Hollie Smith-Nelson as Swing, Marina Tavolieri as Swing and Taylor Walker as Larry.
New York City. 1975. On an empty Broadway stage, 18 performers are put through their paces in the final, gruelling audition for a new Broadway musical. Only eight will make the cut. The audition takes an unexpected turn as the director, Zach, invites the performers to open up about their lives and what brought them into theatre. What follows are searing stories of ambition, childhood, shattered dreams and what it means to follow your dreams onto the stage. The emotional stakes are heightened when Zach’s ex-lover Cassie, fresh from an attempt to make it in Hollywood, wants to audition for the chorus line.
A Chorus Line will have set designed by Grace Smart, musical supervision from David Shrubsole, costume design by Edd Lindley, lighting by Howard Hudson, sound design by Tom Marshall and musical direction by Tamara Saringer. The show is cast by Curve Associate Kay Magson CDG.
Curve’s Chief Executive Chris Stafford and Artistic Director Nikolai Foster said:
“Our A Chorus Line company of actors represent the very best talent working in the UK today. Led by our terrific casting director Kay Magson, we are thrilled to have brought together this astonishingly talented group of artists who will ignite this brand-new production, giving our audiences much to celebrate this Christmas.
“Just as the original production of A Chorus Line gave voice to the incredible performers who make every show possible, this cracking company of actors will rediscover this classic musical afresh. The incomparable Carly Mercedes Dyer and majestic Adam Cooper lead an outstanding cast, who will literally blow the roof off Curve this Christmas.
“We are looking forward to welcoming our communities and audiences from across the UK for a very special Christmas at Curve, with A Chorus Line’s astonishing Marvin Hamlisch score and Ellen Kane’s heart-stopping choreography.”
A Chorus Line was created by Michael Bennett, who used real-life testimonies from chorus dancers to celebrate the lives of theatre’s unsung heroes. The musical has a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban,
Tickets for A Chorus Line at Curveare on sale now. To find out more and book tickets, visit www.curveonline.co.uk
A CHORUS LINE
Conceived & Originally Directed & Choreographed by Michael Bennett Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante Music by Marvin Hamlisch Lyrics by Edward Kleban Co-choreographed by Bob Avian
Original Broadway Production produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival. Joseph Papp, Producer, in association with Plum Productions, Inc
A Chorus Line is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Tams-Witmark LLC. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk
Chichester Festival Theatre – until 23 October 2021
Reviewed by Emma Barnes
4****
Chichester Festival theatre triumphs again with this world premiere adaptation of Andrea Levy’s The Long Song by Suhayla-El-Bushra, which coincides with Black History Month.
This is story which needs to be heard, set in the time of slavery, an important often hidden traumatic part of Jamaican history which predates Windrush. The play closely follows the book and like the book is told with humanity and also a great deal of humour.
The story concentrates on the characters and the relationships between the slaves and their plantation owners, and although set in the past there are many themes that resonate now all over the world. This is a strong story, narrated by central character Miss July. Heart wrenching and poignant, with just the right level of well placed humour to balance without undermining the subject.
The words are beautifully written, performed and directed, capturing the audience and transporting them to the sights and sounds of the Caribbean with subtle lighting and sound, dialect and use of authentic words. Expect your evening to be filled with a range of emotions; laughter, inspiration, anger, empowerment, education, compassion for the survivors. Hope for a long term future tainted with apprehension for the short term future as newly freed slaves. Most of all you can expect to be thoroughly entertained.
An excellent play and production which deserves to be shown and time and any place.
A huge mention has to go to Llewella Gideon as Old July who brilliantly navigated us through the timeline spanning several decades and was the glue seamlessly binding the various subplots together with captivating charm and character. Congratulations also to Tara Tijani as the younger July who made her professional debut – someone to watch out for in the future.
The show was well received by the audience and received a standing ovation.
Launch images of the Sleeping Beauty cast at the Lyceum theatre
Starring JanineDuvitski (Benidorm), Sheffield’s legendary Dame, Damian Williams, actor, presenter and comic Ben Thornton (Cinderella), Lucas Rush (Damian’s Pop-Up Panto!, Rock of Ages), Hannah Everest (Gypsy) and DominicSibanda (Hairspray). The cast will be supported by a brilliant ensemble.
Back in the Lyceum theatre, Sleeping Beauty is bigger and bolder than ever! Written and directed by regular pantomime producer Paul Hendy, this will be the fourteenth year Sheffield Theatres and Evolution Pantomimes have produced the Sheffield Lyceum pantomime.
Sleeping Beauty runs from Friday 3 December 2021 – Monday 3 January 2022 at the Lyceum theatre, Sheffield. Tickets are on sale now at www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
Future Spotlight Productions and KidZania London today announces Adult Nights, a one-off Halloween special at the immersive KidZania indoor city featuring immersive role-play activities, cocktails on entry and live performances from emerging musical theatre stars. With a spectacular live show on the Runway Stage, audiences will have full access of the KidZania indoor city, which features a replica radio station, supermarket, airport, fire station and more. Adult Nights will be on 22 October with entry from 7-11pm.
Hosted by Rosie Napper, the live entertainment features performances by Ross Harmon (Heathers – West End), Beccy Lane (Bare The Pop Opera, In Pieces), Kyle Birch (Children Of Eden), Roxanne Couch (2021 ArtsEd Graduate); with dancers Conor Tidman and Lukas Poischbeg.
Completing the creative team is Louis Rayneau (Director), Rachel Sargent (Choreographer) and Daisy Loving (Production Assistant).
Louis Rayneau, Artistic Director of Future Spotlight Productions, said today “I’m delighted to be collaborating with KidZania London on this spook-tacular event! Collaborating with them is always a treat and I am so thrilled to unleash what we have in store for you all! Exploring KidZania London is like stepping into another world; the fact that adults now get the chance to really get lost in the magic and fun of the activities through the city is so exciting! There’s also delicious food and drink on offer and TWO frightening full out shows throughout the night on our Brand-New Runway Stage in the Main Square! Expect the unexpected – this is a show you won’t forget, and the cast are phenomenal!”
Kyle Birch’s theatre credits include Leave a Light On (Lambert Jackson), Spotlight on the Future: Live, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Future Spotlight Productions/KidZania), A Night With Emerging Writers (Red Piano Productions), Turn Up London (Club 11), Spooktacular (The Grad Fest) and Untapped: at the Union (Bray Productions).
Roxanne Couch is a recent graduate of Arts Ed. Her recent credits include In Pieces Live (Future Spotlight Productions) and I Could Use A Drink (Garrick Theatre).
Ross Harmon is a recent graduate of the London School of Musical Theatre and his recent credits Heathers (Theatre Royal Haymarket), In Pieces Live (Future Spotlight Productions) and Mamma Mia (Royal Caribbean).
Beccy Lane is a recent graduate of Performance Preparation Academy. Her recent credits include In Pieces (Future Spotlight Productions) and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Future Spotlight Productions/KidZania).
Rosie Napper hosts. She is a recent graduate of Performance Preparation Academy. Her credits include Spotlight on the Future LIVE! (Future Spotlight Productions) and Disney Dream Cruises.
Lukas Poischbeg is currently studying at University of Roehampton for an MFA in Dance and Embodied Practice and will graduate in 2022. His credits include Phoenix Risen (MS Amadea Cruise Ship), Newsies (Village Theatre) and Legally Blonde (Showtunes Theatre Company).
Connor Tidman is a dancer. His credits include The Brit Awards and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
“moving at breathless speed, the five performers take on a dazzling series of gender-switching roles… a Beyoncé-esque assertion of female power in the wartime…excellent performers… There are some big, blowsy shows around in the West End, but this little belter is staging its own audacious invasion plan” ★★★★★ Suzi Feay, Financial Times
“a miraculous musical that tells the entire story in a kind of accelerated farce that is part Mel Brooks, part SIX, part Hamilton with a side order of One Man, Two Guvnors.” ★★★★★
Neil Norman, Daily Mirror
“But whoof! It blew the roof clean off. Hoots and tears welcomed this ingenious, touching musical. Taut lyrics, vintage gags, a wild tale and tunes that followed me out into the night air, in hums and whistles. Perfection… An artisanal masterpiece” ★★★★★ Luke Jones, Daily Mail
“this is the musical you didn’t know you needed — until you see the expert cast of five embracing and racing through a clutch of preposterous yet endearing characters and musical styles, telling a story with delicious precision. Set firmly in the past, this is a little show with a very big future.”
David Benedict, Variety
Tickets for the January/February dates are on sale now here
Run: Friday, 14 January – Saturday, 19 February 2022
The year is 1943 and we’re losing the war. Luckily, we’re about to gamble all our futures on a stolen corpse.
Following sold-out runs at the New Diorama Theatre in 2019 and Southwark Playhouse in 2020 and September 2021, Operation Mincemeat is back. Having spent lockdown rewriting the show, weeping and eating biscuits, SpitLip have extended the run of this newer, bigger and (somehow) even better version from 14 January through to 19 February 2022.
Singin’ in the Rain meets Strangers on a Train, Noel Coward meets Noel Fielding, Operation Mincemeat is the fast-paced, hilarious and unbelievable true story of the twisted secret mission that won us World War II. The question is, how did a well-dressed corpse wrong-foot Hitler?
Operation Mincemeat won The Stage Debut award for Best Composer/Lyricist, the Off-West End award for Best Company Ensemble and was listed in the Observer’s Top 10 shows of the year.
Commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, co-commissioned by The Lowry. Supported by the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat Additional support from Avalon.
OPERATION MINCEMEAT
Written and composed by SpitLip. SpitLip are David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts.
Directed by Donnacadh O’Briain. Choreography by Jenny Arnold. Set and costume design by Helen Coyston. Lighting design by Sherry Coenen. Sound Design by Mike Walker.
Nottingham Theatre Royal – until Sunday 10 October 2021
Reviewed by Louise Ford
4****
Beautiful Briny Ballroom
The original 1971 Disney film is a family favourite. It was hard to imagine how it would be transferred to the stage with its mixture of magic, flying beds, underwater scenes and cartoon animals . Well the power of theatre didn’t disappoint. The new musical based on the books by Mary Norton, adapted by Brian Hill, with original songs by the Sherman Brothers and additional songs by Neil Bartram started its UK tour in August . It has been brought to the stage by theatre-makers Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison.
The stage is set with the brass bed with gleaming bedknobs in an attic bedroom . The Rawlings children (Charlie, Carrie and Paul) are reading a pop up book looked on by their parents. In the background there is the silhouette of St Paul’s and a London skyline. The peaceful scene is shattered by bombing and warplanes (cleverly manoeuvred around on handheld rods). The set is shattered as is the family to leave the Rawlings children orphaned.
The children are evacuated by train, from the city to the countryside. Alone at the post office in the village of Pepperinge Eye on the Dorset coast they await their fate . They are billeted to Miss Eglantine Price (Dianne Pilkington) who arrives to pick up her latest parcel from London. Miss Eglantine bursts on to the stage in a glorious outfit (tailored purple tweed two piece, a natty hat all with contrast gloves and trim), this contrasts nicely with the locals ‘brown’ outfits. The costumes (by Gabriella Slade) are a real treat. The knitwear worn by the children is fabulous!
The four of them leave the village on Miss Eglantine’s motorcycle and sidecar, toot toot!
Let the adventures begin.
The story isn’t hard to follow and moves along at a reasonable pace. The fist half sets the scene for the action of the second half. The ensemble performance when the family are back in London, meeting Emelius Browne (Charles Brunson) hunting down the missing spells of Portobello Road is a riot of colour, swirling handcarts and dance (choreographed by Neil Bettles).
The second half starts underwater as the family journey to the Nopeepo Lagoon on their way to Nopeepo Land. The dance competition all sequins, swirling seaweed and handheld fish was my favourite scene.
The set design and illusions by Jamie Harrison are an absolute delight. From the quick set change, twirling doors, puppetry, sleight of hand magic to the flying broomstick (how did that happen?) and of course the flying brass bedstead (how did they do that?).
The adventures and magic cleverly distract from the Nazi threat and we have almost forgotten Miss Eglatine’s mission to magic a defence against this menace. Fear not once back on dry land there is a fine finale of magic. All’s well that ends well and the family are reunited and leave in the trusty motorcycle and side car!
Ralph Fiennes will lead the cast in the world premiere of David Hare’s Straight Line Crazyto be directed by Nicholas Hytner at The Bridge. Performances are from 16 March – 18 June 2022 with opening night on 23 March 2022. Designs are by Bob Crowley. Straight Line Crazy reunites Fiennes, Hare and Hytner who previously collaborated on Beat the Devil at The Bridge in Autumn 2020. Further casting will be announced at a later date as well as further members of the production team. Priority booking for Straight Line Crazy opens today at 10am, with public booking opening at 10am on 12 October 2021.
Ralph Fiennes stars in David Hare’s blazing account of the life of a man whose iron will exposed the weakness of democracy in the face of charismatic conviction. For forty uninterrupted years, Robert Moses was the most powerful man in New York. Though never elected to office, he manipulated those who were through a mix of guile, charm and intimidation. Motivated at first by a determination to improve the lives of New York City’s workers, he created new parks, new bridges and 627 miles of expressway to connect the people to the great outdoors. But in the 1950s, groups of citizens at grass roots began to organize against his schemes and against the motor car, campaigning for a very different idea of what a city was and for what it should be.
Ralph Fiennes has enjoyed an extensive career in theatre, film and television as well as producing and directing film. He was last on stage at The Bridge in David Hare’s Beat the Devil, directed by Nicholas Hytner, and recently toured in The Four Quartets which has a London run from 18 November 2021. Fiennes was previously directed by Hytner as Edmund in King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His many other theatre credits include Hamlet, Ivanov, Richard II and Coriolanus for the Almeida, Antony and Cleopatra, The Master Builder, God of Carnage and Faith Healer. His many film credits include Schindler’s List, The English Patient, The Constant Gardener, The Grand Budapest Hotel and the roles of Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films and M in Skyfall and Spectre. He has also directed three feature films – Coriolanus, The Invisible Woman and The White Crow. Fiennes’ forthcoming films include The King’s Man, The Dig, The Forgiven and No Time To Die.
David Hare is one of the UK’s most prolific and acclaimed writers having written extensively for stage, television and film. He is the author of over 30 full length plays, his first, Slag, was produced in 1970. Hare is the winner of multiple international awards including a BAFTA for Licking Hitler, an Olivier award and a Critics’ Circle award for Racing Demon, an Evening Standard Drama award for Pravda and a Tony award for Skylight. He is also a two-time Academy award nominee for The Hours and The Reader and was knighted in 1998.
For the Bridge Theatre Nicholas Hytner has directed Young Marx, Julius Caesar, Allelujah!, Alys, Always, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,Two Ladies, Beat the Devil, The Shrine, Bed Among the Lentils, A Christmas Carol and Bach & Sons. In December he will direct Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage in a new stage adaptation by Bryony Lavery also at The Bridge. Previously he was Director of the National Theatre from 2003 to 2015.
CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR
PHILIP PULLMAN’S
T H E B O O K O F D U S T – L A B E L L E S A U V A G E
IN A NEW STAGE ADAPTATION BY BRYONY LAVERY
Casting is announced for Nicholas Hytner’s production of Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage to run at The Bridge in a new stage adaptation by Bryony Lavery. Taking place twelve years before Pullman’s epic His Dark Materials trilogy, performances are from 2 December 2021 – 19 February 2022 with opening night on 14 December 2021.
The cast comprises 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.
Co-Directors are Emily Burns and James Cousins with designs by Bob Crowley, puppetry 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.
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.
Julie Atherton’s theatre credits include The Grinning Man for Trafalgar Studios, Therese Raquin for Park and Finborough Theatres, Avenue Q at the Noel Coward Theatre, Mamma Mia! at the Prince Edward, Cinderella at the Lyric Hammersmith, Sister Act on National Tour, The Last Five Years at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Ordinary Days for Trafalgar Studios. Her television credits include Embankment, Doctors, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Sound of Music Live and Otherworld and film credits include The Amazing Maurice.
Holly Atkins’s theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, and Helen at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Ballad Of Crazy Paola at the Arcola, Scarborough at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Royal Court and Summer Begins at Southwark Playhouse. Her television credits include Home, King Gary, This Country, In The Long Run, Witless, Call The Midwife, Wallander, Criminal Justice, The Sarah Jane Adventures, City Lights, Where the Heart is, Casualty, The Project, Kiss Me Kate and EastEnders.
Wendy Mae Brown’s theatre credits include To Kill a Mockingbird for Theatr Clwyd, The Lorax for The Old Vic, White Christmas for Curve Theatre, Leicester, Kiss Me Kate for The Old Vic and Chichester Festival Theatre, Ghost The Musical on the UK Tour and Australian Tour and South Pacific for Kilworth House. Her television credits include River, Man Down, 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Porters, 40 North and Casualty.Her film credits include Last Chance Harvey and Blackbeard the Pirate.
Pip Carter’s credits for the National Theatre include Consent, Platonov (also for Chichester Festival Theatre), The Cherry Orchard, The White Guard, Gethsemane, Never So Good and Present Laughter. Carter’s other theatre credits include Mood Music for The Old Vic, The Dark Earth and The Light Sky for the Almeida Theatre, Posh for the Royal Court and Duke of York’s Theatre, Tiger Country for Hampstead Theatre and Joseph K for the Gate Theatre. His television credits include The Irregulars, Industry, The Crown, New Worlds, Fleming and Henry IV. His film credits include 1917, Denial, Spectre, The Eagle and Robin Hood.
Samuel Creasey graduated from ArtsEd in 2020 and is making his professional stage debut. His television credits include Inside Man.
Ayesha Dharker’s theatre credits include Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello and Arabian Nights for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Pericles and Ramayana for the National theatre, When the Crows Visit and White Teeth for the Kiln, Richard II for the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, The Island Nation for the Arcola Theatre, Anita and Me for Birmingham Rep and Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Dijnns of Eidgah and Disconnect for the Royal Court. On film her credits include The Father, Star Wars, Attack of the Clones, The Terrorist, Outsourced and Anita and Me. On television her credits include Holby City, Doctor Who, Indian Doctor and Coronation Street.
Ella Dacres graduated from the National Youth Theatre’s Rep Company in 2020 and is making her professional stage debut.
Heather Forster graduated from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2019 and is making her professional stage debut. Her TV credits include Call The Midwife, Casualty and Doctors and she is set to appear in the upcoming film The Colour Room.
Naomi Frederick’s award-winning theatre credits are Time and the Conways for the Royal Exchange Theatre, Measure for Measure at the National Theatre and Three Sisters for the Theatre Royal Bath and on tour. Her other theatre credits include Agnes Colanderfor the Theatre Royal Bath and Jermyn Street Theatre, White Teeth for the Kiln Theatre, The Mentor and Hobson’s Choice for the Theatre Royal Bath and in the West End, As You Like It and The Heresy of Love both for Shakespeare’s Globe, Made in Dagenham at the Adelphi Theatre, Kneehigh’s Brief Encounter at Birmingham Rep and in the West End, Emil and The Detectives, Henry IV and Mrs Affleck all for the National Theatre, The Winslow Boy for the Old Vic and The Tamer Tamed and As You Like It both for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her television credits include Belgravia, EastEnders, Inspector George Gently, Casualty and Foyles War. On film her credits are Father Christmas Is Back, The Aftermath and The Children’s Act.
Richard James-Neale is an actor, director and movement director. He is also a practitioner for Frantic Assembly. His theatre credits include King Lear in the US on tour, Wings for the Young Vic, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Shakespeare’s Globe, Watership Down for the Watermill Theatre, Peter Pan for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Othello for Frantic Assembly, Emil and the Detectives for the National Theatre and Pygmalion for the Old Vic. Feature films include The Batman and The Legend of Tarzan.
John Light’s more recent theatre credits include Uncle Vanya at the Theatre Royal Bath, Mary Stuart at the Duke of York’s Theatre, The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Shakespeare’s Globe, Three Days in the Country for the National Theatre, The Blackest Black for Hampstead Theatre, Julius Caesar for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Luise Miller for the Donmar Warehouse and The Master Builder at the Almeida Theatre. On film his credits include Albert Nobbs, Scoop, Partition, Heights, The Lion in Winter and The Ascension. On television his credits include Around the World in 80 Days, Agatha Raisin, Mars, Maigret, Silk and Father Brown.
Dearbhla Molloy’s more recent theatre credits include Uncle Vanya at the Harold Pinter Theatre, The Ferryman at the Royal Court, Gielgud and on Broadway, Moment for the Studio Theatre Washington, Afterplay and Give Me Your Hand for the Irish Repertory Theatre NYC, Richard III for the Almeida Theatre, Much Ado at the Guthrie Theatre Minneapolis, Outside Mullingar at Manhattan Theatre Club, Trojan Women at the Gate Theatre and And No More Shall We Part at Hampstead Theatre. Previously she also was seen in Dancing at Lughnasa and A Touch of the Poet on Broadway, and Cripple of Inishmaan directed by Nicholas Hytner. Film credits include Wild Mountain Thyme, No Reservations, Home for Christmas and The Damned United. Television credits include Women on the Verge, Acceptable Risk, Scandal, Family Tree and Wallender.
Tomi Ogbaro’s theatre credits include Ruff Tuff for Cardboard Theatre, Seagulls for Octagon Theatre, An Act of Care for York Theatre Royal, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Sweet Charity for Watermill Theatre. On television he has been seen in Temple and on film in Dao Hides, No Name and Three Trapped Mice.
Sid Sagar‘s theatre credits include The Invisible Hand at Kiln Theatre, The Starry Messenger at the Wyndham’s Theatre and Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre. His television credits include Anatomy of a Scandal and Trying and film credits include Cruella and Dolittle. As a writer, he is currently part of the London Library Emerging Writers Programme and his first short film is in development with BFI NETWORK.
Nick Sampson’s theatre credits include Anthony and Cleopatra, Great Britain, Othello, The Captain of Kopenick, Timon of Athens, Collaborators, Hamlet, London Assurance, Dark Materials, Cyrano De Bergerac all for the National Theatre, Plenty for Chichester Festival Theatre, Julius Caesar for the Bridge Theatre, Ross for Chichester Theatre, The Gathered Leaves for The Park Theatre and King Charles III and Romance for the Almeida Theatre. His television credits include The Sister Boniface Mysteries, Belgravia, Catastrophe, Doc Martin, Witness for the Prosecution and Genius. On film his credits include Lost City of Z, An Education, Siam Sunset and Madness of King George.
Sky Yang graduated from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2020 and is making his professional stage debut. His television credits include Holding and Halo. His film credits include Touchdown and Tomb Raider.
La Belle Sauvage was published in 2017 and was followed by The Secret Commonwealth in 2019. His Dark Materials, a ground-breaking production sixteen years ago directed by Hytner at the National Theatre, was also adapted for broadcast on BBC One in 2019 with the second series in 2020. Philip Pullman was knighted in 2019 for his services to literature.
For the stage Bryony Lavery’s work includes the internationally critically acclaimed Frozen as well as Stockholm, Kursk, Dirt and Beautiful Burnout. Last year her adaptation of David Walliams’ The Midnight Gang was presented at Chichester Festival Theatre where her previous adaptations The Hundred and One Dalmatians and A Christmas Carol were also seen. The London premiere of her play Last Easter opened at the Orange Tree Theatre in July.
Please see above for Nicholas Hytner.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Address: Bridge Theatre, 3 Potters Fields Park, London, SE1 2SG
Ava Gardner comes to Riverside Studios in world premiere of a new play by Elizabeth McGovern Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline St, Hammersmith, London W6 9BN 14th January – 16th April 2022
Opening in January 2022, AVA: The Secret Conversations is a spellbinding new play from Elizabeth McGovern based on the book by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner. Produced by Karl Sydow, the production will star Elizabeth McGovern, with design by 59 Productions.
Oscar nominated Ava Gardner was one of Hollywood’s greatest stars during the 1940s and 1950s, co-starring with legends such as Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster and Humphrey Bogart. But Ava’s film career was sometimes overshadowed by her three marriages to: Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra.
AVA: The Secret Conversations follows Ava’s collaboration with writer Peter Evans for her biography; throughout the process Evans struggled to elicit material from his often elusive and moody subject and, in the end, learned things about Ava he never expected. The book based on Evans’ notes, drafts and recordings was finally published in 2013, the year after his death.
Ava Gardner – The Secret Conversations is the stunning story of a legendary star’s public and private lives. Part fact, part fiction, the play assumes the time Ava and Evans spent together collaborating while she was living in London, flashing back to various moments throughout her career and introducing audiences to the men in her life
Elizabeth McGovern comments, I was drawn to The Secret Conversations to begin with by my fascination with Ava Gardner. There is something in her character that goes beyond physical beauty: an unselfconscious combination of humour, intelligence, warmth and humility that the camera was able to capture and we can still enjoy today. But also, the conversations were mostly unadulterated, and , without coming to any pat conclusions, reveal the price she paid forfame, the toll it took on her life. I wanted to explore this for selfish reasons. I feel qualified to draw from my own experience in order to explore the subject.
