Thursday, April 18

NEWS

Casting announced for Decades: Stories from the city at Leeds Playhouse
NEWS

Casting announced for Decades: Stories from the city at Leeds Playhouse

Leeds Playhouse has announced the six actors who will perform in their Decades: Stories from the city season as they reopen their doors for their 50th anniversary celebrations.    They will perform short monologues by a heavyweight group of writers including Poet Laureate Simon Armitage who will be joined by Leanna Benjamin, Kamal Kaan, Alice Nutter, Maxine Peake and Stan Owens.  All the writers have strong connections to the Playhouse, so have each taken a particular decade from across the Playhouse’s lifespan covering the 1970s to the 2020s tracing the city’s changes over that time.  Isobel Coward will star in Alice Nutter’s Nicer Than Orange Squash, Eva Scott is in Maxine Peake’s Don’t You Know It’s Going To Be Alright and Cassie Layton performs Kamal ...
Boney M, Russell Watson, Katrina And The Waves And 5 Star Headline Hale Barns Carnival 2021
NEWS

Boney M, Russell Watson, Katrina And The Waves And 5 Star Headline Hale Barns Carnival 2021

Hale Barns Carnival returns for 2021 – and the hugely popular festival is bigger than ever with a brilliant line-up over three unmissable nights. When it was staged in 2019 the festival raised more than £100,000 for the local community. This year’s event takes place across the weekend of Friday 16 July, Saturday 17 July and Sunday 18 July 2021 – with demand for tickets meaning the live music has been extended to three evenings for the first time. Organisers are delighted to announce the headline live acts performing at Hale Barns Carnival 2021 are disco legends Boney M – featuring Maizie Williams, opera vocalist Russell Watson, and 80s favourites Katrina and the Waves and 5 Star featuring Denise Pearson. And as another new addition for 2021 a preview party concert at the Garri...
NEWS

Northern Chamber Orchestra return to the live stage to close its 2020-21 season

The Northern Chamber Orchestra will be joined by cellist and baritone Matthew Sharp to play works by Tchaikovsky and Mozart on Saturday 22nd May (5.30pm and 8.00pm) Matthew Sharp an award-winning, internationally recognised cellist, baritone, director, recording artist and educator. He is the NCO’s Artist in Association and has previously performed with Opera North, Manchester Camerata, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert includes Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme and Mozart’s Madamina from Don Giovanni, and socially distanced tickets for the concerts, along with online streaming passes, are available now from www.ncorch.co.uk.  Matthew has worked with cultural leaders across music and the arts: in classical music, Sir John Tavener, Errollyn Wallen CBE; i...
Les Dennis joins the huge-hearted Hairspray at the London Coliseum
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Les Dennis joins the huge-hearted Hairspray at the London Coliseum

Entertainment legend Les Dennis is to join the huge-hearted new production of Hairspray the Musical which is set to play a limited season at the magnificent London Coliseum from Monday 21st June – Wednesday 29th September 2021. As a comedian, impressionist, game show host, reality TV star, soap, screen and stage actor, Les Dennis’ showbiz career has spanned 50 years. Now, he is to return to the West End in the multi-award-winning smash hit musical as Wilbur Turnblad having previously performed the role on tour. He stars alongside Michael Ball, who returns to his legendary, Olivier Award-winning role of Edna Turnblad. Les replaces Paul Merton in the role of Wilbur. Following the delay to the production because of the pandemic, Paul is unfortunately not able to join the company due to...
Celebrity chef James Martin is hitting the road with a brand-new tour for 2022
NEWS

Celebrity chef James Martin is hitting the road with a brand-new tour for 2022

James Martin Live will visit 18 towns and cities across the UK including a entertaining audiences with live demonstrations, cooking tasks and featuring some very special guests. And the exciting and fast-moving show includes a date at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on Sunday March 20th 2022. Tickets go on sale at 10am Friday May 7th from www.ticketmaster.co.uk   James has been entertaining and educating the nation for almost three decades with his expert culinary skills both on screen and through his best-selling cookbooks. Following the phenomenal success of his previous tours, with James Martin Live audiences can expect to be dazzled as James rustles up mouth-watering dishes with complimentary courses of fun and laughter in this exclusive gastronomic experience. And h...
David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People gets its stage premiere
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David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People gets its stage premiere

David Greig’s new play Adventures with the Painted People which started life as a radio play makes its stage debut at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. It was first commissioned as part of Pitlochry’s cancelled 2020 season and subsequently became a radio play on BBC Radio 3. Now it’s set to have its world stage première from 10th June to 4th July in the theatre’s outdoor amphitheatre as part of their Summer Season. Greig’s first new play since 2013’s The Events will be directed by Pitlochry’s Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman, and is a love story exploring the value of history and the power of writing.   Lucius is a cultured Roman officer captured by the Picts and about to be sacrificed. Eithne is a wise Pictish woman, who wants to record her people's history in writing - a skill...
Manchester all-female play ‘Meet Me at Dawn’ among the first in country to re-open theatres
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Manchester all-female play ‘Meet Me at Dawn’ among the first in country to re-open theatres

One of the first plays in England to take to the stage after lockdown will be at a much-loved Manchester theatre. HER Productions is bringing all-female play ‘Meet Me at Dawn’ to Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester, from May 25th – 29th, after seven months of closure. The Covid-compliant show stars local actors Helen O’Hara and Susan Jayne Robinson, who play a couple who wash up on a distant shore after a boating accident. The 80-minute show, full of fantasy and plot twists, will also be live streamed on May 26th for those unable to attend in person. HER Productions was set up in 2019 by Manchester-based actor Hannah Ellis-Ryan, best known for her role as Coronation Street baddie Hannah Gilmore, who pretended to be Liz McDonald’s dead daughter in the controversial storyline in 2018....
Matilda The Musical returns to Cambridge Theatre from 16th September
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Matilda The Musical returns to Cambridge Theatre from 16th September

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s West End production of Matilda The Musical has announced that it will return to the Cambridge Theatre from 16th September 2021. Seen by more than 10 million people across more than 90 cities worldwide, this autumn marks 10 years since the multi-award-winning show opened in the West End. Matilda The Musical is now booking through to 13th February 2022. For further information visit www.matildathemusical.com   Catherine Mallyon, RSC Executive Director said: “It is fantastic to see London’s West End re-opening and for our company, freelance colleagues, and creative team to be back at the Cambridge Theatre, preparing for performances in the autumn. We all know how challenging the past year has been, and that makes this moment even more special and impor...
Treat for Spice Girls fans – Viva 4 Ever at DriveINSIDE Theatre
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Treat for Spice Girls fans – Viva 4 Ever at DriveINSIDE Theatre

We’ll tell you what the producers of hit touring concert show Viva 4 Ever want, what they really, really want. . . to thoroughly celebrate that the country appears to be well on the way along the Government’s Roadmap to Recovery. The Spice Girls tribute show will be rocking the DriveINSIDE Theatre at the Trafford Centre, Manchester, on Monday, May 24th. That is practically two years to the day since Scary, Baby, Sporty and Ginger Spice thrilled 450,000 Spice Girls fans over three days at the Etihad Stadium on their Spice World tour. The brand-new theatre at the Trafford Centre is the world’s first drive inside venue. Viva 4 Ever producer Adam Curtis says that concert show fans will be able to park up in their cars in the arena to safely enjoy the spectacle from their own private, so...
The Addams Family invite you to dinner across the UK & Ireland
NEWS

The Addams Family invite you to dinner across the UK & Ireland

Following the UK Government shutdown of theatres in March 2020, the producers of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, A Musical Comedy, have rescheduled the new UK & Ireland Tour to dates in 2021.  The Tour will now open in Woking at New Victoria Theatre on 17th August 2021. Samantha Womack and Cameron Blakely will revive their much loved roles as Morticia and Gomez Addams, based on the characters created by Charles Addams.  Kingsley Morton will play Wednesday Addams, Grant McIntyre Pugsley Addams, Valda Aviks Grandma, Sean Kingsley Mal Beineke and Kara Lane Alice Beineke.  Also in the cast will be Abigail Brodie, Sophie Hutchinson, Luke Byrne, Matthew Ives and Sean Lopeman.  Further casting is to be announced. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up ...