Tuesday, December 16

NEWS

The Sh*t hits the stage at Leeds Playhouse
NEWS

The Sh*t hits the stage at Leeds Playhouse

The Sh*t which premieres at Leeds Playhouse in March asks what happens when you have just one hour a week to save a life? This new two hander takes us into one of the thousands of forgotten youth centres across the country, where Eric has a single hour each week to break Daniel out of his spiral towards jail or the grave. Created by The Working Party Theatre Company, and produced by Matthew Schmolle Productions, it’s an honest, unflinching examination of the relationship between those at the margins of society and the people employed to help them. The Sh*t is written by BAFTA-nominated writer Kenny Emson in consultation with youth workers and young people in London and Leeds. The artists and producers in The Working Party, who originally commissioned the play have worked with m...
World premiere of Marvellous at New Vic Theatre
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World premiere of Marvellous at New Vic Theatre

Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre will stage the world premiere of Marvellous telling the almost unbelievable story of Stoke City FC kit man, clown and all-round local hero, Neil ‘Nello’ Baldwin. It is a wild ride through Baldwin’s colourful life filled with football stars, comedians, bishops, circus acts, budgies and even the Queen who awarded him a B.E.M. From the moment he was born, Baldwin knew he was destined to do wonderful things and so that is what he did. He joined a church choir then appeared on Songs of Praise, he hitchhiked across the country then became a famous clown, he went to see his local football team then became their kit man and this was a man who left school at 14 with no qualifications then received an honorary degree from Keele University. Credit: Andrew Bill...
Charlie Bucket comes to Leeds Playhouse this Christmas
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Charlie Bucket comes to Leeds Playhouse this Christmas

Over the last few years Leeds Playhouse have staged on a series of family festive extravaganzas and this year they’re staging the musical version of the beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Their reinvention of the West End and Broadway hit will be directed by their Artistic Director James Brining, adapted from Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel by David Greig, with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Generations of fans have loved the magical tale as young golden ticket winner Charlie Bucket ventures into a strange factor run by eccentric confectionary wizard Willy Wonka with five other winners for a wild ride through the imagination “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is such a special story, loved by generations of children and their parent...
Mikron Theatre Company announce productions for 50th anniversary
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Mikron Theatre Company announce productions for 50th anniversary

Mikron Theatre Company announce productions for 50th anniversary tour Mikron Theatre’s four strong cast will take two plays via the company’s narrowboat and van to 130 venues to celebrate their 50th anniversary. One play is the premiere of Red Sky at Night which is Lindsay Rodden’s new play about the nation's obsession with the wild and wonderful world of weather. The other revisits their successful 2015 production of Maeve Larkin’s play about the Women’s Institute, Raising Agents. Mikron are based in the village of Marsden at the foot of the Yorkshire Pennines, and over the last 50 years have played to nearly half a million people as they toured 66 productions on board their vintage narrowboat spending over 34,000 boating hours on the inland waterways.  ...
1974 Productions return to Hope Mill
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1974 Productions return to Hope Mill

Following their success with the 2019 tour of Ian Townsend’s multi award winning play All The Bens (sold out dates, Greater Manchester Fringe Award for Best Drama, Nominated for Best Actor, Best Revival and Oldham Coliseum Pick of the Fringe), 1974 Productions are proud to present Ian’s new full-length play My Favourite Place In The Whole Wide World. Longlisted for the 2019 Bruntwood/Royal Exchange International Playwriting Competition, this beautiful new play tells the story of Ruth (Claire Eden) and J (Ben Kenzie), two people in search of love and purpose in a world of confusion and loss. We watch Ruth and J grow from children to adults and see how they’ve been influenced by events and circumstances. Shot through with humour, My Favourite Place In The Whole Wide World is an engagin...
Birmingham Rep Announce Free Open Day
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Birmingham Rep Announce Free Open Day

Birmingham Rep are offering members of the public a chance to take a peek behind the scenes at the city’s only premiere producing theatre with a free Open Day on Saturday 26th February. The full day of activities for all the family will take members of the public behind the scenes of Birmingham’s famous theatre, the only large-scale theatre in the city that builds all of its own productions on site from scratch, including huge sets and beautiful costumes. From 10am-4pm, families can enjoy backstage tours, workshops, performances, technical demonstrations, heritage talks plus the chance to purchase incredible garments in The Rep’s costume sale. Artistic Director, Sean Foley and Executive Director, Rachael Thomas said; “We are thrilled to be throwing open our doors and inviting the ...
Casting announced for new version of Kes at Bolton Octagon and Theatre by the Lake
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Casting announced for new version of Kes at Bolton Octagon and Theatre by the Lake

Casting has been announced for a new version of Barry Hines’ northern classic Kes co-produced by Bolton’s Octagon Theatre and Theatre by the Lake in Keswick. It’s set in a 1960s working-class Yorkshire mining town depicting the struggles of 15-year-old Billy Casper. Bullied and neglected, life isn’t easy for Billy, but when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk who he cares for and trains, it gives Billy a passion and freedom that has been missing in his life. This stage version is adapted by Robert Alan Evans, and will be directed by award-winning theatre director and one of The Stage’s 25 Theatremakers to watch in 2022, Atri Banerjee.   A trio of performers will star in this poignant coming of age story with Jake Dunn will make his professional stage debut playing the role of troubl...
Greatest second world war escape plan comes to the stage
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Greatest second world war escape plan comes to the stage

In 1944 76 allied prisoners of war escaped from Stalag Luft III and new play Tom, Dick and Harry tells their remarkable story. Tom, Dick and Harry were the codenames for three tunnels dug by the prisoners from many different nations deep under the camp’s barbed wire fence that were designed to support their mass escape. Newcastle-under-Lyme's New Vic Theatre and Kenny Wax Ltd are producing an original script co-written by Andrew Pollard, Michael Hugo and Theresa Heskins inspired by top secret information that was classified in the war archives until 1972. They will be debunking the myths while honouring the people who engineered the tunnels and their unrelenting resistance to their Nazi captors. “We’ll tell it as a really dynamic, vibrant piece of theatre that celebrates th...
Rent comes to Yorkshire
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Rent comes to Yorkshire

With the biopic of Jonathan Larson’s life tick, tick…BOOM! winning huge critical acclaim it’s just the right moment for his Tony winning masterpiece Rent to head out for a short tour of Yorkshire. Bite My Thumb are based in the white rose county and following their tour of Little Shop of Horrors are now tackling Larson’s emotional tale of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive at the end of the millennium in New York’s rundown East Village. Full of classic songs the show ran for 12 years on Broadway as the idealistic bohemians fell in love, found their voice and lived for today as the AIDS crisis raged around them. “We won’t be playing with the staging too much this time,” says director Nathan Winn, “Rent is about the music, the passion and the beautifully raw...
Northern Ballet announce 10 city autumn tour
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Northern Ballet announce 10 city autumn tour

Northern Ballet have announced a 10 city autumn tour will visit 10 cities revising The Little Mermaid and The Nutcracker, plus a première of new work Three Short Ballets 2022.   The season will open with performances of Three Short Ballets 2022 at Leeds Playhouse featuring three world premières by choreographers Dickson Mbi, Stina Quagebeur and Mthuthuzeli November. This new work will also be performed at the Linbury Theatre in London in October / November. Throughout September and October, The Little Mermaid will tour to Sheffield, Belfast, Southampton and Newcastle. This timeless classic fairy tale was David Nixon's last full-length work for the Company before announcing his retirement as Artistic Director in 2020. Photo: Emma Kauldhar It’s set to a Celtic-inspired score...