Friday, October 18

NEWS

The Da Vinci Code to make World Premiere on stage in 2021
NEWS

The Da Vinci Code to make World Premiere on stage in 2021

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s blockbuster novel that captivated the world, is to become an epic stage thriller. It will make its World Premiere on a UK Tour in 2021, opening at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley on Saturday 3rd April 2021, and touring throughout the year. The curator of the Louvre has been brutally murdered, and alongside his body are a series of baffling codes. Follow the pulse-racing journey as Professor Robert Langdon and fellow cryptologist Sophie Neveu attempt to solve the riddles, leading to the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and beyond, deep into the vault of history. In a breathless race through the streets of Europe, Langdon and Neveu must decipher the labyrinthine code before a shocking historical secret is lost forever. Based on the best-selling novel of...
Hope Mill Theatre announces online ‘An Evening With Jonathan Harvey’ plus new playwriting prize
NEWS

Hope Mill Theatre announces online ‘An Evening With Jonathan Harvey’ plus new playwriting prize

Hope Mill Theatre will host an online evening on Saturday 18th July, celebrating the many works of the well-loved writer Jonathan Harvey (Gimme,Gimme,Gimme/ Coronation Street). An Evening With Jonathan Harvey will include an interview with Harvey, hosted by Hope Mill Patron Denise Welch and will feature scenes from his past plays including Beautiful Thing, Hushabye Mountain and The Cherry Blossom Tree as well as songs from musicals that Harvey has written the book for including Dusty: The Dusty Springfield Musical and the Pet Shop Boys musical Musik. The cast performing includes; Katherine Kingsley, Frances Barber, Emma Clarke, Gemma Brodrick, Claire-Louise Cordwell, Joshua Asare, Rose Keegan and Danny Lee Wynter. The evening will also include guest hosts who have starred and...
Hairspray to play rescheduled 2021 season dates at the London Coliseum
NEWS

Hairspray to play rescheduled 2021 season dates at the London Coliseum

The producers of Hairspray the Musical have announced today rescheduled performance dates for the multi award-winning smash hit musical at the London Coliseum. The production will now begin performances on Thursday 22nd April 2021 and play a strictly limited 19-week season to Sunday 29th August. Until 26th July 2020, all existing ticket holders have priority to move their tickets to a new date. All new ticket purchases can be made from 10am on 27th July. See www.hairspraythemusical.co.uk for all ticket information. The production will star Michael Ball, who returns to his legendary, Olivier Award winning role of Edna Turnblad, alongside one of the UK’s greatest comedians, Paul Merton, who will be making his West End musical debut as Edna’s husband, Wi...
Over 50% of charity-run small theatres could fail in the next 3 months without government support
NEWS

Over 50% of charity-run small theatres could fail in the next 3 months without government support

Due to the Covid-19 crisis and temporary closures of theatres, 57% of small theatres in the UK could fail without government support. Theatres Trust warns that as many as 136 small local theatre operators could go into administration in the next three months. In response, Theatres Trust has announced a package of additional support for small theatres to help them survive the impact of Covid-19. At this critical moment, the national public advisory body for theatres is increasing its support for these smaller theatres including: • Taking on an additional adviser to help small theatres with business planning, budgeting and cashflow, fundraising and essential building maintenance. • Creating a new Theatres Trust Skills Bank to match theatres with experts willing to offer pro bono adv...
M6 Theatre Company to Stream Love in the Time of Corona Monologue Series
NEWS

M6 Theatre Company to Stream Love in the Time of Corona Monologue Series

M6 Theatre Company will be streaming ten brand new monologues from Friday 26th June, written for young audiences in response to the coronavirus pandemic. From almost 500 entries, these new works have been produced following an online competition, open to writers of any experience. The challenge was to create a short piece of drama, up to 10 minutes long, telling stories of love and life in lockdown.  Gilly Baskeyfield, Artistic Director of M6 Theatre Company said: “Since many of our building-based projects have temporarily been put on hold, we’ve been hard at work creating new ways to serve our communities and audiences. We embarked on the Love in the Time of Corona project in order to unlock powerful stories during this time of isolation. Choosing our winners wasn’t an easy tas...
Beats & Elements & Camden People’s Theatre release their hip hop theatre production No Milk for the Foxes
NEWS

Beats & Elements & Camden People’s Theatre release their hip hop theatre production No Milk for the Foxes

Beats & Elements and Camden People's Theatre’s 2015 production of No Milk for the Foxes is released online from Tuesday, 16th June. The original production explored David Cameron's England from a working-class perspective through spoken word, beatboxing and live looping. It revolves around Marx, a white working-class male from Croydon, and Anglo-Indian Spaxx from Mitcham. They are two security guards on a one-night shift surviving on zero hours contracts. The piece poses the question - is it important to aspire to a higher station or better just to accept your lot? As the television monitors buzz in front of them, two friends pass the night shift debating status, class, and milk. Marx is keeping his head down, working hard and praying his contract will be extended. He i...
English Touring Opera prepare for the return of live performances this Autumn
NEWS

English Touring Opera prepare for the return of live performances this Autumn

English Touring Opera are working to produce a live season of lyric theatre this Autumn, touring in October and November. This programme is being designed to observe social distancing guidelines, in the interest of the safety of our artists and audience. For this reason, English Touring Opera have had to put aside for the moment the ambitious season of three twentieth century British operas (The Turn of the Screw, The Knot Garden and Greek) which the company was scheduled to produce this Autumn. Instead it hopes to create a series of lyric monodramas, made of 20th century operas and song cycles composed for solo singer and accompanist by composers such as Dominick Argento, Benjamin Britten, Francis Poulenc, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Michael Tippett. The company hopes to be able to bring ...
The new production of Martin McDonagh’s THE PILLOWMAN is delayed
NEWS

The new production of Martin McDonagh’s THE PILLOWMAN is delayed

The Pillowman, written by the multi Olivier, BAFTA and Academy Award-winning playwright and screen-writer Martin McDonagh, which was due to make it West End premiere this Summer, is to be delayed. The Pillowman was due to begin performances at the Duke of York’s Theatre on Friday 24th July, for a 12-week season. Due to the current global situation, the production is now postponed, and new season details and all further information will be announced at a later date. Ticket holders do not need to do anything, the point of purchase will be in touch with ticket holders soon. McDonagh and director Matthew Dunster said: “Whilst we are naturally disappointed that The Pillowman can’t go ahead this Summer, we are fully committed to realising this new production in the near future. We h...
Marisha Wallace releases glorious gospel rendition of ‘Tomorrow’ in aid of Broadway Cares and MAD Trust
NEWS

Marisha Wallace releases glorious gospel rendition of ‘Tomorrow’ in aid of Broadway Cares and MAD Trust

Marisha Wallace releases glorious gospel rendition of ‘Tomorrow’ in aid of Broadway Cares and MAD Trust Stage stars Lea Salonga, Katharine McPhee, Beverley Knight and Kerry Ellis – and many others – join Marisha in uplifting video performance of the song West End and Broadway star Marisha Wallace (Dreamgirls, Waitress, Aladdin) has released a glorious and soulful cover of the timeless ‘Tomorrow’ from the musical Annie in aid of the vital work of Broadway Cares and MAD Trust. 450100% of the funds raised from the purchase and streaming of the new single will be donated to both organisations to help theatre professionals in the US and UK who have been left out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time Broadway Cares and MAD (Make A Difference) Trust has eve...
Hope Mill Theatre announces rescheduled dates for revival of RENT
NEWS

Hope Mill Theatre announces rescheduled dates for revival of RENT

Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester has announced rescheduled dates for its production of RENT, plus full creative team. Due to the current Coronavirus outbreak, the venue has been closed since 17th March and has had to cancel or postpone all scheduled productions until further notice. RENT, directed by Luke Sheppard, was due to open in July, with rehearsals beginning in June, however the musical will now open on Friday 30th October and run until Sunday 13th December 2020. https://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/ The venue has taken the decision to reschedule the run of RENT should they be able to open later this year, which they hope to be able to do. All audience members who have already booked for the run of RENT have been contacted about exchanging tickets and refunds. Hope Mill T...