Leeds Playhouse announce Autumn/Winter season

Leeds Playhouse have announced their Autumn-Winter season including Wendy & Peter Pan as their blockbuster festive show.

Families will be taken on an unforgettable trip to Neverland from 18th November to 22nd January as the cast fly around Ella Hickon’s adaptation of the J M Barrie classic retelling the story from the unique viewpoint of Wendy Darling.

This year’s Leeds West Indian Carnival has been cancelled because of the pandemic, but the King & Queen event is still taking place on 27th August, and for the first time the Prince & Princess is staged a week before. Both shows will be a celebration of emancipation set to sweet sounds of the socabeats and steelpans as the carnival chronicles its 54-year history.

Freedom Project from 10th – 18th September melds lived experience with creative theatre-making as refugees Mo and Hossein share stories – both personal and global – that explore the very different journeys taken by unaccompanied minors as they leave their home countries in search of sanctuary.

Oliver Twist was a victim of the pandemic last year but now a filmed version is to be released via Playhouse At Home from 25th October to 21st November for audiences to enjoy online.  

Made in association with Ramps On The Moon this often brutal version of Dickens’ classic was adapted by award-winning playwright Bryony Lavery and directed by Leeds Playhouse Associate Director Amy Leach. Oliver Twist features the use of creative integrated sign language, audio description and captioning.  

imitating the dog are back with Dracula: The Untold Story from 25th September to 9th October transporting audiences to New Year’s Eve, 1963 as a young woman enters Marylebone Police Station and confesses to a brutal murder. She claims to be Mina Harker, the last living survivor of the intrepid group that witnessed Count Dracula’s destruction some 65 years before. Unfolding on stage as a live graphic novel, this new version of the classic gothic vampire tale is a co-production with the Playhouse.

Jitney is a co-production with Headlong brings August Wilson’s modern classic to West Yorkshire from 16th October to 6th November. When regular cabs won’t travel to the Pittsburgh Hill District in 1977, local residents turn to the unlicensed taxi company of Jim Becker and his fellow ‘jitney’ drivers. Jitney explores the fragile bond between eight men, as they live, love and work in a racially segregated, post-Vietnam America.

Red Ladder’s My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored opens with 15-year-old Reece being roughly accosted by police outside M&S. His young, Black teacher Gillian witnesses it all but doesn’t question or intervene as the disturbing scene plays out. The consequences of her lack of action erupt the following day when Gillian finds herself locked in a classroom with her angry student.

Northern Ballet offer David Nixon’s Dangerous Liaisons from 2nd to 11th September as a story of sexual power, cruelty and deceit in 18th century France set to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia.

12 Last Songs from 22nd – 23rd October is the world premiere of a new durational work by Quarantine, co-produced by Transform, about work – the things that we do to make a living and to make a life. There are no actors – it’s a live exhibition of people, an epic carnival of graft.  

Phosphoros Theatre presents new play All The Beds I have Slept In on 16th November where a company of refugee performers explore their precarious existence and the kindness of strangers as they sought asylum in the UK.

Phoenix Dance Theatre mark their 40th birthday with a special anniversary gala on 3 December featuring the debut of a new collaborative work by company founder David Hamilton and Artistic Director Dane Hurst. Audiences can expect special guest performances from celebrated and award-winning companies from around the UK.

The Playhouse are extending discounts to support Leeds City Council’s Leeds Says Thanks campaign as a special thankyou to NHS and front-line key workers for their efforts during COVID-19, subject to availability.

Tickets are on general sale NOW! https://leedsplayhouse.org.uk/

Tickets for Leeds West Indian Carnival, 12 Last Songs and Phoenix Dance 40th Celebration Gala on sale soon.