Search Results for: theatre503

Preview of new touring theatre in 2019

Features, Touring
Educating Rita UK Tour 2020

Mark Ludmon takes a look at some of the great shows touring the UK in 2019. Touring theatre was a lifeline for the young Ian McKellen growing up in Lancashire, and his belief in its vitality is reflected in his decision to celebrate his 80th birthday this year by taking his solo show to 80 different venues around the UK. While no other tour quite matches this for locations, we look ahead at some of the other new touring highlights of 2019, from musicals and comedies to classics and modern drama. Musicals are the throbbing heart of the UK’s touring scene, and this year sees plenty to choose from. Current shows include Annie, Avenue Q, Cabaret, Calendar Girls, Fame The Musical, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and The Rocky Horror Show. The hit 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine has been adapted into a … Read more

Casting announced for Rita Sue and Bob Too tour

News, Off West End, Regional, Touring
Rita Sue and Bob Too UK Tour

  Casting has been announced for Andrea Dunbar’s landmark play Rita, Sue and Bob Too directed by Max Stafford-Clark  which starts a UK tour on the 6th September 2017. Best friends Rita and Sue get a lift home from married Bob after babysitting his kids. When he takes the scenic route and offers them a bit of fun, the three start a fling they each think they control. The cast will include James Atherton (Treasure Island – West End, Wallenstein – Chichester), Taj Atwal (East is East – West End, Educating Rita – Hull Truck), Sally Bankes (The Winter’s Tale, Two Noble Kinsmen – RSC), Gemma Dobson (TV – In The Club 2,  Brief Encounters), Samantha Robinson ( Screwed – Theatre503, Educating Rita – Mercury Colchester) and David Walker (Hangmen – West End, Crap Dad – West Yorkshire Playhouse). Commenting on the play, Director Max Stafford-Clark said; “When Andrea wrote … Read more

Dust gives suicide a caustic comedic treatment

Edinburgh Fringe
Dust written and performed by Millie Thomas comes to Edinburgh Festival.

  Dust a play by Millie Thomas that is a refreshing, caustic and comedic treatment of one woman’s depression, suicide and everything that happens afterwards comes to the Edinburgh Festival 2017. A woman. A suicide. A choice. A fly on the wall. A funeral. A Bakewell tart. A life. A lie. A truth. An ending. Of sorts. Alice thinks that life isn’t worth living. So she kills herself. Sort of. She is stuck, a fly on the wall. Forced to watch the aftermath of her suicide and its ripple effect on her family and friends, Alice quickly learns that death changes people. And that death is not the change she hoped for. Milly Thomas said “I’m fascinated by the way we eulogise people once they’ve died. The way we rewrite whole lives to suit our own narratives and the use of euphemism as a masking tool of the dead never … Read more

Meet London’s New Blondel – Connor Arnold

News, Off West End
Connor Arnold is to play Blondel

The Union Theatre’s upcoming production of Tim Rice’s musical comedy Blondel have unveiled their new Blondel – Connor Arnold. Blondel tells the story of the trials and triumphs of Blondel, an ambitious minstrel in the court of King Richard the Lionheart. Can Blondel save his King who has been captured by the cunning Duke of Austria, avoid a rather annoying assassin and write a love song to win the heart of potential sweetheart Fiona? A graduate of the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2016, Connor Arnold recently The Pardoner on a European tour of Canterbury Tales. His previous credits include Silent Witness (BBC1) and Catch Me at the Arts Theatre. The rest of the cast features: Courtney Bowman (Winner Stephen Sondheim Performer of The Year 2016, she’s just played Fatimah in the acclaimed new musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at Sheffield Crucible); Michael Burgen (Patsy, Spamalot, West End, Samuel, … Read more