Key North-East Openings this June
York Theatre Royal’s In The Round Ensemble Season continues with a world stage premier of this well loved classic.
Set in Corfu in 1935 the eccentric Durrell family enjoy hilarious encounters with the local population as Gerald discovers freedom and adventure in the rich natural life of the island.
Directed by Damian Cruden, this produciton brings to life the animals that fascinated young Gerald through magnificent puppetry.
The limited season continues until 25 June 2011.
OPENING 23 June 2011, The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell at The Crucible Studio Theatre in Sheffield.
Alexi Kaye Campbell’s debut play was awarded was awarded The Critics’ Circle Prize for Most Promising Playwright, the John Whiting Award for Best New Play and an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in an affiliate theatre when it first exploded onto the stage in 2008. Associate Director Richard Wilson returns to Sheffield to direct the play’s regional debut.
Passionate, heartfelt and gripping,The Pride is about loyalty, loss and having the courage to stand up for who you really are. In 1958 Philip is married to Sylvia, but he’s in love with Oliver. It’s 2008. A different love story is unfolding with a
strangely familiar trio…
The limited season continues until 16 July 2011.
OPENING 24th June 2011, The Wiz at West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Adapted from L. Frank Baum’s original story, The Wiz is an iconic African-American re-telling of The Wizard Of Oz made famous by Motown Productions’ cult movie starring Diana Ross as Dorothy, Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow and Richard Pryor as The Wiz.
The super soul musical, which won several prestigious awards on Broadway when it was first produced in 1975, features fantastic Motown classics like Ease On Down The Road , Everybody Rejoice , If You Believe and the beautiful show stopper Home.
X-Factor finalist Treyc Cohen will take the role of Dorothy alongside an extraordinary cast: Laurence Olivier Award winner Clive Rowe – (Tracy Beaker), Horace Oliver – (Five Guys Named Moe ) Melanie La Barrie (Blues in the Night), Wayne Robinson (Hairspray), Allyson Ava-Brown (Les Miserables) and Peter Straker recreating his role as The Wiz.
The limited season continues until 16 July 2011.
OPENING 25 June 2011, Double bill : The Yalta Game & Elegy For A Lady , at Stephen Joseph Theatre.
Brian Friel’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s short story, The Lady with the Lapdog, The Yalta Game is a masterclass in spinning tall tales.
An experienced seducer meets a restless but married young woman whist both are taking a holiday. A romance blossoms as they play ‘The Yalta Game’ which involves creating outrageous and unlikely life stories for fellow tourists and passersby. In their desire to make life more interesting they become lost in their own self-deception, until even they cannot tell where reality ends and the imaginary begins.
Elegy For A Lady is one half of Two-Way Mirror by Arthur Miller, two plays which question truth and fiction, reality and illusion.
A lone Man enters a boutique in search of a gift for his terminally ill younger mistress. As the shop Proprietress tries to help him choose, she begins to assume the persona of the elusive mistress and they experience a brief, poignant moment of closeness.
Both plays are directed by directed by Chris Monks and star John Elkington and Jennifer Rhodes. The double bill shows at lunchtimes, matinees and in the evening and each play can also be seen in isolation.
The limited season continues until 10 September 2011.
