Matthew Bourne to premiere new piece The Midnight Bell

Award-winning choreographer Matthew Bourne will unveil a new work, The Midnight Bell, in Cheltenham in September.

Titled The Midnight Bell, the piece is inspired by the work of Patrick Hamilton and is set in '30s London. It will explore the lives of ordinary people, frequenting pubs and bars in Soho and Fitzrovia.

Bourne said today: "Patrick Hamilton's literary world could be seen as the flip-side of his close contemporary, Noel Coward, whose witty and glamorous world of cocktails and high society made him so fashionable and successful. Hamilton, on the other hand, wrote about the lives of everyday people, full of pathos, comedy and thwarted romance. Indeed his own personal setbacks and increasingly serious drinking problem became the source from which he created his finest and most individual work.

"More than any other author of the time, Hamilton's characters speak with the authentic voice of the era and it's the raw passion and secret lives that lie beneath the conventional exterior that appeals to me so much."

Joining Bourne will be Terry Davies (music), Lez Brotherston (set and costume design), Paule Constable (lighting design) and Paul Groothuis (sound design). The cast will feature Paris Fitzpatrick, Glenn Graham, Bryony Harrison, Daisy May Kemp, Kate Lyons, Michela Meazza, Andrew Monaghan, Liam Mower, Danny Reubens, Christopher Thomas, Richard Winsor and Bryony Wood.

After opening in Cheltenham on 9 September, the show will visit Brighton, Sheffield, Dartford, York, London, Leicester, Playhouse, Oxford, Truro, Warwick, Inverness and Bath.

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