New Year Highlights In Plymouth

King Arthur rides into Plymouth, by way of Monty Python’s Spamalot, one of the highlights of the Theatre Royal Plymouth’s new season.

Comedian Phill Jupitus, ex-EastEnder Todd Carty, and Lloyd Webber’s I’d Do Anything winner Jodi Prenger star in this multi-award-winning musical (January 31-February 5) which tells the story of fabled King and the Knights of the Round Table in classic Python fashion.

Other big-budget touring musicals coming in the spring include Tell Me On A Sunday starring Claire Sweeney, Footloose and Annie with the irrepressible Su Pollard.

Drama includes a brand new play, further contributing to the Theatre Royal’s reputation as one of the leading production centres in the UK, And The Horse You Rode In On. Commissioned by the Barbican and Brighton festival, the play examines the extreme acts people will commit for their beliefs – and how powerless that can leave the rest of us.

Classic drama includes three of Shakespeare’s works: the National Theatre’s production of Hamlet, with Rory Kinnear in the title role, and all-male company Propeller’s Richard III and The Comedy of Errors. Agatha Christie’s Verdict, (February), Charles Dickens’ The Haunting, starring Paul Nicholas, and Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mocking Bird also feature.

Birmingham Royal Ballet bring Cinderella in January, with a more traditional interpretation of Prokofiev’s work – the Matthew Bourne version is currently drawing the crowds to the Theatre Royal – while Welsh National Opera presents Die Fledermaus and Il Trovatore.