A Mike Leigh classic, “top-class” touring productions and two festive shows are among the highlights of the autumn and winter season at Derby Theatre.
The big autumn production will be Leigh’s Abigail’s Party, a co-production with Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, Wiltshire Creative and Theatres de la Ville de Luxembourg. It will run from Wednesday 26 September until Saturday 20 October.
The latest play in Derby Theatre’s RETOLD programme—a series of plays which aim to revisit the classics from the perspective of a female character—will be Abi, a contemporary response to Abigail’s Party that plays alongside Leigh’s comedy.
Derby Theatre will produce and present two Christmas productions, Hansel and Gretel in the main house from Friday 30 November until Saturday 5 January 2019 and in the Studio for younger audiences Goldilocks and the Three Bears from Tuesday 4 December until 5 January.
Topping the list of touring productions will be Rain Man, a new stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning film presented by Bill Kenwright and the Classic Screen to Stage Theatre Company. It will run from 12 until 17 November and will feature Mathew Horne and Ed Speleers.
Other touring highlights include the Classic Thriller Theatre Company with The Case of the Frightened Lady by Edgar Wallace from 17 until 22 September, Gbolahan Obisesan’s adaptation of Chigozie Obioma’s The Fishermen by East Midlands company New Perspectives in association with HOME on 12 and 13 September and Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s new play Dishoom from 23 until 27 October.
Looking ahead to 2019, Derby Theatre and Pilot Theatre will co-produce an adaptation by Sabrina Mahfouz of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses, a “captivating drama of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world”, and at Easter Derby Theatre will present Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book which will be captioned and have fully integrated BSL interpretation.