A new production of British rock ‘n’ roll musical Roll Over Beethoven is one of the highlights of the autumn season at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre.
The musical tells the story of how dreary, post-war England was transformed by American rock ‘n’ roll. It was written and will be directed by Bob Eaton whose show Three Minute Heroes, about the 2-Tone movement, was performed at the Belgrade in 2014. Roll Over Beethoven runs on the Belgrade’s main stage from 3 until 17 September.
This will be followed by the stage première of Ostrich Boys. Adapted by Carl Miller and based on the book by Keith Gray, this “touching and at times hilarious coming-of-age tale” tells the story of teenage pals Kenny, Sim and Blake who go on a mission to honour a friend’s life which is touched by tragedy. Their need to put things right “takes them on a chaotic, emotional and often darkly comic, pilgrimage north”.
Ostrich Boys will have a cast of four who will play multiple roles. It will be directed by the Belgrade’s creative associate Tony Graham and runs in the B2 auditorium from 10 until 24 September.
There will be three productions at Christmas: Dick Whittington on the main stage from Wednesday 23 November until Saturday 7 January, writer Nick Walker’s alternative festive story Private Dick Whittington in B2 from 3 until 31 December and a new production for two- to six-year-olds, Santa’s Polka Dot Pirate, on the main stage from 8 until 24 December.
Touring productions include the Original Theatre Company with Emelyn Williams’s psychological thriller Night Must Fall from 28 September until 1 October, Dead Sheep, a comedy telling how Margaret Thatcher was brought down by her former friend Geoffrey Howe, from 19 until 22 October, the revival of cult sci-fi spoof musical Little Shop of Horrors from 26 until 29 October and Robert Powell and Liza Goddard in Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking from 31 October until 5 November.