Malvern Theatres is to reopen in autumn 2020 with a short season of its own productions, featuring Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, Peter Terson’s Mooney and his Caravans and a new one-man version of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus.
Chief executive Nic Lloyd said, “we’re doing all we can to help the arts industry survive this crisis. Creating new productions in a safe way is an expression of optimism for our audiences; they’ve supported us through this disaster and we intend to return to support our community as we always have. We also want to offer hope to other theatres that the show can and will go on.
“Until we can reopen fully, our COVID-19 emergency appeal is ongoing because financially the theatre is not yet out of danger.”
The emergency appeal has raised £175,000 and Lloyd hopes it will hit £200,000 before the end of the year. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support that our campaign has received.
"None of us knows what the future of theatre will look like following this pandemic and we’re doing everything we can to ensure Malvern Theatres is at the forefront, as it always has been.”
Malvern Theatres will stage Mooney and His Caravans, a “bittersweet drama about an inadequate young couple victimised by the owner of a caravan site”, in the Festival Theatre from Monday until Saturday, 15 to 19 September. The cast comprises Toby Burchell and Moa Myerson.
Roma Farnell will direct Harry Boaz in a “bold new interpretation” of Doctor Faustus from 22 until 26 September.
Two of the Talking Heads series, A Chip in the Sugar, featuring Rhys Harris-Clarke and Moa Myerson in Her Big Chance, will be presented from Tuesday 13 until Saturday 17 October.