Midlands productions

Published: 29 June 2014
Reporter: Steve Orme

Finger, Trigger, Bullet, Gun by Stan’s Café and Next Door by Out of Balance, part of the BE Festival, in the Studio at Birmingham REP
Shobna Gulati who continues in John Godber’s April in Paris at Derby Theatre
Antony Sher who plays Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV Parts I and II in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford

Happy Days the Musical tours to the Theatre Royal, Nottingham from Monday until Saturday.

Wolverhampton Grand recalls the glam rock era in the Marc Bolan musical 20th Century Boy from Monday until Saturday.

Birmingham Stage Company loses its head over Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain at Derngate, Northampton from Tuesday until Saturday.

Behind Closed Doors, which features four new, short plays written and performed by the Emerging Perspectives company at New Perspectives, tours to Manton Village Hall, Rutland on Tuesday, Derby’s Guildhall Theatre on Wednesday, Create Theatre, Mansfield on Thursday, Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham on Friday and Thurgarton Village Hall, Nottinghamshire on Saturday.

Opera UK takes Mozart’s Così fan tutte, which it sets in 1914, just before the start of World War I, to Lichfield Garrick on Wednesday.

Bringing together “the most daring and unforgettable new performances from across Europe”, the BE Festival in Birmingham gets under way this week, with a double bill of Finger, Trigger, Bullet, Gun by Stan’s Café and Next Door by Denmark’s Out of Balance in the Studio at Birmingham REP from Wednesday until Friday.

Birmingham Hippodrome opens the first UK and Ireland tour of Cape Town Opera’s production of Show Boat from Wednesday until Saturday.

A new play by Toby Quash to commemorate the centenary of World War I and written especially for Playbox Theatre’s young production company, The Shadow Roads runs at the Dream Factory, Warwick from Wednesday until Sunday.

London Classic Theatre’s tour of Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane ends at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry from Thursday until Saturday.

Mansfield Palace Theatre’s community theatre tackles Oh What a Lovely War from Thursday until Saturday.

Madcap Theatre Productions begins a tour of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at Mary Arden’s Farm, Wilmcote, near Stratford on Friday and Saturday.

Intimate Theatre stages George Bernard Shaw’s Candida in the George Hotel, Lichfield, as part of the Lichfield Festival, on Saturday.

Leicester dance training course specialists Studio 79 returns to the city’s Curve to present its fifth graduate dance showcase, Encore—featuring a wide range of dance styles including ballet, tap, contemporary, commercial, cabaret and musical theatre—on Saturday.

Laura Eason’s adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days continues at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday.

Curve Young Company continues to present Honk!, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, in the Studio at Leicester’s Curve until Saturday.

Leamington Spa-based Heartbreak Productions takes its outdoor show Peter Pan and the Lost Boys to Moor Hall, School, Sutton Coldfield at 3PM on Saturday and Caldecott Park, Rugby at 6:30PM on Sunday.

Shakespeare Young Company from Warwick tours The Comedy of Errors to the Village Church, Horley, Warwickshire on Saturday at 4PM and George Peele’s play The Old wives’ Tale, reimagined as Old Wives’ Tales, at 6PM.

Shobna Gulati and Joe McGann continue in John Godber’s two-hander April in Paris at Derby Theatre until Saturday 12 July.

Former Coronation Street actor Eric Potts plays Touchstone and Only Fools and Horses legend John “Boycie” Challis is Jacques in the Stafford Festival Shakespeare production As You Like It which runs at Stafford Castle from Sunday until Saturday 12 July.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, the Midsummer Mischief festival of world premières runs in The Other Place until 12 July while in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Henry IV Parts I and II continue until Saturday 6 September and in the Swan Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker’s The Roaring Girl continues until Tuesday 30 September and Arden of Faversham continues until Thursday 2 October.

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