Midlands productions

Published: 22 November 2014
Reporter: Steve Orme

That'll Be The Day at Derngate, Northampton
Horrible Christmas at the Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham Credit: Darren Bell
David Sturzaker as Bracciano in The White Devil in the Swan Theatre, Stratford Credit: Keith Pattison

Award-winning Middle Ground Theatre Company establishes a festive mood with The Holly and the Ivy at Buxton Opera House from Monday until Wednesday.

Gary Lucy, Andrew Dunn, Louis Emerick, Rupert Hill, Martin Miller and Bobby Schofield get to the bottom of Simon Beaufoy’s The Full Monty at Wolverhampton Grand from Monday until Saturday.

Agatha Christie's first play Black Coffee featuring Jason Durr as Hercule Poirot should taste good at Derby Theatre from Monday until Saturday.

Opera North performs Smetana’s The Bartered Bride on Tuesday and Thursday, La Traviata by Verdi on Wednesday and Friday, and Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea on Saturday at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham.

Opera and Ballet International presents Verdi’s La Traviata, an Ellen Kent production featuring the Chisinau National Opera and Philharmonic, at Dernate, Northampton on Wednesday.

Students from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama tackle George Etherege’s “comedy of bad manners” The Man of Mode at the Guildhall Theatre, Derby on Wednesday and Thursday.

Distraction Theatre Company counts down to Christmas in the Studio at the Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton with Twas The Night Before Christmas on Friday and The Twelve Days of Christmas on Saturday.

A one-man performance of The Boy from the Boro, which tells the story of soldier Arthur Horobin, a “farm worker and shopkeeper thrust into the mud and blood of trench warfare”, will be told at the Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham on Friday and Saturday.

Birmingham Royal Ballet stages Sir Peter Wright's production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker at Birmingham Hippodrome from Friday until Saturday 13 December.

The UK's “most successful rock 'n' roll variety show” That'll Be The Day returns to Derngate, Northampton with its Christmas offering on Saturday.

Little Angel Theatre continues to bring to life Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, with puppets inspired by Helen Oxenbury's illustrations from the book, in the Foyle Studio at mac Birmingham until Sunday 7 December.

Birmingham Stage Company’s Horrible Christmas has added extra performances and continues at the Old Rep Theatre, Station Street, Birmingham until Saturday 17 January.

Mary Norton’s family adventure The Borrowers continues at Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre until Saturday 31 January.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Love’s Labour’s Lost and Love’s Labour’s Won (Much Ado About Nothing) both continue until 14 March while in the Swan Theatre John Webster’s revenge tragedy The White Devil and Jacobean domestic tragedy The Witch of Edmonton, with Eileen Atkins playing Elizabeth Sawyer, both continue until Saturday.

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, The Ticket Factory, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

Are you sure?