Midlands productions

Published: 17 May 2015
Reporter: Steve Orme

The History Boys at Buxton Opera House
Blood in The Door at Birmingham REP
Fiona Hampton as Amanda and Harry Long as Elyot in Private Lives at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme Credit: Ian Tilton

Jason Merrells will play juror number eight when Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men reaches its verdict at Wolverhampton Grand from Monday until Saturday.

The Nottingham Playhouse, Curve Theatre and Tom O'Connell for QNQ production of Jonathan Harvey’s “witty urban love story” Beautiful Thing, which features Charlie Brooks, Thomas Law and Sam Jackson, tours to Northampton Royal from Monday until Saturday.

2Magpies Theatre pieces together the day Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in The Litvinenko Project in the Pavilion Cafe at Lakeside Arts, Nottingham on Tuesday.

Sell a Door Theatre Company presents Alan Bennett’s The History Boys at Buxton Opera House from Tuesday until Saturday.

A “21st century love story”, Emteaz Hussain’s Blood, will be staged by Tamasha Theatre and Coventry Belgrade in The Door at Birmingham REP from Tuesday until Saturday.

Zoe Birkett plays the leading role of Rachel Marron in Thea Sharrock’s production of the musical The Bodyguard when it visits Stoke’s Regent Theatre from Tuesday until Saturday 30 May.

New Art club presents Hercules “as you’ve never seen it before, told through hilarious dance routines and amazing speciality acts”, at Curve, Leicester on Wednesday.

Ballet Cymru’s “unique blend” of classical technique and storytelling combines with elements of circus in Cinderella at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme on Wednesday.

University of Derby theatre arts students will perform Off With Her Head, a “dark and disorientated” adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, at Derby Theatre from Thursday until Saturday.

Vienna Festival Ballet stages a 35th Anniversary Gala, featuring excerpts from “the world’s most beloved Tchaikovsky ballets”, at Lichfield Garrick from Thursday until Saturday.

Armed with a Dictaphone and a pair of wellies, The Gramophones “set out in search of adventure but what they found instead was something better” in Wanderlust at Nottingham Playhouse on Friday and Saturday.

Birmingham Royal Ballet performs three programmes of ballet in one evening, Sir Frederick Ashton’s Les Rendezvous, Elite Syncopations by Sir Kenneth MacMillan and a new work, Alexander Whitley’s Kin, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham on Friday and Saturday.

English National Ballet will make its first visit to Leicester’s Curve with My First Ballet: Swan Lake, created to make classical ballet accessible and enjoyable for children aged three and above, on Friday and Saturday.

Northampton Royal and Derngate’s youth theatre and young company explore a range of musical genres in two separate versions of Café Crescendo, written by youth theatre director Christopher Gorry, in the theatre’s Underground performance space from Friday until Sunday.

Directed by Michael Flatley and featuring “40 of the world’s most outstanding young performers”, Lord of the Dance - Dangerous Games trips into the Symphony Hall, Birmingham from Friday until Tuesday 26 May.

Created using the stories and experiences of young men living in Birmingham, Women and Theatre’s Boys Talk “explores how boys talk, what they talk about and how they say it” in the outdoor arena at mac birmingham on Saturday.

Ellesmere Port company Action Transport Theatre quizzed hundreds of children on issues that have puzzled adults for centuries and the results can be seen in STATik at Curve, Leicester on Saturday.

The Octagon Theatre Bolton and Newcastle-under-Lyme New Vic production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives continues at the New Vic until Saturday.

Jessie Hart, originally from Wall Heath near Dudley, continues as Baby Houseman in the tour of Dirty Dancing—The Classic Story on Stage at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday.

European Arts Company returns to Buxton Opera House with a new adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray on Sunday.

Former Coronation Street actors Vicky Entwistle and Chris Gascoyne are joined by Nancy Sullivan in a new production of Jim Cartwright’s The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice which continues at Birmingham REP until Saturday 30 May (press night Tuesday 19 May).

American writer and lyricist Donna Moore’s show Cougar the Musical which is having its UK première in the B2 auditorium at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre until Saturday 6 June.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, Palestinian-Israeli actor Makram J Khoury makes his RSC debut as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice which continues until Wednesday 2 September (press night Thursday 21 May) while, in the Swan Theatre, Stratford John Ford’s rarely performed play Love's Sacrifice continues until Wednesday 24 June and Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta until Tuesday 8 September.

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