Midlands productions

Published: 10 April 2016
Reporter: Steve Orme

David Horne, Matt Milburn, David Lonsdale and Steven Blakeley in Heartbeat at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry Credit: Andrew Billington
Filter Theatre’s Twelfth Night at Birmingham REP
A Girl and a Gun in Derby Theatre Studio

Chapter 4 stages Stacey Gregg’s I’m Spilling my Heart Out Here, “a physical and thought-provoking play where friendships and reality are questioned”, at Create Theatre, Vision West Nottinghamshire College, Mansfield on Monday.

Louise Jameson plays Mrs Boyle in the 60th anniversary tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap at Stoke’s Regent Theatre from Monday until Wednesday.

A Manhattan apartment becomes the setting for a “viciously hilarious brawl” over family, faith and legacy as the contenders are at one another's throats on the night after a funeral in Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham from Monday until Saturday.

Long-running television drama series Heartbeat is brought to life on stage at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry from Monday until Saturday.

Lucy Jones plays Elle Woods in a new production of the comedy Legally Blonde the Musical at Curve, Leicester from Monday until Saturday 14 May.

Extant, “the UK’s leading blind and visually impaired theatre company”, performs Eugene Ionesco’s “ground-breaking absurdist play” The Chairs at mac birmingham on Tuesday.

Crissy Rock, Leah Bell and Dolores Porretta Brown are in the cast of Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood’s Dirty Dusting at Mansfield Palace Theatre on Tuesday.

Filter Theatre marks 400 years since Shakespeare’s death by taking its production of Twelfth Night to Birmingham REP from Tuesday until Saturday.

Strictly Come Dancing 2014 winner Pasha Kovalev takes his new show It’s All About You to Derngate, Northampton on Wednesday and Wolverhampton Grand Theatre on Sunday.

A new interactive comedy from Liz John and Julia Wright which features Caroline Nash and Oli Leonard and is set in a call centre, Calling for Help! aims to raise a laugh at The Playhouse, Northampton on Thursday and Friday and Upstairs at the Western, Leicester on Saturday.

A show that asks “what it means to be a hero, what it means to be a plot device and what it means to watch”, A Girl and a Gun, written and performed by Louise Orwin, blasts its way into Derby Theatre Studio on Friday.

Combining puppetry, immersive soundscapes and multimedia technology, Feral by Tortoise in a Nutshell “builds an entire world in front of the audience’s eyes” in the Studio at Lichfield Garrick on Saturday.

Written by Anders Lustgarten and adapted from the novel by David Peace, The Damned United which follows Brian Clough as he tries to restore his career by winning the European Cup Leeds continues at Derby Theatre until Saturday.

A “modern cycle of history plays that vividly brings to life three generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland in the tumultuous 15th century”, The James Plays visits Derngate, Northampton on Saturday and Sunday.

A new play by Philip Goulding which documents the life of the singer Gracie Fields, Our Gracie continues at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme, until Saturday 23 April.

Ishy Din’s Wipers which honours the contribution of the one million South Asian soldiers who fought alongside British troops during World War I continues at Leicester’s Curve until Saturday 23 April (press night Thursday 14 April).

Michael Pennington takes the lead role in William Shakespeare’s King Lear which continues at Northampton Royal until Saturday 23 April.

Blanche McIntyre continues to direct Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, which she feels is “the greatest farce ever written”, at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 30 April (press night Wednesday 13 April).

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, Paapa Essiedu plays the lead role in Hamlet which continues until Saturday 13 August while in the Swan Theatre Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote, which features David Threlfall in the title role and Rufus Hound as Sancho Panza, continues until Saturday 21 May and Sandy Grierson and Oliver Ryan share the roles of Faustus and Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus which continues until Thursday 4 August.

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