Midlands productions

Published: 24 July 2016
Reporter: Steve Orme

The Beautiful Game in the Neville Studio at Nottingham Playhouse
Alexandra Burke as Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act at Curve, Leicester Credit: Jay Brooks
Mark Lockyer (Subtle) and Ken Nwosu (Face) in The Alchemist in the Swan Theatre, Stratford Credit: Helen Maybanks

A dark comedy set in the sixth form of an all-girls’ private school, Head Girl, a Taking Chances presentation of Darren Haywood’s play, is part of the Birmingham FEST 2016 timetable and lines up at the Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham from Monday until Wednesday.

The 2016 Classic Thriller Season at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham begins with Joseph Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace from Monday until Saturday.

Derby-based Oddsocks Productions is in its home city to perform Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing “to a soundtrack of foot-tapping and well-loved anthems to form a perfectly rounded high-octane musical” in the craft village at Markeaton Park, Derby from Tuesday until Thursday.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats returns to Nottingham and purrs into the Royal Concert Hall from Tuesday until Saturday 6 August.

Performed “by four energetic women to a backdrop of terrace classics”, The Beautiful Game “sees dance and football collide in a playful ode to every football fanatic out there” in the Neville Studio at Nottingham Playhouse on Wednesday.

Split Second Productions continues to stage Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire—where it was reportedly first performed at the wedding of Lord Thomas Berkeley and Elizabeth Carey in 1596—until Wednesday.

Making Mischief, a “festival of bold and thought-provoking new plays” at The Other Place, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new studio theatre in Stratford, gets under way with Always Orange by Fraser Grace and Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier by Somalia Seaton, both on from Wednesday until Saturday 27 August.

Tell Tale Theatre blends a “theatrical triathlon of physical storytelling, British wit and slapstick with a dash of Dickens to bring you the sportiest play you'll ever see”, Austerity Games, part of Birmingham Fest 2016, at the Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham on Thursday.

Derby Youth Theatre stages a double bill of I Am England by David Lane and Lee Hall’s Spoonface Steinberg at Derby Theatre from Thursday until Saturday.

Lichfield Garrick’s first community musical, The Hired Man, based on Melvyn Bragg’s novel, plays at the Garrick from Friday until Saturday 6 August.

Shakespeare’s heroes try to save their creator from the evil machinations of Oberon, Lord of Midsummer, in Drake's Drummers Theatre Company’s Shakespeare's Avengers Assembleth: Age of Oberon at the Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham, part of Birmingham Fest 2016, on Saturday.

Alexandra Burke plays Deloris Van Cartier in the national tour of Leicester Curve’s new production of the musical comedy Sister Act, directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood, which opens at Curve from Saturday until Saturday 13 August.

Madcap Theatre Productions combines “comedy, music, dance, stage combat and physicality with the original script” in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at Arley Arboretum, Worcestershire on Sunday.

Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre continues to present the world première of Peter Pan in Scarlet, the sequel to J M Barrie’s Peter Pan, until Saturday 6 August.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Paapa Essiedu plays Hamlet which continues until Saturday 13 August and Gillian Bevan is the first woman to take on the role of British ruler Cymbeline which continues until Saturday 15 October; in the Swan Theatre, Sandy Grierson and Oliver Ryan share the roles of Faustus and Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus which continues until Thursday 4 August while Ben Jonson’s satire The Alchemist continues until Saturday 6 August.

Abba fans will meet their Waterloo as Mamma Mia! continues at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday 3 September.

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