Midlands productions

Published: 17 September 2017
Reporter: Steve Orme

The Suitcase at Derby Theatre Credit: Andrew Billington
Mr Darcy Loses the Plot at Lichfield Garrick
Rules for Living at Northampton Royal and Derngate

Don’t Go into the Cellar, which presents “theatrical Victoriana in a macabre vein”, takes an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s horror story Frankenstein 1899, featuring Jonathan Goodwin and Amy Bullock, to the MET Studio at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre on Tuesday.

That’ll be the Day, “the UK’s premier rock ‘n’ roll variety show”, promises music, laughter and non-stop nostalgia at Mansfield Palace Theatre on Tuesday.

BOLDtext Playwrights takes to the stage of The Door at Birmingham REP with four short plays with the theme Fake Times, Liz John’s The Offer, Inspired by Nicola Jones, Tim Stimpson’s Don’t Burst My Bubble and Back to Reality by Julia Wright, on Tuesday.

A “vaguely scientific examination of the human response to trauma and how this may affect individuals and society as a whole” is analysed in Pad Productions’ Left of Me at Wolverhampton Arena on Tuesday and Lincoln Drill Hall on Friday.

The Agatha Christie Company presents Ruth Rendell’s murder mystery A Judgement in Stone, featuring Antony Costa, Chris Ellison, Robert Duncan, Sophie Ward, Deborah Grant, Shirley Anne Field and Ben Nealon, at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry from Tuesday until Saturday.

The Theatre Chipping Norton performs the world première of Toby Hulse’s play Sherlock Holmes and The Crimson Cobbles, “a deeply daft theatrical explosion for adults and family audiences”, from Tuesday until Sunday.

A new stage production of E Nesbit’s The Railway Children steams into Northampton’s Derngate from Tuesday until Sunday while The Tiger Who Came to Tea dines out in the same venue during the day from Friday until Sunday.

The Market Theatre, Johannesburg’s presentation of James Ngcobo’s The Suitcase, a story about oppression, survival and chance that takes place in a South African township in the 1950s, visits Derby Theatre from Wednesday until Saturday.

Rumpus Theatre Company takes John Goodrum's adaptation of Wilkie Collins' The Ghost's Touch! to the New Theatre Royal, Lincoln from Thursday until Saturday.

One woman‘s struggle to carve her own path in a family of six women, Manjeet Mann’s A Dangerous Woman can be seen in The Door at Birmingham REP from Thursday until Saturday.

In the year marking the 80th anniversary of the birth of Coventry electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire who created the Doctor Who theme tune, Noctium Theatre Company celebrates her life and work in Hymns for Robots in the B2 auditorium at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry on Friday.

Part rom-com, part lecture, part call to industrial action, Caroline Liversidge’s A Living is a show about money, time and what really makes the world go round in the Studio at Derby Theatre on Friday.

Forthright Theatre presents a work-in-progress of its latest play Baby Blues, which explores post-natal depression, at the Everyman Studio Theatre, Cheltenham on Friday and Saturday.

The Russian State Opera are at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham with two works by Puccini, Tosca on Friday and Madama Butterfly on Saturday.

The free weekend festival Birmingham Weekender, which covers theatre, dance and exhibitions from the city’s major arts organisations, independent artists and international artists, takes place at various locations from Friday until Sunday.

LipService, “Britain’s favourite literary lunatics”, celebrates the 200th commemoration year of Jane Austen with its irreverent tribute Mr Darcy Loses the Plot at Lichfield Garrick on Saturday.

An “autobiographical three-person show combining drag performance with theatrical storytelling, set against a backdrop of pop anthems and glitter”, Drag Me To Love is a Bonnie and the Bonnettes presentation in the Studio at Derby Theatre on Saturday.

Dragon Breath Theatre stages Peter Rumney’s Jumping on my Shadow in the Djanogly Theatre at Lakeside Arts, Nottingham on Saturday.

Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Boublil and Schönberg’s musical Miss Saigon continues at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday.

Daksha Sheth Dance Company’s Sari “bridges the gap between contemporary and traditional Indian dance” and is a “celebration of clothing so intrinsically intertwined with Indian culture” at mac Birmingham on Saturday and Sunday.

Seeta Patel performs her solo work in Indian classical dance, Something Then, Something Now in the Patrick Centre at Birmingham Hippodrome on Sunday.

Danny Mac plays Joe Gillis and Ria Jones is Norma Desmond in the Leicester Curve production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Sunset Boulevard which continues until Tuesday 26 September.

Nottingham Playhouse continues to stage a “playful, truthful and occasionally disrespectful” take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in a new comic adaptation by stand-up comedian Sara Pascoe until Saturday 30 September.

Jane Booker, Jolyon Coy, Ed Hughes, Carlyss Peer, Laura Rogers and Paul Shelley feature in the regional première of Sam Holcroft’s Rules for Living, an English Touring Theatre, Northampton Royal and Derngate and Rose Theatre Kingston production, which continues on the Northampton Royal stage until Saturday 30 September.

A new production of Lee Hall’s The Pitmen Painters continues at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 7 October.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, Gemma Brockis and Wendy Hubbard’s new devised piece Kingdom Come, part of the RSC’s Mischief Festival, continues in The Other Place until Saturday 30 September; in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Sope Dirisu plays the title role in Coriolanus which continues until Saturday 14 October (press night Thursday 21 September); and in the Swan Theatre, Christopher Marlowe’s dark tale of sacrifice and passion Dido, Queen of Carthage continues until Saturday 28 October (press performance also on Thursday 21 September).

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