What's on in the Midlands

Published: 5 May 2019
Reporter: Steve Orme

Daniel Goode (Basil), Jonathan Wrather (Henry) and Gavin Fowler (Dorian) in The Picture of Dorian Gray at Malvern Theatres
Laura Atherton and Morven Macbeth in Heart of Darkness at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry Credit: Ed Waring
Sophie Kahn Levy (Celia) and Lucy Phelps (Rosalind) in As You Like It in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Credit: Topher McGrillis

Based on real events, James Hyland’s A Lesson from Auschwitz “explores how and why the Nazis did what they did, shedding light on the mentality of the perpetrators and the disturbing reality of life in a death camp” and is performed by Michael Shon and James Hyland in the MET Studio at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre on Tuesday.

Vienna Festival Ballet presents “the ultimate romantic ballet” Giselle at the Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield on Tuesday.

Dianne Buswell, Pasha Kovalev, Giovanni Pernice, A J Pritchard, Katya Jones, Oti Mabuse, Karen Clifton, Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones and Gorka Marquez take to the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham stage for Strictly Come Dancing the Professionals on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tilted Wig Productions takes “an exciting and bold” new production of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray to Malvern Theatres from Tuesday until Saturday.

Janet Dibley plays the Governess in Tim Luscombe’s adaptation of Henry James’s Turn of the Screw at Derby Theatre from Tuesday until Saturday while in the Studio University of Derby students tackle Shelagh Stephenson’s psychological drama Five Kinds of Silence on Friday and Saturday.

Joe McElderry, Neil McDermott, Kate Robbins, Emily Tierney and Amelle Berrabah celebrate “all that we love about the ‘80s” in Club Tropicana the Musical at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry from Tuesday until Saturday.

Antony Costa plays Stacee Jaxx when the musical Rock of Ages visits Northampton’s Royal and Derngate from Tuesday until Saturday.

A mix of puppeteering and full-body animal suits is used to bring creatures to life in Madagascar the Musical at Wolverhampton Grand from Tuesday until Saturday.

Jim Cartwright revisits the lives, loves and laughs of regulars in a northern boozer in Two 2, a Reform Theatre Company and Harrogate Theatre presentation at the Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield on Wednesday.

Rhodri Miles plays Shylock in Gareth Armstrong’s play that confronts the Jewish stereotypes surrounding the moneylender from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice at mac Birmingham on Wednesday.

Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks adapt Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness for imitating the dog which bounds into the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry from Wednesday until Saturday.

Coventry Youth Operetta Group discovers that there’s light at the end of the tunnel in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Starlight Express at the Albany Theatre, Coventry from Wednesday until Saturday.

Nottinghamshire-based rural touring company New Perspectives takes Jack McNamara’s adaptation of Aki Kaurismaki’s The Man Without a Past, the story of a man with no memory who is taken in by a homeless community living in shipping containers in Helsinki, to the Old Library Theatre, Mansfield on Thursday and Geddington Village Hall, Geddington, near Kettering, Northamptonshire on Saturday.

A comedy about finding a safe place in a dangerous world, The Bench, written by Keir McAllister and performed by McAllister with Paul Sneddon, tours to the Studio at Lichfield Garrick on Friday.

Vicki Michelle, Josephine Partridge and Julie Coombe go on a “hilarious, no-holds-barred romp through the joys of being a fabulous 21st century woman” in Hormonal Housewives at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester on Saturday.

The world première of Mike Poulton’s version of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts featuring Penny Downie and James Wilby continues at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate until Saturday.

Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Boublil and Schönberg’s musical Les Misérables continues at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday.

Black Dance: A Contemporary Voice is the theme of the 2019 Let’s Dance International Frontiers festival which continues at various venues in Leicester until Saturday.

Mathilda and the Orange Balloon, adapted from a book by Randall de Sève, brings a diverse cast of deaf and hearing actors to the stage to follow the story of Mathilda, a grey sheep whose mind is always full of questions, at Nottingham Playhouse on Saturday and Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester on Sunday.

Birmingham Stage Company looks at the history of Britain with the nasty bits left in in Horrible Histories—A Brand New Barmy Britain at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre on Sunday.

Choreographer and performer Seeta Patel reimagines Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring in the classical Indian dance style Bharatanatyam at Curve, Leicester on Sunday.

Shelagh Stephenson’s comedy-drama The Memory of Water continues at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 18 May (press night Tuesday 7 May).

Ursula Rani Sarma's adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, the story of three generations of women discovering strength in unity, continues at Birmingham REP until Saturday 18 May (press night Wednesday 8 May).

Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre opens its summer season by co-producing with the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough Charlotte Jones’s quirky comedy Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis which continues until Saturday 18 May.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford a gender-swapped version of The Taming of the Shrew, set in a 1590s matriarchal England in which women hold all the power, and Kimberley Sykes’s “deliberately theatrical” version of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy As You Like It which is “great fun” both continue in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until Saturday 31 August while in the Swan Theatre Alexandra Gilbreath plays Lady Brute in John Vanbrugh’s comedy The Provoked Wife which runs from Thursday 2 May until Thursday 7 September (press night Thursday 9 May).

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