What's on in the Midlands

Published: 19 January 2020
Reporter: Steve Orme

Anna Mitcham as Susy Henderson in Wait Until Dark at the Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield
Will Barton as Boris Johnson in The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson at Malvern Festival Theatre Credit: Pamela Raith
The Boy in the Dress in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Credit: Manuel Harlan

Four new script-in-hand shows, short plays by Stephen Jackson, Nicola Jones, Sayan Kent and Julia Wright explore global warming as part of Boldtext Playwrights’ No Planet B in The Door at Birmingham REP on Monday.

Stephen Mallatratt’s play based on Susan Hill’s novel The Woman in Black featuring Stuart Fox as Arthur Kipps and Matthew Spencer as The Actor tours to Curve, Leicester from Monday until Saturday.

Rona Munro’s new adaptation of Frankenstein places the writer in the action as she wrestles with her creation in the Selladoor Productions, Matthew Townshend Productions, Belgrade Theatre Coventry and Perth Theatre at Horsecross Arts presentation at Derby Theatre from Monday until Saturday.

Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s Ghost Stories, “the ultimate twisted love letter to horror and an edge-of-your-seat theatrical experience like no other”, should thrill audiences at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham from Tuesday until Saturday.

Frederick Knott’s Wait until Dark is the first in a four-play spring season staged by Rumpus Theatre Company and Tabs Productions at the Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield from Tuesday until Saturday.

Blackeyed Theatre’s presentation of Nick Lane’s adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is at the Albany Theatre, Coventry on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ad Infinitum takes stories drawn from real-life testimonies collected through 40 hours of interviews with deaf people and turns them into Extraordinary Wall of Silence in the Patrick Centre at Birmingham Hippodrome on Wednesday and Thursday.

The first national tour of The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson, the political comedy from journalist, broadcaster and playwright Jonathan Maitland, begins at Malvern Festival Theatre from Wednesday until Saturday.

A “witty, wordless theatre show about the ultimate shared experience—death”, Rachael Savage’s Dead Good, performed by Vamos Theatre, previews at the Swan Theatre, Worcester on Thursday and Friday before a national tour.

Gecko Theatre presents Institute, an “intimate, funny and moving exploration of what it means to care”, at Nottingham Playhouse from Thursday until Saturday.

Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag Dance Those Magical Movies in Northampton’s Derngate on Friday while the Nottingham Playhouse production of Louis Sachar’s children’s novel Holes can be seen on the Royal stage from Friday until Saturday 1 February.

Coventry’s Belgrade teams up with Eclipse Theatre for the world première of Janice Okoh’s The Gift, a comedy drama which explores themes of imperialism, inter-racial adoption, cultural appropriation and drinking tea, which continues at the Belgrade until Saturday.

A new production of Mark Twain’s The Prince and The Pauper continues at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday.

Reynard the Fox, the infamous scoundrel who prides himself on being the trickster of the forest, comes to life in The Fabularium’s show in the Djanogly Theatre at Lakeside Arts, Nottingham on Sunday.

Rob Young’s story of a Buxton teenager who encounters a mermaid in the Derbyshire town’s waters, Deep is performed by a cast aged between 16 and 30 at Buxton Opera House on Sunday.

Lesley Joseph, Joe McElderry, Matt Slack, Faye Brookes, Flawless, Doreen Tipton, Andrew Ryan and Jac Yarrow discover who is the fairest one of all in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which continues at Birmingham Hippodrome until Sunday 2 February.

At the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, David Walliams’s The Boy in the Dress featuring music by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers continues until Sunday 8 March, while in the Swan Theatre, Hannah Khalil’s A Museum in Baghdad continues until Saturday 25 January and Shakespeare's rarely-performed history play King John featuring Rosie Sheehy in the title role continues until Saturday 21 March.

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, Bookshop.org, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, The Ticket Factory, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

Are you sure?