Two world premières are part of the line-up at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate for Christmas 2017.
The Royal’s Christmas show will be a new version of The Jungle Book by Jessica Swale, directed by Max Webster, with dramaturgy by Indhu Rubasingham.
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Rudyard Kipling’s birth, The Jungle Book is a co-production with the Children’s Touring Partnership. It will take to Northampton’s Royal stage from Tuesday 28 November until Sunday 31 December 2017. It will then go on a national tour.
Jessica Swale’s first play Blue Stockings premièred at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2013, earning her a nomination for most promising playwright in the Evening Standard Awards. Her next play Nell Gwynn opened at the Globe and transferred to the West End. It won the Olivier for best new comedy in 2016.
Royal and Derngate artistic director James Dacre said, “Jessica’s adaptation promises to be a thrilling, humorous and touching re-imagining of Kipling’s timeless story.”
An adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks’s The Singing Mermaid will play in the venue’s Underground Studio with original music by Barb Jungr and puppetry from Little Angel Theatre.
The Singing Mermaid will feature puppetry designed by Lyndie Wright of Little Angel Theatre and is directed by Samantha Lane. Aimed at under-sevens and their families, the show will run from Saturday 2 December until Saturday 13 January 2018.
In Derngate, the Christmas production will be Aladdin which runs from Friday 8 December until Sunday 31 December.