Flux, Man Without a Past, King and I, Inside Little Top
Flux – tour starts 25 April
If you're a young physicist, what does it mean to be a woman in a male dominated environment.
Puppet and visual theatre company Smoking Apples presents Flux in which a female scientist fights to do the right thing as both her work and personal life are slipping out of her control.
Inspired by interviews with female scientists and the real-life story of Lise Meitner, whose male colleague was awarded the Nobel Prize for her discovery, Flux combines puppet theatre with life-size puppetry and a 1980s soundtrack by award-winning composer Jon Ouin to tell its story.
The cast is made up of Anne Condé, Molly Freeman, Matthew Lloyd, Hattie Thomas. Flux has been devised by the company with dramaturgy by Clancy Flynn and Gemma Williams.
Flux visits EM Forster Theatre Tonbridge School, Cornerstone Didcot, Brewery Arts Centre Kendal, Rosehill Theatre Whitehaven, Key Theatre Peterborough, Norden Farm Maidenhead, Hazlitt Theatre Maidstone, The Marlowe Studio Canterbury, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, Stantonbury Theatre Milton Keynes, Riverhead Theatre Louth, Riverhouse Barn Arts Centre Walton on Thames, Greenwich Theatre London, The Lowry Salford and The Kirkgate Centre Cockermouth.
The Man Without a Past – tour starts 25 April
East Midlands based New Perspectives presents Jack McNamara's adaptation of cult Finnish film The Man Without a Past.
It has the story of a man with no memory who is taken in by a homeless community living in shipping containers and looks at identity and whether it is possible to exist in society without one.
Company artistic director McNamara also directs a cast made up of David Ahmad, Angela Bain, Victoria Brazier and Jamie De Courcey. The composer and musical director is James Atherton.
The tour includes the company's first visit to the Brighton Fringe Festival.
The Man Without A Past visits Terry O’Toole Theatre Lincoln, Foxlowe Arts Centre Leek, The Squire Performing Arts Centre Nottingham, Newbury Corn Exchange, Forest Arts Centre New Milton, Gretton Village Hall, Carriageworks Leeds, Cornerstone Didcot, CAST Studio Doncaster, Mansfield Old Library, Luton Culture, Geddington Village Hall, Spiegeltent Nottingham, The Warren: The Blockhouse Brighton and Glebe Field Centre Matlock.
The King and I – tour starts 26 April
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I will tour with Annalene Beechey as Anna, the role she played in The Lincoln Center Theater production in London's West End. Alongside Beechey is Jose Llana as the King, a role he has played on Broadway. They will both play the initial venues.
Also in the cast will be Kok-Hwa Lie, Aaron Teoh, Edward Baker-Duly and William M Lee. The female ensemble will include Yuki Abe, Miiya Alexandra, Aiko Kato, Misa Koide, Ela Lisondra and Ena Yamaguchi. The male ensemble will include Irvine Ray Abesamis, Cletus Chan, Steven Hardcastle, Eu Jin Hwang, Jesse Milligan, Prem Rai and Joaquin Pedro Valdes. The Swings will be Rachel Jayne Picar, Nick Len and Jasmine Leung.
Bartlett Sher, who directed the show for The Lincoln Center Theater, directs the touring version. The producer is Howard Panter.
The King and I visits Manchester Opera House, Dublin Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Edinburgh Playhouse, Leeds Grand Theatre, Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre, Cardiff Millennium Centre, Glasgow King’s Theatre, Hull New Theatre, Milton Keynes Theatre, Liverpool Empire Theatre, Bristol Hippodrome, Woking New Victoria Theatre and Southampton Mayflower Theatre.
Inside Little Top – tour starts 30 April
Inside Little Top is the brainchild of award-winning circus artist Ellie Dubois and early years artist Kim Donohoe.
Presenting a circus in miniature for babies aged 0–18 months and their adults, the acrobatics, colour and magic is scaled down to a multi-sensory experience where balances, tumbles and juggling are played in babies’ line of sight, making eye contact and interacting with the young audience.
The cast includes gymnast Gabbie Cook, acrobat Nat Whittingham and juggling artist Arron Sparks.
The show is present by a partnership between Starcatchers and SUPERFAN.
Inside Little Top visits Cumnock Town Hall, Grand Hall/Palace Theatre Kilmarnock, Platform Glasgow, Eastwood Park Theatre Giffnock, Howden Park Centre West Lothian, Byre Theatre St Andrews, Johnstone Hall, Birnam Arts Dunkeld, Lyth Arts Centre, Forres Town Hall, The Studio Festival Theatre Edinburgh, FTH Theatre Falkirk, Aberdeen Music Hall, MacRobert Hall Tarland, Lochgelly Centre and Carnegie Hall Dunfermline.
Check web sites for information regarding post–show Q&As, captioned, signed and relaxed performances, the use of smoke/haze and flashing lights, and age suitability. At the time of going to press, some dates may not yet be on sale.