Shy Manifesto, East Belfast Boy / Every Day I Wake Up Hopeful, Mousetrap
The Shy Manifesto – tour starts 29 January
Bittersweet coming-of-age comedy drama The Shy Manifesto is written by Michael Ross whose credits include Happy To Help and Work Makes You Free.
Theo Ancient, whose credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, plays 17-year-old Callum who is proud to be shy and thinks what the world needs right now is some more self-restraint. As he delivers his manifesto, he looks at adolescence, isolation, self-loathing and sexuality, but what is the impact of the previous night's drunken escapade?
Cat Robey directs.
Ancient is leading workshops on the themes from the play for young people.
The Shy Manifesto is presented by Joe C Brown and Anthony Hollis Productions. The tour visits Live Theatre Newcastle, The Mill Arts Centre Banbury, Greenwich Theatre London, The Old Court Windsor, Harlow Playhouse, The Place Bedford, The Hawth Crawley, Exeter Phoenix, Trinity Arts Centre Gainsborough, The Met Manchester, Bristol Alma Tavern Theatre, The Marlowe Canterbury, Portsmouth Guildhall, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford, The Old Joint Stock Birmingham, Theatr Clwyd, The Core Theatre Solihull, Arena Theatre Wolverhampton, Hazlitt Theatre Maidstone and Harrogate Theatre.
East Belfast Boy and Every Day I Wake Up Hopeful (double bill) – tour starts 29 January
A double bill of contrasting plays about masculinity and male mental health is to tour the island of Ireland.
Presented by Prime Cut Productions, one of Ireland’s leading independent theatre companies, the two works are both solo plays by Northern Irish writers, Fintan Brady’s East Belfast Boy and John Patrick Higgins’s Every Day I Wake Up Hopeful.
Actor Ryan McParland performs the first, a spoken word piece by set to an original soundtrack by DJ Phil Kieran, directed by the company's artistic director, Emma Jordan, with choreography by Oona Doherty.
For the second, company associate director Rhiann Jeffrey directs Simon O’Gorman as Malachy a man facing an epic mid-life crisis in this confessional story.
The double bill tours to The Mac Belfast, Roscommon Arts Centre, The Everyman Cork, An Grianán Theatre Letterkenny, The Linenhall Arts Centre Castlebar, Belltable Arts Centre Limerick, The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre Armagh and Project Arts Centre Dublin.
The Mousetrap – tour starts 29 January
Whilst Agatha Christie’s murder mystery continues its 67-year-long run in London's West End, a major tour of The Mousetrap starts in January with Only Fools And Horses' and EastEnders' Gwyneth Strong in the role of Mrs Boyle.
The cast, directed by Gareth Armstrong, also includes David Alcock, Geoff Arnold, Nick Biadon, Lewis Chandler, John Griffiths, Harriett Hare and Saskia Vaigncourt-Strallen.
The Mousetrap is presented by Adam Spiegel and Stephen Waley-Cohen.
The Mousetrap visits Yvonne Arnaud Guildford, Royal & Derngate Northampton, Sheffield Lyceum, Mercury Theatre Colchester, Southport Theatre and Convention Centre, Sunderland Empire, Wycombe Swan Theatre High Wycombe, Churchill Theatre Bromley, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, Oxford Playhouse, Crewe Lyceum, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Hawth Theatre Crawley, Darlington Hippodrome, Northcott Theatre Exeter, Lowry Theatre Salford, Grand Opera House York, Edinburgh Playhouse, Liverpool Empire, Southend Palace Theatre, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Bristol Hippodrome, Stoke Regent Theatre, Brighton Theatre Royal, Norwich Theatre Royal, Festival Theatre Malvern, Bournemouth Pavilion, Dartford Orchard Theatre, Eastbourne Devonshire Park Theatre and New Theatre Cardiff with further venues to be announced. Gwyneth Strong plays Mrs Boyle for the first 24 weeks of the tour only.
Check web sites for information regarding post–show Q&As, captioned, signed and relaxed performances, and age suitability. At the time of going to press, some dates may not yet be on sale.