Rachel Tucker, Tom Molineaux, Combustion, No Dogs, No Indians
Rachel Tucker – tour starts 13 May
Musical theatre performer Rachel Tucker embarks on her first solo tour with an evening of musical theatre favourites with jazz and soul classics.
Tucker was first seen as a finalist on the BBC's casting contest I’d Do Anything. Since then she has played the role of Elphaba in Wicked for longer than any other actress in the production’s history and she made her Broadway debut in Sting's The Last Ship.
The tour takes Rachel Tucker to MAC Belfast, Gate Theatre Cardiff, Gala Theatre Durham, Grand Theatre Lancaster, The Apex Bury St Edmund’s, Capitol Theatre Horsham, Live At Zédel London and Pizza Express Live Birmingham.
Tom Molineaux – tour starts 17 May
Tom Molineaux is a new play by Offie-nominated playwright Tom Green which follows the true story of Tom Molineaux who rose to become one of the greatest heroes of bare knuckle boxing.
Born a slave, Molineaux fought his way to freedom arriving in London in 1810 only to face poverty and prejudice, going on to fight English champion Tom Cribb.
Tom Molineaux visits Wandsworth Fringe, Library Theatre Darwen, Woodville Theatre Gravesend, Jack Studio Theatre London and GLYPT London.
Combustion – tour starts 17 May – world première
Combustion is presented by AIK Productions with Tara Arts.
Asif Khan's début play about a young British Muslim living in Bradford has two London dates—the Tara theatre and Arcola Theatre—prior to touring.
Combustion is a comic drama set in the month of Ramadan in the lead-up to a march by far-right nationalists.
Khan is a member of the Tamasha Playwrights Group and has recently been named in the recent BBC New Talent Hotlist 2017.
Nona Shepphard directs a cast that includes Mitesh Soni, Beruce Khan, Rez Kempton, Shireen Farkhoy amd Nigel Hastings.
After playing Tara theatre and Arcola Theatre, Combustion visits Norwich Arts Centre, RADA Festival, Gielgud Theatre, Theatre Royal Margate, Queen's Hall Arts, The Customs House and Bradford Literature Festival.
No Dogs, No Indians – tour starts 17 May
Penned in the Margins' No Dogs, No Indians interweaves fictional events with the true story of a young woman's attack on an all-whites club with a sign that reads 'No Dogs, No Indians'.
Komal Amin plays the heroine with Archana Ramaswamy, Shyamal/Ananda, Omar and Ashraf Ejjbair.
The play is written by Siddhartha Bose and looks at three generations following Independence after 350 years of the British Empire in India.
The play is directed by Russell Bender. It was commissioned by Brighton Festival, Southbank Centre, Live Theatre, GemArts, Writers' Centre Norwich and Norwich Arts Centre.
The show plays Brighton Festival, Alchemy Festival, Norwich Arts Centre and Live Theatre Newcastle, with other venues to be announced.