Muvvahood, Letters To The Moon, As You Like It, Fat Friends

Muvvahood – tour starts 3 November

Muvvahood is a part-stand-up, part TED talk and part verbatim look at what it really means to be a single mother which has a short tour of London venues over November and December.

Across the country, 1 in 4 families are single-parent-led of which 91% are single mothers, the majority of which far from conform with popular perception.

Libby Liburd’s work looks at the stereotype of the single mother, where it came from and the reality of it, from her own experiences and that of other single mothers.

Muvvahood is written by performed by Stratford Circus Arts Centre associate artist Libby Liburd and directed by Julie Addy.

The show will be accompanied by an initiative to help local parents access the show, including crèches and relaxed performances, with many performances followed post-show workshops with single mothers.

After a run at London's Park Theatre Muvvahood visits Popular Union, Mirth Marvel & Maud and the Pleasance.

Posting Letters To The Moon – tour starts 4 November

The wartime correspondence of actress Celia Johnson with her husband, Peter Fleming, is to be read by their daughter, Lucy Fleming, and her real life husband, Simon Williams.

Posting Letters To The Moon is a funny and touching window on life in the 1940s.

Celia Johnson was an established actress at the outbreak of war and the letters cover her professional life which included working with David Lean and Noël Coward and on the 1945 film classic Brief Encounter, as well as her domestic life with evacuated children and rationing.

Johnson's husband was the explorer and writer Peter Fleming, brother to the writer Ian Fleming. He was posted to India and the Far East during the war "as far away as the moon" working for Military Intelligence.

Posting Letters To The Moon visits Kenton Theatre Henley-on-Thames, Jermyn St Theatre London and The Hurlingham Club London with next year's dates to be announced.

As You Like It – tour starts 7 November

Shared Experience tours for the first time in three years with its major new production of As You Like It which has enjoyed a run at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick.

One of Shakespeare’s comedies of mistaken identity and love is here set in the modern world where young Rosalind and her friend Celia find themselves pawns in a power struggle.

Kate Saxon directs a cast made up of Layo-Christina Akinlude, Adam Buchanan, Matthew Darcy, Josie Dunn, Nathan Hamilton, Jessica Hayles, Richard Keightley, Matthew Mellalieu, Alex Parry, James Sheldon and Izabella Urbanowicz.

The play features composition by Richard Hammarton.

The tour of As You Like It visits Richmond Theatre, Oxford Playhouse, Connaught Theatre Worthing, New Theatre Royal Portsmouth and Broadway Theatre Letchworth.

Fat Friends—The Musical – tour starts 7 November

Fat Friends—The Musical is an adaptation of the television show of the same name by its multi award-winning writer Kay Mellor who also directs.

The music is composed by Nicholas Lloyd Webber with musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Simon Lee and choreography by Karen Bruce.

Jodie Prenger leads the cast as Kelly Stevenson. Prenger won BBC1's I'd Do Anything to scoop the part of Nancy in Cameron Mackintosh's revival of Oliver! in London's West End. Since then, she has played many leading musical theatre roles and made many television appearances.

Former England cricket captain and star of SKY’s League of Their Own Freddie Flintoff makes his stage début as Kevin Chadwick opposite Prenger.

The X Factor winning Sam Bailey plays Betty, with award-winning comedian and actress Elaine C Smith taking the role for the three Scottish dates in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Star of Emmerdale and The Royal Natalie Anderson plays Lauren.

Fat Friends—The Musical visits Grand Theatre Leeds, Churchill Theatre Bromley, Theatre Royal Newcastle, New Theatre Hull, Mayflower Theatre Southampton, Lyceum Sheffield, Cliffs Pavilion Southend, Theatre Milton Keynes, Theatre Royal Norwich, Opera House Manchester, Theatre Royal Nottingham, New Alexandra Theatre Birmingham, Orchard Theatre Dartford, Playhouse Edinburgh, Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff, Kings Theatre Glasgow, Alhambra Theatre Bradford, His Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen and Winter Gardens Blackpool.