My Mother Said..., Still Alice, Dishoom!, Pop Music, Othello

My Mother Said I Never Should – tour starts 11 September

London Classic Theatre presents My Mother Said I Never Should by Manchester Evening News award-winning playwright Charlotte Keatley.

The company's artistic director, Michael Cabot, directs Felicity Houlbrooke, Fiz Marcus, Kathryn Ritchie and Connie Walker in this Manchester-set bittersweet story of love, jealousy and the price of freedom that starts in 1940 and comes through to the present day.

My Mother Said I Never Should visits Queen's Hall Arts Centre Hexham, Gala Theatre Durham, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Theatre Royal Windsor, New Vic Newcastle-under-Lyme, Blackpool Grand Theatre, Theatr Clwyd, The Brewhouse Taunton, New Theatre Royal Lincoln, Civic Theatre Chelmsford, Key Theatre Peterborough, Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne, Malvern Theatres and York Theatre Royal.

Still Alice – tour starts 12 September

Sharon Small reprises the role of Alice in Still Alice having played it at West Yorkshire Playhouse earlier this year.

Also in the cast are Eva Pope, Martin Marquez, Mark Armstrong, Ruth Ollman, Micah Balfour and Anna Andresen; David Grindley directs.

Adapted for the stage by Christine Mary Dunford from Lisa Genova’s best-selling novel, the story follows 50-year-old Alice Howland, a renowned linguistics professor at Harvard University as she battles with early-onset dementia and explores the effects of the disease on identity and relationships.

Genova’s novel has previously been adapted into a film.

Still Alice, which is produced by Michael Park, visits Sheffield Lyceum Theatre, Richmond Theatre, King’s Theatre Edinburgh, Norwich Theatre Royal, Yvonne Arnaud Guildford, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Liverpool Playhouse, Glasgow Theatre Royal and Festival Theatre Malvern.

Dishoom! – tour starts 12 September

Rifco Theatre Company, Watford Palace Theatre and Oldham Coliseum Theatre present the world première of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's Dishoom!.

Bhatti's credits include Behsharam (Shameless), Behud (Beyond Belief) and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning Behzti (Dishonour) which was closed after protests at Birmingham Rep in December 2004.

Amongst her writing credits for radio is BBC's The Archers.

Set in the summer of 1978, Simon should be looking forward to leaving school, but the National Front are on the streets. When his cousin, Baljit, comes to stay, she introduces him to the Bollywood classic Sholay, which inspires them to find their inner superheroes.

The cast is made up of Elijah Baker, Seema Bowri, Georgia Burnell, Omar Ibrahi, Gurkiran Kaur, Bilal Khan and James Mace.

Dishoom! is directed by Rifco Theatre Company artistic director Pravesh Kumar, the choreographer is Andy Kumar and the composer is Arun Ghosh. The show features the music from Bollywood hit Sholay.

Dishoom! visits Watford Palace Theatre, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Oldham Coliseum Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre and Derby Theatre.

Pop Music – tour starts 12 September

New play by Bruntwood Award-winner Anna Jordan, Pop Music, has its world première when it tours next month. This is the second of the playwright's works to start a tour in September; the other is The Unreturning.

With a soundtrack of pop classics, the story charts two wedding guests’ journey through thirty years of pop and has a cast made up of Katherine Kotz, Rakesh Boury and Ciaran Alexander Stewart who also provides British Sign Language interpretation.

Directed by joint artistic director of Paines Plough James Grieve, movement is by Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster and Elin Schofield is the Assistant Director.

Pop Music is presented by Paines Plough and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, in association with Latitude Festival; the production will have integrated British Sign Language and captioning at selected venues.

The show plays Latitude Festival, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Unity Theatre Liverpool, Key Theatre Peterborough, South Hill Park Bracknell, The Old Market Brighton, Trestle Arts Base St Albans, The Garage Norwich, CAST Doncaster, The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre Havant, The Edge Theatre & Arts Centre Manchester, Derby Theatre Derby, Selby Town Hall Selby, The Continental Preston, Arts Centre Washington, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, East Riding Theatre Beverly, Marlowe Theatre Canterbury, Phoenix Theatre and Arts Centre Bordon, Marine Theatre Lyme Regis, Electric Theatre Guildford, Square Chapel Arts Centre Halifax, Mill Arts Centre Banbury, Studio 3 Arts Barking, Norden Farm Maidenhead, Artrix Bromsgrove, The Maltings Theatre Berwick Upon Tweed and Rosehill Theatre Whitehaven.

Othello – tour starts 18 September

English Touring Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory present this tour of Othello with Victor Oshin making his professional stage début in the title role.

Alongside Oshin is Kitty Archer as Desdemona and Paul McEwan as Iago who are joined by Philip Correia, Naby Dakhli, James Ellis, James Godden, and Kelly Price, Chris Bianchi, Hayat Kamille, Brian Lonsdale and John Sandeman.

The director is Richard Twyman, the movement director is Lanre Malaolu, fight director is John Sandeman and the composer and sound designer is Giles Thomas.

For this production, ETT will run The Othello Project which sees journalist and activist Abdul-Rehman Malik curate a multi-art festival at each venue looking at the play's contemporary relevance, championing cross-cultural dialogue amongst communities and giving a platform to Muslim artists.

Continuing its commitment to make touring theatre accessible to young people and marking its 25th anniversary, tickets to Othello are £2.50 for young people aged 25 and under.

Othello visits Oxford Playhouse, Harrogate Theatre, Cast in Doncaster, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, Oldham Coliseum Theatre, Wolsey Theatre Ipswich, Warwick Arts Centre, Northern Stage and Lighthouse Poole.