Bullish, Vulcan 7, Kinky Boots, Dirty Dancing
Bullish – tour starts 19 September
An ensemble of queer, trans and drag performers present Minotaur-myth-exploding show Bullish which takes the half-man, half-bull as a symbol of otherness and fluid identity.
Co-created by Lucy J Skilbeck it comes from the creators of the triple award-winning Joan, Milk Presents.
As well as touring independently, Bullish also tours as part of a new initiative from Camden People’s Theatre to tour a selection of artists from its Come As You Are Festival.
This hopes to build lasting relationships between the venues and their local LGBTQIA+ community through accompanying activity including a scratch night featuring local LGBTQIA+ artists and a panel discussion.
When playing as part of the Come As You Are Festival, two other shows will play alongside Bullish and a photographic exhibition will be presented in the preceding week.
Bullish will be captioned by the Difference Engine which sends captions to a device.
Bullish visits venues in Petersfield, Southampton, Reading, Oxford, Lowestoft, Norwich, Wolverhampton, Derby, Manchester, Hull, Cambridge, Halifax, Exeter, Cardiff and Poole. It will also tour as part of Come As You Are in Wakefield, Derby, Peterborough, Exeter and Poole.
Vulcan 7 – tour starts 19 September
A new comedy written by Adrian Edmondson and Nigel Planer, Vulcan 7, has its world première next month.
The pair, famous for BBC television's BRIT award-winning cult show The Young Ones, also star in the comedy which is directed by Soho Theatre artistic director Steven Marmion. The cast is completed by Lois Chimimba.
Edmondson and Planer who have extensive acting and writing credits play two sixty-something actors who had been friends at drama college. They meet up on a film set where sparks fly but old wounds being opened could be the least of their problems.
Jonathan Church Productions and Theatre Royal Bath Productions in association with Yvonne Arnaud Theatre.
Vulcan 7 visits Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre , Newcastle Theatre Royal, Theatre Royal Bath, Richmond Theatre, Malvern Festival Theatre and King’s Theatre Edinburgh.
Kinky Boots – tour starts 19 September
Kinky Boots, the winner of many major best musical awards, tours with Callum Francis as Lola until 15 December with Kayi Ushe taking over the role. Francis won the 2017 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Musical when he played Lola in the Australian Tour.
Ushe has stage credits that include A Little Night Music, Motown the Musical, Wonderland, The Book of Mormon and Crazy for You.
Joel Harper-Jackson will play Charlie. His credits include Pieces of String, The Rise and Fall of Orpheus, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Jesus Christ Superstar and Beautiful—The Carole King Musical.
Coronation Street's Paula Lane will play Lauren.
Also in the cast are Demitri Lampra, Adam Price, Helen Ternent with Charlie Allen, Nicola Avino, Lizzie Bea, Joshua St Clair, Connor Collins, Daniel Conway, Shaun Dalton, John Dempsey, Niki Evans, Mary Fox, Scarlet Gabriel, Damon Gould, George Grayson, Portia Harry, Joshua Lovell, Jacob McIntosh, Chileshe Mondelle, Alfie Parker, Fred Smiley, Toyan Thomas-Browne, Andy Watkins and Jason Winter.
The show is based on the film of the same name; it has a book by La Cage aux Folles writer Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by pop artist Cyndi Lauper.
Kinky Boots has direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell and musical supervision and orchestration by Stephen Oremus. It is produced by Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig and Playful Productions in association with Cameron Mackintosh.
Kinky Boots visits Royal and Derngate Northampton, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Manchester Opera House, Edinburgh Playhouse, Marlowe Theatre Canterbury, Regent Theatre Stoke-on-Trent, Venue Cymru Llandudno, New Theatre Oxford, Bristol Hippodrome, Birmingham Hippodrome, Liverpool Empire, Leeds Grand Theatre, His Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen, Kings Theatre Glasgow, Theatre Royal Nottingham, Lyceum Theatre Sheffield, Sunderland Empire, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff and Mayflower Theatre Southampton. The production in London's West End runs at the Adelphi Theatre until 12 January.
Dirty Dancing – tour starts 20 September
Dirty Dancing—The Classic Story On Stage is something of a film to stage phenomenon opening in London's West End with record-breaking advance sales of what became a five year run, returning in 2011 and consistently breaking box office records in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and throughout Europe.
Written by Eleanor Bergstein who wrote the script for the 1987 film, Dirty Dancing—The Classic Story On Stage features much dialogue from the film and the hit songs "Hungry Eyes", "Hey! Baby", "Do You Love Me?" and "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life".
Kira Malou and Michael O’Reilly, who is making his professional début, lead the cast made up of Simone Covele, Lynden Edwards, Lori Haley Fox, Lizzie Ottley, Alex Wheeler, Jack McKenzie, Greg Fossard, Colin Charles, Mark Faith and Sian Gentle-Green.
Completing the cast are Amelia Armstrong, Tom Bowen, Shaquille Brush, Stan Doughty, Katie Eccles, Millie Hood, Kieran Kuypers, Ben Mabberley, Sophia McAvoy, Alessia McDermott, Carlie Milner, Oliver Ramsdale, Ashley Rumble, Miles Russell and Austin Wilks.
The show is produced by Karl Sydow and Joye Entertainment in association with Lionsgate, Magic Hour Productions and Triple A Entertainment Group.
Dirty Dancing visits Theatre Royal Brighton, Dartford Orchard Theatre, York Grand Opera House, Stoke Regent Theatre, Hastings White Rock Theatre, Southend Cliffs Pavilion, Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre, Preston Guild Hall, London New Wimbledon Theatre, Plymouth Pavilions, Oxford New Theatre, Gateshead Sage, Bradford Alhambra Theatre, High Wycombe Swan, Torquay Princess Theatre, Swansea Grand Theatre, Bromley Churchill Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Woking New Victoria Theatre, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Ipswich Regent Theatre, Manchester Palace Theatre, Guildford G Live, Liverpool Empire, Grimsby Auditorium, Glasgow King’s Theatre and Bristol Hippodrome with further dates to be announced.