Rock You, Beautiful Laundrette, Pirate Cruncher, Femme Fatale, Escape Act

We Will Rock You – tour starts 19 September

Mega-hit We Will Rock You, the juke-box musical featuring the songs of Queen, is to tour the UK and Ireland.

Ian McIntosh will play Galileo, Elena Skye will play Scaramouche and Jennifer O’Leary will play Killer Queen.

They are joined by Michael McKell, Adam Strong, David-Michael Johnson and Amy Di Bartolomeo, with Laura Ava-Scott, Emily Olive Boyd, Jack Chambers, Louis Clarke-Clare, Victoria Collins, Christopher D Hunt, Anna Davey, Joanne Harper, Crystal Leah, Edward Leigh, Kate Leiper, Andres Quero Marin, Sam Robinson, Sjoerd van der Meer, Jacob Fearey and Ellie Mitchell completing the cast.

We Will Rock You visits Bromley Churchill Theatre, Ipswich Regent Theatre, Sheffield Lyceum, Edinburgh Playhouse, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Derry Millennium, Dublin Bord Gais Theatre, Southend Cliffs Pavilion, Leeds Grand Theatre, Nottingham Concert Hall, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Glasgow Theatre Royal, Blackpool Opera House, Hull New Theatre, Southampton Mayflower Theatre, Manchester Palace, Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre, Bradford Alhambra, Canterbury Marlowe, Oxford New Theatre, Llandudno Venue Cymru, Bristol Hippodrome, Milton Keynes Theatre, Liverpool Empire, Cardiff Millennium Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome, Norwich Theatre Royal, Northampton Derngate, Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre, Stoke Regent Theatre, Bromley Churchill Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Southend Cliffs Pavilion, Ipswich Regent Theatre and Reading Hexagon.

My Beautiful Laundrette – tour starts 20 September

Hanif Kureishi's culture-clash comedy My Beautiful Laundrette has been adapted as a stage musical with British pop duo Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe writing the music.

The pair have previously written musical Closer to Heaven, cabaret show MUSIK and ballet The Most Incredible Thing.

In addition to the Oscar-nominated My Beautiful Laundrette, Kureishi has written the screenplays of Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, London Kills Me, The Mother and Venus. He is also an award-winning novelist and writer of non-fiction.

Set in the 1980s, My Beautiful Laundrette tells the story of two school-friends who renovate a laundrette and fall in love with each other.

Omar Malik plays Omar whose uncle owns the laundrette, Jonny Fines plays his punk school-friend Johnny and Gordon Warnecke, who played Omar in Stephen Frears’s 1985 film, plays Omar’s Father.

The cast is completed by Paddy Daly, Kammy Darweish, Hareet Deol, Nicole Jebeli, Balvinder Sopal and Cathy Tyson. Nikolai Foster directs.

It is a Curve, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham and Leeds Playhouse co-production and the show plays these venues and Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

The Pirate Cruncher – tour starts 21 September

Jonny Duddle's bestselling picture book has been adapted for the stage by Toby Hulse.

This comically gruesome adventure of pirates, monsters and the ingenuity of one small girl and her dastardly nemesis Captain Purplebeard has music and songs by multi-award-winning folk musician Jon Boden.

It is directed by Joel Scott Director and presented by Goat and Monkey.

The Pirate Cruncher visits Connaught Theatre Worthing, Cornerstone Arts Centre Didcot, Arts Depot London, Millfield Theatre London, The New Wolsey Theatre Suffolk, The Marlowe Canterbury, MAC Birmingham, The Berry Theatre Southampton and The Old Market Brighton.

Femme Fatale – tour starts 21 September

This 1960s set play by Polly Wiseman envisions a meeting between radical feminist activist Valerie Solanas and actress, junkie and Velvet Underground singer Nico.

Darkly comic, it reveals now much further feminism still has to go.

The work uses live music and Super 8 film in a cabaret setting. Wiseman plays Nico and Sophie Olivia plays Solanas and they are directed by Nathan Evans.

Femme Fatale is presented by female-led company Fireraisers and tours Sussex, visiting KINO-TEATR St Leonards, Leaf Hall Community Arts Centre Eastbourne, Depot Lewes and The Latest Brighton, before running at Omnibus Theatre London.

The Escape Act—A Holocaust Memoir – tour starts 23 September

Set in WWII, The Escape Act—A Holocaust Memoir is based on the true story of Jewish acrobat, Irene Danner-Storm, who escaped the Nazi concentration camps by hiding in a German circus.

This one-woman piece uses performance, circus and puppetry to tell its poignant story of devastation, kindness and survival.

The writer and performer is Stav Meishar. The director is Shoshana Bass, puppet design is by Valerie Meiss, music is by Maria Pugnetti and projection design is by Chris Lince.

The Escape ActA Holocaust Memoir is produced by Dreamcoat Experience and Petite Mort Productions. The tour is accompanied by a public talk about the history of circus Jews in Europe between the World Wars, interactive circus and drama workshops for all ages and Q&As.

The Escape Act—A Holocaust Memoir visits Jackson’s Lane London, Circomedia Bristol, CircusMASH Birmingham and The Lowry Salford.