Midlands

Noah and the Peacock

Jeff James

The Madness of George III

Alan Bennett

Birmingham REP: talks start on job losses

Birmingham REP has warned that 40% of its staff are facing redundancy—which means that more than 40 people could be out of a job.

Assembly Rooms to go, new arena for Derby

One of Derby’s major venues, the Assembly Rooms, is to be demolished and replaced with a new £45 million arena—six years after a fire in the plant room on top of its car park.

Emergency funds for Nottingham Playhouse

Nottingham Playhouse has been awarded £295,930 by Arts Council England to help ensure its financial security while it is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Vic postpones new play until April 2021

A new play based on the life of Staffordshire hero Neil “Nello” Baldwin, Marvellous, has been postponed by Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre until April 2021.

Hereford theatre gets £80,000 Arts Council grant

The Courtyard Hereford has received £80,000 from Arts Council England to protect its survival until September 2020.

Medieval murder-mystery musical at Buxton Fringe

A medieval story of murder, deception and love set in Chesterfield in the aftermath of a global pandemic is to be told at Buxton Fringe.

“Uplifting” message from Midlands venues

Two Midlands theatres joined venues across the UK in being lit up in red in a message of hope for the sector and solidarity with all freelancers, artists and event staff.

Peak Voices sing online for Buxton Fringe

Professional Derbyshire-based singing group Peak Voices is presenting an hour-long online production of their show One Song More as part of Buxton Fringe.

Cheltenham theatre welcomes rescue package

Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre has joined organisations across the country in welcoming the government’s announcement of a support package for the arts and cultural sector.

Birmingham REP looks forward to creating new shows

Birmingham REP has “wholeheartedly” welcomed the government’s £1.57 billion support package for the UK’s cultural organisations and says it can now look forward to creating new shows.

Gogol’s madman diary gets second Buxton reading

Damn Cheek Productions is to repeat its online reading of Kelvin Segger’s dramatisation of Nikolai Gogol’s Diary of a Madman as part of Buxton Fringe.

Coventry’s year of culture to begin in May 2021

Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture will begin in May 2021, with a programme including major international artistic events, world premières and commissions across theatre, music, dance, literature, comedy and visual art.

RSC gives thumbs up to government support package

The Royal Shakespeare Company has welcomed the government’s £1.57 billion support package to help protect theatres, galleries, museums and other cultural venues.

Landscape Jukebox celebrates Peak District beauty

A “theatrical project that investigates the different ways in which people think” and which is a celebration of the Peak District has been created especially for Buxton Fringe.

Crookes makes Buxton debut with improvised tap

Rebecca Crookes is to make her Buxton Fringe debut with Time to Tap, a tap performance with live music by Kyle Lamley.

New Perspectives delivers “postcard drama”

Nottingham-based New Perspectives has devised a novel way of reaching isolated audiences: through a drama written on a series of specially designed postcards.

Mansfield Palace: boss leaves after quarter of a century

Andrew Tucker, cultural services manager of Mansfield’s Palace Theatre, is to retire after 26 years’ service with the town’s district council.

West Midlands calls on government to fund arts

Arts organisations in the West Midlands have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden calling for “investment and funding” in the arts and a “revision of guidelines to provide clarity and permission for work to restart”.

Blackboard play is class act for Buxton Fringe

Blackboard Theatre is to present for Buxton Fringe a live video recording of a read-through of Special Measures, a tour of which was cut short due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Chance for writers to adapt Wheatle novel

Professional writers born, raised or based in the Midlands, are being invited to apply to adapt Alex Wheatle MBE’s novel Home Girl which is scheduled to run at Derby Theatre during summer 2021.

Three’s Company’s comedy podcast for Buxton Fringe

Three’s Company, which has been taking productions to Buxton Fringe for 16 years, is offering a new online comedy podcast for the 2020 festival.

Midsummer online festival hailed a “success”

Thousands of arts and culture lovers tuned in online to Midsummer Festival, a free one-day festival celebrating arts and culture in the West Midlands.

Bintley to judge BRB lockdown Choreography Challenge

Choreographer and former Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet Sir David Bintley will judge an online Choreography Challenge for students together with its creator, Brandon Lawrence.

Malvern Theatres’ £100,000 lifeline

Audiences and supporters have raised £100,000 for Malvern Theatres’ COVID-19 appeal—and the venue is looking to raise a similar amount before Christmas to ensure its viability.

“Highly unusual” Buxton Fringe goes ahead

Almost 90 entries have been received for the 2020 “highly unusual” Buxton Fringe, described by the organisers as a “wonderful show of faith, creativity and ingenuity from our loyal and tireless performers”.

Online platform set up for ill and disabled artists

Coventry-based disability arts organisation Radical Body has started an online platform designed to connect and support disabled and chronically ill artists and audiences.

Gogol’s madman diary brought to life at Buxton

Damn Cheek Productions is to present an online reading of Kelvin Segger’s dramatisation of Nikolai Gogol’s Diary of a Madman at Buxton Fringe.

Hussey clowns about in isolation at Buxton Fringe

Bath Spa University graduate Frank Hussey has entered his one-man online mini-series, A Clown Named Curly in isolation, for the Buxton Fringe.

Curve postpones Wizard of Oz until 2021

Leicester’s Curve theatre has announced “with great sadness” that its Christmas production of The Wizard of Oz has been postponed until 2021.

Warwick students take up challenge to save theatres

Students from the University of Warwick in Coventry have organised a national fundraising campaign to help support the arts industry.

RSC playmaking festival for schools goes online

More than 100 young people from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s associate schools programme are to share a series of original digital responses to Shakespeare’s plays.

Birmingham Opera goes online this summer

Birmingham Opera Company has announced productions to be shown online in the coming months, including Tippett’s The Ice Break, Stockhausen’s Mittwoch Aus Licht / Wednesday from Light and Verdi’s Othello.

Buxton International Festival goes online

Organisers of the 2020 Buxton International Festival have released details of a replacement digital season which has been curated by artistic director Adrian Kelly and Vicky Dawson, the book festival director.

Youngsters to take part in digital festival

Independent production studio China Plate and Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre are to stage a digital festival which has been programmed by, with and for 16- to 21-year-olds.

Revival: two theatres unite for online discussions

Nottingham Playhouse and Theatre Royal Stratford East are to co-produce The Revival, a series of online discussions reuniting the people behind some of the most popular productions at each theatre in recent years.

Vamos wins BBC Culture in Quarantine commission

Vamos Theatre, “the UK’s leading full mask theatre company”, has beaten off competition from more than 1,600 applicants to win a BBC Culture in Quarantine commission.

Home comforts as Oddsocks tackles Shakespeare’s Dream

Family-run touring theatre company Oddsocks Productions is to present a second Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, from its home.

Sci-fi drama: chance for emerging Midlands writers

Up to seven up-and-coming writers are to get the chance to work on a digital TV series, SeaView, an original science-fiction drama drawing on the experiences of working-class communities in the West Midlands.

Chauhan is Birmingham Opera Company music director

Conductor Alpesh Chauhan is to join Birmingham Opera Company as music director from 1 July 2020 and with artistic director Graham Vick will lead the company on its mission “to make great opera for all the people of Birmingham”.

New Perspectives releases Rudkin play cycle

East Midlands theatre company New Perspectives is to release PlacePrints, an audio cycle of short plays written by David Rudkin which have been recorded over the past four years.

Hamlet: RSC 2016 production to be shown on BBC Four

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2016 production of Hamlet featuring Paapa Essiedu in the title role will be broadcast on BBC Four as part of the Culture in Quarantine series on Sunday 21 June at 9PM.

New season of online work from Stan’s Cafe

Birmingham-based Stan’s Cafe has revealed a new season of work which will be available online including a new play and an updated version of a work which was originally staged in 2013.

The gardener shot my colleagues: two decades of reviewing the RSC

Colin Davison looks back on twenty years or more of reviewing the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford: the highlights, some low points, and a nod to his critical heroes.

A Great Night Out: David Tennant in Hamlet at the RSC

Theatres and producers are constantly looking at new ways of getting people through the doors for the first time as well as attracting younger audience members. In 2008, the Royal Shakespeare Company spectacularly achieved this: by offering David Tennant the part of Hamlet.