Midlands

The Winter's Tale

William Shakespeare

Full programme as Malvern Theatres reopen

6 May 2021

Malvern Theatres has announced a full programme of reopening events including a world premiere and work from two of Britain’s greatest living playwrights.

Derby’s free tickets offer for Wind in the Willows

6 May 2021

Derby Theatre is to stage Toby Hulse’s adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows in a marquee on the city’s Market Place.

Audio installation sets up in Northampton

6 May 2021

Carbon Theatre has produced an audio installation by Northampton artist Helen Crevel, Seedling, focused on “potential motherhood, environmental responsibility and consumerism”.

Nottingham pulls strings to bring back puppet festival

4 May 2021

Three years after its debut which was a “huge success”, Nottingham Puppet Festival is to return in summer 2021 with a “vibrant and fun” programme of puppetry.

Julie and Frances join Nottingham Playhouse project

4 May 2021

Julie Hesmondhalgh and Frances de le Tour are among the actors taking part in a new Nottingham Playhouse digital theatre project.

Northampton venue offers free audio tour

30 April 2021

Four actors appear in The Whisper Tree, a free audio tour which takes families on a journey from Northampton’s Royal and Derngate into the town’s Becket’s Park.

Dance festival to return to Birmingham

30 April 2021

Birmingham International Dance Festival returns in 2021 with an online summer edition followed by an autumn edition with a live outdoor programme.

Live appoints new Artistic Director

29 April 2021

Newcastle’s Live Theatre has announced the appointment of a new Artistic Director / Joint CEO, Jack McNamara.

Baroness is first woman to lead RSC board

29 April 2021

Shriti Vadera has been appointed the new chair of the Royal Shakespeare Company—the first woman and first person of colour to lead the RSC board.

Two-phase reopening for Birmingham Hippodrome

28 April 2021

A major exhibition returns for an eight-week run before the building becomes a theatre again for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black's musical Tell Me on a Sunday.

New Vic back with two “unique experiences”

28 April 2021

Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre is to welcome audiences back in summer 2021 with a piece of digital theatre designed for in-the-round and a promenade production for families.

Nurse’s memoir adaptation to go on tour

27 April 2021

A stage adaptation of Christie Watson’s memoir The Language of Kindness is to have its première in Coventry before a short tour.

Nottingham venue “champing at bit” to reopen

25 April 2021

Nottingham’s Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall are keen to open to the public again as the venue announces a series of events from June until Christmas 2021.

Curve to present staged concert of Rent

25 April 2021

Leicester’s Curve is to stage Jonathan Larson’s rock musical Rent: The Concert in-the-round in the theatre’s specially adapted auditorium.

RSC invites audiences to rehearsals in summer programme

23 April 2021

The Royal Shakespeare Company's summer 2021 programme includes a rescheduled A Comedy of Errors and Henry VI Part 1 with artistic director Gregory Doran inviting audiences to online rehearsals.

Albany to get festive with A Christmas Carol

22 April 2021

Coventry’s Albany Theatre is to present its own adaption of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at Christmas 2021.

Rita is coming to Newcastle

20 April 2021

The 40th anniversary tour of Educating Rita will finally reach Newcastle this year.

Gilbert and Sullivan Festival to return

20 April 2021

The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, which had to be cancelled in 2020, is to go ahead in 2021, starting at Buxton Opera House and moving to the Royal Hall, Harrogate.

Foley to direct own play in Birmingham REP anniversary season

20 April 2021

Birmingham REP artistic director Sean Foley has announced the programme for the 50th anniversary season of the theatre in its current home on Centenary Square.

Lloyd Webber concert is highlight of Curve season

18 April 2021

A concert inspired by the life and career of Andrew Lloyd Webber and two nights of work curated by resident creatives are highlights of a socially distanced season at Leicester’s Curve.

Odedra's solo Rising

16 April 2021

Aakash Odedra's solo show Rising, with choreography by Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Odedra, will open at Curve Leicester before touring.

Sexy Lamp has switch-on in digital première

16 April 2021

Katie Arnstein’s Sexy Lamp which “shines a light on sexism in the acting industry” is to have its digital première at Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre and will also be available on demand.

Curve’s Sunset Boulevard to benefit bursary in Nairn’s name

15 April 2021

Leicester’s Curve theatre is making its streamed production of Sunset Boulevard – at Home available to view online again and all money raised will benefit the Andy Nairn Bursaries in Technical Theatre.

Arts powerhouse building completed in Coventry

15 April 2021

Coventry-based live events production company Imagineer commissioned an aerial dance to mark the completion of building works on the £2.5 million Daimler Powerhouse Creation Centre.

Writers’ encouragement award for Theatre Absolute

15 April 2021

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain has awarded Coventry-based Theatre Absolute an Olwen Wymark Award for “exceptional encouragement of theatre writing”.

Production charts Northampton’s new town status

14 April 2021

A series of arts, heritage and community events, 60 Miles by Road or Rail, is back on track and will culminate in a new theatre production at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate.

Date for BBC broadcast of RSC’s The Winter’s Tale

14 April 2021

A filmed adaptation of The Winter's Tale is to be broadcast on BBC Four, marking the first time in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s history that a production has had a televised world première.

Cast revealed for musical theatre online festival

14 April 2021

A “spectacular company of international stars” has been confirmed for Paul Taylor-Mills’ annual festival of new musical theatre, MTFestUK 2021.

Applications open for online performance courses

14 April 2021

New Earth is offering a five-week online performance course for British East and South East Asians based in the south of England, the Midlands and the North West.

National Youth Theatre to stage summer tour

13 April 2021

The National Youth Theatre has announced plans for its REP Company’s first national tour which will feature two new shows co-produced by Northampton’s Royal and Derngate.

Rosie Kay première to reopen Birmingham REP

11 April 2021

Birmingham choreographer Rosie Kay’s return to the stage with the première of her new solo work will be the first performance when Birmingham REP reopens after lockdown.

More videos released from free Northampton musical

11 April 2021

Royal and Derngate is to release the next four videos from a new musical, On Hostile Ground, inspired by the stories of people “affected by the government’s hostile environment policy”.

Hippodrome and Rambert to broadcast two new works

8 April 2021

Birmingham Hippodrome and Rambert have revealed that they will join together to broadcast two new dance works to audiences across the world, Summer Livestream, in July 2021.

New dates as Grease revs up for 2021 tour

8 April 2021

Producers of a new tour of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's musical Grease have rescheduled its 2021 dates which will start at Leicester’s Curve in July.

Midlands theatre in 2020

3 January 2021

Steve Orme summarises the year in theatre in the Midlands.