Midlands productions

Published: 2 June 2013
Reporter: Steve Orme

George Orwell’s 1984 is at Buxton Opera House on Monday
Verity Rushworth as Penny Lane in Carnaby Street at Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre from Monday until Saturday
Damian Williams as Tommy Cooper at Lichfield Garrick on Tuesday Credit: Yvan Fabing

Sell a Door Theatre Company takes Matthew Dunster’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 to Buxton Opera House on Monday.

Carnaby Street, a new musical set against the backdrop of London’s West End in the 1960s and featuring Aaron Sidwell as Jumpin’ Jack and Verity Rushworth as Penny Lane swings into Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre from Monday until Saturday.

Wolverhampton Grand gets into the spirit of Ghost the Musical from Monday until Saturday 15 June.

Damian Williams turns into one of Britain’s best-loved comedians in Tom Green’s play Being Tommy Cooper at Lichfield Garrick on Tuesday.

Michael Praed, Carolyn Pickles, Teddy Kempner, Daniel Boys and Sophie Bould experience High Society at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal from Tuesday until Saturday.

Birmingham Royal Ballet performs Peter Wright’s production of Delibes’ Coppelia at Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday until Saturday.

Birmingham Stage Company’s Horrible Histories with tales of Terrible Tudors and Vile Victorians, dredges up the past at Buxton Opera House from Wednesday until Sunday.

John Challis, who played the most successful regular at the Nag’s Head in the TV series Only Fools and Horses, tells stories from his career in Only Fools and Boycie in the Darwin Suite of Derby’s Assembly Rooms on Friday.

Birmingham’s Blue Orange Theatre stages Noel Cowards Blithe Spirit from Friday until Saturday 15 June.

A “harrowing yet at times hilarious tale exploring the legality and morality of the electronic sweatshops in China where iPhones are manufactured”, The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs rings the changes at Derby Theatre on Saturday.

Organised Chaos Productions stages a double bill of Ned Hopkins’ A Lot of it About and Broken by Ella Greenhill at Buxton Pavilion Arts Centre Studio Theatre on Saturday.

Intoto Dance presents works by Neville Campbell, founding director of Tumbuka Dance Company in Zimbabwe; Ben Duke, co-founder of award-winning Lost Dog and associate artist of South East Dance; and international choreographer and performer Jorge Crecis when it makes its first visit to Artrix, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire on Saturday.

Alan Plater's play with music Blonde Bombshells of 1943, a co-production between Oldham Coliseum and Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic, continues at the Staffordshire theatre-in-the-round until Saturday.

Irish playwright Brian Friel’s award-winning Dancing at Lughnasa continues at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate until Saturday 15 June.

Tupele Dorgu plays Rita and Tom Roberts is Frank in Willy Russell’s Educating Rita which continues in the Studio at Lichfield Garrick until Saturday 22 June.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, Hamlet and As You Like It both continue in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until Saturday 28 September while in the Swan revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus continues until 26 October.

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