Midlands productions

Published: 20 May 2012
Reporter: Steve Orme

Murder on the NileThe Agatha Christie Company featuring Kate O’Mara, Susie Amy, Chloe Newsome, Ben Nealon and Mark Wynter investigates Murder on the Nile at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton from tomorrow (Monday) until Saturday.

Ali Bastian, Stefan Booth, Tupele Dorgu and Bernie Nolan will give Chicago plenty of razzle dazzle at De Montfort Hall, Leicester from tomorrow until Saturday.

Lady in the VanHull Truck’s presentation of Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van tours to Curve, Leicester from Tuesday until Saturday.

Connie Fisher stars in Leonard Bernstein’s musical comedy Wonderful Town at Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday until Saturday.

Sisters Gillian and Kim Taylforth appear for the first time together on stage in Louise Roche’s Girls Night which visits Stoke’s Regent Theatre from Tuesday until Saturday.

Chris Larner’s thought-provoking play about how he accompanied his chronically ill ex-wife to Switzerland’s Dignitas clinic, An Instinct for Kindness is at mac, Birmingham on Wednesday.

Derby’s Guildhall Theatre hosts a Harold Pinter double bill, The Dumb Waiter and The Lover, on Wednesday and Thursday.

Pay what you think the show is worth when Hannah Ringham’s Free Show (bring money) visits the studio at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Ugly SpiritOne of the first commissions for Unlimited—celebrating arts and culture by disabled and deaf artists for the Cultural Olympiad—Russell Barr’s The Ugly Spirit will be performed by David Hoyle at Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre from Wednesday until Friday.

Two Gents Productions presents Vakomana Vaviri ve Zimbabwe or Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare at the Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham on Thursday.

A new jazz opera telling the story of Negro League baseball players whose talents went unacknowledged while their jazz compatriots reached stardom by defining a new art form, Shadowball is at The Drum, Birmingham on Thursday and Friday.

Swan LakeThe Vienna Festival Ballet dances into Lichfield Garrick with Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake from Thursday until Saturday.

As part of Leicester’s Spark Children’s Arts Festival, a new adaptation by Peter Rumney of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels will premiere at Curve, Leicester from Thursday until Saturday, 2 June.

An evening of “comedy, storytelling, performance and projection”, MAN is a Citizen598 presentation at Derby’s Guildhall Theatre on Friday.

Rona Munro’s comedy about a family winning the holiday of a lifetime on a scratch card, Stick Granny on the Roof Rack will be performed by Fiona Knowles in Buxton Pavilion Arts Centre Studio on Friday and Saturday.

Combining acrobatics, modern dance, martial arts and many other Chinese elements, Cirque du Ciel’s ShangHi swings into Buxton Opera House on Friday and Saturday.

John Malkovich stars in The Infernal Comedy, a “stage play for baroque orchestra, singers and actor”, based on the real-life story of convicted serial killer Jack Unterweger, at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Saturday.

We Love You CityCoventry Belgrade’s production We Love You City, which is getting a replay in the theatre’s B2 auditorium to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Coventry City’s winning the FA Cup, continues until Saturday.

A new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd continues at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday, 9 June.

Northampton Royal and Derngate’s new version of Euripides’ Greek tragedy The Bacchae continues at the Northampton Chronicle and Echo printing press rooms on Earl Street in the town until Saturday, 30 June while Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding opens on the Royal stage on Friday and also continues until 30 June.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, Richard III and King John both continue in the Swan until 15 September.

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