Midlands productions

Published: 25 March 2018
Reporter: Steve Orme

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at Lichfield Garrick
Jacob James Beswick (Pinkie), Dorian Simpson (Dallow), Marc Graham (Cubitt) and Angela Bain (Spicer) in Brighton Rock at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham Credit: Karl Andre Photography
Maggic McCarthy and Carli Norris in Turn of the Screw at Malvern Theatres Credit: Robert Workman

Opera and Ballet International presents the Ellen Kent production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Derngate, Northampton on Monday.

The weight is over for audiences at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham when Jodie Prenger, Sam Bailey, Natasha Hamilton and Kevin Kennedy feature in Kay Mellor’s Fat Friends the Musical from Monday until Saturday.

Mischief Theatre’s The Play That Goes Wrong should have a calamitous week at Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday until Saturday.

Derby-born Gwen Taylor plays Lady Bracknell and Susan Penhaligon is Miss Prism in the Original Theatre Company’s tour of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at Lichfield Garrick from Tuesday until Saturday.

Bryony Lavery’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock visits the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham from Tuesday until Saturday.

The world première of a new adaptation of Henry James’s ghost story Turn of the Screw featuring Carli Norris and Maggic McCarthy should shock audiences at Malvern Theatres from Tuesday until Saturday.

John Godber and Jane Thornton perform Godber’s new comedy about “life, love and staying on your bike”, The Scary Bikers, at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme from Tuesday until Saturday.

Based on the book by Kathryn Cave, You’ve Got Dragons is a Taking Flight Theatre Company presentation in the Guildhall Theatre, Derby on Wednesday.

A contemporary hip-hop dance theatre performance about “many kinds of love—the heightened emotions surrounding motherhood, adolescence, growing up and letting go”, The Glorious Tour combines “talking, dancing, reminiscing and baking” in the Studio at the Albany Theatre, Coventry on Wednesday.

Pentabus stages Here I Belong by Matt Hartley, “a funny and moving journey through 60 years of village life”, in the Foyle Studio at mac Birmingham on Wednesday and Thursday.

Here to There Productions performs Jon Brittain’s Olivier Award-winning transgender comedy Rotterdam at the Blue Orange Theatre, Birmingham from Wednesday until Saturday.

A “rip-roaring comedy musical” with a “splendiferous injection of British comedy and an outrageous injection of big-band swing”, Crooners sings its way into the Albany Theatre, Coventry on Thursday.

A “comical, coming-of-age quest for masculine identity in an environment that affords little space to hide”, Rhum and Clay’s Testosterone gets pumped up in the theatre at mac Birmingham on Thursday and Friday.

Dick Doddington leaves Telford in search of fame and fortune in Pantomania, an Easter panto celebrating 50 years of the Shropshire town, at Oakengates Theatre, Telford from Thursday until Saturday.

Metta Theatre’s Little Mermaid: Circus Sensation swings into Derby Theatre from Thursday until Saturday.

David Benson and Jack Lane play 25 characters in a staging of radio scripts based on episodes from the TV series in Dad’s Army Radio Hour at the Core at Corby Cube, Northamptonshire on Friday and Northampton Royal on Saturday.

Jenny Eclair, Dillie Keane and Lizzie Roper are Grumpy Old Women to the Rescue at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre on Friday and Saturday.

The National Theatre production of War Horse, Nick Stafford’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel, continues at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham until Saturday 7 April.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Christopher Eccleston and Niamh Cusack head the cast of Macbeth which runs until Tuesday 18 September while in the Swan Theatre Mary Pix's comedy of manners The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich (Or the Beau Defeated) continues until Thursday 14 June (press night Tuesday 3 April) and John Webster’s blood-soaked revenge tragedy The Duchess of Malfi continues until Friday 3 August.

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