News from the Midlands

Published: 26 February 2012
Reporter: Steve Orme

Morpurgo to give rare War Horse reading at Buxton

Michael Morpurgo will be reading from his best-selling book War Horse at Buxton Opera House later this year.

The renowned author will be joined by John Tams and Barry Cooper, Radio 2 Folk Award winners, who’ll provide a soundtrack for the narrative.

War Horse tells through the eyes of a horse the story of the build-up to the First World War and fighting on the western front.

Michael Morpurgo MBE was the third Children’s Laureate. He’s written more than 300 works and his tales have been translated into 25 languages.

He rarely gives book readings and the last one he gave in the Midlands was at Nottingham Playhouse last September.

He’ll be at Buxton Opera House on Sunday, 4 November at 6pm.

Nottingham stages ‘song drama’ for final time

Forever YoungRock ‘n’ roll musical comedy Forever Young is to get its third and final outing at Nottingham Playhouse.

The production is set in a nursing home for retired actors in the year 2050. The Playhouse closed ten years previously. It was bought by Dame Rosemary Squire, who was raised in Nottinghamshire, and turned into a rest-home for retired actors.

A group of aged panto performers are determined to prove that it’s not all behind them as they perform surprisingly athletic dancing and a rousing rock ‘n’ roll singalong.

Forever Young was the brainchild of Swiss-born Erik Gedeon, creator of the "song drama" genre. The show became a cult hit in Hamburg where it’s known as The Thalia Vista Social Club.

The show involves oldies throwing aside their walking sticks for some upbeat songs including “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “We Will Rock You” and the title song.

Nottingham Playhouse artistic director Giles Croft who directs Forever Young says, “We’re delighted to be bringing the show back one last time to Nottingham.

“It’s a funny and touching show. What we’ve found is that there are themes in the show, around the comic and tragic aspects of growing old disgracefully and the memories bound up in music we love, which resonate with audiences of all ages; it just makes them want to come back for more.”

Forever Young runs from Wednesday (29 February) until Saturday, 10 March.

Belinda becomes a Lady in Lavender at Northampton

The world premiere of the stage production of Ladies in Lavender in Northampton has been extended by a week.

Joining Hayley Mills in the cast will be Belinda Lang, best known for the TV series 2 Point 4 Children; Robert Duncan who played Gus in the long-running Channel 4 sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey; and Carol Macready, recently seen on the Northampton Royal stage in J B Priestley’s Eden End.

Based on the film by Charles Dance which starred Judi Dench and Maggie Smith and on the original short story by William J Locke, Ladies in Lavender tells the story of two sisters living in Cornwall in 1937 whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a handsome young Polish-Jewish violinist.

It takes to the Royal stage from Friday, 6 April until Saturday, 28 April as part of the Made in Northampton season. It will then go on a national tour.

Meanwhile, Royal and Derngate is looking for 15 individuals to be the ensemble in a new adaptation of Lorca’s Blood Wedding.

The theatre is staging the play from Friday, 25 May until Saturday, 30 June as part of its Festival of Chaos trilogy.

Royal and Derngate’s production will be a new adaptation by Tommy Murphy and will be set in modern-day Spain.

The 15 actors will work with artistic director Laurie Sansom and movement director Neil Bettles to create a family who appear at the wedding. There won’t be speaking parts but there’ll be chorus and movement work.

Anyone over 18 may audition on Saturday (3 March) at the theatre from 10am until 6pm. Applicants must be available for all performances as well as rehearsals one evening a week and Saturday mornings for six weeks from 2 April.

Anyone interested in auditioning should contact John Manning at [email protected] or on 01604 655 784 to arrange a slot.

Garrick brings big top to Lichfield for Christmas production

Steve Huison, Lichfield GarrickLichfield Garrick has announced that this year’s Christmas show will be a musical production of Alice in Wonderland—with a circus twist.

The theatre says “all the razzle-dazzle of the big top will be brought vividly to life with spectacular scenery, colourful costumes and a toe-tapping score performed live on stage by the Lichfield Garrick’s circus band.”

Steve Huison, well known as Eddie Windass in Coronation Street and Lomper in the film The Full Monty, will head the cast as the White Rabbit.

Adrian Jackson, the Garrick’s artistic and executive director, said, “Alice in Wonderland is set to be our most extravagant festive show yet.

“From the moment you step over the threshold into the theatre, you’ll be entertained by circus performers and there’ll be opportunities for children to try out their skills.”

Alice and Wonderland will run at the Garrick from Thursday 6 December until Sunday 6 January.

What’s on this week

  • The Trial, Steven Berkoff’s stage version of Kafka’s dystopian novel about a rootless citizen ground down by bureaucracy, will be judged by the audience at Buxton Opera House tomorrow (Monday);
  • the Agatha Christie Theatre Company returns to Derby Theatre with Murder on the Nile, featuring Kate O’Mara, Denis Lill, Susie Amy, Chloe Newsome, Ben Nealon and Mark Wynter, from tomorrow until Saturday;
  • ripped off from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the hit musical Spamalot should raise a laugh at Stoke’s Regent Theatre from tomorrow until Saturday;
  • Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! returns to Leicester’s Curve from tomorrow until Saturday;
  • Northampton’s Derngate welcomes Stomp from tomorrow until Saturday;
  • Probe stages a “daring piece of dance theatre”, May, at Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham on Tuesday;
  • exploring the clash of youth, class, race and justice, Vivienne Franzmann’s Mogadishu arrives at Northampton’s Royal stage from Tuesday until Saturday;
  • the Curve, Leicester, production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I tours to Nottingham’s Theatre Royal from Tuesday until Saturday;
  • the Tony Award-winning show about mischief, bad behaviour and political incorrectness, Avenue Q is at the Grand, Wolverhampton from Tuesday until Saturday;
  • Red Cape Theatre takes 1 Beach Road, which explores the metaphorical connections between Alzheimer’s and coastal erosion, to the Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton on Wednesday;
  • the Russian State Ballet of Siberia is at De Montfort Hall with Sleeping Beauty on Wednesday and Giselle on Thursday, and at Buxton Opera House with Giselle on Friday, Swan Lake on Saturday and La Fille Mal Gardée next Sunday;
  • Moscow Ballet La Classique presents Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at the Belgrade, Coventry from Thursday until Saturday;
  • Wolverhampton playwright Arzhang Pezhman's new play Gravity continues at mac, Birmingham until Saturday;
  • at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, Helen Edmundson’s new play The Heresy of Love continues in the Swan until Friday, 9 March and David Edgar’s new play Written on the Heart, which tells the story of the making of the King James Bible, and Measure for Measure both continue until 10 March; and
  • Bill Naughton’s classic Alfie continues at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday, 17 March.

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