What's on in the Midlands

Published: 29 October 2022
Reporter: Steve Orme

Sophie Ward (Marina Gregg), Joe McFadden (Jason Rudd) and Oliver Boot (Chief Inspector Craddock) in The Mirror Crack’d at Royal and Derngate, Northampton Credit: Ali Wright
Naomi Alade (Shirelle), Louise Francis (Shirelle), Molly-Grace Cutler (Carole King) and Amena El-Kindy (Shirelle and Little Eva) in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry Credit: Ellie Kurttz
Linda Broughton (Margaret) and Alex Bhat (Leonard) in O, Island! in The Other Place, Stratford Credit: The Other Richard

Playing over Halloween, Till I Die by Indra Wilson “explores gender stereotypes of the slasher genre” in The Door at Birmingham Rep on Monday and Tuesday.

Sophie Ward and Joe McFadden join Susie Blake in the Original Theatre Company production of Rachel Wagstaff’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate from Monday until Saturday.

Todd Carty plays Major Metcalf, John Altman is Mr Paravicini and Gwyneth Strong takes the role of Mrs Boyle in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap which tours to the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham from Monday until Saturday.

Strictly Come Dancing finalist and former EastEnders actor Maisie Smith makes her musical theatre debut as Fran alongside Kevin Clifton in Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom the Musical at Birmingham Hippodrome from Monday until Saturday.

An “interactive horror theatre experience where you play the designers of a new escape room surveying an underground cave as a potential location for your next experience, regardless of the horror that lurks within”, Chronic Insanity’s Penumbra tunnels into the audience’s conscience at The Void, Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham from Monday until Sunday.

Olivier Award-winning choreographer Russell Maliphant presents a dance piece influenced by the works of Jackson Pollock and abstract expressionism, Vortex, in the Djanogly Theatre at Lakeside Arts, Nottingham on Tuesday.

Molly-Grace Cutler plays Carole King and Tom Milner is her husband and writing partner Gerry Goffin in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Belgrade, Coventry from Tuesday until Saturday.

Classical Ballet from Moldova stages Sleeping Beauty—A Spectacular Fairytale with music by Tchaikovsky at Buxton Opera House on Tuesday while English Touring Opera presents a celebration of the work of George Friderich Handel with Ottone on Thursday, Agrippina on Friday and Tamerlano on Saturday.

The revival of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre production of Bugsy Malone tours to the Theatre Royal, Nottingham from Tuesday until Sunday.

LongBrow Productions presents a new play by Leicestershire’s Andy Longley-Brown, More Than Dust, which features a “solitary sentinel standing guard against those crossing the wasteland” who “wonders if there might be more to life and just what it is they are protecting over the horizon” at Upstairs at the Western, Leicester on Wednesday.

Dougie Blaxland’s Unknown, a verbatim play that dramatises the “tragic but true story of one young person’s journey from an abusive childhood to a life on the streets of Bath”, visits The Core at Corby Cube, Northamptonshire on Friday.

Sara Shaarawi’s Sister Radio, a “vibrant yet nostalgic play reflecting on both migration and family as well as being a celebration of culture from two very different places”, should make waves in the Studio at Derby Theatre on Friday and Saturday.

Written by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto, Tartuffe which transports Molière’s comedy to Birmingham’s Stratford Road continues at Birmingham Rep until Saturday.

Peut-Être Theatre tours The Dark, a dance theatre piece for children aged four and above, which is based on the book by Lemony Snicket, at Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester on Sunday.

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Mischief Festival continues in The Other Place, Stratford, with Ivy Tiller: Vicar’s Daughter, Squirrel Killer by Bea Roberts and Nina Segal’s O, Island! until Saturday while David Edgar’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol which features Adrian Edmondson as Scrooge continues in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until Sunday 1 January 2023.

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