National Theatre's A Taste of Honey announces UK tour
A new National Theatre production of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, featuring a live band on stage, and to be directed by Bijan Sheibani and star Jodie Prenger as Helen, will tour to nine venues from September 2019, opening at the Lowry in Salford.
Written by Delaney when she was nineteen, A Taste of Honey offers an explosive celebration of the vulnerabilities and strengths of the female spirit in a deprived and restless world. When her mother Helen runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with Jimmy, a sailor who promises to marry her, before he heads for the seas leaving her pregnant and alone. Art student Geoff moves in and assumes the role of surrogate parent until, misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels.
After the Lowry, the production will tour to the Kings Theatre, Edinburgh (24 – 28 September); the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (1 – 5 October); Richmond Theatre (7 – 12 October); Grand Opera House, Belfast (15 – 19 October); Leicester Curve (22 – 26 October); Theatre Royal, Bath (28 October – 2 November); Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton (5 – 9 November); and the Norwich Theatre Royal (12 – 16 November).
Three London drama schools save applicants money with joint audition
Drama Studio London, the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) and Italia Conti have come together to offer a one-stop drama school audition to applicants in Doncaster and Newcastle upon Tyne. Responding to Arts Council research in identifying areas which would most benefit from such an initiative, the schools are offering a £30 audition fee to be seen by all three of them, on 30 March at Newcastle College, or 31 March at Doncaster Little Theatre.
Adrian Hall, Principal of ALRA, said ‘the very first step towards professional actor training – the audition – can be the biggest barrier of all, and many talented performers never get the chance to fulfil their potential.’
The opportunity is only open to those living in Newcastle Postcodes NE, DL, DH, TS and Doncaster Postcodes DN, HU, LN. As the application process is slightly complicated and more than one course is on offer, check details at:
www.dramastudiolondon.co.uk/about/dsl-outreach-auditions
Crowdfunder launched to restore Derby Hippodrome
The Derby Hippodrome Restoration Trust (DHRT) has launched a crowdfunder in hope that the derelict Derby Hippodrome, one of three Derby theatre venues currently lying empty (along with the Guildhall and the Assembly Rooms), which has been unused since 2007, will be able to undergo a £25million restoration project.
A note on the Theatres Trust website explains that ‘Derby Hippodrome is a large, Grade II listed variety theatre, built in 1914. It is a rare survival from an early stage in the crossover period when buildings were being constructed for both live theatre and cinema’, continuing, ‘The theatre has the potential to be rebuilt and restored to theatre use, and could provide Derby with an elegant 1,000-1,200-seat theatre for the sort of commercial touring productions the city can't currently accommodate.’
In line with this ambition, a £5million first phase which could complete by 2020 would involve clearing and stabilising the building, rebuilding the external walls and front of house and replacing the roof. This would create a functional space which could be used by touring companies, schools and amateur groups, and seat about 1,000.
DHRT's public fundraising campaign, which aims to raise at least £22,500 towards the renovation, has launched and will, it is hoped, be backed up by funding from arts and heritage charities. www.derbyhippodrometrust.org/donate-1
Netflix to stream a theatre production for the first time
Netflix has announced its first filmed version of a stage production, to be available for streaming by audiences worldwide later this year. Though the production to be streamed – a Broadway play called American Son – has in fact already closed in the theatre, the intention is to produce a ‘movie/play hybrid’ for which the original cast of Kerry Washington, Stephen Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan and Eugene Lee will reunite with director Kenny Leon to film.
Playwright Christopher Demos-Brown's American Son tells a story of interracial parents who reunite in a Florida police station to search for answers about their missing teenage son.
Theatre-on-demand and in-cinema services already available in the UK are Digital Theatre and NT Live, however it is thought that the wider reach of Netflix and the facility it has for matching suggestions to viewers’ tastes may in fact broaden the audience for theatre, while not, of course, replacing the true live experience.
www.netflix.com/title/81024100
Deafinitely Theatre mount Horrible Histories for D/deaf children and their families
Theatre company Deafinitely Theatre and the Birmingham Stage Company are to produce the first Horrible Histories production designed specifically for people who are D/deaf and their families. The show, which will play a school's performance at Heathlands School in St Albans before opening at the Bristol Old Vic on May 29 and then touring to York Theatre Royal, the North Wall in Oxford and Derby Theatre, will be performed in English and British Sign Language.
Dreadful Deaf is, according to Deafinitely Theatre, deafinitely not for the faint-hearted: ‘We all want to meet people from history. The trouble is everyone is deaf dead! So it's time to prepare yourselves for Horrible Histories live on stage as it delves into the dreadful, dangerous and deluded stories of the deaf! From groovy Greeks to gorgeous Georgians, ruthless Romans to vile Victorians, come with us into this incredible world to discover the extraordinary people and amazing stories you simply won't believe!’
www.deafinitelytheatre.co.uk/event/horrible-histories
42,000 Square foot immersive theatre venue to open in London in April
Space 18, located in a former club and office block on Oxford Street, will open on 13 April with an immersive survival experience called Variant 31. Costing £2.5million to build, Space 18 consists of seven buildings with more than 200 rooms set across 35 floors. It will include five bars and a nightclub and has a maximum capacity of 1,500 audience members. On completion it will be London's first purpose-built immersive theatre complex.
Dalton Dale, producing artistic director of Big Dreamer Productions, and Stephen McGill for McGill Productions are behind the project, and plan for Variant 31 to run initially for two-three years, after which it will be possible for more than one show to play in the venue simultaneously and external producers will be able to bring in work.
Variant 31 is billed as an immersive zombie experience, and The Stage Jobs is currently advertising a casting call for the undead. As Big Dreamer Productions' website explains, ‘Some artists create for the laughter of an audience. Some create for the applause. We do it for the screams.’
Manchester Arden Theatre School drops audition fees
The Arden, which offers four BA (Hons) degree courses, in Acting for Live and Recorded Media, Dance and Performance, Musical Theatre and Theatre and Performance, has scrapped its audition fees for applicants in order to make the opportunity more accessible to students from all backgrounds. Where previously auditions cost £45 per applicant, auditions will now be free, following in the footsteps of Liverpool School of Theatre, which was the first to make the move last year.
David Edgar to teach on a playwriting Master's at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
The BOVTS has announced a new MA in Drama Writing, to be led by playwright Stephanie Dale with David Edgar teaching on it as well. According to the school, the ‘pioneering course aims to nurture students to find their distinctive voices as writers for stage, screen and radio.’
The course will be delivered through masterclasses, workshops and seminars with industry professionals and practitioners; and students' work will be produced by actors, directors, stage management and production arts students from across the school. While the course is full-time, in practice, contact hours will be condensed into two days a week (Thursdays and Fridays), with four ‘intensive weeks’ spread throughout the academic year.
The theatre school says, ‘This highly practical course is innovative in its approach by immersing future playwrights within the whole theatre and screen portfolio. By building professional assurance through artistic practice, students will develop a systematic understanding of dramatic writing as an art, craft and business.’ Applications for September 2019 will be considered until 23 April.
www.oldvic.ac.uk/course/drama-writing-ma/
Robbie Williams to write music for RSC's The Boy in the Dress
The latest new season announcement from the Royal Shakespeare Company includes news of a production of David Walliams' The Boy in the Dress to be adapted by Mark Ravenhill with music by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, and directed by Artistic Director Gregory Doran.
‘I think I might be different. I might not be the same’
‘Dennis is 12 years old and his school football team's star striker. But when Mum leaves home, life is tough. The only reminder Dennis has of Mum is a photo of her in a beautiful yellow dress. A dress rather like the one on the cover of Vogue on sale at Raj's newsagents. And also a bit like the one that Lisa James, the coolest girl in the school, is sketching in her note book. What do you do if you like both football and dresses? And what will Mr Hawtrey the headteacher do when he discovers that his strict uniform code has been broken by a boy in a dress?’
David Walliams’ heart-warming comedy has already been successfully adapted for television, and is to be brought to the stage as a musical for the first time from 8 November 2019–8 March 2020.
www.rsc.org.uk/the-boy-in-the-dress-musical/
Scottish Theatre Company launches training courses for women in creative design
Edinburgh-based women's touring theatre company Stellar Quines has responded to a 2016 report by Christine Hamilton entitled ‘Where are the Women?’ which showed that across Scotland's publicly funded theatres, only 6% of lighting designers were female, and only 11% of sound designers, composers and musical directors, by launching a series of free workshops led by industry professionals aimed at women who are hoping to move into creative design.
A course on sound design this year will be followed by one on lighting design next year, and AV the following; each course will have space for around 12 participants.
M*****classes, as they will be called, are aimed at developing long-term relationships and will address practical applications of the job, provide face to face contact with professionals and networking opportunities as well as one to one and group mentoring from a professional designer.
Artistic Director Jemima Levick said ‘In highlighting the paucity of women in technically based Creative Design roles, I realised that in the 15 years I've been working as a director I knew very few women working professionally as sound, lighting or AV designers. In fact, I had only worked with 2 or 3 myself, and that it simply wasn't good enough. It was simple, we had to stop talking about it and do something about it. If Stellar Quines is Scotland's leading touring company to inspire excellence in women and girls – it was our job to take action. I wanted to create an opportunity that offered practical hands on experience, creatively and technically driven, and delivered by professionals who are working at the top of their game. I got talking to Matthew Padden (former Head of Sound at NTS) and he agreed to help devise a series of workshops.’
http://tinyurl.com/TDSU1-StellarQuines
Young people take space at major venues in London City Takeover
The Battersea Arts Centre, Roundhouse and Young Vic, along with BFI, Tate and Wired4Music have joined together to champion the energy and ideas of creatives aged 16–25 in handing over physical and digital space for three days from 5–7 April.
London City Takeover, which will include a breakfast panel discussion at the Young Vic and takeovers at the Roundhouse and Battersea Arts Centre, will highlight young artist's contributions to politics and culture, and incite their potential. In a statement from the collective of young people involved, Emma Pearce, Henrietta Imore, Jacqueline Wan, Lily Evans-Hill and Luke Ainger said ‘The weekend will include free workshops, talks, performances and exhibitions aimed at young people to explore and empower our political and creative agency. The London City Takeover will be a platform to express our unity, and make a noise loud enough to re-engage with the wider conversation.’
The Play That Goes Wrong to be adapted for BBC television series
Mischief Theatre's extraordinary hit The Play That Goes Wrong, which has already enjoyed success in the West End, on tour nationally and internationally, and in two TV Christmas specials, is now to form the basis for a six-part BBC series called The Goes Wrong Show, written by Mischief Theatre members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields alongside Nancy Zamit, Charlie Russell, Bryony Corrigan, Greg Tannahill, Dave Hearn and Chris Leask.
The series, which will comprise half-hour episodes and begins filming in March, is co-produced by BBC Comedy, Mischief Screen, Big Talk Productions and Lionsgate UK. Co-writer and co-founder of Mischief Theatre Henry Lewis said that the company ‘can't wait to get started on making some truly terrible programmes.’