Cast: Aoife Duffin, Claudia Grant, Bradley Hall, Oliver Johnstone, Ekow Quartey, Ruby Thomas, Adam Welsh, Daisy Whalley.
Director: Ben Kidd Writer: Frank Wedekind with Anya Reiss Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 100 minutes Start Date: March 7, 2014 End Date: March 22, 2014 In a co-production with Headlong and Nuffield, West Yorkshire Playhouse present a reimagining of Spring Awakening; a daring odyssey into the adolescent world of violence, belief and sexual maturity. Anywa Reiss adapts Frank Wedekind’s controversial first work, now almost a century old, for the modern era. Transposing his story into a society influenced by digital media and social networking, Reiss presents a cross-section of adolescents as they struggle to come to terms with their changing hormones and physical urges. The transition works well, though an insistence on using the original names from the show – such as Melchoir – is a touch anachronistic and somewhat distracting within its modern, British setting. As its title infers, the show opens in the British springtime and establishes playful beginnings. The characters are typical teenagers loitering around parks, sparring and bantering. Directed with a documentary realism and downplayed by a cast acting younger than their years, the ensemble wholly convinces as a collective of hormone-driven teens. Much humour is found in the disparity between the characters’ physical and emotional development, with double acts exchanging crude anecdotes and bravado. Amusing at the outset, the attitudes towards sex soon shift in tone as innocence gives way to ignorance and a bullish confidence, fuelled by the unrealistic expectations which Internet pornography presents. Soon, bravado and flirting gives way to aggression and violence in an increasingly bleak descent into tragedy.
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Cast: Cornelius Booth, Kelsey Brookfield, Heather Christian, Andy Clark, Dyfrig Morris, Simon Holland Roberts, John Trindle, Henry Pettigrew, Johnson Willis.
Director: Mark Rosenblatt Writer: John Steinbeck Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 120 minutes Steinbeck’s popular novella Of Mice and Men has been boldly adapted for the new season at West Yorkshire Playhouse. A powerful and enduring piece, the show promises to theatrically re-imagine one of the most studied texts in the English Literature curriculum. Of Mice and Men signifies Mark Rosenblatt’s directorial debut as new Associate Director of the Playhouse. His direction has an immediate freshness and innovative simplicity. Act I is primarily played downstage with simple dressings and has a strong studio theatre feel, whilst Act II opens up broader vistas, exploiting the impressive depth of the Quarry Theatre. Rosenblatt’s visualisation, thanks to superb production design by Max Jones, expands in scale and story, partnered with the dramatic tensions of the play. A cloud-like spectacle of tungsten bulbs glow and ebb throughout the piece, counterpointing anxieties, whilst simply animated vistas – including a lazily turning windmill – provide a cinematic patina on stage. Cast: Kevin Trainor, Siobhan Redmond, Leah Brotherhead, Esther Ruth Elliott, Christopher Keegan, Gary Lilburn, Ann Louise Ross, Oliver Wilson.
Director: Dominic Hill Writer: Christopher Marlowe and Colin Teevan Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 130 minutes The West Yorkshire Playhouse joins forces with Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre to reimagine Christopher Marlowe’s controversial classic, Doctor Faustus. With two acts completely rewritten by Colin Teevan within a contemporary setting, the play brings Faustus’ horrific experiences into the domestic sphere embracing modern language and popular culture, bookended by Marlow’s original opening and closing acts. Cast: Trevor Michael Georges, Tahirah Sharif, Martina Laird, Burt Caesar, Ray Emmet Brown, Jude Akuwudike, Alisha Bailey, Shaun Blackstock, Bethan James, Sam Lloyd, Okezie Morro.
Director: Michael Buffong Writer: Errol John Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 130 minutes Talawa Theatre Company in association with the National Theatre brings Moon on a Rainbow Shawl to the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Faithfully adapted from Errol John’s award-winning play, we follow Ephraim as he decides to move away from the trappings of Trinidad – and parenthood – for a new life in the United Kingdom. Written in the late 1950s the play shows its age in terms of pace. The opening act exhausts stage time setting up characters and situations, establishing Ephraim and Sophia whilst Trinidad is represented as a courtyard area buzzing to the sound of crickets blazed in a midday son. It’s evocative theatre, with naturalistically witty dialogue creating an immersive theatrical environment, but despite the actors’ efforts the first hour sags under a few too many pages of script. The dialogue, however, has an authentic quality requiring a dedicated ear; some plot points are revealed in throwaway moments so it’s a show which demands concentration. The action picks up in the second act after Errol John fully engages his dramatic arsenal; Ephraim is planning to emigrate but there is a strong possibility a child will be born to him by his orphaned neighbour. Will he stay? The struggle begins and the play takes flight. Cast: Denise Van Outen
Director: Michael Howcroft Writer: Terry Ronald & Denise Van Outen Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 100 minutes Start Date: January 29, 2014 End Date: February 8, 2014 Denise Van Outen launches her one-woman musical at the West Yorkshire Playhouse this month. Some Girl I Used To Know tells the story of Stephanie, a successful businesswoman awaiting the arrival of a journalist to her hotel suite. When an old flame from the past promises to meet her in the interim, buried memories from the past are aroused and life-changing decisions are made. Some Girl I Used To Know features a number of melodic covers of Eighties and Nineties hits. Performed by Van Outen with typical West End vocal alacrity, the numbers do have something of the Lloyd Webber treatment – synth strings and all – but this is somewhat befitting for a play which eulogises the era with such warmth and fondness. Van Outen’s vocals are stirring and powerful, presenting an alternative take on pop songs such as Hold Me Now and Do You Really Want To Hurt Me. Rousing and resonating, the musical interludes are unobtrusive chapter points which agreeably compliment the story. Cast: Ella Harris
Director: Justin Audibert Writer: Boff Whalley Theatre: Leeds City Varieties Duration: 50 minutes + 60 minutes Red Ladder Theatre present Songs of Solidarity, Suffrage & Strength – a double-bill of drama and music at Leeds City Varieties. Cast: Jacob James Beswick, Colin Connor, Daniel Copeland, Cait Davis, Andrew French, Shobna Gulati, Oliver Hoare, Jan Knightley, Ann Ogbomo, Anneika Rose, Paksie Vernon, Cath Whitefield.
Director: Liam Steel Writer: Rosanna Lowe Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 130 minutes Start Date: November 30, 2013 End Date: January 18, 2014 The West Yorkshire Playhouse offers up an alternative Christmas treat this season with a bold adaptation of Rudyard Kiplings’s The Jungle Book. Set in the Indian jungle, the story follows the journey of runaway infant Mowgli as he is raised by Akela the wolf, Baloo the bear and Bagheere the panther. Learning the tongue of wild animals and their relationship with the nature of the jungle, the boy grows up at one with the wild. As a young adult he is reunited with his mother and the culture of mankind, but finds enemies in this new world whilst also facing the a duel he’s been evading all his life: a battle against the king of the jungle, Shere Khan. Cast: Siân Phillips, Brigit Forsyth, Selina Cadell, Michael Thomas
Director: Nicholas Hytner Writer: Alan Bennett Theatre: Leeds Grand Theatre Duration: 135 minutes After a sell-out run at the National Theatre, Alan Bennett’s People arrives at the Leeds Grand Theatre with a new cast and much anticipation. People enters the world of Dorothy and Iris, two aging spinsters who live in the crumbling remains of a stately home. When Dorothy’s sister June insists the house is donated to the National Trust, Dorothy seeks other means of maintaining her beloved habitat. From selling her ancient heirlooms to renting out space for the filming of a ‘mucky’ film, the battle is on to secure her future and preserve her past – with the view of getting central heating and an ensuite bathroom. Cast: Sheena Bhattessa, Helen Bradbury, Craig Conway, Craig Gazey, David Smith, Robert Wilfort, Kaye Wragg, DJ Hamer, Adam Smith, Harris
Director: Max Webster Writer: Alice Nutter Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 175 mins My Generation is the second of two concurrent plays opening the new season at the West Yorkshire Playhouse this month. Written by Alice Nutter, the show presents four stories about a Leeds family living life on the breadline between 1977 and the present day. The story begins with Cath and Mick living in a squat in Leeds, desperately trying to bring up children in an environment where people are forced out of their jobs whilst lossing their homes. Jumping to 1984, the play traces the effect of the miners’ strikes, before moving on to the rave culture of the early 1990s, reaching a final destination of post-New Labour in 2013. A study of the effects of capitalism and unemployment on three generations, Nutter’s play is a tale of the past, present and uncertain future. Cast: Jessica Hayles, Naveed Khan, Karina Sugden, Gareth Taylor, Anna Tierney, Russell Woodhead
Director: Jack Lowe Writer: Curious Directive Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 85 minutes After The Rainfall arrives at the West Yorkshire Playhouse this month following a successful run on the Edinburgh Fringe. Following four stories that intertwine over seventy years, the play demonstrates how worlds collide and are inevitably influenced by politics, literature and technology. The narrative follows four definite strands. In 1952 Edward is completing a reconnaissance mission with the help of Ishak, a self-taught pilot, over the Egyptian desert. Meanwhile in 1986, Claire is sculpting in Cumbria and awaiting an offer from University, whilst in 2013 Rashia is on a pilgrimage across Europe. Finally 2022 introduces us to John, who is promoting his popular science book about the society of ants in relation to human behaviour. These disparate stands have little relationship at the beginning of the play, however their threads gradually converge, influencing one another through past and future echoes. |
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