Flying into West Yorkshire Playhouse for the festive season is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the musical adaptation from Ian Fleming's famous children's novel about an old racing car which takes on an adventurous life of its own.
Featuring a host of famous musical numbers from the 1968 film and the latter West End hit, the Playhouse present perhaps their biggest and boldest Christmas show yet. In a prudent move by Artistic Director James Brining, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is staged in the heart of the Winter season and offers a daring alternative to the usual festive fare. Presenting an iconic story that promises spectacle, stunts and nostalgic anthems, it is event-theatre which delivers in abundance.
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RashDash present We Want You To Watch at West Yorkshire Playhouse this month. Commissioned by The National Theatre, the script is penned by Alice Birch and examines the consequences of pornography in a digital world with the subsequent fallout from it being censored by a nation who appear addicted, desensitized and depraved.
West Yorkshire Playhouse opens a new season with its first in-house Shakespeare production for some time. Richard III is arguably one of Shakespeare's most brutal tragedies; a tale of jealousy and arch manipulation escalating in monstrous acts of violence, the play centres on a malcontent who will stop at nothing to gain access to the throne.
Tom Mothersdale dangles his bare feet in a moat of dark water as the audience take their seats. Behind him is a peeling stucco wall. "I have things up my sleeve,” he boasts. “But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion..." So begins the memory play which launched the career of Tennessee Williams, which is at West Yorkshire Playhouse this month.
Cast: Patrick Brennan, Katie Elin-Salt, Daniel Hawksford, Lauren Roberts, Rhys ap William, Bethan Witcomb
Director: Max Stafford-Clark Writer: Robin Soans Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 120 minutes Start Date: March 31, 2015 End Date: March 4, 2015 National Theatre Wales and Out of Joint bring Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage to West Yorkshire Playhouse this month. Based on the life story of Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas, the play follows the team captain’s growth to stardom and his struggle to come to terms with a hidden identity. A day prior to a huge game against England, Thomas receives a tipoff that tabloids are to splash a story outing the player as gay – something almost unknown in contact sport at the time. Following the breakup of a marriage and fearing that his sexuality will not be accepted, Thomas attempts to take his life. Deciding to face the struggles head on by working with his teammates and family, the pride of Welsh rugby eventually discovers a pride within himself. Cast: James Gow, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Dyfrig Morris, Jess Murphy, Robert Pickavance, Beverly Rudd, Paksie Vernon
Director: Max Webster Writer: Roald Dahl adapted by David Wood Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 95 minutes Start Date: December 5, 2014 End Date: January 24, 2015 West Yorkshire Playhouse brings Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel James and the Giant Peach to stage this season. James is an orphan living with his two acerbic aunts when a mysterious old man offers a bag of seeds which promise James amazing opportunities. When the seeds are spilt in the grounds of his home, a peach tree bears fruit the size of a house. Within the peach live similarly oversized insects who quickly become James’ friends on an odyssey across the Atlantic through sea and air. Cast: Andy Daniel
Director: Simon Reade Writer: Michael Morpurgo Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 135 minutes Start Date: October 27, 2014 End Date: October 28, 2014 Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful demobilizes at West Yorkshire Playhouse this season as part of a national tour which completes in November. It is 1914 and Tommo Peaceful, a Devonshire teenager, follows his elder brother into the trenches of The Great War. Following severe shellshock, the young soldier finds himself accused of desertion, a charge which often results in the death sentence. An evocation of childhood and a testament to the horrors of conflict, Private Peaceful is a play set to resonate with audiences of all ages. Cast: Lucy Ellinson
Director: Christopher Haydon Writer: George Brant Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 65 minutes Start Date: October 23, 2014 End Date: October 25, 2014 Gate Theatre’s production of Grounded by George Brant touches down at West Yorkshire Playhouse this month. It is a soliloquy in the life of a hot shot F-16 pilot who becomes a lover and mother during a war of nerves. Grounded is an unconventional tale of a bird whose wings are clipped, whose expectations fall down to earth and whose social freedoms become restrained. In all, the title of the show encompasses every literal meaning of the word. Cast: Martin Marquez, Kate Phillips, Susie Trayling, Joseph Mydell, Alan Williams, Corinna Powlesland, Daniel Poyser, David Killick, Dominic Gately, Jim Bywater, Lynette Clarke, Marlene Sidaway, Steven Beard, Tim Chipping.
Director: James Brining Writer: Arthur Miller Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Start Date: September 29, 2014 End Date: October 25, 2014 This season sees Arthur Miller’s celebrated drama of social paranoia reinterpreted by the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Tracing the Salem witch trials of the 17th century, The Crucible is an allegorical protest and social commentary reflecting anxieties of the 1950s and beyond. Abigail Williams is a girl who has been sexually awakened and rejected by her employer, John Proctor. When Williams and her friends are accused of practicing satanic crafts, Proctor is tangled in a dark web of accusation, sin and social cleansing. Soon his wife and dozens of townsfolk become embroiled through Williams’ vindictive manipulations, forcing Proctor make his own, ultimate sacrifice. Cast: Reece Dinsdale, Kate Anthony, John Arthur, Simon Roberts, Marjorie Yates
Director: Mark Rosenblatt Writer: Alan Bennett Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 110 minutes Start Date: June 2, 2014 End Date: June 21, 2014 Continuing a season dedicated to Alan Bennett, West Yorkshire Playhouse presents a double bill of the Leeds-born author’s work in Untold Stories. Bringing together Hymn and Cocktail Sticks, the show is anchored by Bennett as portrayed by Reece Dinsdale. Untold Stories begins as an intimate monologue recorded in a studio environment. Bennett reflects on his experiences growing up with music and his desire to perform and conform, underscored by the rousing strings of the Ligeti Quartet. Whilst brief and minimal, the piece is a rosy evocation, presenting Bennett in his older years as the confident orator. Composed of Cello, Viola and Violins, the Ligeti Quartet are seamlessly harmonized with Bennett’s lilting recollections, where days of violin lessons and escapades to distant churches on the West Riding are vividly described. As a palate-cleansing apéritif, Hymn prepares the table for Untold Stories’ main event; Cocktail Sticks. |
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