Belgrade Theatre Coventry News

Written by Mike James, with choreography by Arlene Phillips and directed by Anna Linstrum, Jackie The Musical will play at the Belgrade Theatre Coventry from Tues 15 - Sat 19 Mar 2016, as part of a nationwide tour. 

Film and stage biopics surrounding the life of a celebrity hold particular intrigue for many people. They can be inherently risky due to the validity of the information being portrayed but ultimately, the general public want to gain an otherwise unforeseen insight into that person's life. Here with the legendary Judy Garland as the subject, she certainly provided a story worth telling. Sadly like most other biographies of its kind, End Of The Rainbow is essentially a tragedy which focuses on the final demise of Judy's personal health and relationships during what should have been her comeback in London in 1968.

?The Belgrade Theatre Coventry is thrilled to present the U.K premiere of Liz Mytton's Red Snapper from Sat 5 - Sat 19 Mar starring BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated actress Cathy Tyson.

?A hit in the West End and on Broadway, End of the Rainbow makes its awaited return to the stage, playing at the Belgrade Theatre Coventry from Tues 23 to Sat 27 Feb as part of a major new UK tour, starring Lisa Maxwell as Judy Garland.

Chris Stafford, Chief Executive and Nikolai Foster, Artistic Director of Curve, today announce the full cast for Wipers, written by Ishy Din.

Based on Moliere's Les Femmes Savantes, The Sisterhood is currently playing at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. The production is directed by their Artistic Director Hamish Glen and has been relocated in time from the late 1600's to the 1980's; visually a complete contradiction but relevant based on theme.

Following successful tours of Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 2015, today London Classic Theatre Artistic Director Michael Cabot announces a new production of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party. Cabot directs a cast including Jonathan Ashley (Goldberg), Gareth Bennett-Ryan (Stanley), Cheryl Kennedy (Meg), Ged McKenna (Petey), Declan Rodgers (McCann) and Imogen Wilde (Lulu). The production tours to 37 venues around the UK this spring/summer, starting at Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham on 17 February.

Mr Solihull panto himself Malcolm Stent is back for his 25th consecutive pantomime at Solihull Arts Complex this year in which he writes, directs and stars. Aladdin sees a talented cast of both familiar and fresh faces returning to the newly refurbished auditorium and front of house areas at the theatre. Traditional at every corner, there are a vast number of components there necessary to form the foundations of a good solid family pantomime; including plenty of audience participation, original takes on popular musical numbers, slapstick comedy routines and the occasional risque double entendre. 

Last night featured my first pantomime of this year's festive season, the unconventional Beauty and the Beast at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. There is the usual rotation of pantomimes that many theatres alternate; most commonly Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty and Dick Whittington with a few other options for good measure. Beauty and the Beast is one that I personally haven't seen in a pantomime format before and did it work? I think so!

English Touring Theatre return to the Exeter Northcott Theatre at the end of November (tonight 24-28 Nov 2015), this time with THE ODYSSEY: MISSING PRESUMED DEAD, their acclaimed collaboration with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. The production reunites Simon Armitage and Nick Bagnall after their recent collaborations on The Last Days of Troy and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Amongst the ongoing change and turnover in the West End, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap has always been solid and constant. After a short UK tour, the show set up camp at the Ambassadors Theatre in London in 1952 where it played for 22 years before moving to the bigger St Martin's Theatre where it is still playing today. The production is now the longest running show of any genre of modern times. The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry is its last stop on the show's first UK tour.

Following his successful directorial debut at Nuffield, Southampton, of The Glass Menagerie, Nuffield's Director Sam Hodges, announces the upcoming spring/summer 2016 season.  The new season will feature two new Nuffield co-productions, The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary! and Noises Off, alongside six visiting productions by nationally and interFollowing his successful directorial debut at Nuffield, Southampton, of The Glass Menagerie, Nuffield's Director Sam Hodges, announces the upcoming spring/summer 2016 season.nationally renowned companies.

English Touring Theatre return to the Exeter Northcott Theatre at the end of November (24-28 Nov 2015), this time with THE ODYSSEY: MISSING PRESUMED DEAD, their acclaimed collaboration with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. The production reunites Simon Armitage and Nick Bagnall after their recent collaborations on The Last Days of Troy and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The producers of Mike Bartlett's multi award-winning contemporary play, King Charles III are delighted to announce today that the current UK tour has been extended into spring 2016.

A major revival of Noel Coward's hilarious masterpiece, Private Lives will embark on a prior to the West End UK tour starring stage and screen stars Tom Chambers (Top Hat, Strictly Come Dancing) as the loveable and charming Elyot and Laura Rogers (Tipping The Velvet, An Ideal Husband) as the unconventional and vivacious Amanda, alongside Charlotte Ritchie (Call The Midwife, One Night in November) as Sybil and Richard Teverson (Downton Abbey) as Victor.

A major revival of Noel Coward's hilarious masterpiece, Private Lives will embark on a prior to the West End UK tour starring stage and screen stars Tom Chambers (Top Hat, Strictly Come Dancing) as the loveable and charming Elyot and Laura Rogers(Tipping The Velvet, An Ideal Husband) as the unconventional and vivacious Amanda, alongside Charlotte Ritchie (Call The Midwife, One Night in November) as Sybil and Richard Teverson (Downton Abbey) as Victor.

Sheffield Theatres' Artistic Director Daniel Evans today announces the company's most ambitious season to date. Highlights include three world premieres - of new plays from Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guvnors), Chris Bush and a co-production with Third Angel, a new British musical, Flowers For Mrs Harris, by Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff, a regional premiere of Mike Bartlett's (Bull, Doctor Foster) Contractions and two major new productions of 20th century classics - A Raisin In The Sun and Waiting For Godot.

Based on Ian Serraillier's popular children's novel, Belgrade Theatre Coventry and Sell A Door Theatre Company have produced a musical adaptation of The Silver Sword which debuted in Coventry last week. It is now embarking on a short tour across the country for the next four weeks.

It's 1963 at Dame Dorothea Dosserdale School of Girls where Crush, the most recent brainchild of renowned writer Maureen Chadwick, is set. An exaggerated and very twee, stiff upper-lipped version of St Trinians, the students desperately want to save their school from the grasps of new Headmistress Miss Bleacher, who wants to change the ethos and curriculum. There are other story threads such as the relationship between two pupils, Susan and Camilla, which is addressed in a very 1960s fashion but their strength for what they believe in trounces all. Chadwick's style of writing is evocative of her previous TV works such as Waterloo Road, Bad Girls and Footballers Wives. She has teamed up with Kath Gotts again who has composed the music and lyrics for the show and whom she worked with a few years back on Bad Girls: The Musical.

Commissioned by the Finborough Theatre, Horniman's Choice brings together four plays by the leading figures of the 'Manchester School' of playwrights - Harold Brighouse, Stanley Houghton and Allan Monkhouse, all originally championed by Annie Horniman, owner of Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, the first regional repertory theatre in Britain. Horniman's Choice runs at the Finborough Theatre, playing Sunday and Monday evenings and Tuesday matinees from Sunday, 27 September 2015 (Press Night: Monday, 28 September 2015 at 7.30pm).