James Findlay News

Star of stage and screen Susie Blake (Mrs Brown's Boys, Bev Unwin in Coronation Street, Nativity 3, Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack'd, Mrs Fisher in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em) joins the company as pub landlady Maggie, alongside Parisa Shahmir (The Last Ship) as Alwyn, Deborah Tracey (Standing At The Sky's Edge) as record label manager Leah and Georgia Bruce (Malory Towers) as Sally.

Theatre is no stranger to fictional renderings of famous get-togethers. There’s One Night in Miami, where Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown celebrate at Hampton House Hotel in 1964 ­– the night Clay became world heavyweight champion. Malcolm X features again in The Meeting, alongside Martin Luther King. And in Copenhagen, the previous play on at Theatre Royal Bath, Nobel-winning physicists Dane Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg have a clandestine encounter.

I must admit, my first reaction was not wholly positive: some time in January this year, the producer Alastair Whatley rang me to say that he proposed to go ahead with rehearsing my new play, A Splinter of Ice, in March, despite the national lockdown. But since it was now impossible to invite an audience to see it at the Everyman Theatre Cheltenham (where it had been due to open), he’d instead like to film it onstage in the empty auditorium and release it online. I felt like I’d written a knife that would now be judged as a spoon.

Mr Wickham is best known as the villain of Jane Austen’s iconic novel Pride and Prejudice; a dastardly rake who seduced Elizabeth’s impetuous younger sister Lydia and threatened to bring the whole family into disrepute. Adrian Lukis, who played Wickham in the seminal 1994 BBC series, now returns to the character in Being Mr Wickham, a highly engaging one-man play, streamed live from the country’s last Regency theatre, the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds.

The Original Theatre Company commemorate the 104th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme by bringing their adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong to the screen. Building on the techniques used to stream during the early stages of lockdown, Birdsong loses none of its power, relevance, or sense of storytelling.

There will be a fully cast, abridged virtual production of Rachel Wagstaff's highly acclaimed adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's best-selling novel BIRDSONG, streamed online on 1 July 2020, the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. 

Sometimes we just want to get away. We all have our reasons for wanting a bit of peace and quiet in the middle of nowhere but being cut off from the rest of the world isn't necessarily a solution to life's problems. Ali Milles' new thriller The Croft follows two stories across multiple timelines that take place in a croft conversion in the west highlands of Scotland.

Birdsong, based on the book by Sebastian Faulks, is a brutal and beautiful observation of war and remembrance, with this new revival touring in time for the Armistice centenary this November.

Marking the centenary of the end of the First World War, Rachel Wagstaff's highly acclaimed adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's best-selling novel BIRDSONG is returning to Swindon this March as part of its final UK tour. The production was last in the town in 2014 to mark the centenary of the beginning of the War.

Kerry Ellis will star as Gwendolen, her first non-singing role, in the 2018 UK tour of Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford, Courtyard Theatre Hereford, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Belfast Grand Opera House, Theatre Royal Bath and Manchester Opera House. Hannah Louise Howell will play Gwendolen at all other venues. They will be joined by Geoff Aymer, Louise Coulthard, Thomas Howes, Peter Sandys-Clarke and Simon Shackleton, playing Chasuble, Cecily, Algernon, Jack and Lane/Merriman respectively.

Marking the centenary of the end of the First World War, Rachel Wagstaff's highly acclaimed adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's best-selling novel BIRDSONG embarks on its final UK tour, opening at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds on 31 January 2018 and continuing until 17 July 2018.

Set amidst the social turbulence of 1960s London, the play follows the story of Susy, a blind woman who, left alone in her apartment, becomes the victim of an elaborate scam hatched by a group of conmen. Susy is left to fend for herself, and eventually finds a way to turn the tables on the conmen and give them a taste of life in the dark.

The Original Theatre Company is delighted to announce that, due to popular demand, its production of Torben Betts's critically acclaimed Invincible is touring the UK for the second consecutive year and can be seen at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough next month.

The Original Theatre Company is delighted to announce that, due to popular demand, its production of Torben Betts's critically acclaimed INVINCIBLE will tour the UK for a second time, directed by Stephen Darcy. The 2017 tour will open at Royal & Derngate in Northampton on 24 January 2017.

Director Luke Sheppard is currently helming a revival of Emlyn Williams' renowned psychological thriller 'Night Must Fall'. The show begins a national tour at Eastbourne's Devonshire Park Theatre on 19 August.

The Original Theatre Company and Salisbury Playhouse in association with Eastbourne Theatres will present the national tour of Emlyn Williams's psychological thriller, NIGHT MUST FALL, directed by Luke Sheppard and starring Gwen Taylor as Mrs Bramson, Daragh O'Malley as Inspector Belsize, Niamh McGrady as Olivia and Will Featherstone as Dan. The tour will begin at Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne on 19 August, with a National press night on Wednesday 7 September at Salisbury Playhouse.

Novelist Sebastian Faulks will be treading the boards in a cameo acting role in Rachel Wagstaff's adaptation of his play BIRDSONG at Richmond Theatre this summer.

Novelist Sebastian Faulks will be treading the boards in a cameo acting role in Rachel Wagstaff's adaptation of his play BIRDSONG at Richmond Theatre this summer.

Peter Duncan, Edmund Wiseman and Emily Bowker head the cast of the 2015 national tour of Rachel Wagstaff's stage play BIRDSONG, adapted from the novel by Sebastian Faulks, which will open on 4 February 2015 at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon. The tour has been extended by a week, and will now play Richmond Theatre from 29 June - 4 July.

Peter Duncan, Edmund Wiseman and Emily Bowker head the cast of the 2015 national tour of Rachel Wagstaff's stage play BIRDSONG, adapted from the novel by Sebastian Faulks, which will open on 4 February 2015 at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon. The tour has been extended by a week, and will now play Richmond Theatre from 29 June - 4 July.