Matthew Xia News

RTYDS have announced three talented freelance directors and theatre-makers for their 18-month Residencies at prestigious theatres across the country. 

Angela Yeoh and Anya Jaya-Murphy have been cast in the premiere of the UK Tour of Rice presented by ACTORS TOURING COMPANY (ATC) and directed by Artistic Director, Matthew Xia.

Manchester Hope Mill Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of The Wiz is to be streamed. The musical had to cancel 15 sold-out performances over Christmas due to Covid. The rights holders have now generously agreed to it being filmed and streamed for a strictly limited number of performances to UK-only audiences, and limited to the number of physical seats at the venue.

All new video has been released from a the new Black British version of the 70s musical The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester.

With previews underway and press night on Sunday, stunning images by Pamela Raith have been released from a radical new Black British version of the 70s musical The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical Wonderful Wizard of Oz at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester.

With the return of Terence Rattigan's While The Sun Shines currently running at the Orange Tree Theatre, Artistic Director Paul Miller and Executive Director Hanna Streeter today announce further programming for The Recovery Season.

Following its Housewarming programme - open hearted work that celebrated connection and community, This is Now invites artists and audiences to join a yearlong conversation about who we are and who we want to be; to think deeply about the important questions of our time, and to find refuge in coming together to imagine our way through the world we live in, right now.

ACTORS TOURING COMPANY, the UK’s leading producer of international plays, announces a new major 11-week national tour of Rice, a powerful drama written by award-winning Australian writer Michele Lee and directed by Actors Touring Company’s Artistic Director Matthew Xia. 

An all new video has been released of Cherelle Williams, as Dorothy, singing 'Soon As I Get Home' from the Black British retelling of  ‘The Wiz’, which plays at Hope Mill Theatre this Christmas.

Following its sold-out, critically acclaimed production of ‘Rent’, Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre in association with Ameena Hamid Productions announces the cast for a radical new version of the 70s musical The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.

As part of their new Recovery Season, the Orange Tree Theatre, in a co-production with Actors Touring Company now brings us Rice, a powerful, thought-provoking and funny play about cultural identity, class, race and power told through two very different women, who form an unlikely friendship. Set in Australia, Nisha is a young Indian-Australian and an ambitious executive on the cusp of securing a life-changing deal to sell rice to India. Yvette is an older Chinese-Australian who cleans Nisha’s office while she juggles with trying to revive a failing business and a daughter in trouble for environmental activism.

Following its sold-out, critically acclaimed production of 'Rent', Manchester's Hope Mill Theatre in association with Ameena Hamid Productions announces the cast for a radical new version of the 70s musical The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.

Nisha is a young hotshot executive working for Golden Fields, Australia's largest producer of rice. Ambitious and headstrong, she's determined to become the first female Indian CEO in Australia. She's close to sealing a contract with the Indian government, which would see her company take over India's national rice distribution system.

Family Tree takes as its inspiration the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman, whose cells were harvested and cultivated without her consent after her death from cervical cancer in the 1950s. The so-called HeLa cells have been vital to studying disease and have even contributed to the development of the COVID-19 vaccines. 

Klippies is Jessica Sian's acclaimed coming-of-age drama about an unlikely friendship and the intensity of first love set in modern day Johannesburg, and AI is a new play by Genesis Fellow and Young Vic Associate Director Jennifer Tang and Company, created using a deep-learning system to generate human-like dialogue and script.

Directed by ATC's Artistic Director Matthew Xia, this site-responsive outdoor production is designed by Sandra Falase (J'Ouvert, Sonia Friedman Prods., Romeo and Juliet – Orange Tree), with music by Fran Rivers (Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund Award winner, 2021; Othello, NYT) and movement by Vicki Igbokwe (founder and creative director of Uchenna Dance, Mass Movement Choreographer, Olympic & Paralympic Ceremonies).

GDIF, London's leading outdoor theatre and performing arts festival, is today announcing its full programme for 2021, taking place from 27 August – 11 September across Royal Greenwich, the City of London, Canary Wharf, Thamesmead and the Royal Docks.  

As previously announced, this Christmas Hope Mill Theatre will stage the first new UK production of The Wiz, in 10 years, running from Wednesday 24th November 2021 to Sunday 16th January 2022.

As live theatre begins to re-emerge, today leading UK touring company Actors Touring Company (ATC) announces two co-productions for this Summer and Autumn, which reflect the company's commitment to articulating the position of the 'outsider' within our society and to giving voice to those who may not otherwise be heard. 

GDIF, London's leading outdoor performing arts festival, is today announcing highlights from the 2021 programme, scheduled to take place 27 August – 11 September across Royal Greenwich, the City of London, Canary Wharf, Thamesmead and the Royal Docks.