Paula James News

The cast of Polka Theatre's Snow Queen brings festive magic to families with sick children at Ronald McDonald House. Actors from the family-friendly production visit Ronald McDonald House Tooting, playing games and singing songs to bring joy to families during the holiday season.

Production images have been released for Polka Theatre's Snow Queen, the first commission of Artistic Director Helen Matravers’ tenure - which is taking place in the Main Theatre until 21 January.

Full cast and creative team details have been revealed for Polka Theatre's 2023 Winter shows. Learn more about The Snow Queen and The Night Before Christmas here, and find out how to get tickets!

Polka Theatre will present the new family musical The Lost Spells 13 April thought 7 May.

Get a first look at Kenneth Grahame's compelling The Wind in the Willows, now playing at Wilton's Music Hall, in a brand-new version. The Wind in the Willows Wilton's by acclaimed children's author Piers Torday will immerse adults and children into the charming and playful world of Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad.

This Christmas, Kenneth Grahame's compelling The Wind in the Willows is coming to Wilton's Music Hall, in a brand-new version The Wind in the Willows Wilton's by acclaimed children's author Piers Torday that will immerse adults and children (+5 years) into the charming and playful world of Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad.

Full casting and creative team have been announced for OUR MAN IN HAVANA, the world premiere musical adaptation of Graham Greene's iconic novel, opening at Newbury's The Watermill on Thursday 7 April – Saturday 21 May, with a press night on Monday 11 April.

All new production images have been released for a new production of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST by Ciaran McConville at Rose Theatre Kingston which has its official opening night tonight, Friday 10 December.  

After being cancelled last year, the traditional musical extravaganza at the Rose Theatre is back with a bang. Typically for the festive production, Beauty And The Beast brings together professional actors along with talented performers from the Rose Youth Theatre for a magical production.

Brand-new musical comedy Bluff, written exclusively for radio by Matt Cavendish and Ed Zanders is available to download on Monday 18 October, following a full studio recording with West End cast and musicians at Masterchord Studios London. The full radio-play, complete with foley sound effects, is designed to take the listener on a vivid journey through a larger-than-life world, accompanied by a live studio orchestra.

Amelia Kinu Muus and Stanton Wright will star as Bella and Beast respectively in a new version of Beauty and the Beast by Ciaran McConville, with music and lyrics by Eamonn O’Dwyer, opening at Rose Theatre.

Two lovers, each with hidden secrets, struggle to prosper as gin hawkers. At a time in the 18th century when the average Briton drank 1.5 litres of gin every day, women were being locked up in cells to sober up and disorder was breaking out on every street corner, panic spreads among the upper classes who look to the magistrates, the Church and even their tipsy Queen to restore sobriety.

The ensemble cast includes Debbie Chazen (The Girls, West End), Rosalind Ford (Once, UK Tour), Aruhan Galieva (King John, Royal & Derngate and Shakespeare’s Globe), Paula James (The Snow Queen, Park Theatre), Alex Mugnaioni (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Rose Theatre Kingston and West End), Peter Pearson (Welcome to the UK, The Bunker), and more!

Bluff is a madcap romp through a surreal universe in which everyone lies about everything all of the time. Everyone that is apart from Alec who has been raised 'honest'. As he desperately tries to navigate what is real and what is not, It becomes clear that he must come to terms with his own dark secret, as the world starts to unravel around him. 

In a season of numerous versions of A Christmas Carol, modern or traditional, musical or dramatic, streamed or live, with puppets or people, this production from the Guildford Shakespeare Company and Jermyn Street Theatre is a welcome addition to festivities.

Audiences will be given the opportunity to return to the newly refurbished New Vic Theatre and revisit pieces from its critically acclaimed 2015 Staffordshire Hoard Festival in Hoard: Rediscovered, screened at the theatre as part of its Housewarming Season this November.

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the cast of 15 Heroines, Jermyn Street Theatre, today reveals the complete line up of actors for its epic reading of The Odyssey.

Park Theatre's production of The Snow Queen runs from 4th December 2019 to 4th January 2020.  

Casting has been confirmed for Park Theatre's festive family adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic: The Snow Queen. Focusing on the origins of the Queen who brings endless winter, the cast includes: Frances Marshall, Ayesha Casely-Hayford, Esmonde Cole, Sarah-Louise Young, Justin Brett, Paula James and Matt Cavendish. The production is adapted by Charles Way and directed by Abigail Anderson, with a national press night on Friday 6 December, 7pm.

Casting has been confirmed for Park Theatre's festive family adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic: The Snow Queen. Focusing on the origins of the Queen who brings endless winter, the cast includes: Frances Marshall, Ayesha Casely-Hayford, Esmonde Cole, Sarah-Louise Young, Justin Brett, Paula James and Matt Cavendish. The production is adapted by Charles Way and directed by Abigail Anderson, with a national press night on Friday 6 December, 7pm.