West Yorkshire Playhouse News

???????Curve today confirmeds the full list of contributors for the upcoming National Diversity Conference.

With John Malkovich's acclaimed production of Good Canary entering its final week, Rose Theatre Kingston today announces its new season for 2017.  Headlining the season is the world premiere of My Brilliant Friend, a two-part adaptation of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet of novels which have become a global literary sensation.  The true identity of the author is a mystery, with Elena Ferrante a pseudonym used by the writer, but speculation over the weekend suggested that the author had been unmasked.  

The first class revival of Mart Crowley's ground-breaking play, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, opens at Park Theatre in London this autumn, then tours to The Lowry, Theatre Royal Brighton and West Yorkshire Playhouse. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, Kerry Michael today announces the cast for the company's annual pantomime -  Sinbad the Sailor by Paul Sirett.

Full casting is today announced for Art at The Old Vic. Tim Key, Paul Ritter and Rufus Sewell star in Yasmina Reza's dazzling study of friendship, prejudice and tolerance. One of the most acclaimed plays of recent times, Art premiered in London twenty years ago and went on to become a phenomenon. Director Matthew Warchus reunites the original creative team.

Charlotte Hope (Myranda in Game of Thrones, Allied, A United Kingdom), Jack Fortune (King Lear, Route Irish, Sparkling Cyanide), Barnaby Kay (A Streetcar Named Desire, The Real Thing, Wuthering Heights) and Gary Shelford (Twelfth Night, Angry Young Man) join the previously announced multi award-winning, international star Ed Harris (forthcoming HBO series from J.J. Abrams & Jonathan Nolan; Westworld, Pollock, The Hours and The Truman Show), Golden Globe winner Amy Madigan (Twice in a Lifetime, Roe vs. Wade), and Jeremy Irvine (War Horse, The Railway Man, Now is Good) to complete the cast in Sam Shepard's Pulitzer & Obie prize winning play, Buried Child, following a critically acclaimed New York run earlier this year.

The Lyric Hammersmith today announces full casting for its Christmas show, Aladdin. The Lyric's annual panto returns when Aladdin flies into Hammersmith on his magic carpet for some festive fun in true Lyric style. Fresh for 2016, the show will be full of colourful characters, live music, lots of laughs and of course the magical Genie.

Producers Tom O'Connell and James Seabright present the first class revival of Mart Crowley's ground-breaking play, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, opening at Park Theatre in London this autumn, then touring to The Lowry, Theatre Royal Brighton and West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Kate Cox, Sofia Edstrand, Rachel Fullegar and Rebecca Holmberg are Gracefool Collective. Today, the group of innovative and exciting female dance artists announce performances of This really is too much at Blue Elephant Theatre, London on 11 & 12 November 2016 and Yorkshire Dance, Leeds on 26 May 2017.

Adapted from Dick King-Smith's much-loved children's novel which inspired the Oscar-winning 1995 film, Babe, The Sheep-Pig will be brought to life on stage in an enchanting new production, embarking on a major UK Tour in 2017 following a Christmas season at Polka Theatre. Featuring stunning puppetry, an original score and an utterly charming 'baa-ber sheep' quartet, the tour will launch from West Yorkshire Playhouse on Monday 13 February and run until September 2017. Full tour schedule attached; further dates to be announced.  

Actor Ian Hallard has done a range of work, from musicals and Shakespeare to phone-hacking play Great Britain at the National Theatre and TV staples like Doctor Who and Poirot. He also co-wrote a Poirot episode with his husband Mark Gatiss, and the pair are now starring together in a revival of Matt Crowley's seminal play The Boys in the Band, which changed the landscape of gay theatre on its Off Broadway premiere in 1968. It begins previews tomorrow at Park Theatre, where it plays until 30 October, and will then tour to Manchester, Brighton and Leeds

"If your whole world was destroyed…What would you do next?" From Freedom Studios, the producers of the acclaimed Brief Encounters at Bradford Interchange, Home Sweet Home and The Mill - The City of Dreams comes North Country. Bradford playwright Tajinder Singh Hayer's new work explores the lives of three young people from Bradford as they deal with the aftermath of a devastating plague; over the next forty years, they reshape themselves and their communities as the play asks 'What do you hold onto when your whole world has changed?'

Strawberry Blonde Curls Theatre Company in partnership with City of Sanctuary presents 'TANJA.' Emily Ntshangase-Wood will play the lead role, a former Yarl's Wood detainee, whose inspiring story and similar stories of those who have been detained are at the heart of it.

Harry Enfield will play studio boss Herman Glogauer in Christopher Hart's adaptation of Kaufman and Hart's classic Hollywood comedy, Once in a Lifetime. Enfield is joined in the cast of Richard Jones' production by John Marquez as George and Claudie Blakley as May, with further casting still to be announced.

Children's Touring Partnership is delighted to announce, on Elephant Appreciation Day (22 September), the first UK Tour of Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo in an adaptation by Samuel Adamson, beginning at Chichester Festival Theatre on 10 February 2017. Michael Morpurgo's novel, based on a true story, is brought to life in this award-winning production, which has been described by critics as 'inspiring', 'evocative, 'imaginative' and 'life-affirming'.  Originally produced by Regent's Park Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre, this epic production, complete with spectacular life-size puppets, tells an emotional and moving story of love, loss and loyalty and of living for the moment.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced the directors for the 28th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which takes place on Thursday, October 27 and Friday, October 28, 2016 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

Following acclaimed runs at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival and the Arcola Theatre, Kathryn Barker Productions today announces a UK tour of Henry Naylor's THE COLLECTOR. William Reay, who reprises his role from the Edinburgh and Arcola runs, is joined by Anna Riding and Olivia Beardsley. Michael Cabot directs the production which tours to 29 venues across the UK this autumn, starting at York Theatre Royal's Studio tonight 21 September.

Arcola Theatre's production of Kenny Morgan will return for just four weeks this September after a sold-out premiere earlier this year. This critically-acclaimed new play is the latest drama by Mike Poulton (Tony nominated for his Broadway versions of Fortune's Fool, Wolf Hall, and Bring up The Bodies).

Kenny Wax Family Entertainment today announced Mr Popper's Penguins will be visiting 6 venues in the UK from the 27 September to 11 December prior to a West End Christmas season. The Penguins will also be sailing across the Atlantic for their US premiere at New York's renowned New Victory Theatre this autumn. 

Sheffield Theatres today announces the cast for its major new revival of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. Paul Foster directs Anna-Jane Casey as Annie Oakley and Ben Lewis as Frank Butler, with Nicolas Colicos (Buffalo Bill), Mike Denman (Pawnee Bill), Lauren Hall (Winnie Tate), Matthew Malthouse (Foster Wilson), Timothy Quinlan (Charlie Davenport), Cleve September (Tommy Keeler), Maggie Service (Dolly Tate), Karl Seth (Chief Sitting Bull), and completing the ensemble, Josh Andrews, Ronan Burns, Emma Caffrey, Matthew Croke, Omari Douglas, Rosie Fletcher, Melissa James, Jasmine Kerr, Natasha Mould, Jak Skelly, Leah West and Emma Woods (ensemble and Dance Captain). The production opens on 14 December, with previews from 8 December, and runs until 14 January.