Stephen Joseph Theatre Announces a Sparkling Spring and Early Summer Season

A sparkling spring and early summer season of events has been announced by Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre.

As well as five SJT productions between June and October (Jim Cartwright's The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Alan Ayckbourn's Taking Steps and A Brief History of Women, Amelia Bullmore's Di and Viv and Rose, and Ali Taylor's Goth Weekend) the theatre will host a packed programme of comedies, dramas, music and magic from visiting companies from April to late May, plus its own line-up of supporting events through the main summer season.

They include:

Mr Darcy Loses the Plot: a celebration of Jane Austen from the award-winning comedy duo LipService Theatre (13-15 April).

Noel & Gertie: Matthew Townshend Productions' superb adaptation of Sheridan Morley's play about the friendship between Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence (19 and 20 April).

Morgan & West's Utterly Spiffing Spectacular Magic Show for Kids (and Childish Grown-ups!) and Morgan & West Parlour Tricks: two shows from the time-travelling magicians (21 April).

Ensemble 360: a Music in the Round event featuring the music of Glazunov, Mozart and Tchaikovsky (27 April).

Village Records Showcase with Tom Townsend: a concert by Village Records artists headed by the popular local musician (5 May).

Home: Frozen Light's magical show immerses audiences with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD) in a multi-sensory story of discover (12 May).

Second Stage: professional and emerging talent bring six new plays performed as script-in-hand readings in three performance spaces all in one day (16 May).

Yorkshire Silent Film Festival: Alfred Hitchcock's 1929 Blackmail (17 May); Buster Keaton's 1924 Sherlock Jr (18 May) and Frank Urson's 1927 Chicago (18 May).

Stand Up Stand Up: Theatre Royal Wakefield and the Jim Cartwright Company bring Jim's new play to the Round (18-20 May).

Tiny Time Music Gigs: favourite bands perform in the morning so the smallest members of the family can come along (20 May, 24 June).

Exploring Digital Futures: a two-day event of inspiring and informative talks, discussions and networking around Augmented and Virtual Reality (26-27 May).

Stuff: playful, funny, sad and familiar - a physical absurdist show about love, performed by Sean Kempton, lead clown for Cirque du Soleil (31 May).

Grimm's Tales: Our youth theatre groups Rounders United perform Carol Ann Duffy and Tim Supple's scary campfire tales (2 and 3 June).

Play readings: works by up-and-coming playwrights read by actors from the summer season shows - Caterpillar by Alison Carr (3 July); Build a Rocket by Christopher York and The Space Between by Jackie Daly (double bill, 19 July); False Flag by Rex Obano (26 July) and Revival by Anthony Frew (21 September).

The Tales of Tipsy Willow Tree: the usual Saturday morning Tiny Time Tales fun and nonsense, with plenty of joining-in (22 and 29 July; 5, 12, 19 and 26 August).

Young People's Summer School: something different challenging and exciting for the summer holidays - two classes for 9-12-year-olds and 13-19-year-olds (31 July-12 August).

The five SJT productions this summer (all in rep and already announced) are:

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, written by Jim Cartwright, directed by Paul Robinson - 15 June to 19 August.

Taking Steps, written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn - 13 July to 5 October

Di and Viv and Rose, written by Amelia Bullmore, directed by Lotte Wakeham - 3 to 26 August.

A Brief History of Women, written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn - 1 September to 7 October.

Goth Weekend, by Ali Taylor, directed by Paul Robinson - 14 September to 7 October.

For further information on all the shows in the summer season, please visit the website: www.sjt.uk.com.

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