The Watermill Theatre Announces Autumn And Winter Season - KISS ME, KATE, ASSASSINS, and More!
By: Stephi Wild Apr. 08, 2019
The Watermill Theatre today announces its new season for Autumn/Winter 2019.
In keeping with the theatre's growing reputation for producing theatrically bold and imaginatively staged musicals performed by actor-musicians, the season highlights will include the multi-award-winning classic Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate, as well as a co-production with Nottingham Playhouse of Stephen Sondheim's whip-smart and insightful Assassins.
Also featuring is work from the Young Company who will be performing Glyn Maxwell's adaptation of Edmond Rostand's epic Cyrano de Bergerac and The Watermill Ensemble return with a hilarious, high-octane version of Shakespeare's Dream in A Mini Summer Night's Dream which will tour to schools. Finally, the festive season unwraps with a lively adaptation by Chinonyerem Odimba of Mark Twain's classic story of confused identities, The Prince and The Pauper for all the family.
Paul Hart, Artistic and Executive Director said 'I am really excited about bringing this season of work to The Watermill. Our summer musicals have become must-see shows, and I can't wait to get working on Kiss Me, Kate in The Watermill's unique and intimate space - Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, egos raging and gun-toting gangsters, what's not to love? This brilliant show-within-a-show set up and Cole Porter's sublime score will be reimagined with actor-musicians. I am also delighted to be co-producing Assassins with Nottingham Playhouse, one of Sondheim's most pertinent pieces, continuing our long association with the work of Sondheim. It is thrilling to see work from our fantastically committed Young Company and they will be bringing to life a very funny production of Cyrano De Bergerac. Our ever versatile Watermill Ensemble will be showcasing a fast-paced, joyous 'Mini Summer Night's Dream' with three actors playing all the parts. The show will tour to schools and run at the theatre. Finally, for the festive season we have a real treat for all the family with Chinonyerem Odimba's new version of Mark Twain's classic story The Prince and The Pauper.'
Continuing its commitment to making its work accessible to all, The Watermill will offer £10 tickets for 16 to 25s to all main house productions. It will stage its twelfth integrated signed performance during the run of The Prince and the Pauper on 11 and 14 December, as well as a Relaxed Performance on 7 December. There will also be a Relaxed Performance of A Mini Summer Night's Dream on 7 November and audio described performances for Kiss Me, Kate, Assassins and The Prince and the Pauper.
The Watermill Theatre presents
KISS ME, KATE
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Sam and Bella Spewack
Directed by Paul Hart
Designed by Frankie Bradshaw
Choreography by Naomi Said
Sound designed by Tom Marshall
Thursday 25 July to Saturday 21 September
PRESS NIGHT: MONDAY 29 JULY AT 7.30PM
Onstage romance collides with backstage drama in this musical comedy about the highs and lows of working in theatre.
When ego-centric actor-manager Fred Graham and his fiery ex-wife Lilli Vanessi find themselves starring opposite each other in a musical version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, sparks begin to fly. Meanwhile in another corner of Ford's Theatre, Baltimore, Fred's current flame and rising star Lois Lane attempts to tame her gambler boyfriend only to be thwarted by the arrival of a couple of gangsters who somehow find themselves centre stage!
Despite chaos reigning on and offstage, the show must go on! Will the cast make it to curtain up or will they literally bring the house down?
Showbiz shenanigans together with Cole Porter's jazz-inflected score form a sparkling tribute to theatre in all its greasepaint and glory.
Kiss Me, Kate's iconic music and razor-sharp wit are catapulted into the limelight by a cast of actor-musicians performing showstopping numbers including Too Darn Hot, Another Op'nin' Another Show, Brush Up Your Shakespeare and So in Love.
Principal Sponsor, Saica Pack
The Watermill Theatre and
Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company present
ASSASSINS
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
ASSASSINS is based on an idea by Charles Gilbert Jr.
Original orchestrations by Michael Starobin
Playwrights Horizons Inc., New York City, produced ASSASSINS off-Broadway in 1990
Performed by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited
Directed by Bill Buckhurst
Musical Supervision and Orchestration by Catherine Jayes
Designed by Simon Kenny
Thursday 26 September to Saturday 26 October
PRESS NIGHT: MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER AT 7.30PM
'Murder is a tawdry little crime. But when a president gets killed... he gets assassinated.'
A man sits in a storeroom on the sixth floor of a Book Depository in Texas waiting for John F. Kennedy's motorcade to pass below. He rests his finger on the trigger, ready to join a line of men and women who have shot their way into the history books.
Assassins is a satirical and stylish look at why individuals reach for a gun when they feel
their voice can't be heard. From John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, writers Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, bend the rules of time and space, taking us on a roller coaster ride in which assassins and would-be assassins from different historical periods meet, interact and inspire each other to perform harrowing acts. Clever, funny and thought-provoking, this is a musical about the power of the President, the lure of celebrity and the failure of the American Dream.
This multiple Tony award-winning vaudeville style show is a modern classic. Following the success of A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd, The Watermill returns to Sondheim with a multi-talented cast of actor-musicians.
The Watermill Young Company presents
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
Adapted by Glyn Maxwell
From the play by Edmond Rostand
Directed by Seamus Allen
Designed by Cory Shipp
This amateur production is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH LTD a Concord Theatricals Company.
Wednesday 30 October to Saturday 2 November
PRESS NIGHT: THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER AT 7.30PM
'Does it seem strange: a hundred cutthroats against one poor poet?'
Cyrano is the greatest swordsman in all of France whose prowess in battle is only equalled by the beauty of his poetry. Fierce with a pen and notorious in combat, the gifted nobleman appears to have it all. If only he could capture the heart of his one true love Roxanne. The Watermill Young Company return with a swashbuckling tale of adventure and romance.
The Sackler Trust, Principal Supporter of The Watermill Young Company
The Watermill Ensemble presents
Shakespeare Unlocked
A MINI SUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
By William Shakespeare
Adapted by Danielle Pearson
Directed by Robert Kirby
Monday 4 to Friday 8 November
PRESS NIGHT: TUESDAY 5 NOVEMBER AT 7.30PM
'If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumbered here. While these visions did appear...'
Three actors unlock Shakespeare's enchanting play in a fast-paced 75 minute production with live music.
Midsummer's night. The costume store backstage at a theatre. Things begin to come alive... Sprites, fairies and young lovers collide in Shakespeare's beguiling comedy of magic and mischief. Over the course of a single night, hearts are broken, vows are made and dreams are chased.
There will be a free post-show Q&A following performances from Tuesday to Friday.
This production will also tour to schools. For more information about the tour call 01635 570927.
The Sackler Trust, Principal Supporter of The Watermill Schools Touring Programme.
The Watermill Theatre presents
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER
By Mark Twain
Adaptation and Lyrics by Chinonyerem Odimba
Music and Lyrics by Tarek Merchant
Directed by Abigail Pickard Price
Thursday 14 November to Saturday 4 January 2020
PRESS PERFORMANCES: SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER AT 2.30pm and 7pm.
A magical, musical tale of dreams, ambition and friendship.
Two young dreamers with very different lives long for change. The Prince is bored of royal life, of endless parties and rules and grown-ups. Most of all, he hates the grown-ups and wishes he had friends his own age to play with. Outside the palace walls in the bustling streets of London, a young girl who loves to play music and dance, dreams of escaping her humble life to perform for the finest people in the city.
When their two worlds collide, the Prince and the Pauper embark on a thrilling adventure beyond their wildest imaginations. Switching places to live each other's lives, will they ever be the same again?
Suitable for age 4+. We regret that we are unable to admit children under 3 or babes
in arms into the auditorium except for the Relaxed Performance.
Principal Sponsor, Horsey Lightly Solicitors
One-off events
The Watermill Theatre and Paines Plough present
COME TO WHERE I'M FROM
Saturday 9 November at 6.30pm
This celebrated nationwide project visits Newbury inviting the finest local playwrights to write and perform mini plays about their home towns.
Since 2010, more than 160 writers from across the UK have returned home to pen plays about the places that shaped them. Together these plays make up a theatrical tapestry of the nation - a playwrights' guide to Great Britain. At theatres from Bristol to Belfast, Cardiff to Coventry and Nottingham to Newcastle, these plays have been performed by the playwrights themselves, coming home to tell their tale.
Now, Come To Where I'm From visits The Watermill for a special evening of new short plays about Newbury performed by the playwrights themselves on the stage of their home town theatre.
Download the Come To Where I'm From app to listen to plays from around the UK for free. Available from the App Store and Google Play.
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