Production news round-up: Six the musical extends booking and Roman Holiday musical to have UK premiere at Leicester's Curve

This week’s round-up includes a UK premiere of a musical adaptation of Roman Holiday, and the news that Six the Musical has extended its booking period until January 2021.

Musicals

Nick Afoa will star as Simba in the UK and Ireland touring production of The Lion King. He is currently starring in the role in the West End, and will join the tour from April 30.
Authors: Elton John, Tim Rice, Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor, Hans Zimmer (music), Roger Allers, Irene Mecchi (book)
Director: Julie Taymor
Design: Richard Hudson (set), Garth Fagan (choreographer), Donald Holder (lighting), Steve Canyon Kennedy (sound), Julie Taymor (costume)
Musical director: Jonathan Gill
Producer: Disney Theatrical Productions

The producers of Six the Musical have confirmed a new West End booking period, extending to January 2021. The musical has been running at the Arts Theatre in London since January 2019.
Authors: Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss
Directors: Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage
Producers: Kenny Wax, Global Musicals and George Stiles

Pippa Cleary and Jake Brunger’s Jet Set Go!, a stage adaptation of the film Soapdish by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and a revival of The Assassination of Katie Hopkins will feature at this year’s Turbine Theatre MTFestUK. The festival, which showcases short previews of developing musicals, will run from February 3 to 15 at the Turbine Theatre in London.

The Assassination of Katie Hopkins revival to feature at MTFest 2020

Louise Redknapp and Brian Conley will return to the cast of 9 to 5 the Musical next month, as the show confirms it will end its run in the West End in May. The pair will return to the cast as Violet Newstead and Franklin Hart Jnr respectively. They will replace Caroline Sheen and David Hasselhoff, whose final performances are on February 8.
Authors: Dolly Parton and Patricia Resnick
Director: Jeff Calhoun
Producers: Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Selladoor Worldwide and Gavin Kalin Productions, with Benjamin Lowy Productions, Glass Half Full Productions, Showtime Theatre Productions, Hartshorn-Hook Productions, Harmonia Holdings and Kilimanjaro Live

A musical adaptation of Roman Holiday is set to have its UK premiere as part of Curve’s 2020 season. The show will be based on the 1953 film starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Full casting and a creative team have yet to be announced. The season line-up also includes Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and dance collaboration Samsara.
Authors: Cole Porter (music), Kirsten Guenther and Paul Blake (book)
Director: Nikolai Foster
Producer: Curve

Leicester’s Curve announces UK premiere of Roman Holiday musical

Plays

The European premiere of Paula Vogel’s Indecent and a revival of Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus will be staged at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory as part of its spring season. Indecent explores the origins of Sholem Asch‘s play The God of Vengeance, and will be directed by Rebecca Taichman. It will run from March 13 to May 9, with a press night on March 23. The new production of Habeas Corpus will be directed by Patrick Marber, and will play from May 15 to July 4, with a press night on May 21.

Paula Vogel’s Indecent and Habeas Corpus revival to run at Menier Chocolate Factory

Instructions for Teenage Armageddon, a new play written by and starring Rosie Day, will run at Islington’s Old Red Lion Theatre from February 17 to 29. Billed as “a call to arms for young women”, the one-woman play explores female friendships and navigating life as an adolescent.
Author: Rosie Day
Director: Georgie Staight
Producers: Brian Zeilinger and Jack Maple for Take Two Theatricals and Brian D Kessler, in association with Emily Lunnon Productions

Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense will tour the UK from February 5. The PG Wodehouse adaptation will play at venues including Wallingford’s Corn Exchange, Hertford Theatre, and Theatre Royal Winchester, where it closes on May 31.
Authors: David and Robert Goodale, Eamonn O’Dwyer (music)
Director: John Terry
Cast includes: Andrew Ashford, Andrew Cullum, Matt Cavendish
Design: Alex Marker, Christopher Nairne (lighting), Bronya Deutsch (movement)
Producers: Chipping Norton Theatre and The Barn Theatre

Atalanta Forever, a new play about pioneering women’s football in 1920, is set to tour the UK following its premiere at Manchester’s National Football Museum on April 18. Exact dates and venues are still to be confirmed.
Authors: Amanda Whittington, (book and lyrics), Kieran Buckeridge (music and lyrics)
Director: Marianne McNamara
Musical director: Rebekah Hughes
Designer: Celia Perkins
Producer: Mikron Theatre Company

Following its run at Jermyn Street Theatre, One Million Tiny Plays About Britain will play at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury from January 29 to February 15. The play is a “collage of scenes about 21st-century life” and first premiered at the Watermill in 2016.
Author: Craig Taylor
Director: Laura Keefe
Design: Ceci Calf (set/costume) Harry Linden Johnson (sound)
Producer: The Watermill Theatre in association with Jermyn Street Theatre

The UK premiere of The Rage of Narcissus by Sergio Blanco and Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner will be directed as double bill by Daniel Goldman at London’s Pleasance Theatre. Blanc’s play, which has been translated by Goldman, will run from February 18 to March 8, with a press night on February 21. Stupid Fucking Bird, an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, will run from April 27 to May 17, with a press night on April 24.
Producers: Tangram Theatre and Pleasance Theatre

David Ahmad is set to rejoin the cast of The Kite Runner on its UK tour next month. He will resume the central role of Amir, which he played in the West End. He is joined by Andrei Costin as Hassan and Sohrab, Lisa Zahra as Soraya and Bhavin Bhatt as Assef. The play will have a press night at Richmond Theatre on March 10, and will tour to venues including Theatr Clwyd, Bromley’s Churchill Theatre and Sheffield Lyceum, where it closes on July 4.
Author: Khaled Hosseini, Matthew Spangler (adaptation)
Director: Giles Croft
Design: Barney George, Charles Balfour (lighting) William Simpson (projection), Drew Baumohl (sound design) Kitty Winter (movement), Phillip D’Orléans (fight director)
Music/musical director: Jonathan Girling
Producers: Produced by Martin Dodd for UK Productions and Derek Nicol & Paul Walden for Flying Entertainment, originally produced by Nottingham Playhouse and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse

Actor Louise Jameson, known for her roles in Doctor Who and Eastenders, is set to direct a new production of the psychological thriller Revenge. The show will open at Greenwich Theatre on February 6, before touring nationally. It will be performed at venues including Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre and Fairfield Halls, Croydon, where the tour concludes on March 28.
Author: Robin Hawdon
Director: Louise Jameson
Cast includes: Kate Ashmead, Jonathan McGarrity
Design: Claire Childs (lighting), Dan Styles (fight direction)
Producer: Martin Parsons for Crime and Comedy Theatre Company

Other

After You, a performance told through conversations between a mother and daughter will run at London’s Soho Theatre from February 17 to 22. The show is written by and performed by Hannah and Angela Norris.
Designer: Martelle Hunt

Milton Keynes International Festival will run from July 17 to 26 this year and will be helmed by Graeae‘s artistic director Jenny Sealey, as artist-in-residence for its 10-day duration. The festival will feature live music, comedy and circus and a work-in-progress preview of opera The Paradis Files, directed by Sealey.

The full programme of events and performances which make up the Bunker’s final season has been announced. The eight-week takeover season will feature more than 80 artists and 70 performances, workshops, lectures and events, before the venue closes due to proposed redevelopment at the end of March 2020. The line-up includes I Am (Not) Kanye West by Natasha Brown, Lilith by Jennie Buckman and KaraOkay by Sabrina Mahfouz. In the final week, director Caitriona Shoobridge will also present Where Do We Go Next?, a film installation featuring new monologues from six working-class and under-represented writers. The season runs from February 3 to March 28, at the London venue.

The Time Machine, a new immersive adaptation of HG Wells‘ novel will run at the London Library from from February 29 to April 5, with a press night on March 11. The experience is influenced by research from the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities and explores the future of neuroscience and genomics.
Author: Jonathan Holloway
Director: Natasha Rickman
Design: Ryan Dawson Laight, Matt Eaton (sound)
Producer: Creation Theatre

Women’s Writes, a new festival showcasing female voices will take place at London’s Arcola Theatre on March 8, in celebration of international women’s day. Six short plays by female identifying playwrights with female-led narratives will be staged between 5pm and 8pm.
Producers: Alex Critoph, Laura Dickens

Yellow Earth Theatre is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new season of work, featuring Fix by Julie Tsang, and an immersive project Tsunagu/Connect, created by Kumiko Mendl and Kazuko Hohki as part of the UK-Japan season of culture.

A Harry Potter-inspired theatrical dining experience will run in London later this year, following on from the venue’s Game of Thrones-themed show in 2019. Offering a blend of theatre and immersive dining, Hexborn’s School of Sorcery will run at the Vaults from September 15 to January 10, 2021.
Authors: Robyn Grant and Daniel Foxx
Directors: Robyn Grant and Allie Munro
Producers: Vaults and Fat Rascal Theatre

London’s Vaults to stage Harry Potter-inspired immersive dining experience

D/deaf and disabled theatre company Graeae has launched its first scratch night, Crips with Chips, which aims to give D/deaf and disabled writers the opportunity to test new ideas. The scratch nights will take place every other month at Bradbury Studios in London, with the first event on February 17.

Graeae launches ‘Crips with Chips’ scratch night for D/deaf and disabled writers