A NEW play that examines the unique relationship between the late Queen Elizabeth II and her dresser, Daisy Goodwin’s By Royal Appointment, has its world premiere at Bath Theatre Royal, from Thursday 5th to Saturday 14th June, before a UK tour. The play stars Anne Reid as the Queen and Caroline Quentin as The Dresser,…
MATTHEW Bourne, the inspired creator of the all-male Swan Lake, and many other dance theatre pieces, scored another hit and won more awards with his 2021 production, The Midnight Bell, which comes to the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 20th to Saturday 24th May, as part of a countrywide tour. His company, New Adventures, makes…
ANYONE who remembers Alfred Hitchcock’s enthralling and dramatic Cold War era thriller, North by North West, with its terrifying scene of the hero being pursued by a crop-duster plane, will want to see how the ever-inventive Emma Rice has adapted the 1950s film for the stage. Find out when her Wise Children company comes, all…
ONE of the best-loved plays of the past 50 years, Educating Rita, comes to Cirencester’s tiny but adventurous Barn Theatre from Friday 16th May to Saturday 28th June. Willy Russell’s two-hander, originally staged in 1980 with Julie Walters in the title role, and three years later filmed with Walters again and Michael Caine as the…
HILARY Tones takes the lead in her own play, C’Est La Vie, Sarah Bernhardt and Me, at Bath Theatre Royal’s Ustinov Studio on Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th May. The play tells the story of the celebrated and pioneering 19th century French actress who performed worldwide, becoming the first global superstar. An actress nervously awaits…
HATED by academics, loved by children, Enid Blyton was a best-selling author whose works were excoriated by critics, banned by the BBC and hated by teachers and librarians. But what was she really like? Liz Grand portrays this controversial figure in The Secret Life of Enid Blyton, a play by Kit Hunter, coming to the…
MEET Percy, the very appealing star of his own show, coming to the Front Room at Weston-super-Mare on 17th May Percy is a puffling who loves his burrow a little too much. What he doesn’t realise, however, is that his entire flock are about to migrate south for the winter. If he doesn’t learn to…
WHEN Opera della Luna stages one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas, you know you are in for a great evening. So welcome back to Jeff Clarke’s company at Bath Theatre Royal, from Tuesday 13th to Saturday 17th May, with The Mikado, probably the best loved of all the Savoy Operas. This hilarious tale of…
CAROLINE Harker, who is at Salisbury Playhouse in a dark ghost story, The Croft, from 9th to 17th May, will be a familiar face to local audiences. Her previous appearances at the theatre have included Moira Buffini’s Maggie Thatcher-Queen Elizabeth II comedy Hand-Bagged, Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking and Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code. Arriving in…
LONDON Classic Theatre comes to Bath Theatre Royal from Monday 5tyh to Saturday 10th May with its 25th anniversary production, Alan Ayckbourn’s Just Between Ourselves, directed by the company’s founder and artistic director Michael Cabot. Set in 1976, the play features five birthdays, two unhappy marriages and one possessive mother. Dennis tinkers in his garage,…