Nottingham Playhouse Unveils Autumn Season Updates

Nottingham Playhouse has unveiled its autumn and winter season for 2018, following rave reviews for its spring and summer line-up.

The latest announcement includes confirmed casting for the much-loved Nottingham Playhouse pantomime Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood, directed and written by Kenneth Alan Taylor.

Considered a 'Midlands institution' Nottingham Playhouse's annual pantomime has confirmed the welcome return of actors Tim Frater and Kelly Agredo as Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Playhouse favourite John Elkington will be taking to the stage as Nurse Nellie Noggins, alongside Rebecca Little as Tilly Tuck the Tomboy. Joining them will be Robin Kingsland as the evil Sheriff of Nottingham.

Following a successful pilot in 2017's pantomime, Cinderella, Nottingham Playhouse has also confirmed that it will feature two adult chorus members in Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood, providing an opportunity for recently graduated performers to gain their first professional credit.

As a seasonal treat for smaller children, Nottingham Playhouse will create a magical and festive retelling of The Brothers Grimm fairytale The Elves and the Shoemaker. The show promises to be a perfect introduction to theatre for little ones, following in the tradition of family favourites, Town Mouse and Country Mouse and The Princess and the Frog.

The exciting programme kicks off with Nottingham Playhouse's first musical for more than a decade: Sweet Charity. This uplifting Broadway musical is followed by poignant play Kindertransport and the highly anticipated production of The Madness of George III, which is set to take Nottingham Playhouse to a global scale when it is broadcast live in partnership with National Theatre Live.

Artistic Director at Nottingham Playhouse Adam Penford said: "2018 is proving to be a really exciting time for Nottingham Playhouse. The response from audience and critics alike to the productions has been fantastic and we have exceeded our ticket sales targets.

"The autumn is set to be even bigger and better, with ever more ambitious productions and top-notch talent creating work for our stages."

Professional artists development programme Amplify opens its ideas submission window this September. It encourages local artists to submit their creative performance projects and ideas. Meanwhile, the first Amplify Festival will run from 8 to 13 October, with applications opening soon.

Adam continued: "Supporting local artists is a fundamental part of Nottingham Playhouse's ethos and we are dedicated to providing opportunities for homegrown talent in all areas of our artistic development work."

For a copy of the new season programme and to book tickets visit, www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood full cast biographies:

Tim Frater - Theatre credits include: Cinderella; Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood; Jack and the Beanstalk; Sleeping Beauty; Dick Whittington (Nottingham Playhouse); Dance Captain for Five Guys Named Moe (Festival Square, Edinburgh); A Christmas Carol (Royal Theatre, Northampton); Jolson (Birmingham Hippodrome/Victoria Palace Theatre); Forever Young (Nottingham Playhouse and UK Tour).

Kelly Agredo - Theatre credits include: Cinderella (Nottingham Playhouse); Dick Whittington (Belgrade Theatre); The Trojan Women (Streatham Hill Theatre); Sleeping Beauty (Wilde Theatre at South Hill Park Arts Centre); Musical Mayhem (Lost Theatre, London). Film credits include: Tindersticks Music Video (Cambridge Corn Exhange); Privato (Sobeit); The Exchange (Floodwater Films).

John Elkington - Theatre credits include: Holes; The Cherry Orchard; The Importance of Being Earnest; Lady Bracknell's Confinement; Of Mice and Men; Garage Band; Forever Young and lots of pantos (Nottingham Playhouse); Queens of the Coal Age (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Robin Hood: The Arrow of Destiny (York Theatre Royal); Noises Off (Nottingham Playhouse/Nuffield Southampton Theatres/Northern Stage.

Rebecca Little - Theatre credits at Nottingham Playhouse pantomimes include: Cinderella; Aladdin; Sleeping Beauty; Jack and the Beanstalk; Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood; Mother Goose; Beauty and the Beast; Dick Whittington. Other theatre credits include: A World Away (OTW); Romeo and Juliet; Macbeth; Much Ado About Nothing; Twelfth Night; A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oddsocks); Coronation Capers; Granny's Big Top Tale; Turned Out Nice Again!; What Became of the Red Shoes? (Little Pixie Productions); Forever Young; Tracy Beaker Gets Real! (Nottingham Playhouse)

Adam Pettigrew - Theatre credits include: Cinderella (Nottingham Playhouse); The White Feather (Union Theatre); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Ye Olde Rose and Crown); Sleeping Arrangements (Landor Theatre); Peter Pan (Aylesbury Waterside Theatre/Princes Hall, Aldershot).

Darren Southworth - Theatre credits include: Cinderella; Jack and the Beanstalk; Aladdin (Nottingham Playhouse); #ChipShoptheMusical (Freedom Studios/Octagon Theatre Bolton); Cinderella (Qdos Productions); Cox and Box: Mrs Bouncer's Legacy (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); No Sleep For The Haunted (Perfect Pitch Musicals, The Lowry); Desperate to Be Doris; The Importance of Being Earnest (LipService Theatre).

Kelly Edwards - Sleeping Beauty; Jack and the Beanstalk (Nottingham Playhouse); Dick Whittington (Hackney Empire); Disco Inferno (UK Tour); Mamma Mia! (International Tour); Dirty Dancing; Tanz Der Vampire (Stage Entertainment); Legoland (Legoland); Gaiety Whirl (Gaiety Theatre); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Derngate Theatre, Northampton); Carousel Cruise Ship lead vocalist (Cruise).

Robin Kingsland - Theatre credits include: The Cherry Orchard; Arcadia; Of Mice and Men; The League of Youth; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui; Garage Band; The Price; I Have Been Here Before; Rat Pack Confidential; The Secret Garden (Nottingham Playhouse); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Rapture Theatre Company); Strindberg's Women: Storm (Elysium Theatre Company); Private Lives; Rookery Nook; She Stoops to Conquer; The Return of the Native; I Have Been Here Before; Loot (Mercury Theatre, Colchester).

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