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THE REAL THING, GEORGE'S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE and More Set for Rose Theatre Kingston's 2017-18 Season
By: BWW News Desk May. 19, 2017
The programme includes Laurence Fox starring in a revival of Tom Stoppard's modern classic The Real Thing, produced with Theatre Royal Bath and Cambridge Arts Theatre, the first Stoppard to be staged at the Rose, and Phil Daniels as the titular roles in David Edgar's adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's thriller Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, a co-production with Touring Consortium Theatre Company.
Lindsay Posner makes his Rose Theatre Kingston directing debut with a production of Stephen Bill's award-winning play Curtains and there is a renewed collaboration with English Touring Theatre and Royal & Derngate, Northampton on Sam Holcroft's Rules for Living, following their award-winning production of The Herbal Bed in 2016.
Joining the previously announced Christmas production of Alice in Winterland are two further family shows - David Wood's adaptation of Roald Dahl's George's Marvellous Medicine running over Easter, co-produced with Curve following the success of The Twits earlier this year and The Witches in 2016, and Miranda Larson's adaptation of Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright's The Night Pirates, a co-production with Nick Brooke Ltd.
Chief Executive Robert O'Dowd said today, "We are delighted to be presenting another hugely exciting season here at the Rose. In line with our strategy to present a varied and engaging mix of drama and family shows supported by comedy and music, this year we are collaborating with some of the most brilliant and gifted talent around, from Olivier Award-winning director Lindsay Posner to celebrated actors Laurence Fox and Phil Daniels. In the last couple of years the Rose has brought not just world class drama but a new energy to Kingston and we continue our mission to become a vibrant cultural hub for South West London and beyond."
The programme of visiting shows also features a range of family productions including an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark, following a summer West End run, and Jules Verne's classic Around the World in 80 Days. There are returning visits to the Rose from celebrated pianist Lucy Parham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with further musical performances from acts including Ronnie Scott's All Stars and one offs including Sir Michael Parkinson in conversation. For full details of visiting shows see www.rosetheatrekingston.org/whats-on
THEATRE
Rose Theatre Kingston, Theatre Royal Bath and Cambridge Arts Theatre present
The Real Thing
Written by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Stephen Unwin
Starring Laurence Fox as Henry
2 - 14 October 2017
(Press night: 27 September at Theatre Royal Bath)
Henry is the smartest and sharpest playwright of his generation. His wife, Charlotte, an actress, has been appearing in a play by Henry about a couple whose marriage is on the verge of collapse. Max, her leading man, is also married to an actress, Annie. When Henry's affair with Annie threatens to destroy his own marriage, he realises life has started imitating art. But are they really in love? Is it the real thing?
First staged in 1982, The Real Thing combines the intellectual and dazzling wordplay of Stoppard at his most witty with some of his most tender and touching writing. A clever, poignant and entertaining examination of infidelity, The Real Thing is a multi-award-winning modern classic.
Tom Stoppard is a playwright and screenwriter, and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. He has written prolifically for stage, film, television and radio. His most recent play is The Hard Problem. Other plays include The Real Inspector Hound, After Magritte, Jumpers, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (with André Previn), Dirty Linen, New-Found-Land, Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth , Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood , Arcadia, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, The Coast of Utopia and Rock'n'Roll. His many translations and adaptations include Tango, Undiscovered Country, On the Razzle, Three Men in a Boat, Parade's End and Ivanov. He co-wrote the screenplays for the films Brazil, Shakespeare in Love and The Russia House. His has received an Academy Award and four Tony Awards. He was knighted in 1997.
Laurence Fox's theatre credits include A Patriotic Traitor (Park Theatre), Strangers on A Train (Gielgud Theatre), Our Boys (Duchess Theatre), Treats (Garrick Theatre), 'Tis Pity She's A Whore (Southwark Playhouse) and Mrs Warren's Profession (Strand Theatre). His television work includes The Frankenstein Chronicles, Lewis (series regular), Fast Freddie, Wired, A Room with a View, Whatever Love Means, Egypt, Jericho, Colditz, Ad, Bc: A Rock Opera, Island At War and Foyle's War; and for film, The Professor and The Madmen, This Family, W.E., Blackwater Transit, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Becoming Jane, Wasp, The Last Drop, South From Grenada, Deathwatch, Gosford Park and The Hole.
Stephen Unwin is former Artistic Director of Rose Theatre Kingston and founder of English Touring Theatre. For the Rose, his previous directing credits include Hay Fever, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Lady from the Sea, The Vortex, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. For English Touring Theatre, his productions included Hamlet, Hedda Gabler, Henry IV Parts One and Two, King Lear, Ghost, The York Realist and Uncle Vanya. He has directed at Traverse Theatre, Royal Court, Almeida Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Theatre Royal Bath and directed 15 operas at Royal Opera House, ENO, Buxton Festival, Garsington, Opera 80 and Almeida Theatre. He has also written four plays including All Our Children, currently running at Jermyn Street Theatre.
TOUR DATES
Cambridge Arts Theatre
6 - 16 September
Box office: 01223 503 333
Theatre Royal Bath
18 - 30 September
Box office: 01225 448 844
Rose Theatre Kingston, English Touring Theatre and Royal & Derngate, Northampton present
Rules for Living
Written by Sam Holcroft
Directed by Simon Godwin
7 - 18 November 2017
Guest night: 8 November 7.30pm
(Press night at Royal & Derngate, Northampton: 13 September)
Edith must clean to keep calm. Matthew must sit to tell a lie.
Everyone creates their own rules for living. But what happens when an extended family gathers for a traditional Christmas dinner, and each of them rigidly follows those rules?
Christmas day will never be the same again. As the drinks flow and the obligatory games intensify, family resentments rise and relationships are pulled apart with a bang.
Evening Standard award-winning Simon Godwin directs Sam Holcroft's brilliant and darkly funny play. Following its critically acclaimed run at the National Theatre in 2015, Rules For Living is now brought to the stage in a brand new Rose Theatre Kingston co-production in conjunction with English Touring Theatre and Royal & Derngate, Northampton, the same team that won the 2016 UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production for The Herbal Bed.
Sam Holcroft was the Writer-in-Residence at the National Theatre Studio from 2013-14 and was the Pearson Playwright in Residence at the Traverse Theatre in 2009-10. In 2014 she was a recipient of the Windham Campbell Prize for Literature in the Drama category and in 2009 she won the Tom Erhardt Award for up and coming writers. Her other plays include The Wardrobe, Edgar And Annabel, Dancing Bears, While You Lie, Pink, Vanya and Cockroach and she recently adapted Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox for Nuffield Southampton Theatres. She is currently under commission from The Royal Court Theatre.
Simon Godwin directs. He has worked previously at Royal & Derngate, Northampton on Regeneration (also tour), The Seagull, Habeas Corpus, Relatively Speaking and The Quartermaine's Terms (with Salisbury Playhouse). He is an Associate Director at the National Theatre, where he has directed Sunset at the Villa Thalia, The Beaux Stratagem, Man and Superman and Strange Interlude. His work for the Royal Court includes Routes, If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep, NSFW, The Witness, Goodbye to All That, The Acid Test and Wanderlust. For Bristol Old Vic, he has directed The Little Mermaid, Krapp's Last Tape, A Kind of Alaska, Faith Healer and Far Away. His other credits include Occupational Hazards (Hampstead Theatre), Hamlet and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC), The Cherry Orchard (Roundabout, New York), Richard II (Shakespeare's Globe), Candida (Theatre Royal Bath), The Winter's Tale (Headlong with Nuffield Theatre & Schtanhaus/UK tour) and he will shortly direct Measure for Measure at the Theatre for a New Audience, New York.
Rose Theatre Kingston and Touring Consortium Theatre Company present
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Written by Robert Louis Stevenson
Adapted by David Edgar
Directed by Stephen Unwin
Starring Phil Daniels
9 - 17 February 2018
Press night: 14 February 7pm
And then on tour (dates to be announced shortly)
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic thriller starring Phil Daniels as the eponymous character, tells the gripping tale of Dr Jekyll and his alter ego Mr Hyde.
During one of his audacious experiments trying to separate good from evil in human nature, the kind and gifted Dr Jekyll inadvertently unleashes an alternate personality of pure evil... the mysterious Mr Hyde.
As this sinister and ominous figure starts causing murderous havoc around the foggy streets of London, the physician's friends and fiancée grow increasingly worried about him. Jekyll must race to find a cure for his monstrous alter ego before it takes over for good.
David Edgar has been writing plays professionally since 1971. His original plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company include Destiny, Maydays and Pentecost (1994 Evening Standard Best Play Award), the second in a series of plays about Eastern Europe after the Cold War, following The Shape of the Table and preceding The Prisoner's Dilemma. In addition to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, his adaptations include plays based on the memoir Mary Barnes, Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby (Olivier and New York Tony Best Play Awards), Julian Barnes's Arthur & George and Dickens's A Christmas Carol. His recent stage work includes Albert Speer, Playing with Fire, Testing the Echo, Written on the Heart and If Only. He has written for television and radio, and wrote the screenplay for Trevor Nunn's 1986 film Lady Jane.
Phil Daniels' recent stage credits include This House (National Theatre and West End), Antony and Cleopatra and The Knight of the Burning Castle (Shakespeare's Globe), and Les Misérables (West End). He has also performed at Royal Court and RSC. His television work includes Sunnyside Farm, Time Gentlemen Please, Gimme Gimme, Outlaws, The Long Firm, Holding On, EastEnders, Rock & Chips, Poirot, Moonfleet and Zapped; and for film, Quadrophenia, Breaking Glass, Scum, Bad Behaviour, Goodnight Charlie Bright, Chicken Run, Freebird, Vinyl and The Hatton Garden Job. Daniels recorded and toured with Blur, providing a vocal for their huge hit Park Life. He has also sung with The Stranglers and The Who.
Stephen Unwin directs. See biog above.
Rose Theatre Kingston presents
Curtains
Written by Stephen Bill
Directed by Lindsay Posner
22 Feb - 17 March 2018
Press night: 28 February 7pm
Ida's family is throwing her a birthday tea for her eighty-sixth birthday. Their efforts to be cheerful and make the event a success verge on the desperate. Ida is racked with pain and feels she has lived too long. As the painfully laboured celebrations go on, her third daughter Susan returns unexpectedly after an absence of 25 years. Tensions immediately flare between the sisters, whilst Ida struggles to recognise her.
As the party comes to an end, the family disperse leaving Katherine remembering the pact she made with Ida not to let her suffer into old age... When the family returns, old prejudices and rivalries are forced into the open in this hilarious, painful and moving picture of a family in turmoil.
Stephen Bill won Drama Magazine's award for Best Play, alongside Most Promising Playwright from both London Standard Drama and Plays and Players London Critics' Awards for Curtains. His other playwrighting credits include The Old Order, Piggy Back Riders, Naked in the Bull Ring, The Bottom Drawer, Over the Bar, Over a Barrel, Cassie and What the Heart Feels. His television writing includes Eh Brian It's a Whopper, Marjorie and The Preacher Man, The Darling Buds of May, Broke, The Locksmith and Maisie Raine.
Lindsay Posner's directing credits include The Truth, Dinner with Saddam, Communicating Doors (Menier Chocolate Factory), Abigail's Party (Menier Chocolate Factory, Theatre Royal Bath, Wyndham's and UK tour), The End of Longing (Playhouse), Hay Fever (Duke of York's), Harvey (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Speed the Plow (Playhouse), Relatively Speaking (Wyndham's), A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath), Other Desert Cities, The Winslow Boy and Noises Off (Old Vic), The Turn of the Screw (Almeida Theatre) and Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville). He was Associate Director of the Royal Court from 1987-1992 where his productions included Death and the Maiden (which transferred to the Duke of York's and won two Olivier Awards), Colquhoun and McBryde and The Treatment.
FAMILY SHOWS
Rose Theatre Kingston and Nick Brooke Productions Ltd present
The Night Pirates
By Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright
Adapted and directed by Miranda Larson
6 - 16 September 2017
Press night: 8 September 4pm
Rough, tough little girl pirates. With their own pirate ship. A ship set for sailing. A ship off on adventures.
Adapted from the best-selling children's book by Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright, The Night Pirates tells the tale of a group of little girl pirates who descend on a young boy called Tom at bedtime. Eager to join the pirate adventure, Tom uses his house as a pirate ship and sets sail to retrieve stolen treasure from Captain Patch and the bumbling grown-up pirates.
Adapted and directed by Miranda Larson, this show combines original songs and swashbuckling adventures, suitable for any budding young pirate!
Miranda Larson is a writer and director for children's theatre and television. Her live stage work includes Angelina Ballerina the Mousical, Bob The Builder, Teletubbies, Fireman Sam, Ben 10, Power Puff Girls, The Little Princess and Cartoon Network Live: HEROES UNITE. She is also a regular screen writer on TV shows like Fireman Sam, Bob the Builder, Thomas The Tank Engine, CBeebies' Melody and Let's Play.
Rose Theatre Kingston presents
Alice in Winterland
Based on the books by Lewis Carroll
Adapted and directed by Ciaran McConville
Composer and Lyricist: Eamonn O'Dwyer
Designer: Tim Bird; Choreographer: Jamie Neale
7 Dec 2017 - 7 Jan 2018
Press night: 15 December 7pm
Alice has always been brought up to believe in wonder but her life takes an unexpected turn when she is sent to live with her stern auntie... until she is visited by a White Rabbit and propelled on a quest to save Winterland.
Follow Alice to the magically curious world of Winterland, a world of ice and imagination, of mad hatters and cruel queens, strong-minded dodos and friendly knights. A world inhabited by the mysterious Bandersnatch and the terrible Jabberwock, a world that lies in the shuffle of a pack of cards or in the lines across a chess board, where the impossible becomes possible...
This dazzlingly festive new stage production is based on Lewis Carroll's timeless books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Step through the Looking Glass with Alice this Christmas and join her for this glorious adventure.
Rose Theatre Kingston and Curve present
George's Marvellous Medicine
Written by Roald Dahl
Adapted by David Wood
27 March - Sun 8 April 2018
Guest night: 28 March 5:30pm
Director: tbc
Most grandmothers are lovely, kind, helpful old ladies. Not George's Grandmother. George's Grandmother likes to gobble up slugs and bugs, and is always telling George what to do.
But one day, when his parents leave him alone with the grizzly old grunion, George takes his chance and sets about creating a brand new medicine to cure her of her cruelty. Little does he know that his perilous potion will be the start of a rather marvellous adventure...
Following the success of The Twits and The Witches, Rose Theatre Kingston's magnificent new co-production with Curve, Leicester promises to be yet another hugely imaginative and entertaining stage adaptation, bursting with growing grannies, feathery farm animals and bags of frothbuggling family fun.
David Wood's seventy plus plays for children are performed worldwide, and he was dubbed 'the national children's dramatist' by The Times. His adaptations of The Twits and The Witches have previously run at the Rose Theatre Kingston in 2016 and 2015. 2013 saw his adaptation of Michelle Magorian's Goodnight Mister Tom win the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment and Family, for which his adaptation of Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came to Tea was nominated the previous year. His adult musical, based on L P Hartley's The Go-Between, co-written with Richard Taylor, also toured in 2011 and won Best Musical Production (Theatre Awards UK). In 2006, to celebrate the Queen's 80th birthday, he wrote The Queen's Handbag, performed in Buckingham Palace Gardens and seen by 8,000,000 BBC1 viewers. In 2004 he was awarded the OBE for services to drama and literature.
Rose Theatre Kingston is located at 24-26 High Street, Kingston, KT1 1HL, Visit www.rosetheatrekingston.org for more information or contact the Box Office: 020 8174 0090 (Monday - Saturday: 10am - 8pm (6pm non-performance days); Sun: one hour before the performance).
Concessions: Only one discount per ticket, subject to availability
Terms and conditions apply - no discounts on Pit Cushion prices.
Over 60, unwaged, entertainment union, children under 16 and Students: £5 off.
Season Saver: Rose Theatre Kingston is offering a Season Saver 4for3 offer on The Real Thing, Rules for Living, Dr Jekyll & My Hyde and Curtains. Buy at the same time and get four for the price of three.
Under 26yrs: £8 tickets on selected shows. Please note valid ID will be required upon collection.
Limited availability; terms and conditions apply.
Schools, Colleges: Tickets are priced from £8 at selected performances for school & Universities: groups of 10 or more; 11th teacher ticket free with every 10 purchased. Please contact the Box Office for more details.
Babies: Babies under 18 months old are welcome at family productions. We do not charge admission but a free ticket must be collected from the Box Office. Prams and buggies may be stored in the foyer at the owner's risk.
Access: Patrons with disabilities enjoy half price tickets.
The Rose is a fully accessible organisation and we welcome everyone.
There is Blue Badge parking in High Street and Rose car park.
Sensory Access: A digital hearing system is available for patrons with a hearing aid, and Sennheiser headsets for patrons without a hearing aid. Guide and hearing dogs are welcome. Please let us know in advance so we can provide a dog-sitter and water bowl.
Learning Disabilities: Please contact us in advance to discuss how we can help make your visit as comfortable as possible, on 0208 174 0090 or email access@rosetheatrekingston.org.
Founded by Sir Peter Hall, and modelled on the original Elizabethan Rose Theatre on London's Bankside, Rose Theatre Kingston is the largest producing theatre in South West London.
Since opening in 2008, the Rose has collaborated with a range of directors, playwrights and producing partners to create vibrant, engaging and inspiring productions. Recent works include Zach Helm's Good Canary, directed by John Malkovich, Shakespeare's trilogy The Wars of the Roses directed by Trevor Nunn, David Hare's The Absence of War directed by Jeremy Herrin, C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe directed by Ciaran McConville, Alan Bennett's Single Spies directed by Sarah Esdaile, Jacqueline Wilson's Hetty Feather (West End transfer and Olivier Award nominee) directed by Sally Cookson, Brian Friel's Translations (Winner of the UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production) directed by James Grieve, and Henrik Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea directed by Stephen Unwin.
With over 150,000 visitors a year, the Rose enjoys artistic and critical acclaim from its own productions and co-productions as well as from hosting the work of renowned theatre companies including Royal Shakespeare Company, English Touring Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Propeller and Northern Broadsides. With an auditorium that lends itself to both intimate and epic scale productions, the Rose has established itself as one of the most exciting theatres in the UK.
Since 2008, Rose Youth Theatre has earned itself a strong reputation and has grown from strength to strength.
Rose Young Company is a performance-based course. It demands huge commitment and full attendance, but the rewards are worth it. Junior students (11-14) learn about theatre through text, technique and improvisation, whilst seniors (14-18) work in ensembles on emotional access and maturity, exploring art and performance in an entirely new and exciting way.
For those interested in attending acting Summer Schools at the Rose, this year there will be three, three-day courses (Sat 22 - Mon 24; Tue 25 - Thu 27; Fri 28 - Sun 30 July), for 7 - 12 year olds, to build confidence and learn new skills, six Plays-In-A-Week, for 10 - 19 year olds, which will include The Jungle Book, The Wind in the Willows, Gulliver's Travels, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1989 and Macbeth, throughout the summer, which is an intense performance-based course and the Rose Academy, for ages 16 - 25, offers help in rehearsing monologues and interview techniques to get into top drama schools and London theatre.
For more information about the Rose Youth Theatre, visit rosetheatrekingston.org/take-part/holiday-courses.
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