Theatre Royal Stratford East Announces New 2017 Season
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 24, 2016
The season opens with the European première of Kirsten Childs' funny and moving award-winning musical The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin. The story follows Viveca, a young African American girl from LA, who has to fight racism and sexism and goes on to learn her self-worth and follow her dreams. This marks celebrated director and actress Josette Bushell-Mingo's return to London.
Following that the theatre welcomes its first visit from cabaret legend Le Gateau Chocolat with his life portrait Black, and 201 Dance Company's queer hip-hop dance piece Smother which opens in April after an acclaimed sell-out run at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and an international tour.
May brings the world première of the stage adaptation of Emma Donoghue's book Room featuring original songs by songwriter Kathryn Joseph and Cora Bissett. Donoghue adapts her bestseller into a play which she previously adapted into a multi-award winning film. Room is a Co-Production between Theatre Royal Stratford East and Abbey Theatre, Dublin in association with National Theatre of Scotland and Covent Garden Productions.
The Who's multi-award winning rock musical Tommy runs from 7 - 17 June after premièring at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and will be directed by Theatre Royal Stratford East's Artistic Director Kerry Michael. This marks the second production from Ramps on the Moon following last year's success with The Government Inspector. It features a cast of 22 disabled and non-disabled performers and practitioners.
The National Theatre's new production My Country; A Work in Progress opens at Theatre Royal Stratford East on 19 June and marks the only other London date on the tour. Rufus Norris directs Carol Ann Duffy's dramatisation of accounts from people around the UK and Ireland in response to the EU Referendum result. The production premières at the National Theatre's Dorfman Theatre in February.
Concluding the season in the main house is the world première of Rikki Beadle-Blair's new play Summer in London - a romcom with an all transgender cast described as a cross between On The Town, Roman Holiday and The Inbetweeners.
In addition, Thisbe runs at Gerry's from 21 - 25 February. Samantha Sutherland's follow up to A Midsummer Night's Dream has BSL built in to every performance and features an original score.
The theatre's renowned pantomime has been confirmed as Rapunzel starting in November 2017. There are also return visits from National Theatre Connections, MonologueSlam UK and Stratford East Singers.
Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, Kerry Michael said today, "Our new season is a chance to give attention to those voices on the fringes of the mainstream, to celebrate the genius of outsiders and shine a light on those with an alternative story to tell. This season highlights diverse communities and cultures with the aim of making theatre as inclusive as it possibly can be. In a time of huge change around the world, which for some brings uncertainty and fear, we salute the theatre makers working in this new season, striving to create unique stories and exceptional shows that can help us understand our neighbours, bringing us together and in our own small way make our world a better place."
Theatre Royal Stratford East and Belgrade Theatre Coventry present the European première of
The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin
Book, music and lyrics by Kirsten Childs
1 February - 11 March
Press night: 8 February 7pm
Director: Josette Bushell-Mingo; Designer: Rosa Maggiora; Choreographer: MykAl Rand
Video Designer: Tim Reid; Lighting Designer: Chris Davey; Re-orchestrator: Darius Smith
Musical Director: Jordan Li-Smith; Sound Designer: AnDrew Johnson
Associate Director: Susan Lawson-Reynolds
A life-affirming and funny coming-of-age story which follows Viveca, a bright African American girl from a black middle class family in LA, who dreams of becoming a dancer.
Choosing to face the conflicts of a changing era in America with optimism rather than revolution, she learns to reconcile the realities of racism and sexism with hope and faith and discovers her self-worth.
This award-winning off-Broadway musical is a cheeky and satirical look at how women have been defined by others and themselves from the 1960s to present day, with an original score fusing Motown, pop and R&B - think Sondheim meets Beyoncé!
Kirsten Childs is the award-winning writer of musicals whose other work includes Miracle Brothers (Vineyard Theatre), Fly, Funked Up Fairy Tales and Bella: An American Tall Tale which receives its world première this season. She is the recipient of Obie, Kleban, Larson, Richard Rodgers, Audelco, and Gilman/Gonzalez-Falla Awards, as well as Lortel and Drama Desk nominations. She recently collaborated with Charlayne Woodard on the musical Grace for Inner Voices: Solo Musicals. Childs has written for Disney Theatricals, the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center, the New Electric Company, Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum and City Center Encores!.
Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE is a Swedish-basEd English theatre actress and director of African descent. She is currently the Artistic Director for The Swedish National Touring Theatre Tyst Teater ensemble. Her production of The Odyssey, performed in Swedish Sign Language received huge critical acclaim in Scandinavia. In Britain she has previously directed Langston Hughes's classic Harlem musical Simply Heavenly at the Young Vic and West End, and The Wiz at West Yorkshire Playhouse. She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2000 for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Rafiki in the London production of The Lion King. In 2001, she founded a black-led arts festival called PUSH at the Young Vic.
Black
by Le Gateau Chocolat
4 April - 8 April
Press night: 4 April 8pm
Director/Co-Writer: Ed Burnside; Musical Director/Arranger: JulIan Kelly
Set/Costume Designer: Ryan Dawson Laight; Lighting Designer: Joshua Carr
Sound Designer: Tom Aspley; Produced and Developed by In Company Collective
'There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.' Maya Angelou
Featuring a repertoire ranging from Wagner and Purcell to Nina Simone and Whitney Houston, Black is an intimate and confessional portrait of Nigerian singer Le Gateau Chocolat's life: his hopes, his fears and his battle with depression. Performed with an 11-piece orchestra.
Le Gateau Chocolat was voted by Time Out London as one of its Top 10 Cabaret Stars, Le Gateau Chocolat is a one-man musical phenomenon renowned for his drag shows, his contemporary opera performance and his baritone. He began working as a solo artist in 2011 with a self-titled show that toured the UK, Poland and Australia for three years and was nominated for the 2011 Helpmann Awards (Best Cabaret Performer) and the 2013 Perth Fringe World Cabaret Award. His 2013 solo show Black premièred at Homotopia in Liverpool, went on to have a hugely successful run at London's Soho Theatre, and returned to Liverpool in 2014 with an additional 12 piece orchestra. He's toured the globe with La Soirée, has performed with Glyndebourne Opera, appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show, sang for the Queen as part of the Jubilee Flotilla, and with Basement Jaxx at the Barbican. He also recently appeared in The Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre.
Smother
by 201 Dance Company
with Patrick Collier Production Co
13 April & 15 April
Can you stay true to yourself, when everything suggests you change? 201's raw, contemporary hip-hop returns in Smother: a story of two men's broken encounter.
Returning after an acclaimed sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe 2016 and an international tour, this ground-breaking production touches on themes of addiction, obsession, and the meaning of commitment. Award winning choreographer Andrea Walker directs a cast of seven dancers in a fast-paced, intimate performance, exploring the relationship of two young men.
201 Dance Company creates challenging dance-theatre that crosses urban and contemporary genres. The company was founded in 2014 by choreographer Andrea Walker, producer and associate director Patrick Collier, and a team of 6 experienced and emerging urban and contemporary dancers. Our artists share a drive to tell stories that matter and give a voice to underrepresented groups, while bringing striking and original dance to diverse audiences.
Andrea Walker is the founder and artistic director of 201 Dance Company. Most recently, he choreographed and danced Ebony Bones' tour, and opened Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation Show in Miami with the band. Other credits include Coldplay, Aggro Santos, Kimberly Walsh (Girls Aloud), Impact Dance (Peacock Theatre), Xbox, T-Mobile, Martini and D&G.
A Theatre Royal Stratford East and Abbey Theatre, Dublin co-production
in association with National Theatre of Scotland and Covent Garden Productions
The world première of
Room
By Emma Donoghue
Adapted for the stage by Emma Donoghue
Music and lyrics by Cora Bissett and Kathryn Joseph
2 May - 3 June
Press night: 10 May 7pm
Director: Cora Bissett; Designer: Lily Arnold; Musical Director: Gavin Whitworth
Sound Designer: Alexandra Faye Braithwaite; Puppet Designer: David Cauchi
Emma Donoghue adapts her bestselling novel Room into a new play with songs by Scottish songwriter Kathryn Joseph and Cora Bissett. Previously adapted by Donoghue for the screen, the film won Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTAs.
Kidnapped as a teenage girl, Ma has been locked inside a purpose-built room in her captor's garden for seven years. Her five-year-old son, Jack, has no concept of the world outside and happily exists inside Room with the help of Ma's games and his vivid imagination where objects like Rug, Lamp and TV are his only friends. But for Ma the time has come to escape and face their biggest challenge to date: the world outside Room.
Emma Donoghue is an award-winning writer, living in Canada with her family. Her first full-length feature film, Room (which she adapted from her international bestselling novel of the same name and shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange Prizes), won Donoghue Best Scriptwriting nominations for the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Critics' Choice Awards and the Baftas. The film starred Brie Larson winning her an Oscar and Golden Globe for best actress. Currently Donoghue is adapting her novel Frog Music into a feature film for Monumental Pictures Limited and her latest novel, The Wonder about a 'fasting girl' in 1850s Ireland, has been shortlisted for Canada's Giller Prize. Her first novel for children The Lotterys Plus One, will be published in Spring 2017. Other novels include The Sealed Letter, Life Mask, Slammerkin, Landing, Hood and Stir-fry. Short-story collections include Astray, Three and a Half Deaths, Touchy Subjects, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits, and Kissing the Witch; and literary history including Inseparable, We Are Michael Field, and Passions Between Women. Donoghue is an accomplished playwright with her plays being performed both sides of the Atlantic. Theatre credits include I Know My Own Heart, Trespasses, Don't Die Wondering, Ladies and Gentlemen. She also wrote a monologue for Signatories, a play of monologues commissioned by University College Dublin to celebrate the centenary of the Easter Rising and her play Trespasses is currently being developed as an opera.
Cora Bissett is a director, actor, musician and Artistic Director of Pachamama. Following a career in music, she has worked extensively in theatre, television and film including the Palme D'Or-winning feature Red Road. She won the Arches Award for 'New Directors' in 2008 and devised and directed her first piece Amada, which went on to tour nationally. Pachamama was launched with Roadkill at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe garnering 9 major awards. It toured to Glasgow, London, Paris, Chicago and New York, winning an Olivier Award for outstanding production. Her collaborative music/theatre project with The Arches Whatever gets You through the Night was a sell-out success at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and won the 'Theatre Award' in the Creative Scotland Awards in 2012. She recently directed other Music-Theatre project GRIT-The Martyn Bennett Story and Janis Jopin-Full Tilt which garnered 5 star reviews in its 2 Festival and London runs. She is currently Associate Director at the National Theatre of Scotland for whom she directed Rites about the sensitive issue of FGM in 2015.
Kathryn Joseph is a Scottish songwriter. Her debut album, Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I've Spilled, won Scottish Album of the Year award. Previous credits for writing for theatre include The Ballad.
The Abbey Theatre is Ireland's national theatre. It was founded by W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory. Since it first opened its doors in 1904 the theatre has played a vital and often controversial role in the literary, social and cultural life of Ireland. Room will be part of Neil Murray and Graham McLaren's first season as new directors of the Abbey Theatre, which will be announced on Tuesday 29 November 2016.
Covent Garden Productions is a theatrical production and live entertainment company, set up to create, manage and develop new work both in the West End and on National Tour. www.coventgardenproductions.com
The National Theatre of Scotland is dedicated to playing the great stages, arts centres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations of Scotland, the UK and internationally. As well as creating ground-breaking productions and working with the most talented theatre-makers, the National Theatre of Scotland produces significant community engagement projects, innovates digitally and works constantly to develop new talent. Central to this is finding pioneering ways to reach current and new audiences and to encourage people's full participation in the Company's work. With no performance building of its own, the Company works with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. Founded in 2006, the Company, in its short life, has become a globally significant theatrical player, with an extensive repertoire of award-winning work. The National Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government.
A New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich Production in co-production with Ramps on the Moon
The Who's
Tommy
7 June - 17 June
Press night: 12 June 7:30pm
Director: Kerry Michael; Designer: Neil Irish; Choreographer: Mark Smith;
Musical Director: Robert Hyman; Associate Director: Nicola Miles-Wildin
Based on the iconic 1969 concept album, The Who's Tommy is the multi-award winning epic rock musical written by Pete Townshend. With a cast of 22 performers and musicians, this is the story of the pinball-playing boy which has entertained and intrigued audiences for more than 40 years. A one-of-a-kind theatrical event!
Tommy will feature a creative use of audio description, captioning and British Sign Language interpretation which will enhance the experience for everyone.
Kerry Michael directs. Michael has been Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East for 13 years. Under him the theatre has been nominated for numerous Olivier Awards and his production of Cinderella was the first pantomime ever nominated in the award's history. Other nominations included You Me Bum Bum Train and the remount of Oh What A Lovely War. TRSE have also won Oliviers for its hip-hop production of Boy Blue's Pied Piper in association with the Barbican and for Cora Bissett's immersive theatre experience Roadkill. Michael has pioneered many unique and diverse projects including IFEA, an International Artists exchange, where 30 countries participated in sending over to London a few of their most aspiring young artistes to work together and create new work. Kerry's most recent directing credits include I Was Looking At the Ceiling, Then I Saw the Sky, Battle of Green Lanes, The Great Extension, The Harder They Come (Barbican/Playhouse Theatre & North America tour), Come Dancing, Takeaway, Robin Hood, Love N Stuff and Sinbad The Sailor.
A National Theatre Production
My Country; A Work in Progress
in the words of people across the UK and Carol Ann Duffy
19 June - 3 July
Press night: 20 June 7:30pm
Director: Rufus Norris; Designer: Katrina Lindsay
In the days after the EU referendum, the National Theatre began a nationwide listening project. A team of interviewers spoke to people around the country - from Leicester to Derry/Londonderry and Merthyr Tydfil to Glasgow - to hear their views of the country and town they live in, their lives, their future, and the referendum.
Using exact words taken from the interviews, My Country; A Work in Progress puts those conversations centre stage. Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre, collaborates with Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate, to create this new performance which opens in London before playing at venues around the country.
Created in collaboration with eight UK arts organisations in association with Cusack Projects Limited.
Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has written for both children and adults, and her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children's Verse, the Whitbread, Forward and T. S. Eliot Prizes, and the Lannan and E. M. Forster Prize in America. She was appointed Poet Laureate in 2009. In 2011 The Bees won the Costa Poetry Award, and in 2012 she won the PEN Pinter Prize. She was appointed DBE in 2015.
Rufus Norris is Artistic Director of the National Theatre, where he recently directed The Threepenny Opera, wonder.land and Everyman. He was previously an Associate Director at the National, directing Behind the Beautiful Forevers, The Amen Corner, Table, London Road, Death and the King's Horseman and Market Boy. Productions elsewhere include Feast, Vernon God Little, Peribanez, Tintin, Afore Night Come and Sleeping Beauty for the Young Vic; Festen and Blood Wedding for the Almeida; Under the Blue Sky and About the Boy for the Royal Court, and many others. His productions of Cabaret, Festen, Tintin and The Country Girl have all played in the West End and toured nationally, and he directed Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway. Opera work includes Dr Dee with Damon Albarn for MIF and ENO, and Don Giovanni at ENO. His debut feature film Broken had its première at Cannes in 2012; his film of London Road was released in June 2015.
The National Theatre is dedicated to making the very best theatre and sharing it with as many people as possible. They produce productions on the South Bank in London each year, ranging from re-imagined classics to modern masterpieces and new work by contemporary writers and theatre-makers. The National's work is seen on tour throughout the UK, in London's West End, internationally (including on Broadway) and in collaborations and co-productions with regional theatres. Across 2015-2016, the NT staged 34 productions and gave 3,057 performances in the UK and internationally. We reached audiences of over 787,000 on the South Bank, and over 3.7 million worldwide. Via the NT Live programme, which broadcasts live performances to cinema screens internationally, we reached 1.5 million people around the world. The Clore Learning Centre at the NT is committed to providing programmes for schools, young people, families, community groups and adult learners, including the nationwide youth theatre festival Connections and playwriting competition New Views. Last year, they engaged with over 189,000 participants through the NT Learning events programme. Further, over 2,200 secondary schools have signed up to the free streaming service, On Demand in Schools since its launch in September 2015. The National Theatre's Immersive Storytelling Studio was established to examine how Virtual Reality and 360 films can widen and enhance the NT's remit to be a pioneer of dramatic storytelling and to 'enable an audience to stand in the shoes of somebody else'. The studio forms part of the National Theatre's New Work Department, in collaboration with the NT's Digital Development Team.
Theatre Royal Stratford East Presents the world première of
Summer In London
8 July - 29 July
Press night: 13 July 7pm
Director: Rikki Beadle-Blair; Set and Lighting Designer: Giuseppe Di Lorio;
Costume Designer: Jonathan Lipman; Sound Designer: Chris Murray
Summer In London is a hilarious new romcom set in London that takes its inspiration from movies such as The Inbetweeners and Roman Holiday.
Four cheeky London lads compete for the attention of a beautiful Filipino girl during a steamy record-breaking heatwave. Though secretly homeless (and broke) the streetwise Romeos use every trick in the book to find cost-free ways to impress her.
The story is brought vividly to life with stunning visuals, a dynamic soundtrack and a vibrant all-transgender cast.
Rikki Beadle-Blair was named fourth on the most recent Rainbow list of the UK's hundred most influential LGBT+ people and is a writer, director, composer, choreographer, designer, producer and performer. He has won several awards including the Sony Award, the Los Angeles Outfest Screenwriting and Outstanding Achievement awards. Beadle-Blair works extensively in theatre and has written 28 plays in the last decade that have been performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East, Bush Theatre, Soho Theatre, Tristan Bates Theatre and Contact Theatre in Manchester. For television and film his credits include Blackbird starring Oscar-winning actress Mo'nique, Stonewall, Metrosexuality, Noah's Arc and FIT, KickOff and Bashment for his company Team Angelica. He is also one of the creative directors of the Visionary Youth Project for Young European Film Activists.
Later in the year:
Theatre Royal Stratford East Presents
Rapunzel
Starts 27 November 2017
With a tradition of featuring original music, laugh-out-loud comedy and hilarious audience participation, Theatre Royal Stratford East's annual pantomime returns for Christmas 2017.
Audience members from 1-101 are invited to let down their hair and join our feisty Rapunzel (and some other well-known characters!) in this magical reimagining of one of Britain's best-loved fairy tales.
Further information will be issued in due course.
Theatre Royal Stratford East Listings
Gerry Raffles Square, London E15 1BN
Box Office: 020 8534 0310
http://www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all-shows
Facebook: theatreroyalstratfordeast
Twitter: @stratfordeast
Performance times
Black
4 April - 8 April
Press night: 4 April 8pm
Ticket prices
12-£18
Concessions from £8
Smother
13 April & 15 April
Ticket prices
£12
Concession £10
Room
2 May - 3 June
Press night: 10 May 7pm
Ticket prices
Newham Discount Night £2.50
2-9 May previews £12-£15
Tue -Thu until 25 May £12-£23
Tue-Thu from 30 May-1 Jun £12-£26
Fri-Sat £12-£26
Concessions from £8
Access performances
Signed Thu 25 May 7.30pm
Audio Described Sat 27 May 2.30pm
Captioned Fri 26 May 7.30pm
Tommy
7 June - 17 June
Press night: 12 July 7:30pm
Ticket prices
Newham Discount Night £2.50
7 Jun preview £12-£15
Mon-Thu £12-£23
Fri-Sat £12-£26
Concessions from £8
Access performances
Relaxed Thu 15 Jun 2.30pm
Signed All performances
Audio Described All performances
Captioned All performances
My Country; A Work in Progress
19 June - 3 July
Press night: 20 June 7:30pm
Ticket prices
Newham Discount Night £2.50
19 Jun preview £12-£15
Mon-Thu £12-£20
Fri-Sat £12-£22
Concessions from £8
Access performances
Signed Thu 29 Jun 7.30pm
Audio Described Thu 29 Jun 2.30pm
Captioned Fri 30 Jun
Summer In London
8 July - 29 July
Press night: 13 July 7pm
Ticket prices
Newham Discount Night £2.50
8-12 Jul previews £12-£15
Mon-Thu until 20 Jul £12-£22
Tue-Thu from 25-27 Jul £12-£25
Fri-Sat £12-£25
Concessions from £8
Access performances
Signed Fri 28 Jul 7.30pm
Audio Described Sat 29 Jul 2.30pm
Captioned Wed 26 Jul 7.30pm
Rapunzel
Starts 27 November 2017
Ticket prices
From £12
Already announced
Sinbad the Sailor
28 November - 21 January
Press performances: 8, 9 or 10 December 7pm
Ticket prices
Newham Discount Night £2.50
Mon - Sat £10 - £25.50
Concessions from £8
Sinbad the Sailor is sponsored by Galliard Homes
The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin
1 February - 11 March
Press night: 8 February 7pm
Ticket prices
Newham Discount Night £2.50
1-7 Feb previews £12-£15
Mon-Thu until 2 Mar £12-£23
Mon-Thu from 7-9 Mar £12-£26
Fri-Sat £12-£26
Concessions from £8
Student Ticket Sponsor: Unite Students
Gerry's
Whose Sari Now?
24 November - 17 December
Press night: 25 November 7:30pm
Ticket prices
£13 (£9 concessions)
Thisbe
21 February - 25 February
Ticket prices
£10 (£8 concessions)
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