WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR Slates 2018 UK Tour Dates

Dinosaurs will once again roam international soil when the globally-acclaimed production, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR, based on the award-winning BBC Television Series, returns in 2018, starring Michaela Strachan as 'Huxley' the paleontologist.

Watched by over 9 million people in more than 250 cities around the world, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR, will open its new World Tour in Newcastle, UK on 20 July 2018 and then will embark on an international tour, taking over arenas across Europe. The $20 million production features new, state of the art technology, underlining its position as the biggest and best dinosaur show in the world. This updated production will showcase spectacular and colourful changes to the dinosaurs based on the latest scientific research including the likely feathering of some species. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS- THE ARENA SPECTACULAR is produced by Global Creatures headed by CEO Carmen Pavlovic.

Pavlovic said, "I am thrilled that WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR is embarking on an international tour. A new generation is ready to experience these life-size beasts in this awe-inspiring spectacle, which has still not been matched in terms of scale and quality. Many of our creatures have "evolved" since the last tour, now featuring distinctive display feathers, head crests and tail fans, reflecting recent discoveries about the physical nature of these massive creatures. This show remains a must-see for audiences of all ages."

The one-hour, 40-minute show depicts the dinosaurs' evolution with almost cinematic realism. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR has scenes of the interactions between dinosaurs, how carnivorous dinosaurs evolved to walk on two legs, and how the herbivores fended off their more agile predators.

Nine species are represented from the entire 200 million year reign of the dinosaurs. The show includes the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the terror of the ancient terrain, as well as the Plateosaurus and Liliensternus from the Triassic period, the Stegosaurus and Allosaurus from the Jurassic period and Torosaurus and Utahraptor from the awesome Cretaceous period. The largest of them, the Brachiosaurus, is 11 metres tall and 17 metres from nose to tail. It took a team of 50 - including engineers, fabricators, skin makers, artists and painters, and animatronic experts - a year to build the production.

The history of the world is played out with the splitting of the earth's continents, and the transition from the arid desert of the Triassic period is given over to the lush green prairies and forces of the later Jurassic. Oceans form, volcanoes erupt, a forest catches fire - all leading to the impact of the massive comet, which struck the earth, and forced the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The show originated in Australia, where after years of planning, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR came to life at Sydney's Acer Arena in January 2007. Soon after this successful season, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR went on to conquer North America, Europe and Asia garnering record-breaking audiences.

For online bookings (from £29.00), visit Ticketmaster.co.uk and for more information, go to Dinosaurlive.com. Family Tickets (4 tickets) - 4th ticket is free and available on all 7pm performances (must include one adult and one child under 16).

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR was originally produced in Australia by Gerry Ryan, Malcolm Cooke and Jill Bryant and is brought to the world by Global Creatures.

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WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES:

Tickets for WALKING WITH DINOSAURS will be on sale from Friday 3 November (pre-sale from Wednesday 1 November)

20-22 July • Newcastle • Metro Radio Arena • Metroradioarena.co.uk
(Friday 20th at 7pm, Saturday 21st at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm, Sunday 22nd at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

26-28 July • Birmingham • Arena • Arenabham.co.uk
(Thursday 26th at 7pm, Friday 27th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm, Saturday 28th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

31 July - 1 August • Liverpool • Echo Arena • Echoarena.com
(Tuesday 31st at 7pm, Wednesday 1st at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

3-4 August • Manchester • Arena • Manchester-arena.com
(Friday 3rd at 7pm, Saturday 4th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

7-8 August • Nottingham • Motorpoint Arena • Motorpointarenanottingham.com (Tuesday 7th at 7pm, Wednesday 8th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

10-11 August • Sheffield • FlyDSA Arena • Flydsaarena.co.uk
(Friday 10th at 7pm, Saturday 11th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

14-19 August • London • The O2 Arena • Theo2.co.uk (Tuesday 14th at 7pm, Wednesday 15th at 3pm, Thursday 16th at 3pm, Friday 17th at 3pm & 7pm, Saturday 18th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm, Sunday 19th at 11am* & 3pm)

22-23 August • Leeds • First Direct Arena • Firstdirectarena.com
(Wednesday 22nd at 7pm, Thursday 23rd at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

25-26 August • Glasgow • The SSE Hydro • Thessehydro.com
(Saturday 25th at 7pm, Sunday 26th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

27-30 December • London • SSE Arena Wembley • Ssearena.co.uk
(Thursday 27th at 7pm, Friday 28th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm, Saturday 29th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm, Sunday 30th at 11am*, 3pm & 7pm)

* Michaela Strachan will not perform at this show

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ABOUT THE TEAM:

A talented and experienced team of creative artists came together to produce WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR. The show is directed by Scott Faris, a Broadway veteran who has worked side by side with Harold Prince, Trevor Nunn, Michael Blakemore, Gene Saks, John Caird, Tommy Tune and Jerry Zaks. The creatures are designed and built by Sonny Tilders; the set and projected image design are by Peter England; the show's lighting is by John Rayment, the score was composed by James Brett; and Warner Brown wrote the script.

Tim Haines, creator and producer of the original BBC series, which was seen by a worldwide audience of 700 million, serves as Project Consultant to WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR. The series won six Emmy and three BAFTA Awards.

Artistic Director, the late William May, was known around the globe for co-producing shows with Malcolm Cooke for the past 30 years, including The Hobbit and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. He produced Marilyn An American Fable on Broadway and co-composed and wrote the musical Always for the West End.

Director Scott Faris directed Michael Crawford in EFX at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, which at the time was the biggest stage production ever conceived, and was on the production team that created Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage Hotel. Faris directed Chicago the Musical in 16 countries around the world in over a dozen languages and William Shatner's one-man Broadway show Shatner's World, as well as acting as resident director on the Broadway productions of Les Misérables, Cabaret, Cats, and Grease and as a directing consultant for Cirque du Soleil. He directed Bette Midler in The Showgirl Must Go On at Caesars Palace Las Vegas and George Lucas Super Live Adventure in Japan.

Faris said, "We take the audience on a journey back in time and show them how the dinosaurs might have actually looked in their prime - huge, sometimes frightening, sometimes comical monsters - that fought for survival every day of their lives. Our dinosaurs move exactly like they are real -- with all the roars, snorts and excitement that go with it. The realism is mind-blowing!"

Sonny Tilders, who designed and built the creatures has been, for the past decade, one of the major creative forces of the high-tech world of animatronic puppetry for film and television. He designed the creatures for Global Creatures/Dreamworks production How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular, and created the lead character in the Australian stage production of King Kong, which had its world premiere season in Melbourne, Australia in 2013. He was one of the lead animatronic engineers for Jim Henson's Creature workshop on the Farscape series, followed by work on Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Peter Pan, Ghost Rider and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Tilders said, "Many of the technologies we are using on WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR are borrowed from film. The computer software and hardware we have developed is based on the systems used to control animatronic creatures in feature films."

"To make it appear that these creatures are flesh and blood weighing six, eight or even 20 tons, we use a system called 'muscle bags,' made from stretch mesh fabric and filled with polystyrene balls, stretched across moving points on the body. These contract and stretch in the same manner that muscle, fat, and skin does on real creatures."

"The puppeteers use 'voodoo rigs' to make many of the dinosaurs move. They are miniature versions of the dinosaurs with the same joints and range of movement as their life-sized counterparts. The puppeteer manipulates the voodoo rig and these actions are interpreted by computer and transmitted by radio waves to make the hydraulic cylinders in the actual dinosaur replicate the action, with a driver hidden below the animal, helping to maneuver it around the arena." Suited puppeteer specialists, who are inside the creatures, operate five of the smaller dinosaurs.

Warner Brown wrote the script of WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR. He is an accomplished writer whose works include the book of the musical Flickers on Broadway, the screenplay of Nijinsky for Regent Entertainment, the musical The Black and White Ball, which features music by Cole Porter and The Truth About Light, written with composer Jimmy Roberts. Other credits include a new version of Half A Sixpence for the West End in 2008, Garbo - The Musical with music by Jim Steinman and Michael Reed, playing in Europe, and the plays and musicals Scandal, The Biograph Girl, Six for Gold, Cinderella, Talullah for a Day and Dance for Life.

The score of WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR is by James Brett whose work can be heard in the films White House Down, 2012, Event Horizon, The Iron Giant, Frequency, X-Men The Movie, Band of Brothers, Outpost, 10,000 BC, Alien vs. Predator, Ella Enchanted, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, two seasons of the TV show HEX, and the global arena show Batman Live. He also helped create the groundbreaking collaboration between Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony; the album has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

The sets and projections are by the multi-award winning designer Peter England whose work has toured the world extensively. A frequent collaborator at Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre, he also designed sections of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, three City of Sydney New Year's Eve Celebrations and in 2002 was a finalist in the international design competition for the Pentagon Memorial in Washington DC. His latest award-winning work was on the production design for King Kong which had a hugely successful 8 month run in Melbourne in 2013/2014.

Lighting Designer John Rayment lit the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games; Hong Kong's original A Symphony of Light, a massive cityscape permanent lighting display involving over 18 buildings; Singapore's 2002 National Day Parade stadium event; and Singapore's Marina Bay annual New Year's Eve Countdown display. Rayment also works frequently at Opera Australia and has lit 30 productions for Sydney Dance Company.

Sound Designer Peter Hylenski is a Tony and Olivier Award nominated sound designer. He spends much of his time designing Broadway productions such as Shrek, the Musical, Rock of Ages, The Wedding Singer, Sweet Charity and Frozen. Peter has also designed shows for Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden. Recently he co-produced the cast album of Shrek, the Musical for Dreamworks and was the sound supervisor on his fourth film for the American Museum of Natural History in New York titled Journey to the Stars. For Global Creatures, he was sound designer on the Australian productions of How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular and King Kong, winning the 2013 Helpmann Award for the latter.

Michaela Strachan Award-winning TV presenter, author and public speaker. One of Britain's most loved television presenters, BAFTA award-winning Michaela Strachan has been a regular face on our screens for over two decades. Michaela is one of the regular presenting team on Springwatch and will be back on BBC Two soon for Autumnwatch and Winterwatch. Michaela has worked extensively as a presenter on the BBC, spending fifteen years presenting the hugely popular The Really Wild Show and ten years on Countryfile, as well as Orangutan Diaries, Elephant Diaries, Shark Encounters and Orangutan Rescue. Michaela's Wild Challenge (Channel 5) was a double BAFTA award-winning production; earning Michaela the BAFTA for Best Children's Presenter and the programme the BAFTA for Best Children's Factual. Other programmes for Channel 5 include Michaela's Zoo Babies, Michaela's Animal Road Trip, Animal Rescue Squad and Animal Families. For National Geographic, Michaela has fronted Safari Live, live from the Kruger National Park, Adopt a Wild Animal, Postcards from the Wild and Big 5 Little 5 which she presented alongside long-standing TV friend Chris Packham. For the Natural History Unit South Africa Michaela volunteered in a sea bird rescue centre for The Great Penguin Rescue. Michaela has also presented two series of Great British Ghosts (Yesterday TV), One Man and his Dog (BBC), The Fossil Roadshow (BBC), Full Bloom (BBC) and Club Vegetarian (Granda TV).

Michaela's presenting career began on such programmes as TV-am, The Wide Awake Club with Timmy Mallett, Boogie Box, The Hitman and Her and The Really Wild Show. Michaela is much in demand for personal appearances, award ceremonies and presentations. Her natural effervescence and engaging humour endear her to audiences, corporate and educational audiences alike. With her extensive experience of wildlife conservation all around the world and her gift for communication, Michaela is a popular choice to host wildlife festivals, natural history, environmental and ecologist events and present award ceremonies. Michaela has also been touring zoos, wildlife parks and festivals with her children's show Michaela Strachan's Really Wild Adventures, a fun, factual, educational and interactive show which has been adapted from her book of the same name.

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