A new production inspired by Wuthering Heights and a “lust triangle of suspense, intrigue and saucy wordplay” are among the highlights of the final week of Birmingham Fest.
The festival which is in its third year “fills a previously much-missing fringe element in the city’s theatre scene”.
Birmingham-based actress Rebecca Newman who played nurse Ally Hunter in the BBC series Casualty will appear in her play The Enduring Romance of Cathy and Heathcliff. It is described as “an unconventional, dark, comedic reimagining of the classic romance”.
She said, “the festival is giving writers and performers the opportunity to get their voices heard. It’s so important for the industry in the Midlands to continue to grow and develop, and I’m so delighted that I get to be a part of that.
“The play has been a long time in development but it's been a tonic to work on something that I enjoy. The industry is a slippery mistress and making my own work is my way of taking it by the horns.”
The Enduring Romance of Cathy and Heathcliff, which features music from the 1950s and ‘60s, will be performed at the Old Joint Stock Theatre on Tuesday 28 July.
New company Fortitude Theatre will present The Engagement, a “costume drama pastiche menagerie, inspired by Shakespeare's comedies, Restoration innuendo and hint of Austen via a Victorian penny dreadful”.
The play features “a young heroine in love and despair, a scheming widow hungry for revenge and scandal, and a handsome rake with a passion for bed-hopping. The characters are ridiculous, the plot riddled with wit, the moral of the story is a pox on morals”.
The Engagement will be staged at the Blue Orange Theatre on Thursday.