Midlands productions

Published: 29 May 2016
Reporter: Steve Orme

Amanda Ryan as Joy, Shannon Rewcroft as Douglas, Denis Lill as Major W H Lewis (Warnie) and Stephen Boxer as Jack in Shadlowlands at Birmingham REP Credit: Jack Ladenburg
Jackie (Janet Dibley) meets Jackie (Daisy Steere) in Jackie the Musical at the Regent Theatre, Stoke Credit: Pamela Raith Photography
Lost Boys’ Ears on a Beatle at Kedleston Hall, Derby

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats returns to Birmingham Hippodrome from Monday until Saturday.

William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, which “tackles universal questions of belief and love through the personal experience of one of the country’s most well-known writers” C S Lewis, can be seen on the Birmingham REP main stage from Tuesday until Saturday.

Louise Jameson plays Mrs Boyle when Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap makes its first appearance at the Courtyard, Hereford from Tuesday until Saturday.

Janet Dibley, Nicholas Bailey and Graham Bickley appear in Jackie the Musical, Mike James’s look back at the era of Jackie magazine, which features choreography by Arlene Phillips, at the Regent Theatre, Stoke from Tuesday until Saturday.

Writer and original member Jenny Éclair is joined by Susie Blake and Kate Robbins in Grumpy Old Women—Fifty Shades of Beige at Nottingham Playhouse on Thursday.

Jodie Prenger appears in a new production of Tell Me on a Sunday—the musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Don Black—at Wolverhampton Grand on Thursday.

Mark St Germain’s play Ears on a Beatle, based on FBI files on John Lennon who was under surveillance for the last nine years of his life, is a Lost Boys and Derby LIVE co-production at Kedleston Hall, Derby from Thursday until Saturday.

Created by a team of some of the top comedy writers in the UK, Graeme of Thrones is a theatrical journey through the Seven Kingdoms, an “original and unauthorised parody of the international phenomenon that is Game of Thrones”, which turns Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry into a fantasy world on Friday.

Artistic director Kinny Gardner “creates a whole new take on Mozart’s classic, with beautiful puppets, magical transformations and fully integrated sign language” in Krazy Kat Theatre’s The Very Magic Flute at the Guildhall Theatre, Derby on Friday.

Plays in the Park will perform Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in The Park, Nottingham from Friday until Sunday.

David Walker and Kivan Dene are The Debt Collectors in Reform Theatre Company’s presentation of the John Godber comedy in the MET Studio at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre on Saturday.

An analysis of infertility and the taboo that surrounds it, Gareth Farr’s The Quiet House, a “funny, moving and unswervingly honest love story inspired by true events”, continues in The Door at Birmingham REP until Saturday.

The late Victoria Wood’s first play Talent continues at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday.

The world première of Roy Williams’s play Soul, which explores the extraordinary life of Marvin Gaye, continues at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate until Saturday 11 June.

Bethany Goodman, Charlotte Fox, James Nicholas and Matthew Tweedale form the cast of Blue Orange Theatre’s production of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland from Saturday until Saturday 11 June.

At the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Paapa Essiedu plays Hamlet which continues until Saturday 13 August and Gillian Bevan becomes the first woman to take on the role of British ruler Cymbeline which continues until Friday 12 August; in the Swan Theatre, Sandy Grierson and Oliver Ryan share the roles of Faustus and Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus which continues until Thursday 4 August while Ben Jonson’s satire The Alchemist continues until Saturday 6 August.

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