New Vic springs into new season with new plays

Published: 21 November 2015
Reporter: Steve Orme

In the round: the New Vic auditorium which will host the spring 2016 season Credit: Andrew Billington

New plays from John Godber and Amanda Whittington, Harold Pinter’s first major work and the story of Gracie Fields form the major part of the spring 2016 season at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

The season gets under way with the Northern Broadsides version of William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives. The company’s artistic director Barrie Rutter plays Sir John Falstaff in the production which visits the New Vic from 5 until 27 February.

Amanda Whittington, whose play The Thrill of Love about Ruth Ellis—the last woman to be hanged in Britain—had its première at the New Vic, has penned Kiss Me Quickstep which will also debut at the Staffordshire theatre-in-the-round. It looks at the real lives behind the fixed smiles and fake tan of the world of ballroom dance and runs from 4 until 19 March.

London Classic Theatre takes Pinter’s The Birthday Party to the New Vic from 22 until 26 March.

John Godber’s new play which traces the lives of a couple in the 30 years after the 1984 miners’ strike can be seen in Staffordshire from 30 March until 2 April. Godber and his wife Jane Thornton both perform in Shafted!.

A “warm, funny and moving portrait” of Gracie Fields, Our Gracie is a New Vic and Oldham Coliseum co-production. It is written by Philip Goulding who also penned A Fine Bright Day Today, one of the most popular New Vic productions in recent years. Our Gracie runs from 6 until 23 April.

The full programme is available at the New Vic web site.

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