BIRMINGHAM STAGE COMPANY CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY WITH
MORE BEST OF BARMY BRITAIN!
Birmingham Stage Company presents
Horrible Histories – More Best of Barmy Britain!
Written by Terry Deary and Neal Foster
4 August – 2 September
Garrick Theatre
This August, Birmingham Stage Company takes over the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End to present Horrible Histories – More Best of Barmy Britain, celebrating the company’s 25th anniversary. This marks 12 years of Horrible Histories Live on Stage and 6 years in the West End. This special instalment of Barmy Britain follows the sell-out successes of Barmy Britain – Parts One, Two and Three as well as last years The Best of Barmy Britain and will feature more of the horribly best bits from all past productions plus a brand new scene about Shakespeare. More Best of Barmy Britain opens on 7 August with previews from the 4 August and runs until 2 September. Tickets go on sale via Amazon Tickets pre-sale on the 24 January and will go on general sale on 30 January.
The production will run underneath Birmingham Stage Company’s stage adaptation of David Walliams’ best-selling book – Gangsta Grannywhich opens at the Garrick on the 1 August with previews from 26 July and runs until 3 September. BSC have also just announced they will produce an adaptation of another of David Walliams’ hit stories – Awful Auntie which embarks on a national tour this September.
We all want to meet people from history. The trouble is everyone is dead!
So it’s time to prepare yourselves for a special production of Horrible Histories featuring MORE of your favourite characters from our barmy past – and a brand new scene with wordy Will!
Find out why the Romans were revolting! Could you survive the vicious Vikings? Can evil Elizabeth entertain England? Would you party with the Puritans? Clap along with crazy King Charles! Dare you stand and deliver to dastardly Dick Turpin? Vomit with the vile Victorians and prepare to do battle in the frightful First World War!
It’s history with the nasty bits left in!
Terry Deary, the creator of Horrible Histories, is one of Britain’s best-selling authors of the 21st Century and the tenth most-borrowed author in British libraries. There are around 50 Horrible Histories titles with total sales of 25 million in 40 countries. He is also the author of over 200 fiction and non-fiction books for young people including his series of books Dangerous Days.
Neal Foster is Actor/Manager of The Birmingham Stage Company. Since its foundation the BSC has staged over seventy productions and become one of the world’s leading producers of theatre for children and their families. During the BSC’s twenty-five year history, Foster has performed roles including Grandma in George’s Marvellous Medicine, the title role in Skellig at The New Victory Theatre, New York, Storey in Awful Egyptians (Sydney Opera House) and Rex in Barmy Britain (Garrick Theatre, Apollo Theatre and Sydney Opera House). As a director, his work includes Fantastic Mr Fox, Tom’s Midnight Garden, The Jungle Book (all national tours) and Barmy Britain – Part One! Two!, Three! (Garrick Theatre) and The Best of Barmy Britain (Apollo Theatre), all of which he co-wrote with Terry Deary. He has also adapted and directed the national tour of Gangsta Granny by David Walliams which will be opening in the West End this August as well as the recently announced tour of Walliams’ Awful Auntie.
Horrible Histories – More Best of Barmy Britain is directed by Neal Foster, design is by Jackie Trousdale, lighting by Jason Taylor, and sound by Nick Sagar, music by Matthew Scott and choreography by Kenn Oldfield.
Horrible Histories Live shows are created by Neal Foster and The Birmingham Stage Company. BSC has been touring Horrible Histories for twelve years throughout the UK, Ireland, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Other current productions include David Walliams’ Gangsta Granny and Awful Auntie.
Horrible Histories are recommended for ages 5 to 105! (106 year olds may not like it as much).
New musical inspired by Goethe poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice appears in two exclusive concerts, with a stellar cast including Olivier Award winner Tracie Bennett.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is best known to modern audiences through the Disney film Fantasia. Acclaimed musical theatre writing team Frost and Hough have gone back to the original poem by Goethe to put their own spin on the story for this new musical, which reimagines the apprentice as the rebellious daughter of a master magician. Their new version explores this relationship between a father and daughter, and whether magic can help them repair it.
Now audiences have an exclusive opportunity to see this concert presentation, with a cast of West End stars including the double Olivier Award winning and Tony Award nominated Tracie Bennett (End of the Rainbow, Mrs Henderson Presents) with narration from Jan Ravens, best known for her Dead Ringers impressions. The first concert is the opening event for the newly renovated Broadway Theatre in Letchworth, and the second is in the intimate surroundings of the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End.
Ben Frost and Richard Hough have been writing together since 2010. For Christmas 2015, they wrote a comic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (Castle Theatre), and are currently developing a new musical version of Around The World In Eighty Days, plus an original project entitled Neon. They have written full-length adult musical Possession (about a gothic murder in the backwaters of suburbia) and solo show Sin (about the wife of a politician at the end of her tether).
Director Ryan McBryde’s credits include The House of Mirrors andHearts (Arcola), The Donkey Show (Proud London), 1984 (Stuttgart), which was nominated for the prestigious Theaterpreis Der Faust, Cinderella (Salisbury Playhouse), Saturday Night Fever (UK Tour), The Ruling Class (Frankfurt), Angus, Thongs And Even More Snogging (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Who’s Tommy (European Tour) and the German premieres of Spring Awakening and TheFull Monty. His production of Hamlet! The Musical at Northampton and Richmond won the WhatsOnStage Theatregoers’ Choice Award. He is associate director for Perfect Pitch Musicals and the English Theatre Frankfurt.
Listing
THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE
Tuesday 7 February 7pm – The Broadway, Eastcheap, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3DD
