WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S LONG LOST FIRST PLAY (ABRIDGED)
Written and directed by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor.
Performed by Joseph Maudsley,
Matthew Pearson and James Percy.
Following its world premiere season at the Edinburgh Festival and a run at the renowned Folger Shakespeare Library, the brand new show from the Reduced Shakespeare Company embarks on its debut UK tour of 50 venues plus a week at Wilton’s Music Hall in London
Acclaimed stars of the West End stage, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, are back with another barnstormingly irreverent and breathtakingly hilarious celebration of our cultural heritage – as seen through the eyes of three Americans wearing trainers. In a better-late-than-never nod to the Bard’s 400th anniversary, the bad boys of abridgement present this ‘new’ play by the man himself, as discovered in a Leicester car park.
Since its pass-the-hat origins in 1981, the Reduced Shakespeare Company has created ten world-renowned stage shows, two television specials, several failed TV pilots, and numerous radio pieces, all of which have been performed, seen, and heard the world over. The company’s itinerary has included stops in the West End, off-Broadway, at the White House, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, London’s West End, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre and Montreal’s famed Just For Laughs Festival, as well as performances in Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Malta, Singapore and Bermuda, plus countless civic and university venues throughout the USA, the UK, and Europe.
Reduced Shakespeare Company in
William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged)
2017 tour dates
1 & 2 Feb Lighthouse Poole 01202 28 00 00 www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
3 Feb Norden Farm Maidenhead 01628 788997 www.nordenfarm.org
4 Feb Playhouse Norwich 01603 598598 www.norwichplayhouse.co.uk
7 Feb Guildhall Preston 01772 80 44 44 www.prestonguildhall.com
8 Feb Pomegranate Chesterfield 01246 345 222 chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk
9 Feb Playhouse Nottingham 0115 941 9419 nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
10 Feb Princess Somerset 01278 784464 www.theprincesstheatre.co.uk
11 Feb The Theatre Chipping Norton 01608 642350 www.chippingnortontheatre.com
12 Feb Town Hall Cheltenham 0844 576 2210 cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk
14 & 15 Feb Rep Birmingham 0121 236 4455 birmingham-rep.co.uk
16 Feb Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds 01284 769505 www.theatreroyal.org
17 Feb Mercury Colchester 01206 573948 www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
18 Feb PAC Lincoln 01522 837600 www.lpac.co.uk
23 – 25 Feb Curve Leicester 0116 242 3595 www.curveonline.co.uk
2 Mar Woodville Gravesend 08442 439 480 www.woodville.co.uk
3 Mar Wyvern Theatre Swindon 01793 524 481 swindontheatres.co.uk
4 Mar Ropetackle Shoreham 01273 464440 ropetacklecentre.co.uk
8 Mar The Lights Andover 01264 368368 www.thelights.org.uk
9 Mar Riverfront Newport 01633 656757 www.newportlive.co.uk
10 Mar Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre Taunton 01823 414141 www.tacchi-morris.com
11 Mar Plough Arts Centre Great Torrington 01805 624624 www.theploughartscentre.org.uk
13 Mar Waterside Theatre Aylesbury 0844 871 7607 atgtickets.com/aylesbury
14 & 15 Mar Broadway Letchworth 01462 681088 www.broadway-letchworth.com
16 Mar Towngate Theatre Basildon 01268 465 465 www.towngatetheatre.co.uk
17 Mar Trinity Tunbridge Wells 01892 678 678 www.trinitytheatre.net
18 Mar Playhouse Salisbury 01722 320 333 www.salisburyplayhouse.com
21 Mar Opera House Buxton 01298 72190 www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk
22 Mar Waterside Arts Centre Sale 0161 912 5616 www.watersideartscentre.co.uk
23 Mar Kings Glasgow 0844 871 7648 www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com
25 Mar Brewery Arts Kendal 01539 725133 www.breweryarts.co.uk
26 Mar Forum Barrow 01229 820000 www.theforumbarrow.co.uk
28 Mar – 1 Apr Wilton’s Music Hall London 020 7702 2789 www.wiltons.org.uk
18 Apr Richmond Theatre London 0844 871 7651 www.atgtickets.com/richmond
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A SPECTACULAR TOURING PRODUCTION OF
WILL FLY BACK TO TEN UK & IRELAND CITIES FROM FEBRUARY 2018
WICKED, the West End and Broadway musical phenomenon that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, is delighted to announce that EastEnders star Aaron Sidwell will play Fiyero on the forthcoming return engagement of the spectacular, critically acclaimed and multi record-breaking UK & Ireland Tour in 2018.
Photo by Darren Bell
Aaron Sidwell is currently playing ‘Steven Beale’ in the BBC’s EastEnders, a role he originally played in 2007/08. His many musical theatre appearances include Grey Gardens (Southwark Playhouse), American Idiot (Arts Theatre, London) and the leading role of ‘Michael Dork’ in Loserville The Musical (West Yorkshire Playhouse and in the West End).
Aaron Sidwell is scheduled to appear at all venues. The full UK & Ireland Tour cast will be announced in September.
The tour will visit: Bristol Hippodrome (Wednesday 31 January – Saturday 3 March 2018); Liverpool Empire (Wednesday 7 – Saturday 31 March 2018); Birmingham Hippodrome (Wednesday 4 – Sunday 29 April 2018); Edinburgh Playhouse (Tuesday 8 May – Saturday 9 June 2018); Leeds Grand Theatre (Wednesday 13 June – Saturday 7 July 2018); Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre (Tuesday 17 July – 26 August 2018); Sunderland Empire (Thursday 6 – Saturday 29 September 2018); Southampton Mayflower Theatre (Wednesday 3 – Saturday 27 October 2018, tickets on sale September 2017); Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre (Wednesday 31 October – Saturday 24 November 2018) and Manchester Palace Theatre (Tuesday 4 December 2018 – Saturday 5 January 2019).
Acclaimed as “one of the greatest musicals of our time” (Daily Mail), “a wicked and wonderful vision of Oz” (London Evening Standard) and “one of the West End’s true modern classics” (Metro), WICKED is already the 17th longest running show in London theatre history and recently celebrated a decade of performances at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, where it continues an open-ended run. Around the world, WICKED has now been seen by over 50 million people in 15 countries, and won over 100 major awards (including 3 Tony Awards and 6 Drama Desk Awards on Broadway; 2 Olivier Audience Awards, 9 WhatsOnStage Awards and an Evening Standard Theatre Award in London; 6 Helpmann Awards in Australia and a Grammy Award).
WICKED played a fifteen-city tour of the UK & Ireland from September 2013 – July 2015, winning five-star rave reviews at every venue. The production, acclaimed by the Northern Echo as “the ultimate Broadway experience for theatre audiences all over the UK”, resumed touring in July 2016, playing a sold out engagement at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford and is currently playing in Hong Kong and opens at The Theatre at Solaire in Manila on 2 February. Prior to returning to the UK & Ireland, WICKED will also play engagements in Shanghai and Beijing.
Based on the acclaimed, best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire that ingeniously re-imagines the stories and characters created by L. Frank Baum in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, Wicked tells the incredible untold story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two sorcery students. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfil their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
WICKED has music and lyrics by multi Grammy and Academy Award-winner Stephen Schwartz (Godspell and Disney’s Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Enchanted) and is based on the novel ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’ by Gregory Maguire and adapted for the stage by Winnie Holzman. Musical staging is by Tony Award-winner Wayne Cilento and the production is directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello.
WICKED is produced around the world by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone. Executive Producer (UK/International Tour) Michael McCabe.
