The Original Theatre Company is delighted to announce that, due to popular demand, its production of Torben Betts’s critically acclaimed INVINCIBLE will tour the UK for a second time, directed by Stephen Darcy. The 2017 tour will open at Royal & Derngate in Northampton on 24 January 2017.
Alastair Whatley, Emily Bowker and Graham Brookes will reprise the roles of Oliver, Emily and Alan respectively. Elizabeth Boag joins the 2017 tour as Dawn.
Artistic Director of The Original Theatre Company, Alastair Whatley, said of the second UK tour:
“We are delighted to be taking Invincible back on the road in 2017. Torben’s state of the nation comedy reached out to audiences across the UK in 2016 with his vision of a nation divided, cleft in two down the Watford Gap. We look forward to navigating the play through post Brexit Britain in 2017.”
With the recession biting hard, Emily and Oliver have decided to downsize and shift their middle-class London lifestyle to a small town in the north of England. One night, they open their doors to their next door neighbours, Dawn and Alan. Over the course of a disastrous evening of olives, anchovies, Karl Marx and abstract art, class and culture collide, resulting in consequences that are both tragic and hilarious.
INVINCIBLE had its world premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond in 2014 and transferred later that same year to St James Theatre, London. Invencible, a Spanish version of INVINCIBLE, has just begun a nine-month tour of Spain, starring Spanish film actress Maribel Verdu.
Torben Betts was born in Lincolnshire and studied at Liverpool University. He became the resident dramatist at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre in 1999. Poet and dramatist Liz Lochhead said Betts “is just about the most original and extraordinary writer of drama we have.” His play The Unconquered won Best New Play 2006/07 at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland. 2015 saw a revival of his acclaimed 2012 play Muswell Hill at London’s Park Theatre, his latest work, What Falls Apart, opened at Newcastle’s Live Theatre, and his version of Chekhov’s The Seagull was staged at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. In February 2016, Betts adapted Get Carter for Northern Stage in Newcastle.
INVINCIBLE is designed by Victoria Spearing, with lighting by Andy Purves and sound by Max Pappenheim. The national tour is produced by Tom Hackney for The Original Theatre Company, Adrian Grady for Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds and Ghostlight Theatre Production (a Bob and Co Company).
Photography by Manuel Harlan
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2017 TOUR SCHEDULE
24 – 28 January
Royal & Derngate, Northampton
01604624811
www.royalandderngate.co.uk
31 Jan – 4 February
Derby Theatre
01332593939
www.derbytheatre.co.uk
8 – 10 February
Cast Doncaster
01302303959
Castindoncaster.com
16 – 18 February
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
01484430528
thelbt.org
22 – 25 February
Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
01723370541
www.sjt.uk.com
1 – 4 March
Cambridge Arts Theatre
01223503333
www.cambridgeartstheatre.com
7 – 11 March
Palace Theatre, Southend
01702351135
www.palacetheatresouthend.co.uk
15 – 18 March
Harrogate Theatre
01423502116
www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk
21 – 25 March
Lichfield Garrick Theatre
01543412110
www.lichfieldgarrick.com
28 – 30 March
Theatre Royal Brighton
08448717650
www.atgtickets.com/brighton
4 – 15 April
New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-Under-Lyme
01782717962
newvictheatre.org.uk
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.
