Northampton Theatre Preview

Northampton Theatre Preview - September 2016

With the Summer downtime coming to an end for the theatres of Northampton, the curtain is ready to rise again on a new season of shows in the town.

Top pick at Royal & Derngate has to be the return of the hit adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities. Adapted by Mike Poulton and directed by the R&D artistic directer James Dacre, this version first seen in 2014 plays for seven nights in the Royal before setting off on a national tour.
Dates in Northampton are Saturday 10th to Saturday 17th with matinees on Wednesday, Thursday and the second Saturday.

For those wanting to revisit the turbulant times of the 1989 political world, there is a chance to see Jonathan Maitland's touring Dead Sheep. Telling the story of the ramifications of Geoffrey Howe's sacking at the hands of PM Margaret Thatcher and her eventual downfall at the hands of this "dead sheep".
It stars Steve Nallon, Paul Bradley and Graham Seed and runs at the Royal & Derngate between Monday 19th and Saturday 24th with matinees on 22nd and 24th).

Those instead wanting to relive memories of their childhood or with offspring of their own to introduce to the world of a classic, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang lands at Royal & Derngate.
Starring Jason Manford, Phill Jupitus, Claire Sweeney and Carrie Hope Fletcher, Chitty is grounded at Derngate between Wednesday 21st and Sunday 2nd October (matinees on 22nd, 24th, 25th, 29th, 1st and 2nd).

On the amatuer dramatics front The Playhouse Theatre starts its 2016/2017 season with Ron Hutchinson's Moonlight And Magnolias running between Tuesday 20th and Saturday 24th. This tells in a farcical way the true story of the troublesome development of the classic movie Gone With The Wind.

If you are after some stand-up in September, Royal & Derngate have several opportunities. Visiting on their tours are Sean Lock, Sue Perkins and Miles Jupp, while the regular mainstay Screaming Blue Murder has two nights in September in the deepest Underground at R&D.

Monthly improv group The Same Faces has their evening of made up shananigans on Saturday 24th at The Black Prince. While if some lighthearted storytelling is for you, the monthly Feast Of Fools meets on Wednesday 7th with an Open Mic evening, venue NN Cafe.

Music nights in the month include Squeeze and Leo Green's Sounds Of The '50s, both at Royal & Derngate.

Finally this month's beyond Northampton pick goes to And Then There Were None at Leicester's The Little Theatre. Featuring Northampton Am-Dram regular Robin Armstrong, this version of the Agatha Christie classic from Leicester Drama Society runs between Monday 12th and Saturday 17th.

Full diary of events:

Wednesday 7th - Feast Of Fools Storytelling at NN Cafe, Guildhall Road
Wednesday 7th - Squeeze at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Thursday 8th - The Simon And Garfunkel Story at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Friday 9th - Joan Collins at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Saturday 10th-Saturday 17th - A Tale Of Two Cities at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Saturday 10th - Sounds Of Philadelphia & Motown at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Sunday 11th - Northampton Musical Theatre Company - Family Fun Day at Great Houghton Cricket Club
Sunday 11th - Chas & Dave at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Tuesday 13th - Sean Lock at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Thursday 15th - John Lodge
Friday 16th - Leo Green's Sounds Of The '50s Live at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Friday 16th - Screaming Blue Murder at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Saturday 17th - Sue Perkins Live! at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Monday 19th-Saturday 24th - Dead Sheep at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Tuesday 20th-Saturday 24th - The Playhouse Theatre: Moonlight And Magnolias at Playhouse Theatre, Clare Street
Wednesday 21st-Sunday 2nd (October) - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Saturday 24th - The Same Faces at The Black Prince, Abington Square
Wednesday 28th - Miles Jupp at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Friday 30th - Lennon Through A Glass Onion at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road
Friday 30th - Screaming Blue Murder at Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road

Review of Frankenstein at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Over 200 years since its first publication it is remarkable to think that what is, in essence, a scientific novel such as Frankenstein is still so relevant in content today. However, as science evolves endlessly, and now with AI becoming so dominant and controversial, the difference between right and wrong, good and evil in science, and what is too inhuman is as current as ever. Tilted Wig's production, now at the end of its UK tour at Royal & Derngate and written and directed by Sean Aydon takes the original story and sets it about halfway between the first publication and modern day, around the time leading up to the Second World War. Aydon's adaptation works really well in placing the story within this degenerating world, a place where true horror is around the corner, and veiled ideas of their (Germany's) interest in Frankenstein's work are gently developed. However, while Aydon clearly had this idea in his head and his pen when scripting this version, the polit

Review of Hacktivists by Ben Ockrent performed by R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

The National Theatres Connections series of plays had been one of my highlights of my trips to R&D during 2014. Their short and snappy single act style kept them all interesting and never overstaying their welcome. So I was more than ready for my first encounter with one of this years Connections plays ahead of the main week of performances at R&D later in the year. Hacktivists is written by Ben Ockrent, whose slightly wacky but socially relevant play Breeders I had seen at St James Theatre last year. Hacktivists is less surreal, but does have a fair selection of what some people would call odd. Myself of the other hand would very much be home with them. So we are presented with thirteen nerdy "friends" who meet to hack, very much in what is termed the white hat variety. This being for good, as we join them they appear to have done very little more than hacked and created some LED light device. Crashing in to spoil the party however comes Beth (Emma-Ann Cranston)

Review of Flashdance - The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes

For the second week running, the Milton Keynes Theatre is overrun by a wave of eighties nostalgia as Selladoor's production of Flashdance The Musical follows hot on the heels of An Officer and a Gentlemen. However, is it nice to have more of that classic decade upon the stage? The answer mostly is yes, despite the fact that the story driving Flashdance is that light and flimsy at times, you just have to sit back and watch the dancing and the bright colours to get you through. Welding genius, Alex Owens, has her sights set for a bigger thing beyond this tired and struggling factory in Pittsburgh. Hoping to take her dancing beyond Harry's bar, she plans to make big, via Shipley Dance Academy. Then, also drifting into her life comes Nick Hurley, who initially unknown to her, happens to be the factory bosses son, the scene is set for romance. Flashdance has a generally excellent cast led with a tremendously good performance from Joanne Clifton as Alex Owens. Those famili

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog