Henry VIII’S wives provide right royal entertainment
Main House
The multi award-winning musical SIX makes its hotly anticipated return to the Theatre Royal Bath for two weeks from Monday, November 29 to Saturday, December 11.
Advance ticket availability for this spectacularly successful show aere said to be extremely limited.
From Tudor queens to pop princesses, SIX sees the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their own personal tales, remixing 500 years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st century girl power.
The touring Queens will be played by Lauren Drew as Catherine of Aragon, Maddison Bulleyment as Anne Boleyn, Caitlin Tipping as Jane Seymour, Shekinah Mcfarlane as Anna of Cleves, Vicki Manser as Katherine Howard and Elena Gyasi as Catherine Parr, with alternates Jennifer Caldwell, Cassandra Lee, Harriet Watson and Super Swing Natalie Pilkington.
The cast are backed by the show’s all-female band, The Ladies in Waiting.
SIX, written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, has become a global phenomenon since its early days as a student production in a 100-seat room during the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Now while it continues its soldout UK tour, SIX is also enjoying its new West End home at the Vaudeville Theatre, and has opened in New York to rave reviews at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway. It is also due to reopen in Australia this December at the Sydney Opera House.
SIX was nominated for five Olivier Awards including Best New Musical. It won the BBC Radio 2 Audience Award for Best Musical at the Whatsonstage Awards and was invited to perform on the results show of ITV’S Britain’s Got Talent and BBC’S Children in Need Appeal Show.
Tickets for SIX are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www. theatreroyal.org.uk.
SIX
SIX, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s smash hit musical about Henry VIII’S wives, is back at the Theatre Royal by popular demand next week where it appears for a fortnight from Monday 29th November to Saturday 11th December.
From Tudor Queens to pop princesses, SIX sees the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their own personal tales, remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a celebration of 21st century girl power backed by the show’s all-female band, The Ladies in Waiting.
Tickets for this international phenomenon - which has enjoyed hugely successful runs in the West End, on UK tour, at Sydney Opera House and on Broadway - are already close to selling out in Bath.
Anyone wishing to catch SIX at the Theatre Royal is advised to contact the Box Office to check for available seats, including evening standby tickets which go on sale during the run at noon daily.
Sir James Dyson
Also in the month ahead, the Theatre Royal’s Special Events programme sees Sir James Dyson visit the Theatre Royal on Saturday 4th December at noon to talk about his remarkable and inspirational life following the recent publication of his book, Invention: A Life. Dyson has become a byword for high performing products, technology, design and invention.
From his early experiences of learning with Jeremy Fry (who bought the Theatre Royal Bath in the 1970s) to creating the cyclonic vacuum cleaner, supersonic hairdryer and scores of radical new technologies since, the inventor and entrepreneur who made it all happen shares his story.
From Turkey to Trifle
In the lead up to Christmas, From Turkey to Trifle takes place at Lansdown Grove Hotel on Tuesday 14th December featuring a two-course festive lunch and a light-hearted look at many of the Christmas customs we take for granted, hosted by the Theatre Royal’s Jane Tapley.
Cinderella
From Thursday 16th December to Sunday 9th January, panto returns to the Theatre Royal, oh yes it does, as Dani Harmer, one of the biggest stars of children’s television in BBC history, plays Fairy Godmother in Bath’s Christmas pantomime, Cinderella, alongside comedian and award-winning writer Jon Monie, who plays Buttons and has also written UK Productions’ glittering 2021 show.
With a brand new joke-filled script penned by Bath’s own all round pantomime legend Jon Monie, Cinderella promises a feast of fun and festive frivolity. In the best-loved pantomime of them all, Cinderella is treated as a servant by her wicked (not to mention ugly) stepsisters.
She needs all the magic her Fairy Godmother can conjure, along with help from her best friend, Buttons, if she is to meet her Prince Charming, and find true love before the clock strikes midnight.
Featuring an enchanting story, side-splitting comedy, lavish settings and adorable miniature ponies, this truly traditional panto is guaranteed to entertain all ages and ensure that every family member has a ball.
Dani Harmer is known to millions of children for her TV role as Tracy Beaker, and recently starred in the 2021 CBBC series My Mum Tracy Beaker.
Since first starring in the title role in CBBC’S hugely successful series The Story of Tracy Beaker, Dani has been seen on our screens in the Bafta-winning Tracy Beaker Returns, Tracy Beaker Survival Files, The Dumping Ground, Bafta-nominated Dani’s House and Dani’s Castle. She also starred in BBC1’S Strictly Come Dancing, reaching the final in 2012.
On stage, Dani has performed in shows ranging from Tommy in the West End to national tours of Annie and The Rocky Horror Show, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and numerous pantomimes.
Much-loved comedian Jon Monie - author of this year’s pantomime script - returns by popular demand to play Buttons.
In 2019, Jon entered the record books when he made his 1,000th Bath pantomime appearance playing Smee in Peter Pan.
Now marking his nineteenth Christmas show at the Theatre Royal, Jon is also an award-winning comedian and experienced TV presenter.
Jon also wrote the Theatre Royal’s last pantomime Beauty and the Beast, winning Best Script at the Great British Pantomime Awards, as well as starring in the show as Louis La Plonk. Jon’s recent TV credits include The Nevers, Moominvalley, Showtrial and Outlaws.
Experienced pantomime and musical theatre performers, Nic Gibney and Duncan Burt star as the Ugly Sisters, with Cinderella played by Elly Jay, whose international stage credits have seen her perform across Europe and in Japan.
The role of Prince Charming is played by Josh Rose with Michael Chance as Baron Hardup and Chris Fearn as Dandini. Cinderella is directed by Hannah Starkey with choreography by Mitchell Harper and musical direction by Joshua Newport.
Alongside the company of professional actors performing in Cinderella, this year’s pantomime will also feature dancers from Bath’s Dorothy Coleborn School of Dance.
Following 2019’s highly acclaimed pantomime Beauty and the Beast, Martin Dodd’s UK Productions return to the Theatre Royal Bath this Christmas to entertain West Country audiences for the twenty-fourth year.
Tickets for all performances are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www. theatreroyal.org.uk.
Ustinov Studio
Footfalls and Rockaby
BAFTA award-winning Dame Siân Phillips (I, Claudius, Under Milk Wood, Keeping Faith) and Charlotte Emmerson (Gaslight, Silent Witness, Manhunt) are currently starring in Footfalls and Rockaby, an unmissable double bill of rarely performed gems by Samuel Beckett, appearing at the Ustinov Studio until Saturday 4th December.
A rocking chair creaks. Footsteps echo down a corridor, tracing and retracing the same path.
An old woman hears a voice from beyond – a voice that sounds eerily like her own.
In this pair of miniature masterpieces directed by Richard Beecham, Samuel Beckett dazzlingly explores his obsessions with age, memory and the passing of time.
Footfalls and Rockaby sees star of stage and screen Siân Phillips reunited with the work of the great Irish playwright whom she first met in 1966 when Samuel Beckett directed
her in his first work for television, Eh Joe.
The 45th anniversary staging of Footfalls and the 40th anniversary production of Rockaby have transferred exclusively to Bath’s Ustinov Studio direct from London’s Jermyn Street Theatre.
A Christmas Getaway
Last seen in the Theatre Royal’s Main House performing Crimes, Camera, Action this summer, New Old Friends make a welcome return to the Ustinov Studio in December, this time presenting A Christmas Getaway, a brand new story for the yuletide season inspired by P.G. Wodehouse, Noël Coward and classic British comedy. It’s been a tough year and the Jameson family are all planning to enjoy a Christmas Eve getaway at their soon-tobe sold country home. The catch is, everyone has planned to do it in secret; the daughter is with her lover, the mother is with
Left, Vanessa Bishop as Miss Cutts, Mayur Bhatt as Lamb, and Dominic O’connor as Gibbs in The Hothouse
the daughter’s fiancé, the father is with the neighbour, the maid is with the local oik, and the underpaid butler is eyeing up both the housekeeper and the valuables.
Appearing at the Ustinov Studio from Monday 13th December to Saturday 8th January, this fast-talking, fast-paced, frantic festive farce sees just four actors play multiple roles with lightning quick changes and all of the trademark flair which has earned award-winning New Old Friends a loyal following.
Tickets for all performances at the Ustinov Studio are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www. theatreroyal.org.uk/ustinov.
The Egg
Squirrel
From Saturday 27th November to Friday 24th December, The Egg welcomes back its hugely popular production of Squirrel with performances daily at 9.30am, 11.30am and 1.30pm.
First seen in 2019, this beautifully engaging show for the youngest of theatregoers has delighted its audiences and critics alike, described as “supremely welcoming and warmhearted” by The Guardian in their five star review.
Squirrel loves a good acorn. But not all acorns are good. Some are downright second rate and Squirrel is fussy like that. Under the light of the winter sun, between the houses and the offices, and the rivers and the factories, Squirrel has buried their favourite acorn collection.
It’s easy to remember where; it’s under the third tree from the left, or was it the right? Oh hang on a minute… This is a story of new growth, with a sprinkling of snowy magic and puppetry mayhem as you would expect from The Egg’s early years Christmas show.
Recommended for children aged 6 months to 4 years, Squirrel, created by Kate Cross and Tim Bell, will be performed by Caroline Garland and Olly Langdon.
Five Children and It
Over the festive season at The Egg, family audiences can look forward to a sparkling new take on E. Nesbit’s much-loved story, Five Children and It, presented by awardwinning theatre makers Bucket Club, from Friday 10th December to Sunday 16th January.
If you could have one wish what would IT be? Sent away to live in the countryside with their reclusive Uncle, five children discover a secret that’s been hidden away for centuries: a magical, mischievous and extremely grumpy Sand Fairy called It with the power to grant spectacular wishes. There’s just one catch…
As the children set off on a series of fantastic adventures, they soon learn that wishes can get you into a whole heap of trouble. Perhaps a wish granted isn’t always the dream come true you might expect!
Written by Marietta Kirkbride, based on the classic fantasy story by E. Nesbit (The Railway Children) and directed by Nel Crouch, Five Children and It stars Patrick Bridgman as Uncle Paul, Hannah Bristow as Robert, Doxah Dzidzor as Anthea, Craig Edwards as It, Hanora Kamen as Jane and Luke Murphy as Cyril. Tickets for performances at The Egg are on sale at the Theatre Royal Box Office on 01225 448844, The Egg on 01225 823 409 and online at www. theatreroyal.org.uk/whats-on.