Theatre Royal Bath
Main House
Crazy For You
Bath Operatic and Dramatic Society present George and Ira Gershwin’s smash-hit musical comedy Crazy For You as they make a welcome return to the Theatre Royal from Tuesday 3rd to Saturday 7th May.
The high energy, high kicking and gloriously glamorous production boasts a large cast of local talent and features a host of famous numbers including I Got Rhythm, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Someone To Watch Over Me and Embraceable You.
Directed by Steve Blackmore, Crazy For You is packed with wit and wry humour, making everything old seem new again, with a fresh interpretation of timeless musical songs spanning cabaret, jazz, tap and variety-show styles.
Sheila’s Island
Sheila’s Island, a sparkling new comedy drama by award-winning writer Tim Firth, visits the Theatre Royal from Tuesday 10th to Saturday 14th May on its first UK tour starring Olivier Award winner Sara Crowe (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Private Lives), Judy Flynn (Dinnerladies, Call The Midwife), Abigail Thaw (Endeavour) and Eastern Eye
award winner Rina Fatania.
Sheila, Denise, Julie, and Fay are Team C in Pennine Mineral Water Ltd’s annual outward-bound teambuilding weekend. Somehow, Marketing Manager Sheila has been nominated team leader, and unwittingly stranded her team on an island in the Lake District.
As their mobile batteries die and cold and hunger take over, the intrepid heroines find themselves called on to manufacture escape routes using cable ties and spatulas.
Questions are asked; truths are told; dirty washing is aired. Is it possible to build an adequate night shelter with a prom dress and a sleeveless jumper? Is there an I in Team? And do endless verses of Kumbaya really keep up spirits?
Can Sheila keep tempers from fraying and get them safely back to shore? What is Julie’s husband really up to in Aldi? And why are they on this team building exercise when they could be at a spa?
Catch Me If You Can
From Monday 16th to Saturday 21st May, Dallas legend Patrick Duffy (The Man from Atlantis, Step by Step) and Linda Purl (Happy Days, Homeland) star alongside Gray O’brien (Peak Practice, Coronation Street) in the classic Broadway thriller Catch Me If You Can.
Inspector Levine is called to a house in the remote Catskill mountains to investigate the disappearance
of newly married Elizabeth Corban. But when Elizabeth suddenly turns up, her husband seems surprised rather than relieved, and the plot develops more twists than a corkscrew.
The cast also includes Ben Nealon (Soldier Soldier, Agatha Christie Theatre Company, Classic Thriller Theatre Company), Hugh Futcher, Alicia Grace Turrell and Paul Lavers.
Crimes On Centre Court
From Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th May, New Old Friends present their latest comedy thriller Crimes On Centre Court.
The Bath-based company have built a national reputation with their wildly inventive set-pieces, twisty plots and commitment to high speed entertainment. Their latest dose of mirth, murder and mayhem comes with a side of tennis.
Lord Knows the chair of The Wombledon International tennis tournament has died and his son, Hugh, is suspicious. The police won’t take the case so Hugh calls in Perry & Penny Pink, private investigators.
What transpires has all the hallmarks of the company’s particular brand of theatrical hilarity as a cast of four performers play countless characters with quick-fire changes and lightning speed wit.
Based on a story from New Old Friends’ award-winning podcast, Crimes on Centre Court promises
an ace of a show which audiences are sure to (fifteen) love.
This deuce-y summertime treat will rally the spirits and leave you wanting a second serve-ing of the volley of gags and visual delights. You won’t see it game set and matched anywhere else.
The Golden Cockerel
English Touring Opera visit the Theatre Royal for two nights as they present The Golden Cockerel on Monday 30th May and La bohème on Tuesday 31st May.
The final and favourite opera by Rimsky-korsakov, The Golden Cockerel is a daring satire on the last days of the Romanov empire. Featuring exotic orchestration led by ETO’S new music director Gerry Corneilus and ETO director James Conway, this fantasy sung in English is full of mischief and charm.
On the second night of ETO’S performance run in Bath, Puccini’s La bohème tells a story of young lovers forced apart by poverty.
Sara Crowe
Lunchtime Special Events include stage and screen star Sara Crowe in conversation on Friday 13th May as she shares details of her illustrious career from Four Weddings and A Funeral to her prolific and Olivier Award-winning theatre career and her work as a novelist.
Jane Turner
On Friday 20th May, Bath writer Jane Turner talks about her debut novel The Way From Here.
Previously an international business woman before bringing up a family, Kate joined a local rowing team after rekindling her university hobby resulting in a host of new friendships and adventures.
Tristram Hunt
On Friday 27th May, Tristram Hunt, historian and director of the V&A Museum, visits Bath to talk about his spectacular new biography about Wedgwood, the pioneering designer, entrepreneur and beacon of the early industrial revolution. 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
Elizabeth I: Virgin On The Ridiculous
Living Spit make a welcome return to the Ustinov Studio on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th May at 8pm with their new touring show, Elizabeth I: Virgin On The Ridiculous.
Two West-country actors, Howard Coggins and Stu Mcloughlin, “attempt” to tell the story of the greatest monarch that ever lived.
Featuring live and original music, expect smutty shenanigans and perfunctory props, in this hilarious heritage historiography.
Lava
On Friday 6th and Saturday 7th May, Lava appears at the Ustinov starring Kacey Ainsworth, best known for her role as little Mo in Eastenders, alongside Bethany Antonia, Dan Parr and Oli Higginson.
Boy meets girl and boy can’t talk to girl. Lava looks at a world that celebrates self-expression and asks what happens to those who can’t express themselves? And what lengths will they go to, to make sense of sadness?
While Vin’s mum Vicky struggles with a loss of her own, his friend Rach is determined to help him find a way out of silence. But when Rach’s family take in a charismatic and articulate survivor, Vin’s plight is suddenly eclipsed.
Lava is written by award-winning playwright James Fritz (Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, Ross & Rachel, Parliament Square) and presented by Fifth Word Theatre. This funny, tender and moving story about friendship and reconnection visits Bath for two performances at 8pm.
The Dance of Death
From Thursday 19th May to Saturday 4th June, Lindsay Duncan, Hilton Mcrae and Emily Bruni star in a new production of August Strindberg’s landmark drama, laced with biting humour, about a marriage pushed to its limits, as The Dance of Death opens its UK tour at the Ustinov Studio.
Oscar-winning playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Her Naked Skin, National Theatre) reunites with Arcola Theatre’s co-founder and Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen, to tell the story of Alice and Edgar who are locked in a bitter struggle as their 40th wedding anniversary approaches.
Olivier and Tony Award-winner Lindsay Duncan, who stars as Alice, is well-known for her BAFTA nominated performances on screen in Alan Bleasdale’s G.B.H and Stephen Poliakoff’s Shooting The Past.
Playing Edgar, Hilton Mcrae’s numerous credits in his forty-year stage and screen career include Mansfield Park, Monarch of the Glen, Far From The Madding Crowd and the multi award-winning HBO drama, Chernobyl.
Emily Bruni, who appears as Katrin, has performed with the RSC, Shakespeare’s Globe and was last at the Ustinov Studio in The Model Apartment. Her screen credits range from Auf Wiedersehen Pet to Peep Show.
Tickets for all performances at the Ustinov Studio are on sale on 01225 448844 and online at www. theatreroyal.org.uk/ustinov.
The Egg
It Snows / The Wardrobe
On Thursday 12th and Friday 13th May, Bath Theatre Academy welcomes first-year Performing Arts students from The Egg’s in-house training academy for their first public performances in a live double bill featuring It Snows and The Wardrobe, recommended for audiences aged 12 years and over.
Sam Holcroft’s drama The Wardrobe is a gripping tale of triumph and challenge, highlighting stories across the decades, including hundreds of conversations and millions of moments, through which one wardrobe stands true, strong and… safe?
It Snows transports audiences to a small town in the UK with the world laid bare and a chill in the air.
Directed by Kate Pasco and originally written by Bryony Lavery, Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett for Frantic Assembly, this play is set in a blanketed world of new-fallen snow.
Both pieces in the double bill playfully explore worlds where everything changes and nothing changes, when the world stays the same but is very definitely different.
The Sweet Science of Bruising The Bath Theatre Academy miniseason continues with The Sweet Science of Bruising by Joy Wilkinson which appears at The Egg from Thursday 19th to Saturday 21st May.
Directed by Julia Head, this production is set in the fierce underbelly of London’s boxing scene.
Surrounded by smoke, bowlerhats and bare-knuckle boys, four women controlled by men and constrained by corsets find an unexpected freedom in the ropes of the boxing ring in this bold exploration of suffrage and silence.
Sweeney Todd
From Thursday 26th to Saturday 28th May, audiences at The Egg are invited to come and face their demons in the musical thriller Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim.
The team behind a recent sell-out success with Spring Awakening now present one of Sondheim’s most famous pieces. London’s demonbarber-turned-butcher has been wronged and sets out on a quest for vengeance, but his road to revenge is a path of brutal savagery.
This murderous musical production is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International and is directed by Lily Dyble.
Handa’s Surprise
The month ends at The Egg with an enchanting show for young audiences as Handa’s Surprise makes a welcome return to Bath from Tuesday 31st May to Saturday 4th June.
Handa travels to the next village with seven different fruits as a surprise gift for her friend Akeyo.
Blending physical performance, puppetry, live music and song, Little Angel Theatre creates an intimate and magical production with audience participation, for children aged 2 to 5 years.
Tickets for performances at The Egg are on sale on 01225 448844, The Egg on 01225 823 409 and online at www. theatreroyal.org.uk/whats-on.