The Curve Spring 2018 brochure is bursting with theatrical goodies and we at East Midlands Theatre can’t wait to share some of the highlights with you. I attended the Curve Theatre Spring Season promo evening on Weds 29th November keen to promote this wonderful East Midlands theatre in the heart of multi-cultural Leicester. The event was hosted by Geeta Pendse.
Amongst the programme highlights shown below, the invited Curve supporters packed into every seat of the studio space, heard some very exciting news for shows for the Summer and next Christmas. The announcements were that the Young Curve and Community Curve show this year will be A Fiddler On The Roof and gasps of delight were heard with the announcement of Curve’s 2018 Christmas show – Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.
Curve will mark their 10th Birthday with a series of special events including their most ambitious Community and Curve Young Company Musical to date Joseph Stein’s Fiddler on the Roof, and Curve Live!- a free public concert featuring performances from friends of Curve and special guest stars.
Speaking about the announcements, Chris Stafford and Nikolai Foster said:
“In 10 years Curve has established itself as a leading producing theatre in the UK reaching over one million people a year through the work we present and produce in our LE1 home and on tour. We are incredibly proud of our theatre and to celebrate our first decade we will programme a series of special events to thank the people of Leicester. We are particularly excited to announce Curve Live! a free public concert and our most ambitious event to date – at the heart of our Birthday celebrations. In the last few years we have forged terrific partnerships with some of the UK’s best theatre producers and we are delighted to once again be working with Jamie Wilson and his team to produce a new production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas next autumn. White Christmas is the perfect festive show and we very much hope the production we create here in Leicester will be seen around the UK for many Christmases to come.”
There was much talk of 2018 being Curve’s 10th Anniversary and how the company intend to make it a very special year in the programme of events inside and outside of the theatre.
There was live singing from the Young Curve company, the cast of George’s Marvellous Medicine and a song (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun) from Jessica Daley, one of the future cast of An Officer and A Gentleman. Chris Stafford, Nikolai Foster and ‘Officer’ co-producer Jamie Wilson spoke enthusiastically about its development and the creative way that the 1980s songs will be selected to genuinely work with the characters not just slotted in like a jukebox musical.
Coming up very soon from Sat 9 Dec- Sat 20 Jan is Curve’s second Christmas show, Roald Dahl’s very popular story George’s Marvellous Medicine, (adapted for the stage by David Wood).
Following the success of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox, The Twits and The Witches, Curve’s magnificent new co-production with Rose Theatre Kingston promises to be yet another hugely imaginative and entertaining stage adaptation, bursting with growing grannies, feathery farm animals and bags of frothbuggling family fun. Recommended for ages 6+
Uni Slam
Sat 27 & Sun 28th January 2018 Curve Studio.
Uni Slam is the UK National Poetry Slam and Summit, bringing together tomorrow’s brightest young poets from universities across the UK and Ireland to battle it out for the UniSlam Champions title. A cornerstone event in the British spoken word calendar. UniSlam brings poetry alive in an electrifying live-literature event.
Mass Movement
Sun 4 February Studio.
Mass Movement is one of six East Midlands Udance events that will have audiences thrilled and amazed. Celebrating exceptional youth dance talent from across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, the event will see a series of pieces specially selected by a panel of industry dance experts that the young dancers and choreographers have created.
The annual sell out event is an insight into the wealth of dance and creativity in the county and provides talented young people with a platform to celebrate their work. The performances will have the opportunity to progress to the Udance 2018 national youth dance festival, hosted in Suffolk. #Udance2018
Nina
Fri 9 and Sat 10 Feb Studio
Nina – a story about me and Nina Simone. Devised by Dritëro Kaspari & Josette Bushell – Mingo. With a brilliant band, Olivier award nominated actress Josette Bushell – Mingo OBE channels both Nina Simone’s musicianship and anger at racism, in this provocative and important production. It touches upon the 1960s civil rights movement and draws into parallel the struggles of the civil rights movement of today.
Versions of some of Nina Simone’s best loved songs are performed in this production directed by Dritëro Kaspari with dramaturgy by Christina Anderson. Design and costume is by Rosa Maggiora, musical direction by Shapor Bastansiar, lighting by Matt Haskins and video by Dritëro Kaspari. Nina is a Unity Theatre and Riksteatern (Sweden) co-production.
Akademi presents The Troth/Usne Kaha Tha
Tue 20 & Wed 21 Feb Curve Studio.
A physical dance piece that tells a story of love, loss and sacrifice against the backdrop of the horror and conflict of World War One. Inspired by film noir and the era of black and white films The Troth/Usne Kaha Tha is a live theatre production which unfolds its poignant narrative through powerful interplay between dance music and film.
Akademi is marking the centenaries of World War One, Indian cinema and the first Hindi short story (Usne Kaha Tha) with The Troth, a project that reveals the contribution, sacrifice and human cost of Indian soldiers to the allied war effort. Directed and choreographed by award winning Gary Clarke with a diverse cast of multi-lingual dancers.
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs 2. The Magic Cutlass.
Tue 27 Feb & Wed 28 Feb 2018
Flinn is back! Les Petits theatre company returns to the high seas after their hugely successful and award winning shows David Walliams’ the First Hippo On The Moon and Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs.
The Magic Cutlass is the highly anticipated sequel based on the book by Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto. When Flinn is in the middle of his school play his old nemesis, Mr T the T-Rex appears and kidnaps his friends forcing them to hunt for the magic cutlass; a sword that grants any wish. The children are whisked away for another fantastic adventure to a world of devious dinosaurs, deep sea dangers and smelly sausages!
The amazing RSC production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda – the musical who the Sunday Times called “Easily The Standout Musical of The Decade” is back at Curve from 5-24 March 2018.
Windrush: Movement of The People (part of a mixed programme of work)
Fri 9 & Sat 10 March 2018
The award winning Phoenix Dance Theatre present a major new dance production for 2018 Windrush: Movement of The People, as part of their Mixed Programme. A lively celebration of the rise of a multi-cultutal Britain. Windrush spans the spirit, history and heritage of British Caribbean culture, celebrating the 70th anniversary of SS Empire Windrush that brought the first Caribbean migrants to the UK.
Choreographed by artistic director Sharon Watson, the work features an uplifting soundtrack from calypso and jazz to RnB and drum-n-bass by award winning composer Gary Crosby. Audiences will also be treated to performances of Clyx by emerging choreographer Sandrine Monin, that explores the themes of beauty, desire and decadence, named as best premiere of 2017 by Dance Europe; and a revival of Shadows by Christopher Bruce, now featured in the AQA GSCE dance curriculum and described by the Times as “emotive, traumatic and weighed with memory – or is it fear?”
Trainspotting is back by popular demand Tue 13 – Sat 17 Mar 2018. Check out East Midland Theatre’s five star review from earlier this year.
Leicester favourite Ceri Dupree returns with a brand new show Immaculate Deception Tue 20 – Sat 24 March 2018.
The Faaaaaabulous Comedy female impersonator Ceri Dupree is on the road again! In a new show with new costumes, routines, jokes and songs! Witness great impersonations of some of the world’s most fantastic females with characters old and new – all adorned in spectacular jaw dropping costumes!
Look out for the Queen, Camilla, Cilla Black, a tribute to Hollywood and Broadway and some of the greatest female pop stars! As Ceri says “If it’s worth doing it’s worth over doing.” A touch of Las Vegas glitz and glamour brought to the stage in this pacey ‘over the top’ show. His energy, style, showmanship and love for the show and appreciation of the audience shines through in his non-stop, quick changing, one man twenty one woman show.
A world premiere hits the Curve Main Stage prior to a London showing and this is the musical version of An Officer and a Gentleman. Fri 6 – Sat 21 April 2018.
It is billed as a brand new musical that will simply sweep you off your feet!
An Officer and a Gentleman – The Musical is based on the Oscar winning film starring Richard Gere. It’s feel good soundtrack includes the hit song from the movie Up Where We Belong along with 80s Classics Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Material Girl and features one of the most iconic romantic scenes ever portrayed on screen.
Zack Mayo is in training to become a US Navy Pilot. When he rolls into boot camp with a bit too much of a swagger drill Sergeant Foley doesn’t make life easy for him. When he falls for local girl Paula Pokrifiki and tragedy befalls his friend and fellow candidate, Zack realises the importance of love and friendship and finds the courage to be himself and win the heart of the woman he loves.
It’s only then he can truly become an Officer and a Gentleman.
Directed by Curve Artistic Director Nikolai Foster (Calamity Jane, Scrooge The Musical, Grease, Legally Blonde) with choreography by Kate Prince (Into the Hoods, ZooNation), design by Michael Taylor (What The Butler Saw, Silver Lining, The Ladykillers) and musical supervision by Tony award winning Sarah Travis (Scrooge the Musical, Sweeney Todd, Sister Act, Legally Blonde), this inspiring, breathtakingly romantic musical celebrates triumph over adversity. Book by Douglas day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen.
Northern Ballet bring The Little Mermaid to Curve’s Main Stage (ballet by David Nixon and music by Sally Beamish) Tue 1 May – Sat 5 May 2018.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller – a Curve and De Montfort University Co-Production.
Thurs 3 – Sat 5 May 2018 Studio
Directed by Siobhán Cannon Brownlie.
Winner of the 2007 Olivier Award for Best Revival, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a thrilling window on the Salem witch hunts of 1692, where superstition and repression are exploited for emotional and political gain.
This post-truth play holds particular significance in the current political environment, with division and exclusion being recurring themes in both Miler’s work and in today’s wider world. What is truth? A political tool, a vehicle for fear, a weapon used in an idealogical war, a trial by jury or trial by rumour, a scapegoat, paranoia, fake news … sound familiar?
The Crucible is an interpretation of the brutal McCarthyism of American politics in the 1650s, the art of making accusations without proper regard for the evidence. Where suspicion and personal grievance turned friend into enemy – neighbour against neighbour and shows the terrifying fragility of truth when faced with mis-information, hysteria and false accusation.
Regarded as a central work in the library of American Drama, this gripping new production is performed by a talented company of drama and performing arts students from De Montfort University.
Agatha Christie’s Love From A Stranger by Agatha Christie and Frank Vosper is on the main stage Tue 8 May to Sat 12 May 2018.
A whirlwind romance with a handsome and charming stranger sweeps Cecily Harrington off her feet and she recklessly abandons her old life to settle in the remote and blissful surroundings of a country cottage. However, her new found love is not all that he seems…
Electric with suspense and with a shocking twist, this edge of your seat, rarely seen thriller by the UK’s greatest crime writer is re-discovered in a brand new production by Lucy Bailey (Gas Light, Dial M For Murder, The Graduate) designed by Mike Britton.
Currently touring and hitting the Curve main stage all singin’ and dancin’ is Gershwin’s classic Crazy For You starring Tom Chambers, Claire Sweeney and Charlotte Wakefield. EMT reviewed this show at Nottingham Theatre Royal this year and looks forward to it returning to Curve Mon 4 – Sat 9 Jun 2018.
Book tickets at Curve Theatre Online.
Box Office: 0116 242 3595
East Midlands Theatre. 