Welcome to your weekly newsletter from Curve.
We hope you and your loved ones are well.

This week, we’re thrilled to reveal you’ll soon be able to enjoy another Made at Curve experience at home as we release the dress rehearsal archive recording of our 2019 multi-award nominated Made at Curve drama, My Beautiful Laundrette.

Read our ‘beautiful’ five star review of My Beautiful Laundrette from Phil Lowe of  East Midlands Theatre HERE.

At 6pm on Wed 2 Sep, not only will you be able to watch this archive recording online, we’ll also be sharing a recently recorded discussion between Writer Hanif Kureishi, Designer Grace Smart and the full cast. Working with Hanif, the acting company and production team on My Beautiful Laundrette was a truly joyful experience for all of us at Curve. And watching the dress rehearsal recording and the team reunion for our In Conversation has been wonderfully enriching, reminding us what it’s all about. Kureishi’s words remain as vital and important as they ever did. We hope you enjoy spending time with these extraordinary characters once again (or meeting them for the first time) and the cast chat that has been designed to accompany the archive.

Whilst you wait for the release of My Beautiful Laundrette, don’t forget to book your tickets for Wise Children’s Romantics Anonymous, which will be broadcast live from Bristol Old Vic to screens across the Midlands on Wed 23 Sep at 7.30pm. Wise Children is visionary director Emma Rice’s company and Emma’s work is filled with joy, humility and a sense that anything is possible! Tickets start from just £16 for this wonderful, theatrical treat and we’re pleased to be among a collective of venues bringing the show to our region. The show will be broadcast live from Bristol Old Vic, so it’s almost as good as being in the theatre and experiencing it for real!

A third show you can enjoy at home is Matthew Bourne‘s thrilling version of Romeo and Juliet, which has now been released on DVD and Blu-ray. We were delighted to pledge our support to this production as a partner venue, as well as opening the show’s national tour on our stage last March. Buy your copy now to relive this incredible re-imagining of Shakespeare‘s classic, and learn more about the creative process with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.

For more creative insights, why not grab a cuppa (or something stronger!) and watch our Curve in Conversation series this weekend (especially if the weather seems to be dragging us towards an early autumn)? There are now 18 episodes to watch, with discussions on acting, lighting, choreographing, designing and more; this is ideal viewing material for emerging actors, young creatives or anyone interested in theatre generally. 

And in this week’s Creative Commentary, Associate Artist and Curve Young Dance Company leader Mel Knott recounts her experience as Movement Director on our Made at Curve co-production of Roald Dahl’s The Witches. It’s not often you’ll see Roald Dahl, Mission Impossible and Wicca Ballrooms in the same blog, but it just goes to prove inspiration comes from all kinds of places!

Whilst these archive recordings and online activity have been a welcome tonic during lockdown, we hope very much we can start to gently reduce our onLINE content over the coming months and that we will be able to start thinking about getting back into our building before too long.

As ever, thanks to Leicester City Council, Arts Council England, and to you – our wonderful audiences – for your continued support.

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend,

Chris & Nikolai