Arena Theatre Spring 2011 Brochure by andrew ridal

hello & welcome

contents January 27

I’m delighted to welcome you to the Spring brochure from the Arena Theatre,

Seabright Productions

Wolverhampton, which, once again, is serving up a veritable feast of top-quality exciting and original live performance.

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contain something for everyone. From internationally-acclaimed touring

kept secrets to a cornerstone of the city’s cultural life, where all are made very welcome and guaranteed an evening of some of the best and most diverse live entertainment on offer.

HORSE Company FZ

The Return of Boothby Graffoe Bits and Pieces*

Highfields School

March 1

But please don’t just take my word for it. Check out the brochure and then come

2-4

along and see for yourselves what’s happening in your very own community

8-9

Pertencia Foursight Theatre

theatre. I look forward to seeing you there. 10

John Edgar Actor, Writer and Storyteller

Henna Peter and Gorg Chand

Nursing Lives Vamos Theatre

something fresh and exciting on offer.

8-9

Uncle David David Hoyle and Ashley Ryder

Chat Masala Hardeep Singh Kohli

Flhip Flhop Rannel Theatre Company

productions to home-grown community and schools performances, as well as

Over the years I’ve watched the Arena grow from one of Wolverhampton’s best-

The Man Who Was Hamlet George Dillon

visit the Arena, where the rich diversity of entertainment on offer truly does

professional practitioners on a wide range of tailor-made projects, there’s always

Page 28

February

Both as a performer and as a member of the audience, it’s always a pleasure to

the unique educational opportunities for young people to work alongside

Expressions Music Group* Showstopper

Icarus Theatre 11

The Caucasian Chalk Circle Blackeyed Theatre

Withering Looks Lip Service

Hamlet

After Miss Julie London Classic Theatre

BUY TICKETS

Must be the same number of tickets for each show. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer - other restrictions may apply

for two or more shows at the same time and get all your tickets for £5 each 16-17

Of Mice and Men Mind the Gap

World of Pain Nobody’s Perfect

Vital Digression and Obviam Est 15

Sometimes I Laugh Like My Sister 24

Chip Off The Block Opus Theatre Co

25-26

Flexus Dance Katy Dowson

Rosie Kay Dance Company 8

Twelfth Night* Aldersley High School

13-15

Five Soldiers

July 5-6

Camp Rock* Reach For The Stage

April

Old Hands Hijinx Theatre

24-26

1-2

Laundry Boy Face Front Inclusive Theatre

June

Ghosts London Classic Theatre

30-31

Notes To Future Self Birmingham Repertory Theatre

No More Heroes* The King’s C.E. School

Dynamic Youth 2011*

August 1-5

Everybody Dance Now* Central Youth Theatre

May 20

Well That Explains It Clare Summerskill

A Victorian Mikado Krazy Kat

Other Pages How To Book Access Information At A Glance Calendar How To Find Us * Independent Promotions, Standard concessions may not apply

33 33 34-35 36

Friday 28th January at 8pm

SEABRIGHT PRODUCTIONS

Showstopper The Improvised Musical A brand new musical is created from scratch at each performance of this award-winning production, which has played sell-out seasons in London’s West End and at the Edinburgh festival. Audience suggestions help to create a show on the spot, as the all-singing, all-dancing cast improvise with unpredictable and frequently hilarious results. Packed with drama, dazzling dance routines and catchy melodies, Showstopper! leaves delighted audiences singing all the way home.

“This show crammed in everything, from political satire to parodies. See Showstopper! See it again and again and again.” ★★★★★ British Theatre Guide

Tickets: £9 Full Price and £7 Concessions

Tuesday 1st February at 7.30pm

GEORGE DILLON

The Man Who Was Hamlet “O God! What a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, I leave behind me! In this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story!” Hamlet / Edward de Vere Who really wrote Hamlet? Could it possibly have been the work of a barely literate Stratford grain merchant and money lender? Or was it really the dramatic autobiography of a disgraced and disgraceful nobleman? The Man Who Was Hamlet, written and performed by George Dillon, tells the comical, tragical, romantic and utterly scandalous history of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, the leading alternative candidate for the authorship of the works of ‘William Shakespeare’.

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Wednesday 2nd February at 7.30pm

RANNEL THEATRE COMPANY

Flhip Flhop Take a whole bag full of classic comedy routines, shake them up and update them for the hip hop age and you have the exhilarating and hilarious Flhip Flhop. Two painter-decorators are doing a job in a friend’s flat, but in traditional slapstick manner things go wrong. In a dynamic display of one-upmanship, they compete to out-do each other with moves essentially unchanged from the time of Marx Brothers - hat swapping, leg lifting - and an utterly brilliant police chase acted out to increasingly ludicrous sound effects. Outrageously talented performers, Matt Bailey and Joey D combine witty dialogue, slapstick, laughter, breakdance, beatbox and Dj’ing to create an energising comedy for all.

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Friday 11th February at 8pm

DAVID HOYLE AND ASHLEY RYDER

Uncle David Pecadillo Films We welcome David Hoyle back to the Arena Theatre to introduce his first feature film, Winner of BEST FILM and BEST ACTOR at 2010 Paris International LGBT Film Festival. This low budget, black comedy is David Hoyle’s feature debut and he is joined by pornstar Ashley Ryder as his nephew. Both actors are improvising their lines, which gives the whole work an edginess, heightened by the atmosphere of an outof-season caravan-park on the Isle of Sheppey. The banalities of conversation between uncle and nephew are thrown into the realms of the utterly unconventional when we realise that not only are they involved in a sexual relationship but there is a sinister reason for their holiday. We are drawn into a world of disturbing madness, whose cracked logic is delivered with an unnerving avuncular charm.

Celebrating LGBT History Month There will be a post-film question and answer session

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Wednesday 9th February at 7.30pm

HARDEEP SINGH KOHLI

Chat Masala Following the huge success of his 2010 tour The Nearly Naked Chef, Hardeep is now on tour with his "chat show with curry". Hardeep combines his first true loves of cooking and chatting in his own unique, articulate and utterly charming way. Hardeep will interview local guests and stars whilst cooking up a curry that audience members can get the chance to sample. SPECIAL GUESTS TO BE ANNOUNCED

‘Kohli’s evening of cookery and anecdotes… left a reassuringly warm aftertaste.’ ★★★★ The Times

Tickets: £12.50 Full Price and £10.50 Concessions 8

£5 Special Offer does not apply

Wednesday 16th February at 7pm

VAMOS THEATRE

Nursing Lives Vamos Theatre brings together a number of ex-Trestle Theatre members to create Nursing Lives, a full-mask theatre production alive with visual inventiveness, evocative music and song, physical theatre and 1940s dance sequences. Nursing Lives celebrates the expertise and escapades of nurses at work and play during the years of World War II. Nursing Lives originates from the true stories from nurses, doctors and patients at the former Worcester Royal Infirmary. Nursing Lives is funny, touching, at times harrowing, but always uplifting and unforgettable. It is designed to appeal to audiences of all ages (8-108 years). In 1939 Florence is a young trainee nurse thrown directly into the harsh realities of work on the ward. She encounters the wrath of Sister Martin; endures and enjoys the pranks of fellow nurses, falls in love with her soldier sweetheart, Johnny; and confronts the heart wrenching inequalities in the use of the new super drug penicillin.....will her dream of saving lives come true?

Tickets: ÂŁ8 Full Price and ÂŁ6 Concessions

Thursday 17th February at 7.30pm

Henna

Friday 18th February at 8pm

PETER AND GORG CHAND

Horse

COMPANY FZ

On the eve of a wedding a young bride-to-be is having henna applied to her hands. As the patterns emerge, the stories begin to unfold…

Performed by Flick Ferdinando Directed by David Bernstein

British Punjabi storytellers Peter and Gorg Chand take you on a journey to incredible landscapes, with tales full of love, loss, betrayal and Bollywood dancing!

The award-winning Flick Ferdinando seamlessly moves from hilarity to tragedy unleashing a stable of unstable characters in a deliciously dark physical comedy. Prepare to reassess how far one woman’s passion for all things equine can go, in a show where the horse obsessed become the horse possessed.

With stories collected and translated from India and being told here for the first time, Peter and Gorg invite you to the wedding of the year! Arena Theatre in association with Sampad.

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

HORSE is visually arresting, hilarious and just a little bit risqué

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Tuesday 1st March at 7.30pm

MAKIN PROJECTS

The Return of Boothby Graffoe Boothby Graffoe is back with music and his own uniquely warped view of life ‘a master of the surreal’ - The Scotsman. In this brand new show Graffoe, graced with the partnership of talented multi instrumentalist Nick Pynn, brings to life his latest CD titled ‘songs for dogs, funerals...’ Following successful shows on Radio 4, writing for Omid Djalili’s two award winning BBC series and extensive touring with Canadian super group The Barenaked Ladies, we’re delighted to welcome Boothby to The Arena Theatre and back to the world of live performance where he belongs. Boothby’s dislikes include name-droppers and people who use celebrity connections to promote themselves in an unrealistic way.

“The funniest man I know” Omid Djalili

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Tuesday 8th March at 7.30pm and Wednesday 9th March at 2.30pm and 7.30pm

FOURSIGHT THEATRE

Pertencia Pertencia is a wetnurse. She works for The Butcher. For this is no ordinary shop and this is no ordinary butcher. If you want to make a casserole or start a family he can provide what you need. If you are looking for a special cut of meat to impress your dinner guests or some young flesh to suit a client’s particular tastes he has the product to match your purse. For this is no ordinary shop and this is no ordinary butcher. Amongst the joints and sinew sits Pertencia, nursing whichever children pass her way, offering scraps of hope and off-cuts of dreams, weaving yarns of a better life beyond the shop, of a fanciful world without poverty or misery where ones soar like kites. A fusion of languages; Portuguese, English, live music, song, physicality; the play, performed by six actors and one musician, is by turns lyrical and grotesque; poignant and funny.

Tickets: £9 Full Price and £7 Concessions

Thursday 10th March at 7.30pm

ICARUS THEATRE

Hamlet Does revenge justify murder? The King of Denmark is dead. Consumed with grief, Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father’s death with devastating consequences for his family and the Kingdom. The spirit of a murdered king, the wrath of a vengeful son, and the turmoil of Denmark in 1601. Shakespeare’s most iconic and challenging play - arguably the world’s greatest dramatic work - tells the tale of young Prince Hamlet avenging his father’s death and fighting the new King who stole his throne. Blending traditional and physical theatre with a musical score, Icarus Theatre Collective brings vividly to life some of literature’s most vibrant language and characters. This brand new production portrays Shakespeare’s definitive tragedy of justice and revenge.

Tickets: £9 Full Price and £7 Concessions

Friday 11th March at 8pm

LIP SERVICE

Withering Looks LipService, Britain’s favourite literary lunatics, are 25 this season! As part of their celebrations, Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding reprise their cult Bronte spoof Withering Looks. They could hardly turn down this opportunity to dust off their crinolines, wear flattering bonnets and sit at rain-lashed windows in a pale and decorative manner. Withering Looks takes an “authentic” look at the lives and works of the Bronte sisters - well, two of them actually, Anne’s just popped out for a cup of sugar. Peopled with many of the characters we know and love, and some quite frankly that LipService have made up, Withering Looks is irreverent and a theatre treat to savour. Withering Looks has won a Manchester Evening News Theatre Award and the Critics Award for Comedy at the Edinburgh Festival.

Tickets: £9 Full Price and £7 Concessions

Monday 14th March at 1.30pm and 7.30pm

BLACKEYED THEATRE

The Caucasian Chalk Circle The Caucasian Chalk Circle is Bertolt Brecht’s most famous work and one of the most important pieces of theatre of the 20th century. First presented by the National Theatre in 1997, Frank McGuinness’s version of this morality masterpiece is brought to the stage in Blackeyed Theatre’s inimitable fashion, combining brilliant, original live music, stunning design and captivating ensemble performances. After sacrificing everything to protect a child abandoned in the heat of civil war, a servant girl is made to confront the boy’s biological mother in a legal contest over who deserves to keep him. The judge calls on an ancient tradition - the chalk circle - to resolve the dispute as the play builds to an unforgettable, unimaginable conclusion.

Tickets: £9 Full Price and £7 Concessions

Tuesday 15th March at 7.30pm

LONDON CLASSIC THEATRE

After Miss Julie Seduction. Passion. Obsession. July 1945. A country house near London. Celebrations for the Labour Party’s landslide election victory are in full swing. The lady of the house, Miss Julie, descends into the servants’ kitchen to seek out John, her father’s chauffeur. As the night draws in and flirtation turns to passion, the two lovers embark on a consuming and deadly dance of desire. Sex, class and ambition battle for centre stage as Patrick Marber relocates Strindberg’s brutal, sensual love story to post-war England.

Tickets: £9 Full Price and £7 Concessions

Wednesday 16th March at 7.30pm Thursday 17th March at 1.30pm and 7.30pm

MIND THE… GAP

Of Mice and Men An award winning adaptation of John Steinbeck’s extraordinary tale of friendship, loyalty and the power of dreams. George and Lennie are drifters who have only each other and their shared search for the American Dream. George is the sharp little guy who looks out for Lennie. Lennie is his big-hearted companion who, unaware of his own strength, seems unable to keep out of trouble. Finding work on a ranch in California, they plan to stay long enough to buy a little place of their own… but their arrival triggers a tragic chain of events that threatens to destroy the very dream that unites them. Mind The Gap is a nationally renowned theatre company that works with learning disabled and non disabled artists as equals.

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Friday 25th March at 8pm

World Of Pain

Monday 28th March at 7.30pm

NOBODY’S PERFECT PRODUCTIONS

The sequel to the hugely successful and critically acclaimed House Of Pain by Lichfield writer, Phil Preece. This totally stand-alone comedy has been developed in direct response to the success and following of the original House Of Pain and takes our characters to new places and situations which leave them bewildered and as dis-functional as ever! Fast-paced, hilarious, sophisticated, camp, beautifully written and colourful World Of Pain is ready to tickle audience funny bones and create memorable characters which will live on for years to come.

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Notes To Future Self

BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY THEATRE

By Lucy Caldwell “Judy’s my mom. It’s an understatement to say she’s a bit of a hippy. I mean who else but a New Ager calls their baby ‘Philosophy Rainbow’? I try to go by ‘Sophie’.” Sophie and Calliope have never been to school. Their mum ran away from home when she was seventeen to join the New Age movement and the girls have been raised in Goa, San Francisco and Morocco at a series of ashrams, communes and impromptu raves. Then one day Sophie gets ill and the family has to return to Birmingham. Sophie and Calliope are introduced to a strange new world where meditation and tree-hugging are replaced with maths homework and television. They’re also introduced to Daphne; the grandmother that the girls have never met. And it’s against this bewildering new backdrop - the normality she’s always longed for - that Sophie must All Tickets £5 come to terms with her own mortality.

Tuesday 29th March at 7.30pm

Ghosts

Wednesday 30th March at 7.30pm Thursday 31st March at 1.30pm

LONDON CLASSIC THEATRE

by Henrik Ibsen in a new version by Frank McGuinness Helene Alving is preparing for the opening of an orphanage, built in memory of her late husband. Her beloved artist son, Oswald, has returned from Paris to honour the occasion, but his long-awaited homecoming rapidly descends into tragedy as his presence triggers the exposure of a dark story of hypocrisy and betrayed love. Ibsen’s study of hidden passions and family secrets remains as dramatically alive as ever in Frank McGuinness’ vital new version. “A stunning reworking of Ibsen’s 1881 masterpiece.” The Stage

Tickets: £9 Full Price and £7 Concessions

Laundry Boy

FACE FRONT INCLUSIVE THEATRE

Martin’s time has come - to move on from dependence to independence. His journey is both terrifying and exciting as he falls in love, suffers loss and gains a glimpse of who he could be.. ‘Laundry Boy’, a heart warming new play devised and performed by an outstanding team including award winning writers Julie McNamara and Ray Downing, Deaf performer David Sands, Becky Allen and popular Learning Disabled actors Peter Faventi and Ellen Goodey. The production is in BSL, spoken English and has integrated audio description.

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions All Matinee Tickets £5

Friday 1st April at 8pm

ROSIE KAY DANCE COMPANY

5 Soldiers Highly praised by current and former members of the British Military 5 SOLDIERS is a timely, controversial and thought-provoking exploration of war in modern times. Featuring Rosie Kay’s trade mark intense physicality and altheticism, 5 SOLDIERS weaves a journey of physical transformation helping us understand how soldiers are made and how war affects them and the injury caused. 5 SOLDIERS is a unique collaboration between award winning choreographer Rosie Kay, visual artist David Cotterrell and theatre director Walter Meierjohann. It was created after an intense period of research where Rosie was attached to the 4th Battalion The Rifles, and David spent time in Helmand Province with the Joint Forces Medical Group. 5 SOLDIERS has an original sound score by Annie Mahtani and dramaturgy by Petra Tauscher.

Tickets: £9 Full Price and £7 Concessions

Friday 8th April at 8pm

Sometimes I Laugh Like My Sister

Friday 15th April at 8pm

VITAL DIGRESSION AND OBVIAM EST

Since her big sister, BBC journalist Kate Peyton, was murdered in Somalia, Rebecca has had rather a strange time. Following a smash-hit debut at the Edinburgh Festival, she welcomes us to her world in a passionately political, sharply comical and painfully personal account of life after Kate. Crafting a moving and often comic tapestry of private moments from a public tragedy, Rebecca tells her own story of a courageous journalist and a loving big sister, whom she misses. ★★★★★ ‘We walked out feeling vibrantly alive’ Three Weeks

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Chip Off The Block

OPUS THEATRE COMPANY

Roger Hallam has been promoted to Chief Executive UK by his American employers Planet Avionics Inc. He lives in suburban London with his wife Jenny, and his father retired brain surgeon David. Roger lives for his job while Jenny longs for a family, and David longs for peace and to be allowed to do his crossword puzzle. Into this family circle comes Drew, a young 19 year-old executive sent over from America to learn something about the English way of life. At the earliest opportunity he reveals to Roger the main reason for his visit and Roger decides not to let Jenny know the details - just yet! However, when Jenny overhears a conversation between David and Drew she puts 2 and 2 together and arrives at a shocking conclusion and demands the immediate expulsion of the boy from her home! Roger in desperation Tickets: tells her who Drew really is. In no time at all the £8 Full Price tangled web becomes even more tangled and and before the final curtain Drew has one final £6 Concessions surprise!

Friday 20th May at 8pm

CLARE SUMMERSKILL

Well That Explains It! Let’s talk about Sex! Sexual Orientation! Being single, being married, being Gay, Bi, Lesbian, Queer, Straight and those who just see themselves as a little bit on the wonky side… Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about all these matters but were too afraid to ask …in case someone gave you a funny look! All is finally explained and revealed by lesbian actress/singer/stand-up, Clare Summerskill who in this new show will take you through a fast-moving, song-singing, sidesplitting, costume-changing evening of comedy and music. It’s a one night stand you’ll never forget! “One of the funniest women in the country.” What’s On

“A lesbian Victoria Wood!” Radio 4, Womans’’ Hour

Tickets: £8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

Monday 23rd May at 10.30am and 1.30pm

A Victorian Mikado

Friday 10th June at 1.30pm and 8pm

KRAZY KAT

Set in a brightly coloured Japan of 1885, The Mikado is the most popular of the Victorian operetta creations of Mr W S Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, and in this vibrant and fast moving new version it’s given the full ‘Krazy Kat’ treatment featuring Sullivans Music, Masks, Puppets, Dance, Song and, of course fully integrated sign language. A Victorian Mikado is set backstage after the final rehearsal of Gilbert and Sullivan’s new work. The story of this new operetta is re-enacted and re-told by stage crew of the Savoy Theatre, but do they think it will prove a success? Using whatever props and costumes come to hand, the cast give an insight into the hazards and excitements of Victorian Theatre life, and look at the contemporary political complexities that The Mikado reveals.

All Tickets £5

Old Hands

HIJINX THEATRE

It’s another 1930s summer season and times are hard for the ‘Little Theatre’ at Skidbury-on-Sea. The Acting Manager is struggling with the books, so all hopes are pinned on a renowned ‘songbird’ from the City who, it is hoped, will bring the audiences flooding back in. With her she brings an assistant - a wide-eyed young man, who trails behind her, and bears the brunt of her artistic temperament... and quietly, quietly in the wings sits the junior stagehand, watching and waiting as rehearsals begin... Old Hands is an inclusive production, and we are extremely pleased that Gareth Clark and Andrew Tadd, two actors with learning disabilities will be acting in the play. Gareth toured with Hijnx to great acclaim in 2008 with Full Circle and Andrew has been a member of our Odyssey Theatre project for the last 2 years.

All Tickets £5

INTRODUCING

INDEPENDENT PRODUCTIONS... A Victorian Mikado • Old Hands • Expressions Music Group • Little Shop Of Horrors Disney’s Camp Rock • Twelfth Night • Flexus Dance Company • No More Heroes Dynamic Youth 2011 • Everybody Dance Now • Oh What A Lovely War

Standard pricing policy and concessions may not apply

Photograph by Mark McNulty

Thursday 27th January at 7.30pm

Wednesday 2nd to Friday 4th March

AN INDEPENDENT PROMOTION. STANDARD CONCESSIONS MAY NOT APPLY.

Expressions Music Group

Bits and Pieces

Join Expressions Choir with Vocal Coach Sami Cornick performing a selection of hit songs from the shows.

Highfields Science Specialist school presents an evening of bits and pieces of song and dance.

HIGHFIELDS SCIENCE SPECIALIST SCHOOL

Expressions will also perform their own song ‘Moving On’ Written during a series of workshops lead by Robin Surgeoner. The choir, whose development has been supported by Working Parts and Black Country Touring, has been funded by the Big Lottery. 2010 was a remarkable year for Expressions who recently performed at Dadafest at Sefton Park Palm House in Liverpool alongside other inclusion choirs and at the Lighthouse Cinema on International Day of Disabled People.

Working parts logo

TBC

Friday 24th and Saturday 25th June

Friday 1st July and Saturday 2nd July at 7pm

AN INDEPENDENT PROMOTION. STANDARD CONCESSIONS MAY NOT APPLY.

Disney’s Camp Rock Spring Raga Festival

Twelfth Night

REACH MUSICAL THEATRE SCHOOL

Surdhwani Reach Musical Theatre School are proud to present this never seen before sensation, featuring Wolverhampton’s most exciting emerging talent.

In association with Asian Music This summer and at campArena was supposed to be all about the music and Circuit Theatre having the time of their lives. But the new, flashy Camp Star across the lake now threatens Camp Rock’s very existence. To keep the doors open, Mitchie steps up, rallies her fellow Camp Rockers, and gets them into top shape for the ultimate showdown! This new musical based on the hit Disney Channel Original Movies Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam will fire up the stage with over a dozen songs, including “This Is Me,” Tickets: “Can’t Back Down,” “It’s On,” and “We Rock.” An amateur production in association with Josef Weinberger and Music Theatre International

£8 Full Price and £6 Concessions

ALDERSLEY HIGH SCHOOL

Aldersley High school VI form and their BTEC Musical Theatre students bring you Shakespeare’s eternal comedy of gender swapping and miscommunication. As part of their studies students have been looking at classical perfromances and now stage their own version of this classic. Perfect for schools studying the text or anyone who enjoys an evening of laughter and merriment.

All Tickets £5

Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th July

Wednesday 13th to Friday 15th July

An Independent Promotion. Standard concessions may not apply.

Flexus Dance Company

No More Heroes

THE KINGS C.E. SCHOOL

"is it a bird ...? Is it a plane ...?" Flexus Dance Company bring you another thrilling evening of contemporary dance and Physical Theatre, choreographed by Katie Dowson. Based at Coppice Specialist Performing Arts College, Flexus have been bringing professional quality dance to the Arena Theatre for a number of years. Also performing will be Fidget Dance Company and Flexus Boys Youth.

Knowing our luck, it’s probably a plane. And knowing our luck, it’s likely to crash. Who’s going to save the day? Why can you never find a hero when you want one? No More Heroes is a celebration of those who keep our planet safe, the ones who arrive just in time to save the day, swinging on ropes that never snap, hidden behind masks that never come off and donning tights that never ever get laddered. And then there are the invisible ones, whose identity is truly a secret. The real heroes without the sparkle, the fancy costumes or superpowers who just get on with it every day. The accidental heroes who just happen to be the in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ones that get scared and just want to be anywhere - or anyone - else.

TBC

It’s a crazy old world out there and someone’s got to save it. If you’re not careful, it might just be you.

TBC

Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th July

Monday 1st to Friday 5th August

An Independent Promotion. Standard concessions may not apply.

Dynamic Youth 2011

Everybody Dance Now

SONG & DANCE 2010

After a very succesful year in 2010, ‘Dynamic Youth’ returns to the Arena. Over two evenings 13 Youth Dance Companies from around the region will come together to share and perform their work, displaying the exceptionally high standards of Youth Dance in the West Midlands.

TBC

CENTRAL YOUTH THEATRE

Everybody Dance Now’ is a Dancing for the Games project inspired by London 2012 and part of the Cultural Olympiad in the West Midlands. Young people from across the City of Wolverhampton and from six European countries are staging an exciting performance programme celebrating Wolverhampton’s rich history of Social Dancing. You may have danced in Ballrooms in the 1940’s or 1950’s or became a cult follower of Northern Soul in the 1970’s?. Or maybe you migrated to Wolverhampton from India, The Caribbean, Eastern Europe or Ireland bringing to the City a rich culture of traditional dance?

COMING AUTUMN 2011

Tuesday 15th to Saturday 19th November

Oh What A Lovely War Blackeyed Theatre Over ninety years on from the Armistice, Oh What A Lovely War remains a classic of the modern theatre and a powerful reminder of the atrocities of a war that cost twenty million lives. Told through the songs and documents of the period, it’s a satirical attack on the military incompetence and inconceivable disregard for human life the First World War has come to represent and a chilling reminder of man’s inhumanity to man.

Tuesday 7.30pm Wednesday 2.30pm and 7.30pm Thursday 2.30pm and 7.30pm Friday 7.30pm Saturday 7.30pm 32

Tickets: £12 Full Price and £10 Concessions £8 Under 16

Arena Access

How to book

The Arena Theatre is fully accessible for all users and participants. However, to optimize your experience please advise the Box Office of your individual requirements when you book or tickets or e-mail boxoffice@arenatheatre.info

IN PERSON

A seating policy is available from the Box Office upon request and visitors who need to be accompanied are entitled to one complimentary ticket for their companion.

• •

• • • •

Lift providing access to all levels. Sennheiser Infra Red Enhanced Hearing is available headsets can be worn with or without a hearing aid. Please reserve your headset at the Box Office when you book your ticket. For Minicom bookings please call (01902) 321 327. Guide Dogs are welcome. All areas and rooms signed in grade 2 Braille.

Audio CD and Large Print Brochures are available on request from the Box Office.

YOUR COMMENTS WELCOMED! We are always interested in your views about the Arena Theatre and our shows. Please feel free to chat to members of staff when you visit, write to us at Arena Theatre, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SE or email: boxoffice@arenatheatre.info Theatre Manager Marketing Manager Access and Inclusion Administration Technical Team Theatre Interns

Kevin O’Sullivan Andrew Ridal Andrew Jemmett Maria Kavalieros Steve Payne and Drew White Adam Garner, Amy Sue Harris and Jo Marshall

At the Box Office (10am - 5pm Monday to Friday and one hour before the start of evening and weekend performances) where you can pay with cash, cheque or with most major credit and debit cards (excluding American Express).

BY TELEPHONE You can book tickets over the phone using any major credit or debit card (except Electron and American Express cards). Unfortunately, we are unable to reserve seats without a payment to guarantee the booking.

BOOK ONLINE You can now book your tickets online for all of our shows 24 hours a day. It’s simple and secure. Just visit www.arenatheatre.info and click ‘Online Booking’.

CONCESSIONS Unless otherwise stated, concessions are available if you are under 16, a senior citizen over 60, a student in full-time education, registered unwaged, a Friend of the Grand Theatre or a member of University of Wolverhampton staff. Please provide proof of eligibility. PLEASE NOTE

For independent promotions the above concessions and discounts may vary. We reserve the right to make discounted ticket offers to selected customers at any time.

GROUP BOOKINGS One free ticket for every ten tickets purchased. Please call the Box Office on (01902) 321 321 for more information on our group booking services.

REFUNDS We regret that, under normal circumstances, we are unable to offer refunds. However, tickets may be exchanged subject to availability.

Calendar

Book Online at www.arenatheatre.info

January

February

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON

SNOW WHITE

EXPRESSIONS MUSIC GROUP SHOWSTOPPER

TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON

March THE MAN WHO WAS HAMLET FLHIP FLHOP

HARDEEP SINGH KOHLI

UNCLE DAVID

NURSING LIVES HENNA HORSE

HALF TERM HORRORS AND OTHER HORRIBLE HAPPENINGS

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TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU

April BOOTHBY GRAFFOE

BITS AND PIECES

PERTENCIA HAMLET WITHERING LOOKS

CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE AFTER MISS JULIE OF MICE & MEN

STUDENT PERFORMANCES

WORLD OF PAIN

NOTES TO FUTURE SELF GHOSTS LAUNDRY BOY

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FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

FIVE SOLDIERS

STUDENT PERFORMANCES

SOMETIMES I LAUGH LIKE MY SISTER

STUDENT PERFORMANCES

CHIP OFF THE BLOCK

STUDENT PERFORMANCES

Calendar

Book Online at www.arenatheatre.info

May

June

July

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SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE

STUDENT PERFORMANCES

WELL THAT EXPLAINS IT!

A VICTORIAN MIKADO

WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU

AIM HIGHER

OLD HANDS

AIM HIGHER

CAMP ROCK

FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

TWELFTH NIGHT

FLEXUS DANCE

NO MORE HEROES

AIM HIGHER

DYNAMIC YOUTH

HOW TO FIND US By Road The Arena Theatre is easily accessible by road, situated right in the heart of the city centre.

Car Parking Street parking is available outside and around the theatre on Wulfruna Street. The Civic Centre car park (adjacent to the University) is usually open until 10.30pm (please check on arrival). The nearest NCP car park to the theatre is Broad Street.

Public Transport The Arena Theatre is a 5-minute walk from the Railway, Bus and Metro stations. Wolverhampton has main line Network Rail links to Birmingham, Stafford and beyond. In addition, Bus companies provide links to all the surrounding towns in the area.

ARENA THEATRE Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SE. Box Office 01902 321 321 (Mon - Fri 10am - 5pm) Facsimile 01902 322 599 Minicom 01902 321 327 E-mail boxoffice@arenatheatre.info Website www.arenatheatre.info