0121 331 5909 BCU.AC.UK/EVENTS
AUTUMN PERFORMANCES 2019
W H AT’S ON Birmingham City University
T H E AT R E
WELCOME TO ROYAL BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE THEATRE COMPANY’S AUTUMN 2019 SEASON
ABOUT ROYAL BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a multi-disciplinary institution of music and acting offering an even greater range of performances from world-class professionals and emerging talent.
Formerly known as Birmingham School of Acting, we are now part of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. With roots as a drama school going back to 1936, we retain the professional outlook and commitment to contemporary training that has seen our acting courses consistently rated amongst the best in the UK.
Comprised of final year students from our acting courses, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company has established a reputation as one of the city’s most exciting outfits. The Company’s composition changes every year, so our seasons are highly eclectic, presenting a wide range of works – some challenging, some moving, some witty, but all with a freshness that comes from working with emerging professional actors. The Company is supported by an energetic and creative production department consisting of a professional Stage Management Team, Property Master, Set Designer and Wardrobe Mistress. Each year, the Theatre Company is directed by professionals who present work nationally and internationally, ranging from productions in the West End to those for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
We also train the associated disciplines of Stage Management and Applied Performance, which provides the perfect learning environment to launch your career as a performance industry professional. For more information on Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and its courses, come to an Open Day or visit www.bcu.ac.uk/bsa/opendays To find out what’s on visit www.bcu.ac.uk/events
We look forward to welcoming you to our performances. Julian Lloyd Webber Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
BirminghamSchoolofActing
BirmConsActing
Stephen Simms Vice Principal (Acting)
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Picnic at The Crescent Theatre, March 2019 by Greg Milner
The Terror at The Crescent Theatre, March 2019 by Hannah Kelly
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Event
Venue
Dates and Times
The Tempest
The Crescent Studio
Wed 9 Oct: 7.45pm Thu 10 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.45pm Fri 11 Oct: 7.45pm Sat 12 Oct: 5pm
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Thu 10 Oct: 7.30pm Fri 11 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 12 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.30pm
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Wed 16 Oct: 7.30pm Thu 17 Oct: 7.30pm Fri 18 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 19 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sun 20 Oct: 2.30pm Tue 22 Oct: 7.30pm Wed 23 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.30pm
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Little Women (The Broadway Musical)
The Crescent Theatre Main House
The Connection
Eastside Jazz Club @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
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Henry V
The Crescent Studio
Wed 4 Dec: 7.45pm Thu 5 Dec: 2.30pm & 7.45pm Fri 6 Dec: 7.45pm Sat 7 Dec: 5pm
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Wed 11 Dec: 7pm Thu 12 Dec: 7pm Fri 13 Dec: 2.30pm & 7pm Sat 14 Dec: 5pm
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Thu 21 Nov: 7pm Fri 22 Nov: 7pm Sat 23 Nov: 2pm & 7pm
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The Lab @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Directed by Rob Forknall
THE TEMPEST
Set on a love island somewhere near Italy, Prospero, powerful magician and one-time Duke of Milan, has caused an almighty storm to lure unwilling islanders to wash up on the shore. There, a young Prince is coupled up with Prospero’s strange but beautiful daughter, Miranda - but will he win her love after all the tests Prospero puts them through?
Wed 4 Dec: 7pm Thu 5 Dec: 7pm Fri 6 Dec: 2.30pm & 7pm Sat 7 Dec: 5pm
Opera Scenes
THE TEMPEST The Tempest is a play about magic, betrayal, love and forgiveness.
The Patrick Centre @ Birmingham Hippodrome
The Patrick Centre @ Birmingham Hippodrome
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
Written by William Shakespeare
Some Explicit Polaroids
The Good Person of Szechwan
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Page
Meanwhile, others plot to kill Prospero, but they are no match for the powerful superhero Ariel and the sprites who help Prospero regain the kingdom; make wrongs right; and live happily ever after. “O brave new world That has such people in’t” General admission: £8.00 Concessions: £5.50 The Crescent Studio Wed 9 Oct: 7.45pm Thu 10 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.45pm Fri 11 Oct: 7.45pm Sat 12 Oct: 5pm 5
LITTLE WOMEN
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
LITTLE WOMEN (THE BROADWAY MUSICAL)
THE CONNECTION
Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Composer/Musical Director John O’Gallagher
Book by Allan Knee
Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein
Music by Jason Howland
Directed by Lise Olson
Choreographer Emma Annetts Musical Director Robert Miles It’s hard not to love the March girls of Concord, Massachusetts. Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy are so deeply etched within the cultural and emotional landscape that they resurface from generation to generation like cherished friends – and Jo March, the spirited centre of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, is the perfect musical-theatre heroine. Filled with personal discovery, heartache, hope and everlasting love, this glorious musical will raise smiles and lift hearts.
This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe). General admission: £8.00 Concessions: £5.50
Written by Jack Gelber Directed by Kristine Landon Smith In a smoky New York jazz club, musicians jam whilst they await their next fix. Blurring the edges of reality and fiction, The Connection leads you inside the grungy underbelly of society, disintegrating the traditional relationship between audience and actor as the dark alleys of downtown 1950’s New York are illuminated in Gelber’s iconic, historically important work. In a collaboration between Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s jazz musicians and Theatre Company, witness a melange of text and jazz improvisations in this site-specific performance; an iconic work breaking both fourth wall and inhibitions. General admission: £8.00 Concessions: £5.50
The Crescent Theatre Main House Thu 10 Oct: 7.30pm Fri 11 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 12 Oct: 2.30pm & 7.30pm 6
Eastside Jazz Club @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Wed 16 Oct – Wed 23 Oct
THE CONNECTION 7
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS Written by Mark Ravenhill Directed by Suzy Catliff
SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS 8
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
HENRY V Written by William Shakespeare
“We’ve reached ‘they all lived happily ever after’ and we’ve gone past it and we’re still carrying on. Nobody’s ever written that bit before but we’re doing it. This is the happy world.”
Directed by Scott Ellis
After 15 years inside, political activist Nick emerges to find that the radical causes of the 80’s have become the lost causes of the 90’s. As he struggles to get to grips with this new world, he collides with the new generation. Bonded by a love of pills, parties and therapy-speak, Nadia, Tim and Victor take Nick on a search for the happy-ever-after.
With sights set on France, Henry needs to shake off a rebellious past and gain trust from the people to claim the throne.
Written in 1999 by Mark Ravenhill, sharp, satirical and pulsating with energy, Some Explicit Polaroids weaves an engaging urban fairytale in an age where political change seems a distant memory, asking ‘How did we get from there to here?’ and ‘Where do we go now?’ In 2019, this question is just as relevant.
Written during the sixteenth century, Henry V is one of Shakespeare’s epic history plays, documenting events during The Hundred Years’ War and The Battle of Agincourt.
Ruling England is not enough.
Plotting to invade France, Henry is met with humiliation from the French Dauphin - and so, with wounded pride, attacks.
General admission: £12.00 Concessions: £8.00
General admission: £12.00 Concessions: £8.00 The Patrick Centre @ Birmingham Hippodrome
The Crescent Studio
Wed 4 Dec: 7pm
Wed 4 Dec: 7.45pm
Thu 5 Dec: 7pm
Thu 5 Dec: 2.30pm & 7.45pm
Fri 6 Dec: 2.30pm & 7pm
Fri 6 Dec: 7.45pm
Sat 7 Dec: 5pm
Sat 7 Dec: 5pm
HENRY V 9
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
THE GOOD PERSON OF SZECHWAN
OPERA SCENES
Written by Bertolt Brecht
Conductor Anthony Kraus
Directed by Aleksander Dundjerovic
Director Daisy Evans
Three Gods are on a journey to find out if there are any good people left on earth.
Acclaimed opera director, Daisy Evans and British conductor, Anthony Kraus join exciting talent from the Vocal and Operatic Department for our ever-popular annual set of Opera Scenes.
Only Shen Te, a good-hearted prostitute, offers them shelter. They reward her with money to buy a tobacco shop and turn her life around. Barely getting through the door, everyone has their hand out for help, threatening her chances to make a go of the business. With her good nature further threatened by an unscrupulous suitor, her business-minded cousin, Shui Ta, arrives to protect her.
Enjoy an evening of varied repertoire from well-known arias to less familiar territory as our rising stars present a journey through landscapes both light and dark. A thrilling evening in our studio theatre space, The Lab. Not to be missed! General admission: £10.00 Concessions: £8.00
General admission: £12.00 Concessions: £8.00
THE GOOD PERSON OF SZECHWAN 10
The Patrick Centre @ Birmingham Hippodrome
The Lab @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Wed 11 Dec: 7pm
Thu 21 Nov: 7pm
Thu 12 Dec: 7pm
Fri 22 Nov: 7pm
Fri 13 Dec: 2.30pm & 7pm
Sat 23 Nov: 2pm & 7pm
Sat 14 Dec: 5pm
OPERA SCENES
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www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire T: 0121 331 5901 BirminghamSchoolofActing @BirmConsActing
200 Jennens Road, Birmingham, B4 7XR
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
T: 0121 331 5901
E: info@bsa.bcu.ac.uk
To book, please visit www.bcu.ac.uk/bsa
BOOKINGS
Hurst Street, Birmingham, B5 4TB Box Office: 0844 338 5000 www.birminghamhippodrome.com
The Patrick Centre @ Birmingham Hippodrome
Sheepcote Street, Birmingham, B16 8AE Box Office: 0121 643 5858 www.crescent-theatre.co.uk
The Crescent Theatre and Studio
200 Jennens Road, Birmingham, B4 7XR Box Office: 0121 331 5909 www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire
Venues @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
VENUES