0121 331 5909 BCU.AC.UK/EVENTS
SUMMER PERFORMANCES 2019
W H AT’S ON Birmingham City University
T H E AT R E
WELCOME TO ROYAL BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE THEATRE COMPANY’S SUMMER ‘19 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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The Terror at The Crescent Theatre, March 2019 by Hannah Kelly
The Terror at The Crescent Theatre, March 2019 by Hannah Kelly
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Venue
Dates and Times
Mary Stuart
The Old Rep Theatre
Thu 23 May: 7.30pm Fri 24 May: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 25 May: 5pm
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MARY STUART
Dangerous Corner
The Old Rep Theatre
Wed 5 Jun: 7.30pm Thu 6 Jun: 7.30pm Fri 7 Jun: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 8 Jun: 5pm
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Directed by Lynn Farleigh
Wed 12 Jun: 7.30pm Thu 13 Jun: 7.30pm Fri 14 Jun: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 15 Jun: 5pm
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Canvas
The Old Rep Theatre
Page
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
Event
By Friedrich Schiller
Harper Regan
The Lab @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Thu 27 Jun: 7.30pm Fri 28 Jun: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 29 Jun: 5pm
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Flatpack Festival: A Page of Madness
The Bradshaw Hall @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Tue 30 Apr: 8pm
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Catalogue d’Emojis
The Lab @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Thu 2 May: 7.30pm
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Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland at nine months of age, and Queen of France at sixteen years; at eighteen she ascended the throne that was her birth right and began ruling one of the most fractious courts in Europe, riven by religious conflict and personal lust for power. She rode out at the head of an army in both victory and defeat; saw her second husband assassinated, and married his murderer. At twenty-five she entered captivity at the hands of her rival queen, from which only death would release her. In Schiller’s romantic drama, Mary is under house arrest at Fotheringay Castle in the last days of her life — nominally for the murder of her husband Darnley, but actually due to her claim to the throne of England held by Queen Elizabeth I. While Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, hesitates over signing Mary’s death sentence, Mary hopes for a reprieve. General admission: £8.50 Concessions: £4.00
Mansfield Park
The Crescent Theatre Studio
Thu 20 Jun: 7pm Fri 21 Jun: 2.30pm Sat 22 Jun: 2.30pm & 7pm
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The Old Rep Theatre Thu 23 May: 7.30pm
MARY STUART
Fri 24 May: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 25 May: 5pm 4
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DANGEROUS CORNER
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
DANGEROUS CORNER
CANVAS
By J.B. Priestley
By Michael Wynne
Directed by Chris Monks
Directed by Sarah Berger
J.B. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner opens with a gun shot and a scream.
Canvas is a razor-sharp comedy which shines an incisive, witty light on middle-class preoccupations with parenting, the environment and mod cons.
A tangled web of intrigue follows, twisting and turning with plot devices that would be recognisable to those familiar with the early works of the great Alfred Hitchcock. What follows uncovers a world of lies, theft and betrayal, spiced with drugs and gay passion.
Three couples in search of a rural idyll find themselves in adjacent tents in the Welsh countryside thinking they have cracked the problem of being in the wilderness by going “glamping” in Wales, where the large tents come equipped with proper beds and wood-burning stoves.
Written in 1932, the play was controversial for its references to homosexuality and drug use. While not as shocking today as it would have been when it premiered, the content is still juicy enough to keep us interested in the next twist or revelation.
General admission: £8.50 Concessions: £4
But canvas walls and adjacent tents leave little to the imagination in this entertaining exposé of modern family life.
General admission: £8.50 Concessions: £4
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The Old Rep Theatre
The Old Rep Theatre
Wed 5 Jun: 7.30pm
Wed 12 Jun: 7.30pm
Thu 6 Jun: 7.30pm
Thu 13 Jun: 7.30pm
Fri 7 Jun: 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Fri 14 Jun: 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Sat 8 Jun: 5pm
Sat 15 Jun: 5pm
CANVAS 7
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Theatre Company presents…
HARPER REGAN By Simon Stephens Directed by Katy Weir On a night in 2006, Harper Regan walks away from her home, her husband and her daughter, and keeps walking. She tells nobody that she is going, or where she is going. For two days and nights, until it looks as though her entire life will completely unravel, she doesn’t turn back. From Uxbridge to Stockport to Manchester and back again, Harper’s journey navigates the UK, exploring family, love and delusion. General admission: £8.50 Concessions: £4
FLATPACK FESTIVAL: A PAGE OF MADNESS Opening Flatpack Festival this year is the world première of a newly commissioned live score by Sinestro Home Video, a six-piece ensemble pulled together by composers Matt Eaton (Pram) and Gareth Jones (Misty’s Big Adventure, Grandmaster Gareth).
FLATPACK FESTIVAL: A PAGE OF MADNESS
Thought lost for nearly five decades and then rediscovered in the 1970s, A Page of Madness is a stunning, surreal exploration of truth, memory and mental illness. Alongside the band, vocalist Atsuko Kamura will play the role of live benshi (narrator and storyteller), recounting the tale of a sectioned woman and her husband’s doomed attempts to extricate her from the asylum. The film has recently undergone a sumptuous restoration, and with Sinestro Home Video’s terrific new accompaniment it should be a festival opener to remember.
HARPER REGAN 8
The Lab, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Thu 27 Jun: 7.30pm Fri 28 Jun: 2.30pm & 7.30pm Sat 29 Jun: 5pm
The Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Tue 30 Apr: 8pm 9
CATALOGUE D’EMOJIS
MANSFIELD PARK
By Michael Wolters and Paul Norman
Directed by Michael Barry
Cobalt Kate Halsall and Fumiko Miyachi Paul Norman and Michael Wolters
Conducted by Paul Wingfield
Emojis are a comparatively recent addition to our lives, but their look and style as well as their use has shaped the way we communicate. They are a pictorial, symbol-driven language and thus quite close to the language of music notation. Some people use them in every text message they send, some people revert back to their old Nokia phone to avoid them. The selection of emojis decided on by the developers is fascinating, their official names and descriptions create fantastically odd texts, the gender and race issues around emojis say a lot about the state of the world.
CATALOGUE D’EMOJIS 10
When the audience walks in they will have a choice of sitting or standing. There is only one row of chairs that surrounds the stage. This brings the audience extremely close to what the performers are doing. The show consists of lots of music but also movement and dance, text and stories, vegan music and more.
MANSFIELD PARK
Composer Jonathan Dove and librettist Alasdair Middleton’s opera is a witty and approachable interpretation of Jane Austen’s novel, with vocal lines combining imagination with enchanting virtuosity. While Sir Thomas Bertram is away visiting his plantations in Antigua, his Mansfield Park Estate is thrown out of kilter by the arrival of Mary Crawford and her fickle brother, Henry. Hedonists escaping the social whirl of London, they crash into the countryside and corrupt the Bertram family. Be prepared to be whisked through this nineteenth-century high-society romance by director Michael Barry, conductor Paul Wingfield and a stellar cast. Audiences are in for a real treat - a thrilling enactment by an ensemble of emerging operatic talent.
The Crescent Theatre Studio The Lab @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Thu 2 May: 7.30pm
Thu 20 Jun: 7pm Fri 21 Jun: 2.30pm Sat 22 Jun: 2.30pm & 7pm 11
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
Box Office: 0121 359 9444 (Accessible facilities available) www.oldreptheatre.co.uk
Station Street, Birmingham, B5 4DY
The Old Rep Theatre
Box Office: 0121 331 5909 (Accessible facilities available) www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire
200 Jennens Road, Birmingham, B4 7XR
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Sheepcote Street, Birmingham, B16 8AE (Accessible facilities available) Box Office: 0121 643 5858 www.crescent-theatre.co.uk
The Crescent Theatre and Studio
VENUES