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2010
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MADE HERE FOR ROUND HERE Carol Royle on playing the Queen Bee
Box Office: 01782 717962
contents SUMMER10aMag
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SUMMER 2010
Plays 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 35
Humble Boy
Men of the World Girls Night
Alphabetical Order Copenhagen Rafta Rafta
One Nighters
Events
34 Music in the Round Series: 36 Monkey Music Kungsbacka Piano Trio Doric Quartet
Ludwig String Trio
36 Exhibitions 36 Craft Fair
32 Maggie Bell, Dave Kelly &
The British Blues Quartet
32 Courtney Pine Uncle Eric’s Italian Job 33 Ballet Wales - Giselle 33 Tangomotion Peter Pan Bleak House
This season online . . .
Click with the New Vic for the latest news, views and much more!
Ticket giveaways… Win tickets to Summer Season shows in our online competitions
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Features 4 Collaborators &
Community
37 38 6 A Beautiful Life 39 10 Scene of the Crime 41 40 Making New Friends 42 42 A Question of Honour 43 44 Kitchen Sink Dramatist 48 The Questionnaire Creatives
Building Futures
Under 26s Go Free
Be a New Vic Volunteer
New Vic Friends’ events
New Vic Borderlines diary New Vic Education diary
Information 30 Ticket packages 39 Food & drink / Shop 49 Booking / Access 50 Ticket prices 50 Calendar 52 How to get here
Backstage gossip… Go offstage and online with Artistic Director Theresa’s behind-the-scenes blog
In pictures… Take a look at New Vic productions and inspiring community projects in our In Pictures stories and Gallery Music and video clips… Watch exclusive backstage footage, view trailers and hear musicians perform from the comfort of your own keyboard! .
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Collaborators
From the Artistic Director
T
his summer we’ll be welcoming collaborators old and new to the Vic. My predecessor as Artistic Director, Gwenda Hughes, will be joining us for Alphabetical Order. Jack Randle’s association with the theatre goes back even further: he was a member of the ensemble when the new theatre opened its doors a quarter of a century ago, and returns to us in his new incarnation as director of Girls Night. Designer Patrick Connellan also knows our space well and will be taking on the challenge of designing our Michael Frayn double bill. Here are some of the newer faces who’ll be joining our creative team over the coming months: 4 | newvictheatre.org.uk
Iqbal Khan, who directs Rafta
Rafta, is something of an expert on the plays of Ayub Khan-Din, having directed the recent revival of East is East in his native Birmingham and been part of the team that premiered Rafta Rafta at the National Theatre. We’re delighted to welcome him to the New Vic for the first time.
&
s
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Designer Liz Cooke is a keen gardener and bee keeper. Both interests come in handy for her work on Humble Boy. Right now she’s sourcing live plants to create a Cotswolds garden on the New Vic’s stage; and later in the summer she’ll be concentrating her attention on back stage, creating a surprising journey into the world of Dickens’ Bleak House.
Creatives James Dacre has been part of
our creative team for almost a year now, working on main stage productions as well as in the Education and Borderlines departments. Just before he joined us last summer his production of The Mountaintop, a play about Martin Luther King’s last day, transferred to the West End. We’re thrilled that The Mountaintop has been nominated for two Olivier awards, and look forward to seeing Copenhagen, his New Vic directorial debut. With our busiest summer programme yet, we’re sure there’s something for you to enjoy in the coming months.
Theresa Heskins
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A Beautiful
feature
Life
We talk to stage and screen actor Carol Royle about being an award-winning performer, a devoted mother and a reluctant beauty…
Boy, she’s glamorous.That’s the only way to describe Carol Royle. With bone structure to die for, warm cut-glass tones and hardly a blonde hair out of place, the 56 year-old is every inch the goddess pictured in her photograph. In fact, it is a genetic triumph that she doesn’t look a day older than the pre-digital headshots supplied ahead of our meeting. But on a damp Tuesday afternoon at her home in Twickenham, the softly spoken actress herself would, quite frankly, rather talk about anything else than the model looks that have seen her become the face of Chanel, a celebrated leading lady and screen actress known to millions. She sighs, slowly and evenly. "It’s become a bit of a bête noir for me" she begins as we sit down to chat. Carol Royle is a very gentle woman, reminiscent of that other English deity, Joanna Lumley. But she has about her an assertive air.
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As Cressida in Troillius and Cressida at the RSC.
nevertheless become something with which she has had to deal. Born into something of an acting dynasty, her very upbringing has the romance of a fifties musical.The daughter of the actor Derek Royle and makeup artist Jane Royle, Carol and her sister, actor Amanda Royle, spent their childhoods moving around the country, depending on the city their father was working in.
Photo Nobby Clark
"There must be something about me that gives people the impression of glamour, but it’s not quite what it appears,” she insists.“I’m one of those people who wears recycled clothes from the charity shop, I am a vegetarian, I don’t believe in wearing fur or leather, I’m not extravagant, and I make all my own curtains!
After graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama, Carol landed her first big break, a part in ITV daytime serial The Cedar Tree “I had to Carol rehearsing for Dennis Potter’s play Blackeyes, 1989.
“If people think I have a glamorous image, then I am clearly quite good at creating it. But it is an image, it’s not actually a truth.” If it is a tag the actress has fought, it has hand in my notice as au pair to my parent’s dogs. But I’d just bought a flat with my boyfriend so at least I could help to pay the mortgage” smiles Royle, who is now married to said boyfriend, music producer Julian Spear. “- in fact, I think it’s the only time I’ve ever helped to pay the mortgage!”
In the BBC’s comedy drama, Life Without George
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Combining stunning looks with real talent, Royle’s star inevitably rose quickly. Roles in a host of TV series including The Professionals and Bergerac – not to mention a brief turn as a ‘mutoid’ in Blakes 7 – ran alongside critically-acclaimed classical performances as Cressida and Ophelia with the RSC. By 1987, Royle was the face of Chanel’s ‘19’ perfume campaign and a regular on the BBC,
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feature playing opposite Simon Cadell in the series, Life Without George. In 1989, Royle was cast by that doyen of television playwrights Dennis Potter in his TV drama, Blackeyes. Rumours of behind-the-scenes spats between Potter and collaborater Kenith Trod were followed by controversy in the tabloid press, outraged at its exploration of sexuality and exploitation. It was a tumultuous time for the actor. “I liked what we were doing” says Royle who played protagonist Jessica, a model whose professional life is exploited by her uncle to create a trashy bestseller. “And I adored working with Dennis, we got on so well. But after the rift with Kenith, he was doing everything, which ultimately proved his downfall. He was left to edit it alone and I believe he lost sight of his original vision. But he was left to his own devices because he was Dennis Potter. “He got attacked and we (the cast) by proxy did too – we found ourselves in the middle of this media frenzy…which was an experience.” Save the odd role in theatre or her more recent turn as Lady Brewster in ITV’s Heartbeat, Royle dedicates her time nowadays to being a housewife and mother to her two children, son Taran, 26, and daughter,Talitha, 14, always choosing projects that mean she can stay near her beloved family.Yet Royle admits the role of impossible mother Flora in the New Vic’s production of Humble Boy was too good an opportunity to miss. “When Theresa (Heskins) asked me to play Flora, I couldn’t say no. Humble Boy is a delightful play and Flora a wonderful part. I get the sense that she is terribly damaged, which is a gift for an actor – the more traumatised the better!”
Once an award-winning Ophelia, Royle smiles when I mention Humble Boy’s nod to Hamlet. Is she looking forward to revisiting the play now that she is cast as the play’s ‘Gertrude’? “There is still quite a big chasm between Gertrude and Flora. Charlotte Jones has written a wonderful part – but I hasten to add, she is the polar opposite to me. I am ridiculously uptight about my children!” “To be honest,” adds Royle “I’m getting palpitations at the thought of leaving my daughter! Most of my work was before children.Touring the country as a jobbing actor doesn’t fit in with my family. It’s just so blinking difficult to be a working actress and mother, I think.” Speaking to Royle it becomes increasingly clear that rather than choosing the life of theatre premieres and magazine front covers, it has chosen her. She talks fondly about university – she wishes she had carried on with her studies – and sighs at the lack of opportunities for more experienced actresses “you are left with a career where you are occasionally asked to do something you want to do, the rest of the time you’re not prepared to compromise your life over it”. It seems the power of a more colourful, glamorous tide has swept the actor along, perhaps against her own instincts. Does she want something different for her own children? “I did say to my son ‘For God’s sake don’t be an actor! There is no fairness, no justification and you constantly get rejected.’ To which he turned round and told me he was going to be a drummer. So I said maybe he should go to RADA after all…” “Having said that,” she beams an enchanting smile,“I know I would do the same thing over and over again.”
Humble Boy runs from Thurs 1 to Sat 17 April
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Theresa Heskins sifts the evidence as Dickens’ fiction and foggy London meets CSI forensics for her latest adaptation, Bleak House… 2010. Wide screen. Glass of red wine in hand, chocolate on stand by. CSI: Grissom’s on the case. A man of quiet, unassuming charm; a bug obsessive who admits he ‘likes order’. There’s no posing with sunglasses here. Gil Grissom knows he’s not the hero of the story. Roll back a century and a half to Grissom’s ancestor, Bleak House’s Inspector Bucket: one of the first detectives to make it into the pages of fiction. Also an ordinary man; also a best mate rather than a hero. He likes gardening; has a wife; a friendly manner; no vices. The detective as flawed 10 | newvictheatre.org.uk
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feature hero, corrupted by the tragedies he sees every day, alcoholic, lonely and needing to be saved, is yet to be invented.
before that, when Dickens was serialising Bleak House, the detective thriller genre was only then being invented. He was breaking new ground. Little did he know that his story, including the first fictional example of the forensic analysis of a piece of evidence, would lead in a straight line to Gil Grissom appearing in my sitting room.
As are the conventions of the detective story plot. Last year, when I was adapting Lady Audley’s Secret for Woman’s Hour, a helpful BBC script editor gave me some advice. There’s a formula to be observed in writing a successful detective thriller, he The Detective Division of the told me. Was he pulling my leg? Or is Metropolitan Police Force had been there really a mathematical equation inscribed on a sheet of vellum When Dickens was serialising in the BBC’s vaults, Bleak House, the detective thriller jealously guarded by Ashley Pharoah and Lynda La Plante: the genre was only then being invented. secret to the perfect crime story? For any budding detective thriller He was breaking new ground. writers, I can pass on the formula as I was told it. It’s a simple one: 1. Open with a murder 2. Twenty minutes later another murder ups the ante. And that’s it, apparently. Perhaps we could add that Agatha Christie taught us that the last person you’d expect is the one whodunit; that Dashiell Hammett warned there was a dangerous side to a damsel in distress; that Hitchcock revealed the unbearable tension of the ticking bomb. Well, I was in trouble with Lady Audley’s Secret, because back in 1862 no one had told its writer Mary Elizabeth Braddon about the BBC’s secret formula. A decade
Photo of Charles Dickens circa 1850
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Inspector Field, inspiration for the character of Inspector Bucket in Bleak House.
The canvas Dickens set himself for Bleak House was massive. Published in 19 monthly instalments, it translates into 998 pages of Penguin paperback: a brick of a novel. In boiling it down to a comfortable two-and-a-quarter hours I knew I’d have to lose a lot, but I also knew that an imaginative version and staging could retain the heart of the novel, as we did in our recent productions of Great Expectations and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, whilst presenting a lively and fast-paced entertainment. I’ve settled on the detective thriller as the centre of this story. But, as in the novel, it’s not just Inspector Bucket who gets to do the detecting.
created just a few years before Dickens started work on Bleak House. Dickens the Every audience member will get to examine journalist was able to accompany one of the scene of the crime. In minute detail. the first and most respected detectives, Theatre is usually a public performance Inspector Field, on a night’s tour of duty. viewed from a distance, but in a new The resulting article, On Duty With Inspector Field, shows that Field and his men’s ability In a new departure, New Vic audiences to create order out of chaos made a big will be able to get up close and personal, impression on Dickens; their calm, methodical and will get to examine the scene of the approach; the respect crime in minute detail. they commanded from the criminal fraternity, with whom they conversed as equals; their departure for the Vic audiences will be able chameleon talent for donning a disguise or to get up close and personal. a way of speaking to pursue their quarry more effectively. Field himself leapt off the Half an hour before the performance begins we’ll be inviting our audience to join page and Dickens was soon to promote him from real life to literature, immortalising us on a journey through the world of the play. Behind the stage, in the secret nooks him in this epic novel. 12 | newvictheatre.org.uk
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Discussing the music for Ariel in Northern Broadsides’/ New Vic Theatre’s co-production of The Tempest
and crannies of the New Vic building, we’ll be creating some of the environments mentioned in the story, offering an opportunity to observe some of the characters and settings of the novel at close quarters. The endless court case; the mysterious bottle shop; the poor crossing sweeper will all be brought to life. Front of House we’ll be displaying photographs, models, maps and documentary material inspired by the world of the novel. During the course of the journey the audience will collect clues to solve the mystery at the heart of the story, whilst those who already know the novel will enjoy the challenge of seeking out the needle in the haystack. It will be an epic theatre experience to match this epic novel. Promenade events like this have captured the imaginations of audiences all over the country, so I’m delighted that we’re creating one for the New Vic this summer. But it’s not the only thing that’s groundbreaking about this production. As far as I’m aware, this is the first time Bleak House has been put on stage. In adapting it, I’ve occasionally thought,‘and for good reason…’ But the detective angle makes it work as a stage play in its own right, and, whilst some characters may be missed, it’s surprising how many we’ve fitted in.
feature
And I’m sure that the plans we have for an unusual theatre experience will appeal to our audience. After last year’s The Wicked Lady, when we worked with aerial dance company, Upswing, to create horses and beds and a breathtaking gallows, all in midair, lots of people stopped me in the bar and restaurant. ‘What’s the next adventure?’ I was asked. Here it is.
Bleak House runs from Saturday 3 - Saturday 24 July. Walk-Through from 7.00 pm
New Vic’s prodution of Great Expectations, photo by Robert Day
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a New Vic production
Thurs 1 - Sat 17 April
Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones Past and present, broken vows, love, lust and life collide in a brilliantly original and award-winning comedy directed by Theresa Heskins.
His impossible mother has taken next-doorneighbour George as a lover.The beloved family bees have been exiled. And with the appearance of a visitor from his own romantic past, it soon becomes clear that life in the Humble hive will never be the same again.
Bumbling Felix Humble may be an astrophysicist with a brain the size of Saturn; but when it comes to life he’s bottom of the class. And ‘Rich, original, intelligent, funny and when he leaves his search touching . . . I can’t recommend this lovely for the unified ‘Theory of Everything’ to return home play too highly.’ Daily Telegraph following his bee-keeping father’s demise, he finds “This is a marvellous play: sad, very sad; funny, himself in a real hornets’ nest. very, very funny . . .” Sunday Times
Booking Information Tickets: £8.50 - £17.50 Group Discount: £2.00 off for ten or more First Night Fever:All seats £11.50 (no cons) Thurs 1 April Under 26s Go Free: (see page 38) Concessions: £2.00 off (see page 49)
Best seats for just £12.00 (see p 30)
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Interpreted Performances: 7.30 pm Tues 13 April Captioned Audio described 2.15 pm Sat 17 April Talkback: Tues 13 April
Susan Smith Blackburn Award 2001 Critics' Circle Best New Play 2002 People's Choice Best New Play 2002
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e m s e m v s e o l . . . she love she
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a Hull Truck Theatre Company production
Mon 19 - Sat 24 April Join Stick, Frank and Happy Larry (two men and a woman!) as they embark on another coach journey down the Rhine Valley… these long suffering drivers have seen it all and done it all! Travel with them to Paris with 30 old age pensioners, search for lost teeth in Koblenz, witness love affairs in Boppard and finally, after a fourday ‘Umpah’ party, make the long journey back home.
written by BAFTA Award winning John Godber
Funny, sad and cinematic; you’ll be amazed as Stick, Frank and Happy Larry play many of the pensioners in a total evocation of a bus trip. Touching, funny and provoking comedy written by one of the nation’s leading comedy playwrights who has written over 50 plays! “This portrayal of the microcosmic world of coach travel, which purports to be filled with holiday ‘fun’ is utterly hilarious” Manchester On Stage “This is a touching and funny celebration of one of society’s marginalized sectors” The Yorkshire Post “The play has been described as “Bouncers for the crinklies” Hull Daily Mail
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It’s no holiday being a coach driver Booking Information Tickets £8.50 - £17.50 Group Discounts £2.00 off for ten or more First Night Fever All seats £11.50 (no cons) Mon 19 April Under 26s Go Free (see page 38)
Best seats for just £12.00 (see p 30)
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plays
Hilarious slice-of-life comedy: if you like John Godber you’ll love this
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A Goodnights Entertainment production
Fri 30 April - Sat 15 May
Girls Night By Louise Roche A theatre legend, this warm-hearted and hilarious look at female friendship comes from the wickedly witty pen of Where the Heart Is writer, Louise Roche. First performed at a community centre in Milton Keynes, now it’s a major international hit touring non-stop in the UK and overseas. Director, Jack Randle, was a New Vic actor in the 1980s. Laugh, cry and sing along as this touching and brilliantly funny musical comedy follows five forty-something friends on a karaoke night out.There’s party-animal Carol, twice married but still looking for Mr Right; Liza who’s got ‘issues’ and a rich husband; Prozac-popping Anita who tells it like it is; and boring Kate, destined to be life’s designated driver. Not forgetting Sharon, the not-so-angelic angel who just can’t resist tagging along. It’s a show bursting with energy and packed with all your favourite feelgood anthems. And amidst the laughs and the songs, these women have plenty to say about life, sex, success, heartache, kids, marriage and men. So grab the girls and enjoy a great night out! "The ultimate girls night out!" Northern Echo “Guaranteed to make you think, make you laugh and make you weep” Hartlepool Mail
Booking Information Tickets £8.50 - £17.50 Group Discounts £2.00 off for ten or more First Night Fever: All seats £11.50 (no cons) Fri 30 April Under 26s Go Free: (see page 38) Concessions: £2.00 off (see page 49)
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Best seats for just £12.00! (see p 30)
If you enjoy feelgood shows, this is for you. Please note; ‘grown-up’ material!
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plays
t loud u o h g u a l , Hilarious medy! o c l a c i s u m
FOUR
ÂŁ50
FRIENDS FOR A great value, fab, fun night out with friends. Any mates, any seats Mon - Fri Just call the Box Office
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a New Vic production
Thurs 20 May - Sat 12 June
Alphabetical Order by Michael Frayn Michael Frayn mini-rep
See this play for half price when you also book to see Copenhagen (see page 30)
Booking Information Tickets £8.50 - £17.50 Group Discounts £2.00 off for ten or more First Night Fever: All seats £11.50 (no cons) Thurs 20 May Under 26s Go Free: (see page 38) Concessions: £2.00 off (see page 49)
Buy two plays get another free! (see p 30)
Interpreted Performances Captioned 7.30 pm Mon 7 June Audio described 2.15 pm Sat 5 June Talkback: Mon 7 June
A witty and thoughtful comedy, if you like Alan Ayckbourn you’ll enjoy this 20 | newvictheatre.org.uk
Winner of the 1975 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy, the superbly witty Alphabetical Order heralded the arrival of a major new playwright. His plays include the brilliant farce Noises Off and the other half of our Frayn double-bill, the compelling Copenhagen. Our production is directed by Gwenda Hughes. Eccentric and much-loved Lucy presides over the cuttings library of a local newspaper. She has her own curious way of doing things – mountains of newspapers, unanswered telephones, the chairs, tables, cabinets and floor a sea of files. Not to mention the daily distractions of hard-bitten old hacks, amorous admirers and sundry waifs and strays with lives as messy as the library itself. Into this cosy chaos steps Lucy’s new assistant, the fastidious Lesley. Young, clever, passionately tidy, it won’t be long before she’s got everything into apple pie order. But clearing up the emotional complications of their muddled lives will be quite another matter. And that’s before the news that threatens all their futures. “nonstop delirium” New York Times
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plays
And you thought chaos was just a theory!
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a New Vic production
Fri 28 May - Sat 12 June
Copenhagen by Michael Frayn Michael Frayn mini-rep
See this play for half price when you also book to see Alphabetical Order (see page 30)
Booking Information Tickets £8.50 - £17.50 Group Discounts £2.00 off for ten or more First Night Fever: All seats £11.50 (no cons) Fri 28 May Under 26s Go Free: (see page 38) Concessions: £2.00 off (see page 49)
Buy two plays get another free! (see p 30)
Interpreted Performances Captioned 7.30 pm Thurs 10 June Talkback: Thurs 10 June Evening Standard Award for Best Play Tony Award for Best Play New York Drama Critics' Circle Best Play Prix Molière
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A psychological thriller exploring a mysterious wartime meeting between two Nobel prize-winning scientists. Among the most important plays of the last century, it remains frighteningly relevant to a world still living with the nuclear threat. James Dacre directs his first New Vic production. In 1941, at the height of the Second World War, German physicist Werner Heisenberg travels to Copenhagen to visit his friend and mentor, Niels Bohr. Their work together had revolutionised atomic physics; but now they are on opposite sides in a terrible war. With Denmark under German occupation, Heisenberg heading the Nazi nuclear programme and the half-Jewish Bohr a world expert, the question is - why has he come? Is he warning Bohr of Germany's atomic ambitions? Or looking for intelligence on Allied nuclear weapons research? Will he try to convince Bohr to join him in working for the Nazis? Or does he want advice: how to stay loyal to science, to family and friends, and to your country - even when it is in the wrong? “Endlessly fascinating . . . an electrifying work of art” New York Times
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plays
“a brilliant play” The Guardian
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an Octagon Theatre Bolton and New Vic production
Weds 16 - Sat 26 June Following our acclaimed 2003 production of East is East we’re delighted to have joined forces with the Octagon Theatre Bolton to produce Ayub Khan-Din’s latest comedy, Rafta Rafta. Based on Bill Naughton’s play All in Good Time, it became the hit 1960s film The Family Way starring John and Hayley Mills. The wedding feast is over and the young couple has moved into his family’s two-up, two-down terrace. But how can they live happily ever after with his parents in the bedroom next door, his father’s constant disapproval and his brother’s childish pranks? So, is it any wonder that, six weeks after the wedding, the groom still hasn’t managed to rise to the occasion? And, now that the whole world seems to know, how will the family live with the shame? This warm-hearted tale of a beleaguered honeymoon is set in the Indian community of Bolton and is directed by Iqbal Kahn. “makes one laugh out loud” The Guardian “has you laughing uproariously at one moment and surprised by tears the next” Daily Telegraph 24 | newvictheatre.org.uk
Booking Information Tickets £8.50 - £17.50 Group Discounts £2.00 off for ten or more First Night Fever All seats £11.50 (no cons) Weds 16 June Under 26s Go Free (see page 38) Concessions £2.00 off, (see page 49)
Buy two plays get another free!(see p 30)
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Rafta Rafta
plays
by Ayub Khan Din author of hit comedy East is East
Interpreted Performances Captioned 7.30 pm Tues 22 June Audio described 2.15 pm Sat 26 June Talkback Tues 22 June
A gentle gem of a comedy; if you enjoyed East is East, you’ll love this
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a New Vic production
Sat 3 - Sat 24 July
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
adapted and directed by Theresa Heskins With an intricately woven plot and an unforgettable cast of characters, Bleak House is widely regarded as Dickens’ masterpiece.This first stage adaptation is a fast-moving, witty and ingenious production in the style of Jamaica Inn and Great Expectations. An endless lawsuit, a dangerous mystery and an illegitimate child form the backdrop to a brutal murder. As the enquiries of Inspector Bucket take him from aristocratic drawing rooms to the slums of London, he uncovers the secrets of the menacing
lawyer Tulkinghorn; of the beautiful Lady Dedlock; and of Esther Summerson, a young woman who slowly learns the truth about her past. Filled with comedy and angry satire, Bleak House is a tale of loss and love and a savage indictment of a society that is rotten to the core. In an exciting first for the New Vic, the audience is invited to a Walk-Through of the world of the play before the performance begins.
Booking Information Tickets £8.50 - £17.50 Group Discounts £2.00 off for ten or more First Night Fever All seats £11.50 (no cons) Sat 3 July Under 26s Go Free (see page 38) Concessions £2.00 off (see page 49)
Pre-show Walk-Through from 7.00pm
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Interpreted Performances Captioned 7.30 pm Tues 20 July Audio described 2.15 pm Sat 24 July Talkback Tues 20 July
Buy two plays get another free!(see p 30)
If you love Dickens and whodunnits, this epic mystery is for you.
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plays
The law, lost love and a journey through Dickens’ London
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a David Graham production
Tues 17 - Sat 28 August
Uncle Eric’s Italian Job What are Uncle Eric, Madge and the rest of the gang doing in beautiful Rome? And how have they found themselves in a world of fast cars, crime and hot money? It’s the latest misadventures of the ultimate dysfunctional family, back with a non-stop night of comedy, nostalgia and the greatest music of the 1960s. It's 19 August 1963.The country is buzzing with the news that £2.6 million has been stolen in the Great Train Robbery. Most of the gang have been captured but Buster Edwards and Bruce Reynolds are still on the run. There was only one witness to the robbery - Eric Smith, whose van had broken down on the way back from a DJ job in Leighton Buzzard! Convinced that Reynolds
Booking Information Tickets: £12.50 - £17.50 Group Discount: £2.00 off for ten or more First Night Fever All seats £11.50 (no concessions) Tues 17 Aug Under 26s Go Free: (see page 38) Concessions: £2.00 off (see page 49)
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and Edwards are in hiding in Italy, the police send Eric there to identify them. He’s soon on the plane with Madge but, when they arrive, they’re caught up in an even bigger heist - The Italian Job. Car chases, explosions, a bus hanging over a sheer mountain pass - you're probably not expecting any of that! Will Eric be a national hero and catch the Great Train Robbers? Will Michael Caine be making a guest appearance in the show? How do the cast know a load of great 60s hits that weren't even written in 1963? The answers to all these questions and many more will be studiously avoided in Uncle Eric’s Italian Job. And not alot of people know that!
Best seats for just £12.00! (see p 30)
Uncle Eric’s back again for another helping of mirth, music and merriment!
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plays
the 60s musical that’s guaranteed to blow the ****** doors off!
Uncle Eric’s Italian Job
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Plays Packages
Summer see more;
Buy one PLAY, get another HALF PRICE! Buy two PLAYS get another FREE! Choose from these great plays:
Rafta Rafta; Bleak House; and either Alphabetical Order or Copenhagen. Any seat, any night, change your performance at any time.D = And, if you book our Buy Two Get Another Free play package, you can choose from all this as well:W • • • • •
Humble Boy Men of the World Girls Night Alphabetical Order or Copenhagen Uncle Eric’s Italian Job
£12.00 £12.00 £12.00 £12.00 £12.00
or or or or or
£12.50t £12.50t £12.50t £12.50t £12.50t
Four friends for £50! Michael Frayn mini-rep
Four tickets for just £50 - a great Buy one get one half-price when you value, great night out with friends. see both Frayn plays!D Any play, any seats Monday - Friday (not Men of the World or Uncle Eric’s Italian Job)
D Package price based on top price band only; free or half-price tickets to be same value or less than paid-for tickets; matinees excluded; cannot be combined with other concessions or offers (inc First Night Fever); must be booked in a single transaction. W1 ticket per package. =More than 3 days prior to the performance. t £12.00 Monday to Thursday; £12.50 Friday & Saturday. All sales subject to availability and Box Office Manager’s discretion.
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One-Nighter Packages
r Savings!
; save more!
Buy one EVENT, get another HALF PRICE! Buy two EVENTS get another FREE!
Choose from these great acts:
Kungsbacka Piano Trio; Maggie Bell; Doric Quartet; Courtney Pine; Ballet Wales; Ludwig String Trio; Tangomotion. (see page 30 for conditions)
Book our ‘Buy Two Get Another Free’ event package and choose from all this as well!W • Any additional concert for just £13.00 each • Under 16s tickets for one night events as indicated just £6.50 (1 ticket per event per package)
Special nights out make special presents!
- why not give someone special nights at the theatre with a New Vic Gift Voucher? Just ask our Box Office.
Gift Vouchers
Friends Membership - got a friend who’s a real fan of theatre? Why not
make them one of our Friends - from just £15 a year. See page 41 for New Vic Friends details.
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Come round for a
One Nighter! Tues 4 May
MAGGIE BELL, DAVE KELLY AND THE BRITISH BLUES QUARTET
Few bands have such big reputations, huge experience and truly fabulous voices! A special night of soul and blues, classics and driving rock ‘n’ roll. Maggie Bell, Scotland's Queen of Soul, founder member of legendary Stone the Crows and one of the truly great blues singers. Slide guitar wizard Dave Kelly, founder member of The Blues Band.
Blues
They’re joined by some incredible musicians: Colin Allen on drums (Stone the Crows, John Mayall, Bob Dylan); the one and only Zoot Money, founder of the legendary Big Roll Band, on keyboards; Colin Hodgkinson, long time bass man with Alexis Korner, Spencer Davis and Chris Rea; and guitarist Miller Anderson, founder member of the Keef Hartley Band who has toured and recorded with Spencer Davis, Ian Hunter, T Rex, Mountain, Savoy Brown and Donovan. £13.00 / £16.00 / £17.50 / Under 16s Go Free
Jazz “….top of his form…” The Independent
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Tues 1 June “Pine is superb…” The Guardian
COURTNEY PINE
Saxophonist Courtney Pine has earned a place among the true greats of jazz. On his latest tour he visits the New Vic with his critically acclaimed Transition in Tradition album set. Pine pays tribute to the first great saxophone star, Sidney Bechet, with a medley of musical and cultural contrasts rooted in Bechet’s Creole heritage. He has put together a seriously heavyweight musical line-up that draws influences from Africa, the Caribbean, South America and Europe with Cameron Pierre guitar, Robert Fordjour drums, Zoe Rahman piano, Darren Taylor bass, and Omar Puente electric violin. £16.00 / £17.50 / cons / Under 16s Go Free
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Weds 7 July “These young ballet pioneers deserve wider support. Catch them if you can.” Dancing Times
INDEPENDENT BALLET WALES
One Nighters
Photo Peter Tiegan
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Dance
GISELLE
The Critics Circle Award-winning company returns with a breathtaking version of one of the most famous ballets of all time. Peasant girl Giselle kills herself when she discovers that her young lover is, in reality, the married Count Albrecht. Seeking revenge, she rises from the dead but, as a repentent Albrecht visits her moonlit grave, protects him until the dawn sees him safe once more.
With the original stunning score by Adolphe Adam, outstanding classical dancers and expansive choreography by award-winner Darius James, expect a thrilling and entertaining night of dance.
Visit our website for more on all these artists
£12.00 / £14.50 / £16.00 / cons / Under 16s Go Free
Dance
Mon 19 July
TANGOMOTION
"simply electrifying”The Scotsman
A breathtaking journey into the heart of Tango with four outstanding dancers, the brilliant musicians of Tango Siempre, and the stunning Argentinean singer Guillermo Rozenthuler! With virtuoso displays of traditional tango dance and the exquisite sounds of 1930’s Buenos Aires,Tangomotion captures the authentic, passion and soul of Tango Argentino. The Tangomotion dancers have appeared in the film, Evita, a Covent Garden production of Carmen, and the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. £14.50 / £16.00 / cons / Under 16s Go Free “intense, epic and beautiful” Independent on Sunday
Performance in the round
Performance on three sides
Directional performance with some element of front and back
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Music in the Round series “Is there a better Trio ensemble in Western Europe?” The Strad
Mon 12 April
KUNGSBACKA PIANO TRIO We’re delighted to welcome this outstanding trio back to the New Vic.Their dynamism, openness and conviction in performance is inspiring and speaks directly to audiences. HAYDN Piano Trio in C No.27 SCHUMANN Piano Trio No.2 in F Op.80 COPLAND Vitebsk DVORÁK Piano Trio No.4 in E minor Op.90 Dumky Pre-Concert Talk: Pianist Simon Crawford-Philips looks at the way folk music influenced the composers and works featured in tonight’s concert.
Weds 12 May
DORIC QUARTET The Doric Quartet is now firmly established as one of the outstanding quartets of their generation having won first prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition 2008. The quartet has a particular affinity for the music of Haydn, evident in their performance of his work. HAYDN Quartet in E flat Op.76 No.6 BRITTEN Quartet No.2 in C Op.36 SCHUMANN Quartet No.3 in A Op.41 No.3 Hear them at www.doricstringquartet.com
“Great wisdom and no self-indulgence” The Strad
Classical
Pre-Concert Talk: Cellist John Myerscough takes a more in-depth look at the music in tonight’s programme and shares the reasons behind the quartet’s great affinity to Haydn’s music.
Weds 14 July
LUDWIG STRING TRIO There’s nothing like watching good friends doing what they love most: playing music. If those friends also happen to be world class musicians, magic happens. We’re delighted to welcome the Ludwig String Trio again with a programme that includes possibly Mozart’s greatest piece of chamber music, his Divertimento. MOZART Duo for violin and viola in B flat K.424 BEETHOVEN String Trio in E flat Op.3 MOZART Divertimento in E flat K.563
Save up to £22.50
Each concert: £12.00 / £16.00 / £17.50 / cons / Under 16s Go Free Music in the Round Subscription Series:All three concerts for just £30.00
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plays
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the author’s birth and already eight months in the planning, we sprinkle some New Vic fairy dust on J M Barrie’s great classic of children’s literature. Second to the right, and then straight on ‘til morning - that's the way to Never Never Land. Fly away with the boy who would not grow up to a magical island filled with adventure. Meet a real fairy, mermaids,Wendy and the lost boys. Beware the wicked Captain Hook. And don’t forget to listen out for the ‘tick tock’ of a very hungry crocodile.
The same artistic team that created our dazzling The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is producing Peter Pan especially for New Vic audiences. Join us for our most spectacular Christmas yet! 35 | newvictheatre.org.uk
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Events
Exhibitions Dan Matthews Inspired by Nature 22 March - 17 April
Photographs inspired by a love and appreciation of nature, and the beauty it provides, from panoramic landscapes, to detailed close-ups of natural forms.
19 April - 15 May
Richard Thorley In the City Art is the understanding of shapes and colours. I break an image up into its intricate details and then add the colour to get the best from the picture
The Sentinel Local News and Views 17 May - 12 June
Historic front pages from The Sentinel archives.
28 June - 24 July
Half-hour music classes for babies and youngsters aged 6 months to 4 years - action songs and rhymes, musical games, music movement and percussion fun - will run on Weds and Fri mornings from10am onwards during term-time at the New Vic Theatre. Please contact 01785 814077 for details.
Bleak House: Unravel the Crime
Sat 8 May 11.00 am – 4.00 pm
Come looking for clues at our crime scene and work out whodunnit.
The best of contemporary and traditional crafts from North Staffs Guild of Craftsmen.
The New Vic Staff Hidden Talents 26 July - 28 August
Members of the New Vic staff show their artistic side. • Check with Front of House department for dates of exclusive preview nights for any of our exhibitions. • To exhibit your work here, receive Preview Night invitations, please contact Front of House on: 01782 717954 ext 311.
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Monkey music
Weekly Term-time Classes
Craft Fair
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Community
WorkSpace one year on It’s a year since the opening of our new community building,WorkSpace. A busy twelve months has seen more than 1,000 local young people working in the building.
Strathcross, a theatre-group for people with learning difficulties, Chesterton Youth Centre, New Vic Youth Theatre, Longton High School, Sandon Business and Enterprise College – just some of the dozens of groups that have been using the state-of-the-art studio. And it’s safe to say that WorkSpace has been appreciated: “it’s lifted us to another level”;“I’ve raised my game”;“I’m really chuffed that we have a building especially for us” - typical reactions from youngsters working in the building. And WorkSpace has had the thumbs up from visiting professionals. Film Director and Appeal Patron, Mike Leigh, dropped in last November and liked what he saw. Comedian and TV Presenter Nick Hancock, also a Patron, joined in a New Vic Borderlines session with some local young people. “This work is crucial” he commented. The Building Futures Appeal is ongoing with our next target to establish a £1 million fund securing the future of our life-changing work. Every penny we raise makes a difference and every penny directly supports our work with local people.
Help us build a better future
We’re grateful for every gift, whether for £50, £500 or £5,000. Every penny makes a difference and takes us closer to our target.
For more information on how you can help the Building Futures Appeal please contact: Nick Jones on 01782 717954
APPEAL PATRONS
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE Playwright & Theatre Director Peter Cheeseman CBE Theatre Director Emeritus Sir Brian Fender CMG Chair of Trustees Nick Hancock Comedian & TV Presenter Gwenda Hughes Theatre Director Sue Johnston Actress Mike Leigh OBE Playwright & Film Director Jon Moulton Former Stoke Inhabitant Barrie Rutter Actor Manager Graham Stow CBE Company Director Kevin Whately Actor We gratefully acknowledge support from The Foyle Foundation Arts Council England Garfield Weston Foundation Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council The Rayne Foundation Staffordshire Environmental Fund Staffordshire County Council The Moulton Charitable Foundation PRINCIPAL SPONSORS Gladman Developments Ltd. MAJOR SPONSORS Knights solicitors llp FOUNDATION SPONSORS hacking ashton LLP Wardell Armstrong
Howsons Chartered Accountants Waterworld
Engineering & Environmental Solutions
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FREE
THEATRE TICKETS FOR UNDER 26S
FIND OUT MORE ON
01782 717962
Terms and conditions apply, see the website for full details
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Spoil yourself!
Information
t h e a t r e Home-made food at
restaurant
value for money prices.
Enjoy lunch or a pre-show meal with friends. Have a drink at the bar. Or simply spoil yourself with a cuppa and a delicious cake. If you’re coming for a pre-show dinner, why not call 01782 717954 ext. 325 and reserve a table? supplied by Snacks - 10am - ’til 3.30pm Lunch - Noon ’til 2pm Closed - 3.30pm - 5.30pm Dinner - 5.30pm - 7.30pm Beverages - 5.30pm ’til interval (Bar ’til 11pm)
Tableware generously
Wherever possible, the New Vic uses local produce and ingredients.
drink
Avoid the drinks rush! Pre-order drinks using the interval slips provided at the bar.
treat
Little extras
theatre shop
The Theatre Shop is a treasure trove of unusual greetings cards, handmade jewellery and unique gifts. Just right for your birthday gifts, special occasions or even just to treat yourself.
Enjoy theatre?
Volunteering
Like to get more involved?
Why not join the New Vic Vols?
As a New Vic Vol you’d be joining like-minded, local people who love theatre and give their time freely as part of our Front of House Department. You might welcome patrons and show them to their seats, sell programmes and sweets, or help deliver publicity. You’d learn a lot about theatre, meet people and make a real contribution to the New Vic. Interested? For more information contact David Sunnuck: Tel: 01782 717954 (ext 311) email: dsunnuck@newvictheatre.org.uk
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Making new friends! The word seems to be spreading and, with almost 200 people now involved, New Vic Friends is going from strength to strength. With more members than ever, we hope the growing popularity of the Friends means we’re offering the right kinds of events and activities. We’ve certainly been busy! Last November’s trip to Birmingham to see Felicity Kendal in Mrs Warren’s Profession and to spend a few after-show hours in the wonderfully atmospheric German market was a packed and enjoyable event despite relentless rain! And our legendary Twelfth Night Party in January was the best attended and most memorable thus far. Many thanks to those members of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and And a Nightingale Sang companies who provided the entertainment – not forgetting the New Vic staff who were involved in lots of the music. And, if you want to know what German Catchphrase is, you’ll have to come next year.
“
We had a lovely time at the Twelfth Night party, there was a really nice atmosphere and it was great to feel like part of the extended New Vic family. 40 | newvictheatre.org.uk
”
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Community For the summer, following open rehearsals for And a Nightingale Sang and The Canterbury Tales, we’re continuing to offer the opportunity to take a fascinating peek into the process of making theatre. This time, we join Artistic Director,Theresa Heskins, as she rehearses her adaptation of Dickens’ masterpiece Bleak House.
Why not make your friend a 'Friend'?
There’s also the chance to attend dress rehearsals for our own productions, a Spotlight session with our Stage Management Team and, in April, a New Vic Friends trip to Theatre Clywd to see the huge Alan Bennett hit, The History Boys. En-route, we’ll be spending a couple of hours in Llangollen, plenty of time to explore the town and enjoy a pot of tea. The trip is sure to be popular, so make sure to book soon.
For details of how to make your friend a Friend contact Marketing on 01782 717539.
We’re looking forward to seeing you round at the New Vic this summer.
Do you know someone who would enjoy being a New Vic Friend? A Friends membership is a thoughtful gift they can enjoy all through the year.
Events Diary
Dress Rehearsals Alphabetical Order : Copenhagen : Bleak house :
Weds 19 May Thurs 27 May Fri 2 July
Open Rehearsal Bleak House : 2.30 Thurs 3 June
Spotlight Stage Management Tues 6 April 2 - 4pm Company Stage Manager Struan Sewell shares the usual and not so usual routines that are part of the role of Stage Management and will include a tour of the theatre.
Theatre Trip Sat 24 April History Boys at Clywd Theatr Cymru and trip to Llangollen Depart 9.00am returning approx. 6.30pm
For information on the New Vic Friends call 01782 717539 or email:kwilson@newvictheatre.org.uk website:www.newvictheatre.org.uk
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Community Borderlines projects
MARCH Forced Marriage Conference A conference looking at issues surrounding forced marriages. Honour Violence Tour A county-wide tour, in partnership with the Home Office Forced Marriage Unit, of the interactive play All Our Daughters? APRIL Diversity & Equality Week - New Vic Borderlines will be working with the ESOL group from Stoke-on-Trent College towards presenting a unique and eclectic theatre presentation, for Diversity Week in April. MAY Care Ambassadors Conference 2010 - An exciting ‘hands on’ conference for young people thinking of working in social care. JUNE World In Our Street – Working with communities in Staffordshire, exploring the different characters we come across in our daily lives.
A Question
of Honour
Many little girls have at one time or another dreamt about their big day. But for thousands of young people, the wedding of their dreams has been replaced by a nightmare. Borderlines Director Sue Moffat speaks to us about a project breaking through the secrecy surrounding forced marriage… Each year, it is estimated that thousands of British citizens are forced into marriages against their will, under threat of shaming their family, or in extreme cases, threat of death. And when plans go awry, the consequences can be devastating.
AUGUST Play in a Week – Make a play in a week, having fun creating characters and stories.
In February, headlines were made by 16-year-old Medine Memi. Her body was discovered in a hole in the garden of her home in a small village in Turkey. Her hands had been tied behind her back, and due to the large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, was thought to have been buried alive. Her father and grandfather were arrested, suspected of murdering Medine for staining the family honour. Her crime? Speaking to boys on the telephone.
SEPTEMBER United Nations’ Holocaust Memorial Day Foundation Day – Working with local schools to explore the themes of Holocaust Memorial Day 2011.
And it’s not just women who are affected.A local Cobridge man was the victim of an ‘honour’ killing when he was shot dead in Pakistan. He had supported his daughter when she refused to enter into a forced marriage with a man she didn’t know.
JULY Summer Projects – Working with various groups of young people, including our Young People’s Theatre Company, over the Summer Holiday period making and showing stories.
For further information about any New Vic Borderlines project contact Adhia Mahmood on: 01782 717954 Ext 309 or email amahmood@newvictheatre.org.uk
“The stories are shocking,” starts New Vic Borderlines Director Sue Moffat, whose team is working with the Home Office Forced Marriage Unit to expose so called ‘honour’ violence. “But this is not about arranged marriages, which is a wholly separate thing. Nor to do with religion. Neither Islam nor Hinduism condones forced marriage.” Piloting in Staffordshire and devised by Borderlines, All Our
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Community Daughters? is a trailblazing project taking the issues to people in a unique way – using drama and workshops to raise awareness amongst not just the professionals, but thousands of children.
Education Projects
“Honour-related crime stands out from other forms of violence because of its collective nature: actions are often condoned and kept secret by the family and community.Young people are particularly vulnerable.” explains Sue.“Children can literally disappear from schools and no one bats an eyelid because they think it is part of the culture to go abroad and get married.”
We work with students and teachers promoting drama across the curriculum, both as a means of learning and as a vibrant and vital subject in its own right. We are happy to develop bespoke pojects and we’d like to hear from you with ideas big and small for your school.
“The reality is, it is often a school friend, or a teacher who can play an enormous part in spotting a problem.” “We want to put forced marriage on the agenda so that young people know how to support each other, or get access to support, and so families can avoid the painful consequences of forcing children into situations they are not happy with.”
FOR SCHOOLS
Local Links We hold regular meetings for primary teachers working in Newcastle borough.These offer a chance to hear more about our work, learn new drama techniques to use in the classroom, and network with other teachers.We also value your feedback and ideas for future projects. FOR CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE
The first project of its kind in the UK, All Our Daughters? sees the specially-devised drama – based on the testimonies of local women – travel to Staffordshire schools, colleges and community venues, with a national conference at the New Vic.
Tale Trail Interactive story time sessions for pre-school children aged 3 and over and their parents or carers. Mondays 10-11am (school term time).
Says Sue,“All the partners we work with recognise that somebody has to lead the way. It’s testament to them that Staffordshire will be the first to experience this scheme, which will hopefully be delivered nationwide.”
Drama Club Saturday morning drama sessions for children aged 6-10. A chance to be creative, have fun and make new friends. Saturdays 10-11 or 11.15-12.15 (school term time)
However the Borderlines Director admits there is a danger that the project may be used as another stick with which to beat minorities already under fire.
Youth Theatre Create, watch and explore theatre in weekly after-school sessions for 10-12s, 13-15s and 16-18s
“This is not a question of religion,” states Sue emphatically. “Primarily there are specific communities affected, but it affects society as a whole.We are looking at the wider issues – of friendship and human rights.
Holiday Projects We have holiday projects for 7-16 year olds in Easter, Half Term and Summer! Keep checking the website or contact us for more information!
“You could argue that, in our own royal family, there have been occasions where ‘honour’ and family reputation has come before individual choice – leading to personal suffering for those involved. There are ‘codes of honour’ that exist in all our families and communities. It’s essentially about having the right to choose.”
FOR ADULTS
A national conference will be held at the New Vic Theatre on Thurs 4 March. All Our Daughters? tour runs from Mon 8 March – Thurs 1 April. For more information contact Adhia Mahmood on 01782 717954 ext 309 or email amahmood@newvictheatre.org.uk.
Check our web page for more information or contact Lynn Parry. Tel: 01782 717954 Ext 356 Email: lparry@newvictheatre.org.uk
Revolve Our group for adults interested in gaining behind-the-scenes insights into our productions.
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Kitchen sink
dramatist She was inspired by a Pontins bluecoat and wrote a worldwide phenomenon at her kitchen table. We speak to Where the Heart Is writer and creator of Girls Night, Louise Roche, about her incredible rise to fame…
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Blimey. As confessions go, this is a bit like Nigella revealing that she was inspired to cook by the local burger van – an unsettling admission, but one which ultimately reassures that even super achievers have to find inspiration somewhere. Still, there are few playwrights who can claim a Shane Richie musical changed their life. “It was my epiphany moment!” assures Louise Roche, the Milton Keynes-based playwright,TV writer and creator of international phenomenon Girls Night, who only a decade ago was a stay-athome mum, scribbling down story ideas on the back of a shopping list. It's a career trajectory other writers dream of.Yet Roche, with her perfectly coiffed bob and warm, effervescent
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feature manner, still seems genuinely astonished by her own achievement. "It’s pretty incredible," she says. "I never thought I would be a writer, despite the fact it’s something I’ve always done. Some people drink – I write! It’s the cheapest therapy out there." Indeed, everything is coming up rosé for Roche, for whom it once seemed success was beyond her grasp. Despite penning a novel at university and spending years sending off scripts to TV series, Roche was still an unpublished author in 2000. Until a chance night out at the theatre focused her efforts. “It was the moment I really started to take it seriously,” says the playwright of her fated trip to see former Pontins bluecoat Richie. “I was sat there surrounded by hundreds of women and thought – ‘Why wait for TV to say yes when I can do it myself ’!”
hour window of peace and quiet where I would sit at the table and write like a mad thing.” “I hadn’t written a play before so I didn’t know what the rules were. But I wanted to write about people like me, living real, messy, ‘ normal’ lives." With her own record collection providing inspiration, using “all the tunes that I used to sing into a hairbrush”, Roche painstakingly put together her musical comedy, following five life-long, 40-something friends on a karaoke night out. Finally written, and under husband Randle’s direction, Girls Night premiered at the aptly named local community theatre, Madcap. For one night only, friends turned actors, Roche turned set designer. Even a pal from playgroup designed the poster. It was an engaging DIY aesthetic that caught the imagination of local theatregoers.
She rushed home and, between changing nappies and preparing the potatoes, sat down at the kitchen table and got writing. A previous production of Girls Night An urban legend featuring Shobna Gulati was born “Everyone laughs when I tell them that it all started in my kitchen with three toddlers at my heels, but it’s true!”smiles Roche.“My husband Jack (Randle) used to take the kids out on Saturday mornings, so I’d have this little two-
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“People went bananas! We were selling tickets from home and our line was almost permanently engaged.We sold out almost straight away. “Afterwards I kept on meeting people in the supermarket asking when we were doing it again.” Demand saw Louise investigating larger venues, until her hand was forced by entrepreneurial husband Jack, then a primary school teacher. “He rang me up from the PE cupboard telling me he had booked Milton Keynes Theatre. I went mad, actually. It was a huge risk.The place has 1400 seats and we had to sell out just to break even. “So I spent two months going round the city centre with the kids in a double buggy, handing out flyers.”
It was a typical demonstration of Roche’s sheer optimism and gutsy determination, the likes of which mean you can’t help but root for her. Of course, the couple’s punt paid off. The musical comedy sold out, bringing the 46 | newvictheatre.org.uk
house down with it. Buoyed by “the most nerve-wracking and magical evening I’ve ever experienced in a theatre”, Roche made an audacious appeal for financial backing to the theatre board’s chairman. A professional tour was soon underway. Thus began the giddy, careening life of Girls Night, whose rise and rise illustrates the unconditional ardor of theatregoers when they fall in love, not to mention the unfaltering energy of a woman on a mission. Ten years older and wrinkle free, Girls Night is a worldwide hit that continues to snow-, or should I say, disco-ball; be it quaffing Babycham in Belfast, dancing around handbags in Korea or throwing serious shapes in the States, where it is currently enjoying an extended New York run. But then, I propose, is Girls Night not that very rare thing, a play centred on adult women, who are not mere functions to propel, thwart, complicate or decorate the story of a man? And that even rarer thing, a warm and optimistic play about working class women? Pepper it with gratuitous Gloria Gaynor and you have something with unique appeal. “I’ve written lots of other plays, but Girls Night just won’t go away” considers Roche. “It’s not a complicated story, but it’s the
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feature substance of every woman’s life: motherhood, divorce, infidelity, work, and all the funny things we talk about. “Sometimes I sneak into the loo when I’m watching a performance and usually the conversation is about which one of their friends is like a certain character. I put it down to the fact that they are all based on women I’ve met. One character is a really good friend of mine who’s a party animal. Another is a neighbour who used to wander up and down the streets in her dressing gown…”
“Except, because I had no money and a tin can of a car, I’d usually roll up on the back of a pick -up vehicle. He’d look out of the window and think, here she is again!”
“I’m not terribly high brow”, laughs Roche. “I’m just interested in ordinary lives – families, strong women, flawed women.”
Roche pauses for a moment.“Actually, perhaps I should be counting myself lucky to have known so many women who are completely bonkers!” After travelling the world, Louise and Jack are back where, for them, it all started. Roche’s excitement peaks at the mention of the New Vic and a return to where the couple spent most of their early courtship. “My husband was a member of Peter Cheeseman’s company during the eighties - I have very fond memories of the New Vic Bar” chuckles Roche, with a twinkle.“At the time I was living in Leeds. I used to drive across to Staffordshire on a Saturday night, arrive really late when he’d finished performing and we’d go and have a drink.
There is no such calamitous return for Roche this time, whose life is now arguably more Bentley than banger.The success of Girls Night may have brought Roche financial security and the confidence to succeed as a playwright, seen her become a sought-after TV writer, with a new screenplay in the pipeline, but the kitchen-based writer is still decidedly unconceited about her talent.
“I’m not terribly high brow”, laughs Roche.“I’m just interested in ordinary lives – families, strong women, flawed women. Maybe one day I will write a big play about some grand issue, but for now I’m more interested in the way people just get by.” I point out that she may want to invest in a new writing desk. She slaps the kitchen table and laughs.“It’s my good luck charm. Having a new table could mean the end of my career, so it’s best I stick with it. For the time being at least.” “Besides” she smiles broadly,“I reckon Shane Richie would kill for one of these.”
Girls Night runs from Fri 30 April to Sat 15 May
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Features
The Questionnaire What’s the one item you couldn’t live without? Coffee and chocolate! I’d love to be girly and say mascara or hair straighteners but it’s got to be my caffeine fix. What was the last thing that made you laugh? My 4 year-old son, Charlie. We were watching the local darts team practise when he was asked if he wanted to have a try, to which he replied,“No,‘cos I’m not old enough!” We asked him how old you have to be and he said loudly,“Really old – like them!” as he gestured to a group of red-faced players in their 40s… A phrase I use too often is… Sorry, I wasn’t listening. (Especially when my boss is talking!)
Mandy Fletcher takes a break from tickets, telephones - and the occasional tricky customer - to face the questions. Celebrating 13 years at the theatre this year, Mandy has welcomed thousands of theatregoers to the building as a member of our Box Office team. She lives in Scholar Green with her partner, Chris and son, Charlie… 48 | newvictheatre.org.uk
What’s the most surprising thing about you? I’ve discovered a hidden talent for proofreading! For some reason I can spot a spelling mistake, a wrong date or a dreaded misplaced apostrophe when others miss them. So, almost every piece of print passes by me before it leaves the building. What’s your most unappealing habit? I can be very stubborn at times! I may not always be right…but I’m never wrong. What's the funniest thing that has happened to you at work? Once, when asking a customer for their details I asked whether it was Miss or Mrs only to get the reply MR! It was awkward to say the least… What's your guiltiest shopping secret? Buying clothes, hiding them in the wardrobe and pretending that I’ve had them for years when my partner asks if they are new. And to the gentlemen who think this is terrible… almost every woman does it!
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Bookings /Access /Concessions
Bookings
In Person Box Office open Mon - Sat 10.00am to start of performance. Closes 6pm on non-performance nights. By Phone 24 hour booking service - 01782 717962 (answerphone out of Box Office hours). By Post Cheques payable to New Vic Theatre (cheque guarantee card number & expiry date on reverse), include SAE and send to: New Vic Theatre, Etruria Road, Newcastle-under-Lyme,Staffs,ST5 0JG. By Credit / Debit Card Quote number by telephone; show card on collection. Tickets booked by credit card are guaranteed sold and can be collected at any time or posted to you for 60p. Reservations held for 3 working days or 1 hr before performance whichever is earliest.We no longer accept Electron,Amex or Diners cards. Online Book online at www.newvictheatre.org.uk (£1 booking fee per ticket.) Exchanging Tickets We are sorry that no refunds can be made. 50p per ticket to exchange for another performance of same production - at least 3 days prior to date of original performance. Service free for package buyers.
New Vic Value
Groups & Schools Groups of ten or more £2.00 off top two price bands for New Vic productions unless otherwise stated. School groups £8.50 any seat, any performance, unless otherwise stated.
First Night Fever All seats £11.50 (no concessions).
Content
Productions may contain strong language and difficult content. Please check with Box Office prior to booking.
Late Admissions
Information
New Vic Productions (please book min. 3 days in advance).
Large-print cast sheets available on request. Guide dogs welcome.
Audio-introductions for all productions. Loan copies of play scripts available from the Box Office on request.
Please note that latecomers will not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance.
Tickets £7.50 Mon – Thurs; £10.00 Fri; £12.00 Sat for New Vic Productions; lowest advertised price less £2.00 concession (if available) for all other events.
The New Vic reserves the right to vary the advertised programme and facilities if necessary and apologises for any in convenience. E & OE
A Companion ticket at lowest advertised price (less concession if eligible) per disabled patron.
Access
Committed to providing access to the arts for all. U16s Go Free For nominated events, an under 16 admitted free with an adult paying full or concessionary price. Some events have adult content. Check when booking. U26s Go Free See page 38 for details. Disabled Patrons Free parking close to entrance (please call to reserve a space), automatic doors, lift to 1st floor, ramped access to auditorium, disabled toilets. Magnetic induction loop in auditorium (not available for amplified performances). Infra-red assisted hearing system. Captioned Performances for New Vic Productions.
Audio Described Performances for
A free Carer’s ticket for patrons in receipt of Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance. Concessions* £2.00 off ticket prices for all New Vic productions for the following: Children / Full Time Students / Over 60s / People in Receipt of Means-Tested Benefits / Disabled Patrons In addition, if you are in receipt of Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Social Fund, tickets are only £1 for Monday and Tuesday performances of New Vic productions *Conditions All concessionary tickets subject to availability; only one discount per ticket; proof of status may be required; no concessions for matinees or Saturday performances unless otherwise stated. **Maximum 2 tickets per person.
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Ticket prices
Calendar
Humble Boy, Men of the World, Girls Night,Alphabetical Order, Copenhagen, Rafta, Rafta, Bleak House Row A&PartG Row B&PartG Rows C-F
Mon - Thurs Full Price £9.50 £14.50 £16.00 £7.50 £12.50 £14.00 Concessions Fri & Sat Eve Full Price £12.00 £16.00 £17.50 Concessions* £10.00 £14.00 £15.50 Matinees Full Price £8.50 £8.50 £8.50 Concessions £6.50 £6.50 £6.50 F N Fever all seats £11.50 (no consessions) Groups (10+) N/A £2.00 off £2.00 off Schools groups= £8.50 £8.50 £8.50
Uncle Eric’s Italian Job
Row A&PartG Row B&PartG Rows C-F
Mon - Thurs Full Price £12.50 £14.50 Concessions £10.50 £12.50 Fri & Sat Eve Full Price £14.00 £16.00 Concessions* £12.00 £14.00 F N Fever all seats £11.50 (no consessions) Groups (10+) N/A £2.00 off
* Fridays only = Any seat, any performance
£16.00 £14.00
£17.50 £15.50 £2.0
Ticket packages Summer Savings! See more; save more! Book one play, get another HALF PRICE! Book two plays get another FREE!
Choose from these great plays: Rafta Rafta; Bleak House; and either Alphabetical Order or Copenhagen;
Book one event, get another HALF PRICE! Book two events get another FREE!
Choose from these great acts: Kungsbacka Piano Trio; Maggie Bell; Doric Quartet; Courtney Pine; Ballet Wales; Ludwig String Trio;Tangomotion.
April Thurs 1 Fri 2 Sat 3 Mon 5 Tues 6 Weds 7 Thurs 8 Fri 9 Sat 10 Mon 12 Tues 13 Weds 14 Thurs 15 Fri 16 Sat 17 Mon 19 Tues 20 Weds 21 Thurs 22 Fri 23 Sat 24 Fri 30
May Sat 1 Mon 3 Tues 4 Weds 5 Thurs 6 Fri 7 Sat 8
Mon 10 Tues 11 Weds 12 Thurs 13 Fri 14 Sat 15
Humble Boy Theatre closed Humble Boy Theatre closed Humble Boy Humble Boy Humble Boy Humble Boy Humble Boy Kungsbacka Trio Humble Boy Humble Boy Humble Boy Humble Boy Humble Boy Men of the World Men of the World Men of the World Men of the World Men of the World Men of the World Girls Night Girls Night Theatre closed Maggie Bell & Dave Kelly Girls Night Girls Night Girls Night Craft Fair Girls Night Girls Night Girls Night Doric Quartet Girls Night Girls Night Girls Night
Talkback
First Night Fever
7.30
7.30
2.15
2.15
7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30
2.15
7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 11.00 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30
Captioned Performances
Audio Described Performances
Price band map
Four friends for £50!
Four tickets for just £50 – a great value, great night out with friends. Any seats, any play Monday - Friday
See pages 30/31 for full details.
50 | newvictheatre.org.uk
Rows A & part G Row B & part G Rows C – F
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Information Thurs 20 Fri 21 Sat 22 Mon 24 Tues 25 Fri 28 Sat 29 Mon 31
7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30
Alphabetical Order Alphabetical Order Alphabetical Order Alphabetical Order Alphabetical Order Copenhagen Copenhagen Theatre closed
June Tues 1 Weds 2 Thurs 3 Fri 4 Sat 5
Courtney Pine Copenhagen Alphabetical Order Copenhagen Alphabetical Order Copenhagen Mon 7 Alphabetical Order Tues 8 Copenhagen Weds 9 Alphabetical Order Thurs 10 Copenhagen Fri 11 Alphabetical Order Sat 12 Copenhagen Alphabetical Order Weds 16 Rafta Rafta Thurs 17 Rafta Rafta Fri 18 Rafta Rafta Sat 19 Rafta Rafta Mon 21 Rafta Rafta Tues 22 Rafta Rafta Weds 23 Rafta Rafta Thurs 24 Rafta Rafta Fri 25 Rafta Rafta Sat 26 Rafta Rafta
2.15
2.15
2.15
7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30
7.30 7.30
7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30
July Sat 3 Mon 5 Tues 6 Weds 7 Thurs 8 Fri 9 Sat 10 Mon 12 Tues 13 Weds 14 Thurs 15 Fri 16 Sat 17 Mon 19 Tues 20 Weds 21 Thurs 22 Fri 23 Sat 24
Bleak House Bleak House Bleak House Ballet Wales Bleak House Bleak House Bleak House Bleak House Bleak House Ludwig String Trio Bleak House Bleak House Bleak House Tangomotion Bleak House Bleak House Bleak House Bleak House Bleak House
August Tues 17 Weds 18 Thurs 19 Fri 20 Sat 21 Mon 23 Tues 24 Weds 25 Thurs 26 Fri 27 Sat 28
Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job Uncle Eric’s Italian Job
2.15
7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30
And A Nightingale Sang Jan 2010
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How to get here Bus Bus stop outside theatre 34 & 34A: Newcastle & Hanley.
Rail
The nearest station is Stoke-on-Trent. Connections to Birmingham, Manchester, Derby, Stafford, Crewe. Enquiries: 08457 484950
Parking
Disabled
Please contact Box Office to arrange reserved, free parking
Coach / Minibus
Please contact Box Office to arrange reserved, free parking
Car £1 (free before 6.30pm and for four-in-a-car). Theatre is in residential area. Use car parks indicated. Theatre car park can be full at busy times! Leave time to use alternative parking approx 500 yards from theatre (see map). Cars parked at owners’ risk. N.B. don’t park at Polite Vicar wheel-clamping in force!
The New Vic gratefully acknowledges the following for their generous support:
The New Vic Theatre operates thanks to a unique partnership between Arts Council England, Staffordshire County Council, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council
253242 Charity Registration Number: Company Registration Number: 911924 Registered Office: Etruria Road, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 0JG
Box Office: 01782 717962
New Vic Theatre, Etruria Road, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffs, ST5 0JG