An evening of Nottingham Playhouse delights

As a supporter and theatre reviewer of the theatrically excellent Nottingham Playhouse I was invited along, with other guests, to the venue tonight to hear about their forthcoming Spring Season. Regular readers may well recall that I went along to another event earlier in the year to hear about the proposals and theatrical development of their new home grown show 'My Judy Garland Life'. More about this shortly. For more detailed background info on the writing process of My Judy Garland Life please link here.

From the Nottingham Playhouse marketing and publicity department.


'Find out more about our ambitious five theatre co-production of Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, a riot of a musical for riotous times. Looking ahead to autumn, we present a season inspired by the theme of time and memory. Our autumn shows include dazzling, time-spanning dramas from two master playwrights of the modern age:  J.B. Priestley’s Time and the Conways and Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. Our piece of new writing this autumn is Propaganda Swing, a toe-tapping new show from Peter Arnold which explores how music can be manipulated in the most evil of times.

Actors will deliver one short scene live on stage from Time and the Conways and Arcadia. We’ll also be interviewing the directors of both productions to find out more about their visions for the two shows.

Giles Croft, Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse will also be introducing elements for the neat2014 festival (Nottingham & European Arts Theatre Festival) which will run 23 May – 1 June.

We’ll be taking a look at our fantastic dance season which includes Richard Alston Dance Company, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, and the magnificent Ballet Boyz.'


I saw the Ballet Boyz last year at Derby Theatre and can certainly recommend a visit to their show. Read my review here. The Fabulous Beast piece looked totally un-missable. A fabulous blend of mask work, dance and performance art.

'Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy is set to be a huge hit when it reaches us in March. As part of our season launch, you will have an exclusive chance to see how this hilarious and heart-breaking play is shaping up in the rehearsal room.

Lucy Speed, best known for her roles in EastEnders and The Bill, and star of our Neville Studio show, co-produced with Fifth Word, Amateur Girl, by Amanda Whittington will be taking part in a Q&A session on stage.



And to wrap up the evening there will be a live duet from the two stars of My Judy Garland Life, Sally Ann Triplett and Faye Elvin, accompanied on stage by their actor-musician band.'

For an interesting read about the background into Amanda Whittington's work and development in taking the script form page to stage click here.

All exciting stuff and a fabulously varied programme for theatre goers in the Nottingham region and beyond. I do sincerely hope that you will support the Nottingham Playhouse and their excellent programme spring 2014 and beyond.

Phil Lowe