Preview: Chorus Of Disapproval at Newcastle People’s Theatre

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Let our Ayckbourn evergreen chase away those Autumn blues!

A Chorus Of Disapproval

Newcastle People’s Theatre

Tuesday 6^th to Saturday 10^th October 2015

Newcastle’s People’s Theatre are excited to start our new Season next week, kicking off with Alan Ayckbourn’s hilarious comedy A Chorus Of Disapproval.

Photos: Paula Smart

Shy widower Guy Jones (Colin Jeffrey) joins his local operatic society during their rehearsals for The Beggar’s Opera.

But for nice guy Guy who just can’t say no, the onstage dramas and off stage shenanigans are soon proving difficult to untangle.

Photos: Paula Smart

A Chorus Of Disapproval offers a fun-filled glimpse into the rehearsal rooms of PALOS (the Pendon Amateur Light Operatic Society). And if there’s something we know a little bit about, it’s amateur dramatics!

We’re not suggesting, of course, that members of the People’s Theatre go on like this lot with their illicit backstage affairs, a cuckolded director, prima donnas and a grumpy backstage team!

Prolific playwright Alan Ayckbourn recently directed his 79th play Hero’s Welcome at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre.

Photos: Paula Smart

In A Chorus Of Disapproval, which premiered in Scarborough in 1984 and subsequently transferred to the National Theatre, he ingeniously mirrors Gay’s story of the dashing highwayman Macheath with the amateur thespians and their own romantic entanglements. 

Director Chris Heckels comments “The PALOS players really do get themselves into a mess with their intrigues, back-biting, back-stabbing and sometimes full on aggression! But they have real emotion and enthusiasm too – director Dafydd and his company truly care about theatre and believe in its importance, which is something that we at the People’s can certainly relate to”.

The People’s Theatre can’t wait to welcome audiences back after our summer break with this smart, funny, fast-paced comedy of theatrical mishaps and misunderstandings.  

Tickets:

A Chorus Of Disapproval comes to The People’s Theatre from Tuesday 6^th to Saturday 10^th October 2015 at 7.30pm

Tickets: £13.50 (Concessions £11)
Box Ofiice: 0191 265 5020
Website: www.peoplestheatre.co.uk 

Preview of Newcastle People’s Theatre Autumn 2015 Season

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All change!

New Season, New Logo

NewcastlePeople’s Theatre

Autumn 2015.

As the People’s Theatre’s redevelopment programme moves forward to the next stage in their century-old history, they have decided that this would also be a good time to redesign their long-standing emblem, the phoenix.

This mythical bird of ancient legend is traditionally characterised as a brightly plumed creature which, after a long life, dies in a fire of its own making, only to rise again from its own ashes.

It first became our symbol after the theatre relocated from the city centre to Rye Hill in 1929.

This move to their third home since being founded in 1911 made the legendary symbol of rebirth and resurrection an appropriate one, and as the 1930s progressed it acquired a more Art Deco feel.

A further move to their present Heaton site in 1961 was to make the significance of the phoenix even more relevant to their story.

Very shortly after they vacated our old premises at Rye Hill, the deserted building burned down. Theatre member Jimmy Garbutt salvaged a few charred planks from the ruins, fashioning them into a representation of the legendary creature, which is still on display in their theatre today.

The version they’ve been using for the past few decades was designed in the 1960s and has served the theatre well, but they now feel that it’s time to move on.

So once again, the phoenix – like the People’s Theatre – is reborn and they are delighted with the new emblem, designed by Newcastle upon Tyne’s JUMP.

This announcement coincides with tickets going on sale for their October 2015 – February 2016 Season.

The phoenix may be new, but the People’s Theatre continue to present an eclectic mix of plays for their audiences.

Coming up in the new season are hard-hitting contemporary drama with a double-bill of Five Kinds of Silence by Shelagh Stephenson and The Zoo Story by Edward Albee in October, along with modern-life monologues in Ella Hickson’s Eight in February. There’s a new version by Nicholas Wright of the Chekhov classic Three Sisters in November, and an always popular Agatha Christie whodunit with Murder on the Nile in January.

Not forgetting, of course, the Pantomime in December. This year the People’s Theatre are excited to bring Beauty and the Beast to our stage, fun for the whole family and from the team behind last year’s sell-out hit Rapunzel.

It all kicks off in October with Alan Ayckbourn’s A Chorus of Disapproval, a rollicking comedy where backstage dramas threaten to overshadow the onstage antics of an amateur Operatic Society. Eagle-eyed readers looking through our new brochure may notice the play sporting a language and content warning. They want to reassure our audiences that this is an error and we are not presenting a radical new interpretation of this classic farce!

 

JUMP owner and Creative Director Lucy Batley, alongside People’s Theatre Marketing Manager Alisha Peart and some of the cast of our recent play The Fifteen Streets by Catherine Cookson, adpt. by Rob Bettinson.

Tickets

Tickets for all of the new Season plays (Oct ’15 – Feb ’16) are on sale now. To book please call the Box Office on 0191 265 5020 (option 2) or go online to www.peoplestheatre.co.uk

The redevelopment will create a new studio theatre, make the building more accessible, more environmentally friendly and allow better community access. For more information, and to make a donation, please visit www.peoplesfund.org.uk.