News: THEATRE ROYAL CELEBRATES NEW FACILITIES

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THEATRE ROYAL CELEBRATES NEW FACILITIES WITH ‘ROYAL’ OPENING BY ‘THE QUEEN’!

Double award-winning Newcastle Theatre Royal has officially unveiled its £600,000 backstage refurbishment by inviting ‘the Queen’ along to perform an official ribbon cutting ceremony.

Actress Susie Blake as “The Queen”

with Theatre Royal Chairman Ged Bell

Photo: Joanne Oliver for www.JoWhereToGo.com

The grand unveiling comes just as the theatre is celebrating a double national award win for its welcoming atmosphere. Newcastle Theatre Royal was named the My Theatre Matters! UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre of 2015 in the UK Theatre Awards, in association with Smooth Radio and was also presented with the Technical Theatre Awards’ ‘Receiving Venue Team of the Year’ just this month.

Actress Susie Blake as “The Queen”

with Theatre Royal Chairman Ged Bell

Photo: Joanne Oliver for www.JoWhereToGo.com

Staff at the theatre, decided that having ‘the Queen’ on stage all week in hit comedy Handbaggedwas too good an opportunity to miss and asked actress Susie Blake, who plays the role, if she would pop along in costume to officially unveil the newly refurbished facilities.

Susie Blake as The Queen

with Kate Fahy as Mrs Thatcher

Photo: Joanne Oliver for www.JoWhereToGo.com

Susie Blake, posing as ‘the Queen’ said: “It is particularly lovely to be performing the official opening of the backstage refurbishment following the recent announcement that Newcastle Theatre Royal has been crowned the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre 2015. Looking at these marvellous new facilities for the visiting actors it is clear to see why that accolade has been awarded.”

The backstage refurbishment has seen the theatre invest £600,000 in improved Dressing Room facilities, stripping out and renewing all the Dressing Rooms, the Band Rooms for musicians, the laundry, wardrobe and wigs rooms, and improved access and facilities for disabled performers. The ground floor has also been reconfigured with a striking new Stage Door area, and a brand new Green Room, with TV, wi-fi and a football table, and a kitchenette so visiting actors eat and relax in comfort.

Susie Blake as The Queen

with Kate Fahy as Mrs Thatcher

Photo: Joanne Oliver for www.JoWhereToGo.com

Newcastle Theatre Royal’s Chief Executive, Philip Bernays, added: “It’s great fun to have ‘the Queen’ here for our official opening ceremony today, but on a serious note the investment in our backstage facilities plays an important part in being able to attract the finest companies to the Theatre Royal so that our audiences can enjoy top quality theatre.

“Visiting actors regularly comment on how wonderful the team is here at Newcastle Theatre Royal and we are very proud of that reputation as a friendly and welcoming place for them to come; this is now backed up by our recent double award win, which is wonderful. Now our first class personal welcome is matched by our facilities and we hope that all of our visiting companies will enjoy the comfort of the new surroundings we provide for them.”

‘The Queen’ was joined at the official ceremony by ‘Margaret Thatcher’ played by fellow actress Kate Fahy and the pair posed for comedy shots in the new Green Room at Newcastle Theatre Royal while putting the new facilities to the test.

Actress Susie Blake as “The Queen”

with Theatre Royal Chairman Ged Bell

Photo: Joanne Oliver for www.JoWhereToGo.com

The two actors, who play the lead roles in the award-winning comedy Handbagged, will be using the facilities for real all week as the hit comedy plays to Newcastleaudiences. Handbagged is Moira Buffini’s celebrated new comedy, which speculates on what the Queen and Margaret Thatcher really talked about behind closed palace doors. When the stiff upper lip softened and the gloves came off, which one had the upper hand?

Read the North East Theatre Guide Review of Handbagged: http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/review-handbagged-at-newcastle-theatre.html

Photography by Joanne Oliver for www.JoWhereToGo.com photography. Follow Jowheretogo on Twitter https://twitter.com/JoWhereToGo& Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo.   

Tickets:

Handbagged plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal until Saturday 31 October. Tickets are from £12 (save 50p per ticket when you book online) and can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge) or book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk.

Preview: Handbagged at Newcastle Theatre Royal

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 Olivier Award-Winning Comedy Handbagged Set For Newcastle

Handbagged

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Monday 26^th – Saturday 31^st October 2015.

Direct from the West End, the smash hit comedy Handbagged is set for Newcastle Theatre Royal’s stage from Monday 26th – Saturday 31st October, when the relationship between two of the country’s strongest women is explored.

Handbagged - Susie Blake & Kate Fahy

Handbagged opens the clasp on the relationship between two giants of the 20th Century. The monarch - Liz. Her most powerful subject - Maggie. Two enduring icons born in the same year. One destined to rule, the other elected to lead. But when the stiff upper lip softened and the gloves came off, which one had the upper hand? Moira Buffini's celebrated new comedy speculates on that most provocative of questions: What did the world's most powerful women really talk about behind closed palace doors?

                              

Handbagged first premiered at the Tricycle Theatre in 2013 where it enjoyed a sell-out 7 week run, winning the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre (2014) and nominations for Best New Comedy and Best Ensemble Performance at the WhatsOnStage Awards (2014). The production transferred to the West End on 9 April 2014 where it ran for a strictly limited 17 week season and received an Olivier Award nomination for ‘Best New Comedy’ 2015.

Susie Blake

Susie Blake plays ‘Q’. Her many West End theatre credits include: When We Are Married (Garrick Theatre), Grumpy Old Women Live 2: Chin Up Britain (Novello Theatre and on tour), Madame Morrible in Wicked(Apollo Victoria), Noises Off(National Theatre, Piccadilly Theatre and UK tour); The Shakespeare Revue for the RSC (Barbican, Vaudeville Theatre and UK tour).

Kate Fahy plays ‘T’. Her theatre credits include: After Electra (Tricycle Theatre); The Goat(Almeida/Apollo Theatres); Grace, Goucho(Hampstead Theatre); and two years at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Recent television credits include: The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and film credits include: Archipelago, The Living and the Dead - for which she received best actress and best supporting actress awards.

Emma Handy plays ‘Liz’.  Her theatre credits include: Miss Julie (Chichester Festival), Thursday (Adelaide International Festival), The Boy Who Fell Into a Book(Soho Theatre, London Olympics 2012), Flare Path (Haymarket Theatre), Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness (Headlong),. Television and film includes: Wire in the Blood Series 2-7 and Velvet Goldmine.

Asif Khan plays Actor 1. His theatre credits include: Love, Bombs & Apples, Kabaddi, Kabdaddi, Kabaddi (Arcola); Multitudes (Tricycle); The Nutcracker, The Snow Queen (Unicorn); Queen of the Nile (Hull Truck). Television credits include: The Dumping Ground; Doctors; Dark Matters; Spooks; The Liquid Bomb Plot; Casualty and Going Postal.

Sanchia McCormack plays ‘Mags’. Her theatre credits include: The Broken Heart, Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare’s Globe); Minotaur (Theatre Clwyd/Polka).Television includes: The Tunnell; Doctors; Broadchurch; EastEnders; Big Bad World; Coronation Street; Law and Order.

Richard Teverson plays Actor 2. Theatre credits include: The Winslow Boy (Old Vic), The Doctors Dilemma (National Theatre), Cause Célèbre (Old Vic), After The Dance(National Theatre), The 39 Steps(Criterion Theatre). Television credits include: Downton Abbey, Coalition, Jamaica Inn, The Bletchley Circle, Spies of Warsaw, Dancing On The Edge, Upstairs Downstairs, The Roman Mysteries, Poirot-Five Little Pigs. Film credits include: Brideshead Revisited and Workhorse.

Moira Buffini’s plays include Wonder.land, a musical with Damon Albarn, for the Manchester International Festival and National Theatre, Women, Power And Politics for the Tricycle Theatre, Welcome To Thebes and Dinner for the National Theatre. Her screenplays include Tamara Drewedirected by Stephen Frears, Jane Eyre directed by Cary Fukanaga, and Byzantium directed by Neil Jordan. She recently directed her first short film, Father.

Indhu Rubasingham, Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre, directs. For the company, her work includes Multitudes, The House That Will Not Stand, Red Velvet (Tricycle/ St Ann’s Warehouse New York, Evening Standard Award and Critics’ Circle Award). She also received the Carlton Multi-Cultural Achievement Award for Performing Arts and in 2010 she jointly received the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award for The Great Game: Afghanistan. She was previously Associate Director of the Gate Theatre, Birmingham Rep and the Young Vic.

Designs are by Richard Kent, with lighting design by Oliver Fenwick, and sound design by Carolyn Downing. The production is presented by Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Tricycle London Productions and the Touring Partnership.

Tickets:

Handbagged appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Monday 26th – Saturday 31st October 2015. Tickets from £12 (pay 50p less per ticket when you book online).

Tickets can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21, (calls cost 7p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge) or select your own seat and book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk.

 

Preview: Return of the Grumpy Old Women at Darlington Civic Theatre

GRUMPY OLD WOMEN MAKE A WELCOME RETURN

Return of the Grumpy Old Women – Fifty Shades of Beige

Darlington Civic Theatre

Thursday 9 April 2015

Expect an evening of hilarity at Darlington Civic Theatre on Thursday 9 April. Come and bask in an orgy of fury and big laughs in this glorious live version of the hit TV show. 

Perrier award-winning comedian, writer and original star of Grumpy Old Women Jenny Eclair will be joined by fellow recruits Susie Blake (Mrs Brown’s Boys, Coronation Street) and actress and singer Kate Robbins (Where The Heart Is, Casualty) in this brand spanking new show.

This jam-packed show will include learning the art of ‘Grumpy Grooming’, the joy of large pants, a free nagging master class (how to get your own way without him even noticing), beards for women – which style will suit you?

Complimentary anger management workshop, middle aged drinking; the rules, navigating the smorgasbord of worry, voluntary euthanasia vs retirement, how to customise an unwanted pole dancing kit and a mercifully brief Zumba demonstration. All this and more! 

On The Web:

Website: www.grumpyoldwomenlive.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GOWLive

Tickets:

Return of the Grumpy Old Women – Fifty Shades of Beige is at Darlington Civic Theatre on Thursday 9 April at 7.30pm. Tickets* are priced £21.50 and £23.50.

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk