Regional Theatre, what are you watching?

[Kayemm]

I wondered if there would be interest in a thread about theatre that isn't London? Any theatre from the big ones to your local.

I have tickets for...

Operation Mincemeat at The Lowry
Road at The Royal Exchange
The Tempest, The Cherry Orchard, Driftwood and Arturo Ui at the RSC.
The Thrill of Love, a play about Ruth Ellis at Wigan Little Theatre.

I didn’t even know that. I didn’t book the tickets. What a fantastic job they made if it.

Going to see Operation Mincemeat in Sussex
And The Tempest at RSC Stratford

ooooho yes me too for The Tempest so excited! We don’t have our usual seats and I am behind a pillar :) but I think it will be fine <cranes neck>

Oh, saw an excellent production of The Tempest last year at Shakespeare North. Hadn't seen The Tempest in years (decades) so i was pleased to see it was getting an airing.

Tonight I watched Waiting For Godot at Bolton Octagon. Really good and well received by the audience. Lead roles were played by Matthew Kelly and George Costigan.

The High Life, musical revival of Alan Cumming and Forbes Mason’s 1990s sitcom. Very much not going to transfer south of the border, given the amount of very dated Scottish references but hilarious throughout and very OTT, pantomime esq. AC repeatedly breaks fourth wall, various BAFTAs and Traitors gags as well, and the “legacy” cast and new additions work well together.

also got a 10m bonus of AC and FM adlibbing while there was a technical issue. Peak gag of that was-

AC to an audience member: where are you from?
AM: Montrose
AC: i’m sorry
AM: Montrose
AC: I heard, I'm just sorry

ancient but hilariously done.

it was also the BSL interpreted performance. They had 2 interpreters given the amount of dialogue, asides etc, who were very much part of the show, uniforms etc, and now I know BSL for ginger.

I saw that production of Waiting for Godot and agree it was excellent- i thoroughly enjoyed seeing both actors.

Was that the one about the cabin crew @Medee ? I do remember it but am very far south so won’t be seeing it, but sounds good.

That's the one @ExcellentDaydreams - Air Scotia!

I saw the NT screening of All My Sons last night. Very powerful - recommended.

I enjoyed The Secret Garden at York. We commented it wasn't in the style of so many big production musicals but the cast was excellent and it had charm.

Only Sylvia at the Lowry to look forward to at the moment.

So did I, amazing wasn't it?

How do they do that 8 times a week??

@EwwSprouts I didn't love The Secret Garden - I thought the cast were excellent, but wasn't keen on the play itself which focused on the adults and their love triangle rather than the children and the healing power of nature, and I found that casting an adult as Dickon changed the time as well.

I saw the RSC touring Hamlet in York last night, and loved it - the staging was amazing!

Re RSC Hamlet. I saw this production and I agree the staging was on an ocean liner was visually stunning, although slightly at odds with the story line. I didn’t enjoy Ralph Davis as Hamlet though. Yes- madmen mutter to themselves but this is Shakespeare for goodness sake. You need to hear the words.
I was watching this thread to see if anyone else had seen it as I was interested to hear what they thought.

I saw this at Stratford last year and tbf it was not our favourite Stratford production… I felt he went mad very very quickly.

I thought the staging was interesting and for me, really highlighted how literally only Horatio is alive at the end, as the deck heaves with bodies. Unlike other Sh tragedies where there are usually a few more survivors.

Private Lives at the Royal Exchange last night. Lots of fun but do think Noel Coward is quite hard to pull off 'naturally' so not every performance - whilst very good - was 100%. Victor was excellent and the maid Louise was fabulous 👌 Lots of use of the revolving stage.

I though the set was excellent, particularly in the first half.

Saw Operation Mincemeat last night. I really enjoyed it, thought the staging was vey clever and the writing was good. There were some sound issues. The first act the voices sounded very echoey and most of the band was lost. I could only hear piano and some drums (toms?). The 2nd keyboard was lost totally It did improve a little in the 2nd half.

I wish I had sat in the stalls (dh prefers the circle) and I feel it is a show better seen in a smaller theatre. We both want to go see it in the West End now.

I saw OM on tour a few weeks ago and also struggled a bit with the first half, the venue is entirely stalls and the view was good but we were too far back and I also left thinking I’d like to see it again closer up, it’s a venue I hadn’t been to before. It is coming to another local theatre soon which I do go to regularly and I’m torn between that or West End sometime for a re-watch.

I've just booked for Bank of Dave at The Lowry.

Starstruck, a ballet based on one Gene Kelly created, since further developed by Scottish Ballet. A lovely meld of the balletic and jazzy, joyous!

Finally booked our Operation Mincemeat tickets. I’m also tempted by Amadeus, starring Michael Sheen.

I adore Come From Away. It’s just brilliant!

We saw Giant and Dog Day Afternoon in NYC in March but more recently and locally, have seen Mean Girls, The Bodyguard and Waitress at Sunderland Empire.

I saw The Bodyguard years ago and it was great but I thought this run was poor.

Mean Girls was excellent and Waitress was absolutely superb!

The two Broadways shows were wonderful too.

We have Little Shop of Horrors at Northern Stage in a couple of weeks and we’re going to book for Billy Elliott in Sunderland and Operation Mincemeat and Mrs Doubtfire at Newcastle Theatre Royal. I’ve not seen OM but have heard good things and the other two are favourites.

I may also book for Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man as I really enjoyed that a few years ago.

Back to Bolton Octagon last night for Teechers (by John Godber).

I really enjoyed Small Island in Nottingham last week. Excellent production.

I'm seeing Juliet Stevenson in a one woman thing about Jane Austen on Sunday in Buxton, then Malory Towers in Coventry next week, and Spitfire Girls in Scarborough the week after that.

@DisplayPurposesOnly was it good? I saw it years ago at Wigan Little Theatre and may be tempted again.

Off to Stratford on Thursday 😊