Production news round-up: Robert Icke to direct a new adaptation of Animal Farm and Tom Jones musical to premiere at Leeds Playhouse

This week’s round-up features a new adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm directed by Robert Icke, and the premiere of a musical featuring songs by Tom Jones at Leeds Playhouse.

Musicals

What’s New Pussycat?, a new musical featuring the songs of Tom Jones will premiere at Leeds Playhouse‘s Quarry Theatre from September 23 to October 31, with a press night on October 1. The musical is set in the 1960s and inspired by Henry Fielding’s 1749 novel, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling.
Author: Joe DiPietro (book)
Director: Luke Sheppard
Choreographer: Arlene Phillips
Design: Jon Bausor (set), Gabriella Slade (costume), Howard Hudson (lighting), Gareth Owen (sound)
Producer: Leeds Playhouse with Chris Harper and Flody Suarez

Tom Jones musical to premiere at Leeds Playhouse

Tyrone Huntley and Clare Halse have joined the cast of Hello, Dolly! at the Adelphi Theatre. They will appear alongside Imelda Staunton, Jenna Russell and Andy Nyman in the musical.
Author: Michael Stewart (book), Jerry Herman (music and lyrics)
Director: Dominic Cooke
Producer: David Ian and Michael Harrison

Imelda Staunton to star in new production of Hello, Dolly!

Plays

Robert Icke is to adapt and direct George Orwell’s Animal Farm, in a production that will tour the UK. The tour will begin from 2022, with a schedule still to be announced.
Author: George Orwell, Robert Icke (adaptation)
Design: Bunny Christie (set), Toby Olié (puppetry)
Producer: Children’s Theatre Partnership

Robert Icke to direct UK tour of George Orwell’s Animal Farm

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will embark on its third UK and Ireland tour. It will begin at the Lowry in Salford November 2020, visiting Sunderland, Bristol, Birmingham, Plymouth, Southampton, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Nottingham and Oxford, with further venues to be announced.
Authors: Mark Haddon (novel), Simon Stephens (adaptation)
Director: Marianne Elliott
Design: Bunny Christie (set), Paule Constable (lighting), Finn Ross (video), Adrian Sutton (music), Ian Dickinson (sound)
Producers: National Theatre and Trafalgar Theatre Productions

Casting for The Two Character Play has been confirmed, and will star David Dawson and Lyndsey Marshal. The play, a partly autobiographical work by Tennessee Williams, will run at London’s Hampstead theatre from April 24 to May 23.
Author: Tennessee Williams
Director: Sam Yates
Design: Rosanna Vize (set), Elliot Griggs (lighting), Dan Balfour (sound), Akhila Krishnan (video)
Producer: Hampstead Theatre

The world premiere of In Search of a White Identity will run at Tristan Bates theatre from March 27-28. The play explores what happens when three men of different cultures are “forced to face each other and their divergent political beliefs head-on when they find themselves held in a police cell”.
Author: Cliffordkuju Henry
Director: Victoria Evaristo
Cast includes: Drew Edwards, Clifford Henry, Ali Zaydi
Producer: The Actors Centre

Noughts and Crosses is set to embark on a UK tour this autumn. The play, adapted from Malorie Blackman‘s novel of the same name, will tour to venues including York Theatre Royal, Richmond Theatre, Birmingham Rep and Liverpool Playhouse. Casting is yet to be announced.
Author: Sabrina Mahfouz
Director: Esther Richardson
Producer: Pilot Theatre

Noughts and Crosses review at Derby Theatre – ‘compelling staging of Malorie Blackman’s novel’

Jon Culshaw will star as Bill Bryson in a new stage adaptation of the writer’s memoir, Notes from a Small Island. The play will have its premiere at Newbury’s Watermill Theatre, running from September 24 to October 31, with a press night on September 28, before touring to locations including Malvern, Richmond and Cambridge.
Further casting and a creative team are yet to be announced.
Author: Tim Whitnall (adaptation)
Director: Paul Hart
Producer: Simon Friend, Hanna Osmolska, Watermill Theatre

Simon Callow and Clive Francis will star in the world premiere of I’m Sorry Prime Minister I Can’t Quite Remember. The political satire open on June 18, with a press night on June 23 at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, ahead of a UK tour to Northampton, Oxford, Cheltenham, Salford and Malvern. Further casting, creative team and complete tour dates are yet to be announced.
Author/director: Jonathan Lynn
Producer: Cambridge Arts Theatre Productions