Kerry Michael celebrates his first anniversary as artistic director of Theatre Royal Stratford East with an exciting line up of shows for the new season.

Highlights of the season will include the return of ‘Bashment’, a hard-hitting, tender, painfully funny, and highly-topical play that uses the anti-gay lyrics of dancehall music as a starting point to explore such issues as racism, identity and victimisation. This will be followed by an exciting new play called ‘Gladiator Games’, a dramatisation of the Zahid Mubarek case, about a young man killed in the Feltham Young Offenders Institute.

Written and directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair, ‘Bashment’ returns to the stage in October after a four-week run earlier this year.

“We are bringing back ‘Bashment’ because we believe it is a very important and highly original play that needs to be seen by as many people as possible,” Kerry explained. “You can’t fail to be moved by it. It tackles difficult issues head-on with understanding and insight, yet also manages to be extremely entertaining and ultimately positive and uplifting.”

“In fact, ‘Bashment’ carries you on an emotional white-knuckle ride,” Kerry said, “that had audiences moved to tears one minute and wiping tears of laughter from their eyes the next.”

Then, in November, it will be the turn of ‘Gladiator Games’, by Tanika Gupta, and featuring the music of Nitin Sawhney. A joint production with Sheffield Theatres, ‘Gladiator Games’ traces the Mubarek family’s pursuit of the truth behind the death of Zahid, a young British Asian man who was attacked by his cellmate and later died of his injuries.

The play is based upon interviews and accounts given to the Feltham Inquiry, and asks why, on the eve of his release, Zahid was placed in a cell with a known racist. A discussion and debate will follow every evening performance, with the panel featuring key personnel involved with the inquiry.

There will also be an Open House on September 17-18, when members of the public will be invited to tour the Theatre Royal and see the architecture of the 19th century.

Then, on Saturday September 24th Theatre Royal gets the new season off to a hilarious start with a whole evening of some of the best stand up comedy around. ‘Asian Stand Up Comedy’ boasts an array of stars from the UK comedy circuit who, apart from being very funny, all have one other thing in common: their south Asian background.

On October 27 & 28, our Youth Arts programme will continue with a performance of ‘I’ll Be Watching You’. Then, on October 29, Theatre Royal in collaboration with Refugees and the Arts Initiative will put on its first phase of the ‘New Voices’ programme, featuring a number of plays by writers new to the UK.

This year’s Christmas show will be ‘Pinocchio’, the cautionary tale of a small boy with a big nose. With a lively script written by Trish Cooke, ‘Pinocchio’ also boasts an original score by Robert Hyman, who wrote the music for ‘Red Riding Hood, the panto in 2003, and was the musical director in another huge Theatre Royal hit, ‘The Big Life’.

The famous East End theatre will present a show full of excitement, laughter, sing-along songs, the liveliest audience in town and that unique magic that can only be found at Stratford East.

 

For further information and photos, please contact Michael Siva on 020 8279 1123 or msiva@stratfordeast.com

LISTINGS

Bashment

Written by Rikki Beadle-Blair

Directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair

Music by Rikki Beadle-Blair

Set and Lighting design by Giuseppe Di iorio

Costume design by Fola Solanke

Sound design by Gareth Owen

Cast includes: Ludvig Bonin, Nathan Clough, Jennifer Daley, Joel Dommett, Davie Fairbanks, Elliott James-Fisher, Arnie Hewitt, Joni Levinson, Duncan MacInnes, Anthony Newell, and Jason Steed.

Days: Tuesdays – Saturdays

Dates: Thursday September 29 – Saturday October 22

Press Night: Wednesday October 5

Time: 7.30pm

Matinees on Tuesday October 18 (1.30pm) and Saturday October 22 (3pm)

Audio-described performance: Tuesday October 11 at 7.30pm

Sign-language performance: Tuesday October 18 at 7.30pm

Post-show discussions: every Tuesday evening

Tickets: £8, £12, £16, £20. Concessions: half-price. Previews: best available seats for £5

Gladiator Games

Dramatised by Tanika Gupta

Directed by Charlotte Westenra

Music by Nitin Sawhney

Designed by Paul Wills

Lighting design by Hartley T A Kemp

Days: Tuesdays – Saturdays

Dates: Wednesday November 2 – Saturday November 12

Press Night: Thursday November 3

Time: 7.30pm

Matinees at 1.30pm on Thursday November 3, Tuesday November 8, and Wednesday November 9, and at 3pm on Saturday November 12

Audio-described performance: Friday November 11 at 7.30pm

Sign-language performance: Thursday November 10 at 7.30pm

Post-show discussions: every evening

Tickets: £8, £12, £16, £20. Concessions: half-price. Previews: best available seats for £5

Pinocchio

Written by Trish Cooke and Robert Hyman

Directed by Kerry Michael

Designed by Jenny Tiramani

Lighting design by Paul Anderson

Choreography by Jason Pennycooke

Days: Mondays – Saturdays

Dates: Saturday November 26 – Saturday January 21

Press Night: Thursday December 8

Time: 7.15pm

Matinees at 1.30pm on weekdays, 3pm on Saturdays

Audio-described performances: Saturday December 10 at 3pm and 7.15pm

Sign-language performances: Thursday December 15 at 1.30pm, Thursday January 5 at 1.30pm, and Saturday January 7 at 3pm and 7.15pm

Captioned performances: Thursday January 19 at 1.30pm and 7.15pm

Tickets: £8, £12, £16, £20. Concessions: half-price

Venue: Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, London, E15 1BN

Nearest station: Stratford (Central line, Jubilee line, Silverlink, DLR & mainline)

www.stratfordeast.com

Bookings can be made online (no booking fee)

Booking Line: 0800 183 1188

Box Office: 020 8534 0310. Opening Hours: 10am–7pm, Monday-Saturday

Michael Siva

Press Officer

Theatre Royal, Stratford East

Gerry Raffles Square

London E15 1BN

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)208 279 1123

Fax: +44 (0)208 534 8381

‘A pioneering theatre’ - The New York Times, June 2003.

BASHMENT by Rikki Beadle -Blair

from 29 September 2005

The most exciting play of last season returns

‘Extraordinary power, exquisite tenderness and sharp wit’ The Times

GLADIATOR GAMES by Tanika Gupta

1 - 12 November

Murder in Feltham...but who’s guilty? How and why did Zahid Mubarek die?

A co-production with Sheffield Theatres

PINOCCHIO by Trish Cook and music by Robert Hyman

26 November 2005 - 21 January 2006

Traditional yet funky, panto at it’s very best

‘Every ?lm director should be led to Stratford East to see what children really want at Christmas’ The Independent

Tickets & info: 020 8534 0310 or www.stratfordeast.com

Page last modified:
© Copyright of Every Generation 2003. Privacy Policy