Review by: Paul Towers, 24/8/2015
Curve Season Launch Autumn/Winter 2016
Curve Monday 22 August 2016
“Curve is a resounding sucess.”
With great fanfare and squatting on the Bugsy Malone set,
Chris Stafford and Nikolai Foster were introduced onstage by local radio DJ Jim
Davis (no, not THAT one!) who compered the event. With a huge TV screen above
them showing promotional videos of some of the shows we can enjoy the two
driving forces of Curve outlined their vision for the coming season and
introduced us to all of the shows for this autumn and winter.
The proceedings opened with a number from Grease, this
year’s big Christmas musical, sung by Cassie Compton who will be starring in next
year’s first big musical, The Wedding Singer. Grease runs from 26
November to 14th January.
Next up was a discussion about the in house production of The
Importance of Being Earnest running from 6th October to 29th
October. This co-production with regular collaborators Birmingham Rep stars the
awesome Cathy Tyson who was last in Leicester for She Called Me Mother at
Upstairs at the Western in October last year. Ms Tyson came on stage for what
was supposed to be an interview about her portrayal of Lady Bracknell but actually
turned into a monologue master class on finding a character through rehearsal.
The next production to be discussed was the rock ‘n’ roll
story of how four of the genre’s giants turned up at a studio by accident and
spent a day making historic music. Million Dollar Quartet, narrated by
Jason Donovan, runs from 14 to 24th September.
After the outstanding success of last year’s Roald Dahl’s
The Witches, Curve is flicking through his canon again and serving up his The
Twits for this years Christmas offering for all those who are young or at
least young at heart. The Twits, again adapted by David Wood, runs from 10
December to 15 January.
Stopping off on its nationwide tour is perennial favourite Footloose
which is on from 29 August til 3 September. Starring Gareth Gates and Maureen
Nolan this an especial favourite for girls’ nights out.
Another touring production which will be well worth seeing
is The Shawshank Redemption running from 3 to 8 October.
If you are in a romantic mood Pride and Prejudice
runs from 18 – 22 October starring Mathew Kelly (yes, him off the telly) and
Felicity Montague (yes, also off the telly) in a contemporary take on a classic
but still of the period.
In between all these shows that run for more than a couple
of days there is a myriad of one nighters from visiting artistes including
stand ups, singers and, patriotically, a celebration of Her Majesty’s 90th
birthday called Happy and Glorious on Sunday 2nd October
And of course we mustn’t forget the current Curve Community
production Bugsy Malone running from 19 – 28 August in the main theatre.
We also had the pleasure of a performance of one of the
stand out songs from Footloose by Luke Baker who plays Ren in the show
Chris Stafford, Chief Executive of Curve, proudly informed
us that the theatre runs at an average of 80% capacity. That means that, on
average, only 20% of seats remain unsold. A very creditable boast in the
current economic climate. The other thing well worth boasting about is that in
2015 Curve touring productions played to an additional 250,000 people out on
the road.
Curve has always prided itself on premiering shows like
Breakfast at Tiffaney’s, Finding Neverland and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole.
This autumn it has been chosen to launch Burning Doors, an expose of
Belarus’s appalling suppression of artistic freedom. Burning Doors is on from 23
– 27 August and we were treated to an interview with its director.
All in all Messrs Stafford and Foster can justifiably pat
themselves on the back for not only attracting world class touring shows to
Leicester but also for putting on so many productions that actually put bums on
seats. Their first year in charge has proved a resounding success and long may
their creative partnership continue.
Tickets for all shows can be found at http://www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/shows/
First published in Western Gazette
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