West Yorkshire Playhouse have announced their Autumn/Winter 2017 Season.
If you are over the age of 50 you could review some of these events as a Community Correspondent for Time to Shine.
What we need is a review of at least 500 words with a focus on age friendliness or loneliness and social isolation or written in a way that would be of particular interest to older people.
Email Jim on jim@opforum.org.uk or call him on 0113 244 1697 if you want to get involved.
Highlights of West Yorkshire Playhouse’s productions include:
Partition (8 – 9 Sept) is an exciting collaboration between West Yorkshire Playhouse and BBC Radio Leeds, for a radio broadcast and live performance marking the 70th anniversary of the fateful division of colonial India into two separate religious states. Written by Leeds writer and established arts journalist Nick Ahad and directed by Stefan Escreet, Partition explores the devastating legacy of a religious division which cost around a million lives, through the eyes of a modern day betrothed couple. Will hate, rather than love, prevail?
In celebration of Leeds Carnival’s 50th birthday, the Playhouse’s Associate Director Amy Leach (Romeo & Juliet, Kes, West Yorkshire Playhouse) directs Queen of Chapeltown (12 – 15 Sept). A newly commissioned play by Colin Grant, this exuberant snapshot documents the creation of Carnival, paying vibrant homage to the city’s rich culture and celebrating the role of calypso and Carnival Queens in rooting West Indian heritage in Yorkshire. Queen of Chapeltown is part of a major week of artistic activity in the theatre for Leeds Carnival 50.
(the fall of) The Master Builder (30 Sept – 21 Oct) is a reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’sclassic drama for 2017. Playhouse’s Artistic Director James Brining (The Crucible, Into the Woods, West Yorkshire Playhouse) directs Associate Artist Reece Dinsdale in the title role. Written by Zinnie Harris this timely world premiere tells of a once great man whose past transgressions and abuse of power threaten to catch up with him.
The Tin Drum (17 – 28 Oct) is a thrilling new co-production by West Yorkshire Playhouse, Kneehigh and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. This epically imaginative re-telling of Günter Grass’s classic novel explores love and war as musical satire, through the eyes of its exceptional and unreliable child narrator, Oskar. An adventure of protest, power and hope, The Tin Drum is directed by Kneehigh’s Artistic Director Mike Shepherd.
The world premiere of Pink Sari Revolution (7 – 11 Nov) is an impassioned protest through movement and music, against the tirade of female violence in modern-day India. Created by award-winning Indian and British Asian artists, this co-production with Leicester’s Curve and Belgrade Theatre Coventry is based on a true story of resistance, as documented in the celebrated biography by internationally renowned journalist Amana Fontanella-Khan and will be directed by Suba Das (Wipers, Curve Leicester).
Meet a fantastic and friendly creature for Crumble’s Search For Christmas (25 Nov – 30 Dec) created by the ever-popular Robert Alan Evans (The Night Before Christmas, West Yorkshire Playhouse). This charming festive adventure, which is perfect for 2 – 6 year olds, sees the mysterious Crumble escape hibernation and scurry up from the burrow for a night of wintry mischief.
The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (29 Nov –21 Jan 2018) produced in association with Elliott & Harper Productions and Catherine Schreiber, this spellbinding new production is directed by Olivier award nominee Sally Cookson, (Peter Pan, La Strada, Jane Eyre, National Theatre). Transforming the Quarry into a theatre in the round for the first time, with design by the award-winning Rae Smith (War Horse), this enchanting story based on C.S. Lewis’s unforgettable book tells of four war time evacuees who discover an icy kingdom through a magical wardrobe, in Sally Cookson’s inimitable theatrical style.
There are also visiting productions from Northern Ballet, Northern Broadsides, Graeae in association with Belgrade Theatre Coventry, MEI Theatrical in association with Polka Theatre, and the Furnace Festival celebrates new theatre from Yorkshire artists and beyond.
For a complete overview of what’s on at West Yorkshire Playhouse please visit: www.wyp.org.uk/about/whats-on