NEWS - ARCHIVE
Visiting Companies at the Mercury Theatre
2 Jul 2009
Alongside the home-grown drama provided by the Mercury Theatre Company, Colchester’s premier theatre also hosts some of the best touring theatre, dance, comedy and music in the country. This season, stage adaptations of classic television and radio comedy of yesteryear feature highly with productions of Last of the Summer Wine, Round the Horne and Porridge visiting the Mercury.
From Monday 17 to Saturday 22 August you can expect plenty of japes, misunderstandings and the mandatory wheelbarrow catastrophe as the ageing delinquents Foggy, Compo and Clegg reunite in Last of the Summer Wine. Ruth Madoc, Tony Adams and Steven Pinder feature in this new stage adaptation by Roy Clarke, who penned every episode of the world’s longest running sitcom.
Ian Fricker Productions and the Mercury Theatre Colchester will once again be teaming up to co-produce a new stage version of the disgracefully funny radio comedy, Round the Horne from Wednesday 2 to Saturday 12 September. With its ground-breaking mix of innuendo, camp caricature and word-play, Round The Horne captured a record-breaking regular 15 million listeners and remains one of the best-loved programs in radio history.
On Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 September Menagerie Theatre Company, based in the East of England, offer a fascinating insight into the life and works of Charles Darwin in Re:Design by Craig Baxter. 150 years after Charles Darwin first presented his theory to fellow scientists and amidst year-long Darwin celebrations in 2009, Re:Design is a timely dramatisation of 30 years correspondence between Charles Darwin and Asa Gray in Boston, USA.
Following the sell-out runs of Dad’s Army and ‘Allo! ‘Allo! in 2008, Calibre Productions return to the Mercury from Monday 19 to Saturday 24 October with a new stage adaptation of the hit BBC Comedy Porridge. Shaun Williamson (EastEnders and Extras) stars as Fletch as he, and the other inmates of Slade Prison, take on the system under the nose of the ever suspicious Mr MacKay.
From Monday 18 to Saturday 23 January Ian Dickens Productions will have audiences kept in suspense, as they present Francis Durbridge’s thriller, Fatal Encounter with an all star cast.
The Mercury Studio Theatre is usually the reserve of the finest cutting-edge theatre companies around and this season will be no exception, with productions from the award-winning Nabakov, Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 October, with a play by Jack Thorne set amongst the euphoria and despair of the 1997 election in 2nd May 1997. Trestle Theatre Company present a story by Anna Reynolds (Blue Sky State) based on the Polish fable The Glass Mountain from Thursday 12 to Saturday 14 November. Wrapping up the season in the Studio Theatre will be Dialogue Productions with their double bill of plays from award-winning writer Neil LaBute, Helter Skelter and Land of the Dead will be performed on Friday 22 and Saturday 23 January.
As usual the Mercury Theatre has some of the finest theatre for children and their families. On Saturday 19 September in the main auditorium there will be two opportunities to see the brilliant new production of Stick Man written by Julia Donaldson, who has had so much success with The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child. Touching, funny and utterly original, this brand new show is a sure-fire hit. There will also be half-term performances in the Mercury Studio Theatre of The Bird Book, suitable for 4-9 year olds, Clever Clogs and the Cunning Princess, suitable for 5-11 year olds, and What a Wonderful World, suitable for 2-5 year olds.
With a whole host of other performances on offer from the brilliant contemporary dance of CandoCo, opera with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, the breathtakingly raw and edgy tango sound of Astillero and comedy from Stewart Lee, to name just a few, there really is something for everyone in this exciting new season.
Please see your copy of the brochure (or the Autumn 2009 Season’s Listings press release) for a full list of events and details at the Mercury Theatre.
Tickets for all events at the Mercury Theatre are on sale from Monday 6 July by calling the Box Office 01206 573948 and on-line at www.mercurytheatre.co.uk