Fun in June with Much Ado...

Shakespeare comedy in an English country house setting

Our next play, opening on Tuesday June 21, touches on two important anniversaries we're marking in the UK this year.

It is the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and we're delighted to be performing one of his funniest and most popular comedies, Much Ado About Nothing, from June 21-June 25.

If you've never seen this comedy, you are in for a treat. It tells a timeless story of mischief-making and gossip, match-making and interference. One faction of troublemakers is intent on breaking-up young lovers Hero and Claudio while a group of friends is determined to bring the warring and witty Beatrice and Benedick together.

Director John Bowness has moved the setting of Much Ado About Nothing forward some 300 years to World War One, which is the focus of a number of commemorations this year. Our characters are brought together at a Downton Abbey-style English country house - so you can look forward to some lovely costumes and perhaps a hint of the 'upstairs, downstairs' comedy of the Jimmy Perry and David Croft TV sitcom You Rang M'lud.

If you think Shakespeare is not your scene, think again and give this classic comedy a try. A few years ago it won over a new generation of fans when David Tennant and Catherine Tate played Benedick and Beatrice in London's West End.

The show runs from 7.30pm each night and there is also a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

Tickets cost £10, with £9 concessions from Tuesday to Thursday only. All matinee tickets are £9. You can book yours NOW from the Brewhouse box office in person. Patrons will be receiving their priority booking forms in the post shortly, and soon after that online booking will be open at www.ticketsource.co.uk/littletheatreco. Watch our Facebook and Twitter feeds for news when online booking is open.

If you would like to become a private or corporate patron and benefit from priority booking for our future shows, please see more details on our website at www.little-theatre.co.uk/about-us. Patronage for individuals is just £10 a year. Local businesses can become a corporate patron for £25 a year and receive an advert in all our show programmes and a page on our website.
_________________________________________________

Please use the buttons below to share this newsletter with your own social media networks, or forward it to friends or family who might be interested in joining us for our June play. Do you have any connections with local secondary schools? Please let them know about this chance to see a Shakespeare comedy in a World War One setting.

Festival winners

Fab feedback for Spring shows

Five star reviews for Bouncers and The Phantom of the Opera

We were thrilled with the reviews received by our March play Bouncers and our annual Easter youth production, The Phantom of the Opera, both from reviewers and from audience members.

Both shows were given five star reviews by the Downstage Centre website.
Reviewer Ollie Turner said of our March play, Bouncers by John Godber: "Overall, I cannot express my praise highly enough to the production team, this is no easy show to pull off, but it seems as though Artistic Director John Bowness made this production look like an absolute breeze with his stunning work on the production as a whole." He praised the cast of four and called it 'a gem of a show not to be missed'.

A few weeks later our youth group brought the musical The Phantom of the Opera to a Burton stage for the first time, and all five shows sold out in record time.


Ross Lowe, who reviewed The Phantom of the Opera, said: "It is clear that the huge array of talent at LTC Youth is being carefully and well nurtured. Every performer onstage is fully focused, every one a character, every one playing to their strengths."

He added: "The principal singers were all as good as any I've heard in regional theatre and when their voices combined together the effect was enough to set the hairs rising on the back of my neck.
 
"Once again LTC Youth has demonstrated a canny knack for being able to make the audience forget the 'youth' aspect of what they do, with a production full of performances that are every bit as mature and accomplished as you could wish to see onstage. This is youth theatre beyond its finest."

At The Burton Mail. reviewer Caroline Kay wrote: "I love the fact that LTC Youth push the boundaries – Phantom is an ambitious piece of musical theatre, however, the uber-talented ensemble gave a performance worthy of the West End or Broadway stage."

She added that the standard of performance was 'higher than I have seen on any amateur dramatic stage'.

If you are on Facebook, you can read more reviews submitted by members of our audience at www.facebook.com/LittleTheatreCo/reviews.

Dates for your diary

Keep them free!

There will be an LTC fundraising day on Saturday September 3. More details will be featured in future newsletters, but an evening quiz is already in the planning stages - so get together your teams of four to see if you can beat reigning champions from 2014 Team Tunley-Pearson.

In November our musical will be Monty Python's Spamalot which will run from Monday November 14 to Saturday November 19. The Brewhouse box office is already receiving enquiries about this laugh-a-minute show but tickets will be on sale after June. 

More vocal workshops 

Heather and Rachel plan more events this summer

LTC member and vocal coach Heather Gallagher held her first two-day singing and performance workshop for youngsters aged 8-18 on April 7 and 8 with fellow Vocal Intuition teacher Rachel McNeilly. It was a huge success and demand for more has led the two teachers to plan a second event later in the year.

To be first with the news, follow Heather's Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/heathergracevocaltuition