Theatres - Starting Next Week - October 29 onwards

Oct 26 2009 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

STARTING THIS WEEK

THE BFG (Playhouse Theatre, Williamson Square, Liverpool, November 3-7)

DAVID Wood’s acclaimed adaptation of Roald Dahl’s perennial favourite returns to the stage. When little orphan Sophie is snatched out of her bed in the dead of night by the BFG, she fears the worst. But in fact, the giant is a dream catcher and not a man eater and he’s about to take Sophie on a journey she never expected. Visit www.everymanplayhouse.com or ring 0151 709 4776.

DESPERATE TO BE DORIS (The Brindley, High Street, Runcorn, October 29-31)

LIP Service present a new comedy with music featuring some of Doris Day’s greatest hits. Joining the comedy duo of Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding will be a community choir specially recruited from the area as well as Darren Southworth from the West End production of Spamalot. Visit www.thebrindley.org.uk or ring 0151 907 8360.

GEORGE’S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE (Theatr Stiwt, Broad Street, Rhos, November 5-7)

BIRMINGHAM Stage Company presents Roald Dahl’s amazing tale, adapted for the stage by David Wood. A young boy makes a marvellous medicine to cure his grandmother of her terrifying temper. But when his grandmother drinks the special new potion, the most incredible things start to happen. Visit www.stiwt.co.uk or ring 01978 841300.

THE GOOD SOUL OF SZECHUAN (Library Theatre, St Peter’s Square, Manchester, October 30-November 28)

THREE gods are on a mission to see if there are any good people left on earth. Only Shen Te, a warm-hearted prostitute, offers them shelter. She opens a tobacco shop with what the gods give her as thanks. Suddenly everyone starts to take advantage of her good nature. How will she survive? David Harrower translates Bertolt Brecht’s parable for our time in a production directed by Chris Honer. Visit www.librarytheatre.com or ring 0161 236 7110.

HER BIG CHANCE/BLACK COMEDY (The Brindley Studio, High Street, Runcorn, October 29-30)

MINIMUM Wage Theatre Company presents a double bill Her Big Chance by Alan Bennett & Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer. Her Big Chance is one of Bennett’s original 1987 Talking Heads in which an aspiring actress ends up in a soft porn movie in West Germany. Black Comedy is a riotous farce about a young sculptor about to welcome a millionaire art dealer to his home on a night when everything goes wrong. Visit www.thebrindley.org.uk or ring 0151 907 8360.

HORRIBLE HISTORIES (Opera House, Quay Street, Manchester, November 3-7)

BIRMINGHAM Stage Company present live stage versions of the Terry Deary books Frightful First World War and Woeful Second World War, featuring amazing 3D Bogglevision effects. Contact the venue for details of which show is performed at what times. Visit www.palaceandoperahouse.org.uk or ring 0844 847 2484.

HOW NOW BROWN COW (Empire Theatre, Lime Street, Liverpool, November 2-7)

THE fifth play in Brendan O’Carroll’s hilarious Mrs Brown series, following the huge success of For The Love of Mrs Brown which premiered at the Empire in 2007. Visit www.LiverpoolEmpire.org.uk or ring 0844 847 2525.

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT (Venue Cynru, Llandudno, November 3-8)

THE musical that started it all for Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, originally conceived as a brief school production but eventually expanded into a musical theatre world beater thanks to memorable songs such as Any Dream Will Do and Close Ev’ry Door. Visit www.venuecymru.co.uk or ring 01492 872000.

MIXED UP NORTH (Everyman Theatre, Hope Street, Liverpool, November 3-7)

BASED on real events, this collaboration between Out of Joint and Octagon Theatre Bolton is a fiercely funny and moving new playby Robin Soans about the difficulties of uniting divided racial communities in the Lancashire mill town of Burnley. Trish leads a youth theatre group for Asian and white teenagers. At the final dress rehearsal, tensions rise and bonds fracture. Visit www.everymanplayhouse.com or ring 0151 709 4776.

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION (The Lowry, Salford Quays, November 2-7)

STAGE and TV star Felicity Kendal stars in this Theatre Royal Bath production of George Bernard Shaw’s classic play. No one has ever really known what is Mrs Warren’s profession, least of all her prim and propert daughter Vivie. But how will Vivie’s react when she discovers the awful truth about her mother’s ill-gotten gains. Visit www.thelowry.com or ring 0870 787 5793.

THE PRODUCERS (Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, November 3-7)

AMATEUR production by NSOS of this Broadway and West End sensation based on the classic Mel Brooks comedy film about a dodgy theatrical producer and his hapless accountant who come up with a scam to stage a guaranteed disaster of a show - only to see it become a massive hit. Visit www.ambassadortickets/stoke or ring 0844 871 7649.