The New Wolsey Theatre will be celebrating local talent this Summer as part of their Let’s Celebrate Summer Season, from local writers this week as part of Writer’s Week followed by local productions of beloved musicals and community/youth productions.
The award-winning Ipswich venue invites audiences this week to an exciting week of different events, shows, rehearsed readings and more as they highlight and showcase some of the best local and original writing that Suffolk has to offer.
The world premiere production of the debut play by East of England playwright Waleed Akhtar, Kabul Goes Pop: Music Television Afghanistan, explores the devastating effects when two young friends take on the political landscape while trying to build a new Afghanistan. Inspired by the true story of the hosts of Afghanistan’s first pop music station, this bold new play combines a hard-hitting examination of the complex, contradictory political events of the early 2000’s with an irreverent, playful love of the pop bangers of the period – expect Britney, Christina and more! The play will be performed on Monday 20th June at 7:45pm. Tickets are £10.
An after-dark version of the popular Wolsey Writers Café with all the usual networking opportunities, peer support and insider tips from industry professionals, but with added wine and snacks. The Wolsey Writers will be sharing their flash fiction, spoken word and short stories on the theme of ‘Ephemeral’, in the salubrious surroundings of the New Wolsey Lounge on Friday 24th June.
Concluding Writers’ Week is a Saturday packed full of short performances and rehearsed readings. Kicking things off is ‘Ephemeral’, where audiences are invited to join them for four short pieces of unique work that celebrate local talent and the power of things that don’t last forever. Next up is HighTide Firstlight Readings, a presentation of works-in-progress by writers from the East of England. The event offers a sneak peek at some of the new work that HighTide is developing, including pieces focused on Queer identity and current world political affairs.
In the early evening is ‘heartfelt’ by gobscure, a ‘dizzying and hypnotic, cutting edge social commentary’, followed by ‘Sea Changes’ by Marina Jankyns, where we meet Sharon, Maeve and Mair, who offer the opportunity through interwoven monologues to identify with women’s experience of loss. Rounding the day off is ‘Tough Love’ by Danusia Iwaszko, which brings to life stories of resilience, and the dreams and hope-filled ambitions of women living in refuge.
Local theatre group IODS Theatre Company return to the New Wolsey Theatre from 29 June – 2 July to finally stage their musical production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, which was originally arranged for 2020, they are itching to get their show on the stage, with a cast of 40 local performers. This will be followed by follow local company CTC’s production of the beloved musical The Sound of Music from 7 – 10 July.
A production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (Abridged) will be performed from 18-19 July as part of the RSC Associate Schools’ Regional Playmaking Festival, the RSC’s long-term partnership programme with schools and regional theatres across England. Each night, around a hundred students from across the East of England will collaborate to perform an abridged version of one of Shakespeare’s best-loved romantic comedies.
The theatre’s new Chief Executive Douglas Rintoul invites professional theatre freelancers living in Suffolk to join him online for a free New Wolsey Theatre networking event where Douglas will get a chance to meet freelancers from across the region and he will talk about future plans and how they can get involved.
Jo Darby Theatre School will perform their annual showcase Centre Stage from 23-24 July and New Wolsey’s Senior Youth Theatre, in collaboration with Ockham’s Razor, will hold a pop-up performance on 29 July outside Ipswich Town Hall, in response to the ground-breaking circus company Ockham’s Razor’s new outdoor performance PUBLIC, which runs outside Ipswich Town Hall on 30 July and the New Wolsey’s Theatre Square on 31 July.
PUBLIC tackles the discussion on ownership of public space and will see ten young acrobats and dancers create an image of a reality where they are able to be utterly without guard in a public arena. Incorporating acrobatics, parkour and dance they move through the architecture of the streets, lifting each other over and around walls, stairs, obstacles – dancing with the fabric of the world. The show is about support, freedom and tenderness and asks how and where we can be uninhibited and unbound.
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