The Lowry new season - May - August 08
Art and Entertainment at The Lowry, Salford Quays
May – August 2008
WITH a feast of spectacular international dance; a family programme that promises the most fun you’ll ever have in a theatre; electrifying drama; some of the funniest women ever to stand up for stand-up; a new Eurovision spoof musical and much, much more, The Lowry’s new summer programme is a brilliant mix of the very best live entertainment in the world.
Dance has a truly international flavour, with some of the top-rated companies from around the globe, led by The Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg, offering two spectacular ballets and a stunning gala evening. From China, we have the Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe with an amazing Chinese Acrobatic Swan Lake that has to be seen to be believed, and from neighbouring Taiwan, comes the renowned Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, with their incredibly beautiful flooded stage meditation, Moon Water. From the USA we’ve got our first visit from the acclaimed Stephen Petronio Company and from Cuba we’ve secured the fabulous dance spectacular, Havana Rakatan. All this, plus our very own Birmingham RoyalBallet, with Giselle and Stravinsky: The Real Deal, and the constantly challenging DV8 Physical Theatre. The spellbinding and magical Le Grand Cirque known for their colourful, exuberant performances promises to be a truly unforgettable show.
The Lowry is jam-packed with Family Fun this summer. A family festival is taking over the building the first weekend in July with everything from storytelling, Indian dancing to family-friendly food and some fantastic new shows.
Meanwhile, our summer Family programme also features the latest Jacqueline Wilson adaptation, Secrets, plus the return – again by popular demand – of the amazing 3D Horrible Histories with The Terrible Tudors & VileVictorians. We’ve also got the incredibly popular CBeebies featuring all your family favourites including Postman Pat and PC Plum from Balamory. In our lovely, intimate, Studio Theatre, we have a whole series of magical shows for younger children, some suitable for children as young as two.
As always we have some top class Drama. Black Watch, from the National Theatre of Scotland, caused a sensation at the Edinburgh Festival and we are proud now to stage this devastating and incredibly topical production in the unusual setting of The Pie Factory.
The electrifying and controversial West End hit Blackbird, arrives on its first UK tour. We have with four actors performing 139 roles in 100 minutes in comedy drama The39 Steps; Northern Broadsides bring their unique touch to Romeo and Juliet and Jeeves saves the day once again, in Come On, Jeeves.
It’s the fairer sex who dominate our Comedy season, with not only Jenny Eclair, Pam Ann and Clare Summerskill, but also Gina Yashere, Deborah Frances-White and the national NIVEA Funny Woman Awards. But there are a few men around as well – Paul Merton, Simon Amstell and Arthur Smith among them.
We’ve a couple of Musicals, including the brand new Eurobeat Almost Eurovision (Sarajevo), a wicked audience-vote-along send-up of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Opera fans will be delighted by Opera North’s dramatic Shakespeare Season featuring Roméo et Juliette, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. …
And looking ahead to Christmas - our faithful-to-the-film version of The Wizard of Oz is sure to be a family favourite and in complete contrast we’ve got a brand new stage version of that great TV comedy classic, ‘Allo, ‘Allo.
Meanwhile, summer is a really great time just to wander around our spectacular building – outside as well as in – and for a trip to our Galleries, where our new exhibitions will include the international Photographic Portrait Prize2007; on-stage and behind the scenes paintings and studies in Laura Knight at the Theatre and the exciting interactive family experience, So You Want To Be An Artist?
Shows from the new brochure go on public sale via the box office (0870 787 5793) on Thu 6 March. Tickets can be purchased before this date by registering online with www.thelowry.com/mylowry
Posted on Wednesday, 27 February 2008 under Press Theatre Press