March at Norwich Theatre Royal begins with the welcome return of the Richard Alston Dance Company, who will be bringing their 2011 programme to the venue on March 1-2, which includes Alston’s brand new piece, Even More, which is inspired by the contrasts of Prokofiev’s sixth Piano Sonata and contemporary dance classic Roughcut.
Expect lots of belly-laughs and X-rated comedy with popular Cornish comic Jethro on March 4-5; Sheffield singer- songwriter Paul Carrack performs some of his biggest hits from his time with Ace, Squeeze and Mike and the Mechanics on March 7; and the legendary Lenny Henry brings his successful autobiographical stand- up and music show to Norwich the following night.
Your emotions will be tugged with the poignant Goodnight Mister Tom, which runs from March 9-12. Top stage, screen and TV actor Oliver Ford Davies (Star Wars films, Kavanagh QC and the RSC’s Hamlet opposite David Tennant) takes on the lead role of the solitary man who takes in an evacuee in the run-up to the War. The play follows their blossoming friendship in a moving story of companionship, especially adapted for the stage by the National Children’s Dramatist David Wood.
After a night of Fifties and Sixties magic in That’ll Be The Day on March 13, you can enjoy a deliciously politically incorrect night out with an X-rated mix of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. Avenue Q, which takes to the stage on March 15-19, follows the inhabitants of a downtown New York street as they grapple with love, work and relationships. Hilarious but quite near the knuckle, the show is not suitable for under-12s.
But the under-12s (and over-12s) are sure to enjoy the return of Horrible Histories to the theatre on March 28-April 1. This time, the performers will be bringing the era of The Awful Egyptians and The Ruthless Romans to life with the show’s popular blend of comedy, plentiful props and jaw- dropping 3D Bogglevision effects.
Box office
GOODNIGHT MISTER TOM
A
Bafta-Award winning TV drama and touching book exploring companionship across the generations is on its way to
Norwich Theatre Royal.
Goodnight Mister Tom is guaranteed to tug on the heartstrings with its moving tale of an unlikely friendship. John Bultitude went along to rehearsals to meet the cast and find out more.
As the opening bars of Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye echo around the cavernous ceilings of a North London church hall, you know you are in for something special.
The traffic hum of nearby Camden Road and the brick sprawl of the neighbouring Holloway Prison are forgotten as you are taken back to wartime for the opening scene of Goodnight Mr Tom.
As the curmudgeonly lead character meets ten-year-old evacuee William Beech for the first time, the power of the performances certainly plays at the emotions, and as the opening scene comes to an end, you find yourself wishing the cast were not going to break for lunch and you could find out what happened next.
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26 Fine City Magazine 2011
Part of that hook is down to the compelling performance of highly-accomplished stage, film and TV actor Oliver Ford Davies, who takes on the lead role that gained iconic status through John Thaw’s small-screen portrayal. The job of recreating the character was down Ford Davies,
He explained: “We had to decide where it is set as the book’s author, Michelle Magorian, is deliberately non-specific as to location. It appears to be in the West Country so we decided to do it there. The accent is very important, and we decided it would be West Dorset. This has an attraction to me as I live there in Lyme Regis, so I worked quite hard on the accent with an accent coach and tapes.
“Mister Tom is also a countryman. Again, Michelle Magorian isn’t clear what his job was, but it appears he was a carpenter in a village who does odd jobs like fixing the tiles on your roof. He has always lived in the village but, since his young wife died forty years ago, he has shut himself away and become monosyllabic.”
The main challenge is delivering the power of Tom and William’s growing friendship. He commented: “The genius of the book and attraction of the part is that it is about two very damaged individuals – one who is ten and one who is sixty-eight – who are thrown together quite arbitrarily and against their will by war, and, very slowly, they both blossom and come out of their shells and thrive.
“That is really the appeal of the book as it is such a basic human instinct. They make such an odd couple. What Tom does is in fact quite kind. He immediately thinks William has nothing to eat so
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director Angus Jackson and highly acclaimed dramatist David Wood, who adapted the book for the stage.
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