Wiltshire Creative brings together Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury Arts Centre and Salisbury International Arts Festival. Tickets on general sale from Friday 17 January 2020
In the past, the organisation has commissioned A Wiltshire Tale from musician Nick Harper and produced the regional premiere of Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s suffragette drama Her Naked Skin and new musical Moonfleet. Other productions include Rachel Wagstaff’s new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, co-produced with Wales Millennium Centre, and Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code. In 2019, Wiltshire Creative also commissioned and produced its first site-specific audio experience, Imber: You Walk Through, about the forgotten village on Salisbury Plain.
As part of its commitment to presenting shows outside of its venues, Wiltshire Creative will present multi award-winning musical comedian Jay Foreman’s Even More Brand New Disgusting Songs for Children (and Grown Ups) at venues in Bemerton and Tidworth.
Salisbury Playhouse
As part of its spring 2020 season, Wiltshire Creative is premiering Barney Norris’s new adaptation of Lorca’s Blood Wedding, followed by major revivals of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Hay Fever, plus star-studded productions of Shirley Valentine and Dial M For Murder.
Blood Wedding (6-22 February) - Barney Norris has set his adaptation of Blood Wedding in the present day in the Wiltshire village of Edington. This Wiltshire Creative co-production with Up In Arms follows a young couple as they prepare for their wedding day. The emergence of a figure from the past leaves the bride-to-be questioning who really is the love of her life. The cast includes Jeff Rawle (Harry Potter And the Goblet of Fire and Drop the Dead Donkey).
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (26 March-11 April) - Edward Albee’s compelling black comedy was made famous in the 1960s by the film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. This Wiltshire Creative co-production with Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatres follows two American couples over the course of a late-night drinks party where toxic domestic games ultimately entangle them all. The cast includes Mark Meadows (Tartuffe, Tobacco Factory Theatres).
Hay Fever (22 April-16 May) - Noel Coward’s brilliantly entertaining comedy is one of Coward’s best loved plays, set in an English country house in the 1920s. It follows the outlandish behaviour of four eccentric members of the Bliss family who have each invited a guest to spend the weekend at the house. The play is a Wiltshire Creative production directed by Artistic Director Gareth Machin.
The season continues with Claire Sweeney (Brookside; Benidorm) starring in Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine (25 February – 7 March). Tom Chambers (Holby City, Casualty and Strictly Come Dancing) and Sally Bretton (Not Going Out) lead the cast in the iconic murder mystery Dial M For Murder (10-14 March) and the outstanding and unforgettable play The Kite Runner returns to Salisbury direct from the West End (17-21 March).
The Salberg - A packed programme includes: You’re Not As Funny As Your Father (30 January-1 February) in which Andrew Secombe reveals what it was like growing up as the son of much loved comedian Harry Secombe and Polly: The Heartbreak Opera, a viciously satirical not-quite-musical about love, loss and revenge (3-4 April).
Family theatre in The Salberg - Roald Dahl and the Imagination Seekers (27 & 29 February), a theatrical exploration of Roald Dahl’s best loved stories including The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG and, for Easter, Spontaneous Potter (8 April), an entirely improvised Harry Potter comedy play with live musical accompaniment.
Salisbury Arts Centre
A packed spring/summer season at Salisbury Arts Centre includes new Exhibitions on Screen and dance performances, alongside an almost entirely imagined Bon Jovi musical and the launch of the Arts Centre’s Gin Club.
Exhibitions on Screen - including cinematic immersions into exhibitions by the modern master Lucian Freud and by global icon Frida Kahlo. Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait will be streamed from the Royal Academy of Arts in London on 23 January, revealing the painter’s life and work through a unique exhibition of his self-portraits. Frida Kahlo’s Exhibition on Screen follows in July.
Three Acts and Seven Scenes - Salisbury Arts Centre will host a solo exhibition of work by Cornwall-based artist Nicola Bealing, to coincide with a production of Lorca’s Blood Wedding, in which Nicola responds to the original Lorca play. The British Museum recently acquired eight of Nicola’s works for its permanent collection. Three Acts and Seven Scenes runs at Salisbury Arts Centre from 27 January until 28 March.
Dance - Dance takes centre stage at Salisbury Arts Centre as James Wilton Dance presents The Storm, a whirlwind of athleticism that combines break-dancing, martial arts and contact work performed by seven dancers to a soundtrack of electro-rock (21 March), and Levantes Dance Theatre presents awe-inspiring dance, theatre and circus to tell the story of 1970s one hit wonders Sandy & Bruno (23 April).
Comedy - Comedy comes from Living Spit’s Swan Lake which promises to be the funniest micro-ballet ever (24-25 January) as well as stand-up comedians Tom Stade (7 February), Joz Norris (22 February), Jen Brister (12 March) and Flo & Joan (5 March), recently seen at the Royal Variety Performance. Regular Barnstormers comedy nights continue from 31 January.
Music - Music at Salisbury Arts Centre includes one of the world’s most innovative percussion ensembles, Ensemble Bash (15 February) using the music of West Africa as an influence. Paul O’Donnell presents an almost entirely imagined Bon Jovi musical (28 March) – use your imagination to conjure the cast, orchestra, scenery and dramatic key changes!
The Buster Keaton Picture Show sees acclaimed instrumental group Haiku Salut perform an original live score to Keaton’s 1926 comedy The General (3 April). Singer songwriter Louise Jordan brings her show Florence to the Arts Centre, shining a light on the Lady of the Lamp and her Salisbury connections in the 200th year of her birth (1 May). July sees the first Gin Club at Salisbury Arts Centre with four gins, tonics and garnishes to sample while learning about their ingredients.
Salisbury Arts Centre is open six days a week and continues its busy programme of workshops from pottery to stand-up comedy and art classes. There is a full programme of films throughout the season including Wednesday matinees and Wednesday evening screenings of classics and family favourites plus regular live screenings.
Tickets on general sale from Friday 17 January 2020
For the full programme, visit www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk.
For press enquiries please contact Lucy Rouse, PR & Communications Officer, on 07756 314437 01722 345166 or press@wiltshirecreative.co.uk