The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) today announce nine international Fellows who will lead a major programme exploring the future of creative and cultural practice. Supported by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council over a period of four years, each Fellow will focus on a research theme which responds to the biggest challenges faced by the creative industries and wider society, and the change needed for the development and survival of the sector and future economic growth. The Fellowships form part of AHRC’s PORTIA (participatory and open research through technology in action) programme which seeks to create the spaces, places and platforms that enable creativity-led R&D to thrive.
Following the colossal success of his record-breaking If Ever We Needed It… arena shows, Micky Flanagan has announced more dates for 2024 with theatre shows across the country including 4 London Palladium shows before concluding with a massive show at Manchester’s Co-op Live. Tickets go on general sale Saturday 21st September at 10am via LiveNation.co.uk
With his trademark cockney charm and infectious energy, Flanagan is sure to leave audiences rolling in the aisles as he discusses life since turning 60, growing older and reflecting on the changes in the world around him, as well as poking fun at his observations on life – it’s definitely for over 16’s
IF EVER WE NEEDED IT….
October 2024
Saturday 5th October Woking, UK New Victoria Theatre
Thursday 10th October Croydon, UK Fairfield Halls
It has been announced that Jenny Sealey OBE, Artistic Director of Graeae, is the 2024 recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre Award. She will be honoured at the UK Theatre Awards ceremony, taking place on Sunday 20 October at 8 Northumberland Avenue, sponsored by Encore. The UK Theatre Awards celebrate the very best of theatre across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Awards are given for creative excellence and outstanding work both on and off stage, including the coveted UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre Award.
As Artistic Director of Graeae since 1997, Jenny has pioneered a new theatrical language ‘aesthetics of artistic access’, experimenting with bilingual British Sign Language and English, pre-recorded BSL, creative captioning and in-ear live audio description methods. Graeae’s ethos of placing of Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists centre stage has engineered a cultural shift, influencing mainstream theatre both nationally and internationally.
Following an intensive three-month recruitment and selection process, Pitlochry Festival Theatre is delighted to announce the appointment of actor, singer, writer, producer and director Alan Cumming as their new Artistic Director.
Forty years ago, Alan Cumming made his professional theatre debut at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. Thirty years ago, his Hamlet stormed the West End, and he was hailed as ‘an actor knocking at the door of greatness’. A quarter of a century ago, he was a sensation as Cabaret’s Master of Ceremonies in a production that forever changed the Broadway landscape. A decade ago, his visceral, virtually one-man Macbeth was a stunning, transatlantic coup de theatre. His screen work ranges from art house to blockbuster, cult to mainstream. Find out more at alancumming.com.
This week marks the start of an arts and culture re-set for Manchester with the launch of a brand-new decade long cultural strategy for the city.
Always, Everywhere: Manchester’s Cultural Ambition 2024 – 2034 has been shaped following conversations with local people living and working in the city, as well as input from cultural organisations, creatives, and others directly involved in culture and the arts.
To celebrate its launch, members of the public are being invited to get out over the coming weeks and months and try some of the city’s amazing cultural offer – much of it free – for themselves.
The new cultural ambition set out in the strategy for the city is based on three different themes – everyone, everything, everywhere – aimed at giving everyone across Manchester the opportunity to enjoy and participate in culture and the arts.
Widening access to culture for all, recognising the people that make culture happen, and creating a ‘cultural welcome’ to the city are at the heart of the ‘everyone’ theme.
Stage star and pop sensation Faye Tozer will host this year’s UK Theatre Awards sponsored by Encore, set to take place on Sunday 20 October at 8Northumberland Avenue. The UK Theatre Awards celebrate the very best of theatre across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Awards are given for creative excellence and outstanding work both on and off stage, including the coveted UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre Award and the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre accolade.
Faye is best-known as a member of BRIT Award-winning pop band Steps, who had number one hits with Tragedy and Stomp, and sold over 25 million records worldwide. Their 10th album Platinum Collection – celebrating 25 years – reached an impressive No.1 in the official charts and they recently completed their 10th UK Arena tour.
No stranger to the stage, Faye has also built a stellar career in theatre, with credits including the brand-new production of 101 Dalmatians (UK Tour), 42nd Street(UK Tour) Singin’ In The Rain (Sadler’s Wells, Toronto and UK Tour), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Apollo Theatre), In The Spotlight (UK Tour), Over The Rainbow (Tour), Me And My Girl (UK Tour), Love Shack (UK Tour), Saucy Jack And The Space Vixens (The Leicester Square Theatre) and Tell Me On A Sunday (UK Tour).
Due to high demand, GRAMMY®-winning, multi-Platinum band Imagine Dragons announce extra Tottenham Hotspur Stadium show to their colossal LOOM World Tour. With Declan McKenna announced as special guest for both London shows. Produced by Live Nation, the 2025 run will see the Las Vegas outfit take to European stages for their first ever full stadium tour, with stops scheduled in 16 countries including; Estonia, Czechia, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, France and UK plus many more. Check out the full confirmed itinerary below.
Earlier this summer, the band unveiled their anxiously awaited sixth full-length album, LOOM to widespread acclaim. The album represents the pinnacle of their artistic journey of self-discovery and marks the best body of work they’ve ever made. LOOM, produced entirely by Imagine Dragons with Swedish hitmakers and longtime band collaborators Mattman and Robin, finds the perfect balance between the classic sounds that have made them superstars and the freshness that brought them joy in the studio.
Tickets for the LOOM WORD TOUR are on sale starting at imaginedragonsmusic.com and LiveNation.co.uk
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Gone are the days of the ‘And they lived happily ever after’ trope and reality setting in. Bombarded with representations of love throughout the ages, notions of what love looks like are currently being dismantled. Relationship gurus perhaps the closest we’ll get currently to addressing what it takes to make a relationship last. Back with their second musical which I’m sure will be a hit, Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow of Six the Musical fame pen Why Am I So Single?, a self deprecating reality check of the dating scene in the early 21st century.
GRAMMY®-winning, multi-Platinum band Imagine Dragons announce the European leg of the LOOM World Tour. Produced by Live Nation, the 2025 run will see the Las Vegas outfit take to European stages for their first ever full stadium tour, with stops scheduled in 16 countries including; Estonia, Czechia, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, France and UK plus many more. Check out the full confirmed itinerary below.
Earlier this summer, the band unveiled their anxiously awaited sixth full-length album, LOOM to widespread acclaim. The album represents the pinnacle of their artistic journey of self-discovery and marks the best body of work they’ve ever made. LOOM, produced entirely by Imagine Dragons with Swedish hitmakers and longtime band collaborators Mattman and Robin, finds the perfect balance between the classic sounds that have made them superstars and the freshness that brought them joy in the studio.
3x GRAMMY and 7x BRIT Award-winning global pop powerhouse Dua Lipa announced a global 2025 run on her Radical Optimism Tour with over 40 new dates across Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, and the UK next year. Additionally, South America shows will be announced at a later date.
The tour announcement follows Dua’s highly anticipated debut on the Pyramid Stage as the Friday night headliner at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival earlier this summer. The BBC praised her performance, saying, “Dua hit every mark with the precision of someone who had been preparing for this moment for years.” Following her electric Glastonbury set, she immediately sold out two consecutive nights at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium set for June 2025. Dua has reached a new pinnacle in her career, with fan demand at an all-time high.
The Radical Optimism Tour will kick off this fall with previously announced shows in Asia, including stops in Singapore, Jakarta, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and more before wrapping up on Thursday, December 5 in Seoul, Korea at Gocheok Sky Dome. The 2025 dates begin Thursday, March 20 in Melbourne, Australia at Rod Laver Arena, and include performances in Sydney, Auckland, Madrid, Hamburg, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and many more before concluding in Seattle on Thursday, October 16 at Climate Pledge Arena. Prior to the tour kickoff in Asia, Dua will headline Austin City Limits in Austin, TX on October 5 and October 12.