New Spring Summer Season 2012 Announced!

We had our Season Launch on Monday and now our plans have been revealed I can start telling you a bit more about all the exciting things the Coliseum has in store for 2012.
The season opens with the an adaptation of the classic novel The Hound of the Baskervilles for which we are working in collaboration with design specialists imitating the dog who project images onto scenery. This is a stunning way to swiftly move the action from Baker Street to the misty moors and Baskerville Hall as well as creating the supernatural hound.

I’ve already been to several production meetings and I cannot wait to get rehearsals started. The Hound of the Baskervilles opens at Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield and will then embark on a nationwide tour for ten weeks taking the production across the country. Don’t worry about how you’ll get to Huddersfield though, we are organising coaches to get you there from the Coliseum.

Following on from The Hound of the Baskervilles we’ll continue to produce shows at The Grange Arts Centre near Oldham College. Alfie and Dumb Show will both be performed there in-the-round and it will give everyone a great opportunity to experience a different theatre space. Alfie is a co-production with other in-the-round theatres across the country so it gives us the opportunity to collaborate with other professional theatres we haven’t worked with before.

The final performance of the season is a brand new play by local playwright Ian Kershaw called Star-Cross’d which will be performed out in the open air  in the blazing summer heat at Alexandra Park in the centre of Oldham. Ian has a great knowledge of the area and the play is written specifically for the Coliseum. The audience will walk through the park following the action and the route will make the most of the park’s features i.e. the Lion’s Den, Boating Lake and Pagoda. Yesterday Ian took us on a tour of the park along the route so that we could get a full idea of what the experience will be like for the audience – it will certainly be spectacular. Star-Cross’d will be a fantastic large scale production complete with brass bands, dance troupes and the largest cast the Coliseum has ever seen.

There is a huge range of other exciting events planned for the New Year and I’m looking forward to this brand new chapter in the Coliseum’s history. To read more about the plays see the season preview above.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director