An introduction to the new season by Artistic Director Kevin Shaw

Hello all, here goes my first blog post...

On Monday I revealed the fantastic line-up of productions in store at the Coliseum this autumn - it’s a season of real contrasts, each play is a classic of its genre written by a master of their craft. I can’t wait for rehearsals to start.

We’ve got a thrilling production to kick off the season; the darkly comic Deathtrap by Ira Levin is a real edge-of-your-seat drama full of laughs plus some genuine screams from the audience – you will love it.

We also have The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, one of my top five favourite playwrights of all time. It’s a funny yet heartbreaking portrait of a 1930’s family in crisis - you’d be hard pressed not to get caught up in the heartfelt drama of the story.

The final Coliseum production of the season is Taking Steps by Alan Ayckbourn, I think this is one of the funniest plays in the English language. One of the secrets to the comedy is the fantastic staging – it’s a real visual feast. The story takes place over three floors in a dilapidated mansion house. You may wonder how we would fit this onto a stage, the solution is that the three floors are next to each other. We’ll perform the play at The Grange Arts Centre which has an ‘in the round’ auditorium with the audience seated on all four sides of the stage. It’s much easier to stage that it is to explain, all will become clear when you see the show.

We also have some fantastic touring productions, all chosen to complement our in-house shows. Firstly, we’re hosting London Classic Theatre’s production of Equus, the ‘psycho-drama’ which some of you may recognise from the recent revival in the West End with Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role. We will then be teaming up with Tamasha to co-produce the world debut of their new play Snookered by Ishy Din. Ishy won our writing competition, it’s wonderful to see his work now being performed nationally. Finally, Rifco Arts will be presenting their high energy, award winning musical Britain’s Got Bhangra which sold out their recent run at The Lowry so if you missed it here’s another chance to catch it.

The reason we’ll be staging Taking Steps at the Grange Arts Centre is because in January we are temporarily leaving our home in Fairbottom Street, while some vital refurbishment work takes place. We’ll be at the Grange Arts Centre for most of spring in addition we have plans for a large scale open air production in the summer, which is in the early planning stages, so watch this space for further details. Finally we will return to the refurbished theatre in the autumn. Phew!

For full details of our new season and the exciting move out of the building visit www.coliseum.org.uk or call the Box Office on 0161 624 2829 or just pop in and pick up a season brochure.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director