Belgrade's Autumn/Winter season looks 'Fangtastic’!
There’s a fabulous line up of productions planned for the Belgrade Theatre this Autumn and Winter season.
Preview by Arabella Neville-Rolfe
Laura Elliot and Corey Campbell, the leadership team at the Belgrade have revealed details of what’s lined up for our entertainment this Autumn and Winter.
Included will be a new home-produced musical The Last Vampire; the WhatsOnStage Award-nominated musical adaption of The Book Thief, produced in association with Deus Ex Machina Productions; and a thrilling new all-female and non-binary version of Dracula: Mina’s Reckoning, produced in association with the National Theatre of Scotland and Aberdeen Performing Arts. These will be alongside a series of nationally and internationally acclaimed productions as part of their respective UK tours.
Creative Director Corey Campbell, will direct the new home-produced musical The Last Vampire, which will run in the B2 auditorium from 23 October – 4 November. The fun musical adventure, which is based on the much-loved children’s book by Willis Hall, follows Henry Hollins as he’s taken abroad on a camping holiday by his grandparents before disaster strikes when the bungling trio end up lost in Transylvania.
From 11 – 16 September, a new incarnation of the award-nominated musical The Book Thief will debut at the Belgrade Theatre. The musical, which is based on Marcus Zusak's much-loved novel, was first seen last autumn at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton and received two WhatsOnStage Award nominations for Best Regional Production and Best Lighting Design. The Book Thief tells the story of an illiterate girl who steals an abandoned book in 1930s Germany. It’s adapted for the stage by Jodi Picoult and Timothy Allen McDonald with music and lyrics by Kate Anderson and Elyssa Samsel. The Book Thief is produced by Deus Ex Machina Productions with Writer's Cage, Christopher Ketner, and Andrew Paradis, in association with the Belgrade, Coventry.
From 18 - 21 October, a thrilling new version of Dracula, Dracula: Mina’s Reckoning, conceived by Morna Pearson and Sally Cookson, written by Morna Pearson after Bram Stoker, directed by Sally Cookson. Produced in association with the National Theatre of Scotland and Aberdeen Performing Arts, Mina Murray is at the heart of the action and together with an all-women and non-binary ensemble retelling a unique version of Bram Stoker’s classic tale.
The Belgrade Theatre will also welcome a number of nationally and internationally acclaimed shows as part of their UK tours including the musicals Heathers (19-23 September), Sister Act (9-14 October), Shrek (30 January - 4 February) and plays The Full Monty (2-7 October), Frantic Assembly’s new production of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis (23-27 January) and the five-time Olivier Award-winning Life of Pi (8-13 April).
Chief Executive Laura Elliot said, “We are so excited to bring these brilliant shows and companies to Coventry this year. We want to be a home for world-class transformative, entertaining theatre and musicals - bringing the best of the best to Coventry and putting on stories - either produced by us or received by us from elsewhere - that are truly distinctive, exciting, momentum building and which bring that moment where you go ‘I just saw something extraordinary’... and that stays with you for weeks!”
The full Autumn/Winter season also includes an eclectic mix of music, ballet, family entertainment, and this year’s pantomime Cinderella. Tickets can be booked by phoning the Box Office on 024 7655 3055 (phone lines open 10.30am – 2pm, Mon – Sat), or visiting www.belgrade.co.uk
With a My Belgrade Subscription package, audiences can SAVE 15% when booking for 3 or 4 shows in the Belgrade’s Autumn/Winter Season and 25% when booking 5 or more participating shows. Discounts only apply to full priced tickets in all but the lowest price bands.
