This image: the cast of ‘Quartet’
Fresh theatre, dance and established shows come to the city in April
Fun, drama, dance, songs, musicals and more come to the stage this month in a packed selection box that is sure to tempt you to get booking.
At the Cambridge Arts Theatre there’s a programme of classic tales, important characters and nights at the opera.
Mary Stuart is a political tragedy that sees actors Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) and Lia Williams (The Crown) playing either Elizabeth I or Mary Stuart on the toss of a coin before the performance. One’s in power, one’s in prison. It’s all in the execution, from 23 to 28 April.
English Touring Opera brings together Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi, two of Puccini’s one-act operas, on the 18th and 19th, with performances of Mozart’s popular comedy The Marriage of Figaro on 17, 20 and 21 April. They come after a tale of four ageing opera singers – Quartet, 3 to 7 April – that features Paul Nicholas (EastEnders) and Sue Holderness (Only Fools and Horses) in a charming, bittersweet comedy.
More humour follows from 9 to 14 April when the Original Theatre Company performs the classic Oscar Wilde comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, featuring Gwen Taylor, Susan Penhaligon and Downton Abbey’s Thomas Howes.
This image: Lia Williams and Juliet Stevenson in ‘Mary Stuart’
Views from the ’Bridge is the Junction’s showcase of work in progress by local artists, on 25 April. Expect an eclectic bill of dance, theatre and spoken word.
Cupid’s Revenge, on 19 April at the Junction, takes a big idea (where did love go?), breaks it open with humour and brings it to life with dance, from the team at New Art Club, one of the country’s top comedy dance theatre groups.
Grease the Musical promises to deliver all of your favourite moments from the pupils of Rydell High, including Hopelessly Devoted to You, Summer Nights and Greased Lightning. It’s performed at The Mumford Theatre, 5 to 7 April, by third-year Bodywork Cambridge students who are about to graduate and enter the performing arts industry.
Also at The Mumford, on 30 April, is a slightly different take on The War of The Worlds. The Pantaloons company presents the HG Wells sci-fi classic with “four actors of intelligences lesser than average”. Expect musical instruments, puppetry and enthusiasm to recreate deadly heat-rays and giant flying machines.
Finally, the Corn Exchange offers a treat to fans of Strictly Come Dancing, arguably Britain’s biggest TV hit, before the show returns to our screens in the autumn, with An Audience with Ian Waite and Oti Mabuse. The duo will deliver a night of Latin and ballroom numbers on 14 April.
