Wilton's Music Hall - April to July 2016
Season preview
WILTON’S Music Hall has announced its new season reflecting its music hall tradition with an imaginative and diverse programme of music, theatre, opera, literature and dance.
Award-winning songwriter Christine Bovill’s Piaf (April 12 to April 16) will kick-start the season with a compelling, show-stopping performance singing about life’s triumphs and tragedies, in a powerful homage to one of France’s most endearing icons. No gimmicks, nothing but a voice re-living the remarkable journey of Edith Piaf through the world of French song.
Described as a riotous and unsettling drama with lyrics by Simon Armitage, I Am Thomas (April 20 to April 30) is a wildly comic and provocatively subversive piece of music theatre performed with an original live score.
A rich vein of black humour runs through this account of the last person in Britain to be executed for blasphemy and gives audiences a glimpse into Edinburgh’s dark past to reveal a true story with universal resonance. I Am Thomas is a co-production between Told by an Idiot, the National Theatre of Scotland and Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in association with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse.
Wilton’s Strike! free dance festival returns (May 3 to May 5), once more commissioning and showcasing work from promising choreographers. Applicants will submit a proposal for a new piece of choreography on the theme of memory. Six choreographers will be selected to develop their piece to be performed in the Wilton’s auditorium as well as live streamed online.
For music, London based singer-songwriter Shapla Salique (May 6) and her Jazz band return to Wilton’s, this time performing tracks from her eagerly anticipated new album, No Boundaries. Shapla mixes traditional Bengali music with jazz and funk influences to create what she describes as the perfect blend of east and west.
One of the world’s number one percussion talents, Manu Delago (May 10) will deliver a one-off acoustic performance in lieu of his famed electronics.
After a phenomenal few years including appearances at the London Olympics Closing Ceremony 2012, MOBO’s, Brit and Mercury Awards, the Hackney Colliery Band + Special Guests (May 12 and 13) will burst onto the East End scene to re-invent the brass-band for the 21st century with a dazzling array of guest performers.
Angela Carter: Unveiling the Unicorn (May 11) will celebrate the life and work of the grand Dame of fairy tales, feminism and myth with a combination of live poetry readings with discussion on Carter’s life and projections of artwork depicting her poetic mythology.
OneTrackMinds (May 19 and 20), an unforgettable evening of music and storytelling, will showcase 12 stories from a handpicked selection of writers, artists, thinkers and musicians, each introducing a transformational piece of music that made a difference to their lives and work.
Peter Sheppard Skӕrved (violin) and Daniel-Ben Pienaar (piano) continue their exploration of Mozart’s sonatas in The Mozart Salons for Concert Three (May 21 matinee), which premieres a new work by composer Paul Pellayand, Concert Four (May 21, evening) which introduces a new work by David Matthews and Concert Five: Mozart, Salzburg and Johann Michael Haydn (July 26) which begins the move towards Mozart’s concertante and serenade-like works exploring the influence of his friendship with Johann Michael Haydn.
Sir John Falstaff spends his days conning his mates into emptying their purses to feed his insatiable appetite. He begrudgingly attempts to seduce two local ladies, Meg Page and Alice Ford, but they have a rather different idea; creating a delightful mash of sparkling comedy, deceit, retaliation and romance. Keel Watson and his cronies are back in Falstaff (May 23 and May 26-28), bringing the energy and wit of this rip-roaring comedy to a perfect, giggling last order.
For dizzying heights of grand opera, audiences can expect a big bag of opera tricks, ranging from songs to improvised opera and sketch comedy in A Night Out (May 24).
Shakespeare Untold (May 31 to June 4), presented by Shakespeare’s Globe and Seabright Productions, is a double bill honouring the stories you know from the characters you don’t. In Romeo Untold, the story of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet is retold through the eyes of the Capulet Ball’s party planner. Titus Untold retells Shakespeare’s goriest tragedy, Titus Andronicus, as seen from the kitchen of Titus’s pie-maker. They have perfected the art of transformation, premiering to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe and are now touring internationally.
Following two sell-out gigs at the National Theatre, Martin, Izzy and Friends Midsummer Cabaret (June 17) will be making legs swing with their unique and fun blend of jazz, classics, pop and show tunes.
For its tenth anniversary, the acclaimed Babel Literary Festival (June 18) journeys from its Swiss home to East London for a jam-packed day featuring eye-opening readings from writers and translators spanning China, Mexico, Poland, Bosnia and the USA. This unique border-crossing event is a celebration of voices, rhythms, linguistic diversity and hybridisation.
Purcell’s magical semi-opera – a combination of myth, allegory and English history – is given a radical makeover in Spitalfields Music presents King Arthur (June 14 and 15) as part of this year’s Spitalfields Music Summer Festival. Reinterpreted and rearranged, Club Inégales fuse sumptuous orchestration and freewheeling improvisation to create a re-imagining of Purcell’s masterpiece like no other.
Transforming Wilton’s into a vintage paradise, the Pop Up Vintage Fair (June 16) will be brimming with an eclectic mix of vintage fashion from the 1920s to the 1980s, exquisite jewellery and accessories, alongside mid-century homeware, antiques, collectables, curiosities and so much more.
A theatrical celebration of cinematic nostalgia, Dinosaur Park (June 21 to July 2) is an award-winning spin on Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Superbolt Theatre’s five-star production is an epic adventure of spine-tingling theatrics and megalithic mayhem. Direct from a sell-out London season, the show tours the UK for the first time.
Tricity Vogue (June 7 to June 10) is back with her signature three-piece suit and homburg, trusty ukulele and trademark wit, treating audiences to an hour of catchy, funny and original songs examining gender politics.
A 1922 adaption of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Nosferatu Live (July 6 and 7) promises striking imagery and an innate sense of the sinister. Composer and pianist, Dmytro Morykit, has now added more layers of drama and depth with this haunting new score for a sensational evening of image and sound.
Not only is this concert part of Wigmore Hall’s first programme of concerts to be staged away from its west-end home, Wigmore at Wilton’s: Magdalena Kožená, Ondřej Havelka and his Melody Makers (July 8 and 9) is an extremely rare appearance by Sir Simon Rattle on piano, accompanying his wife, mezzo-soprano Magalena Kožená. One in a series of five concerts, the couple’s exceptional acoustics will lend their own particular magic to a programme of classic songs from the 1930s and 1940s.
Combining song, poetry and film footage to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, Songs of the Somme (July 11-13) is a fascinating dramatic experience exploring the artistic legacy of the battle through the works of those who fought and died there. Audiences hear the words of Siegfried Sassoon, the poetry and songs of Ivor Gurney, and the songs of George Butterworth. Film footage has been selected in partnership with the Imperial War Museum.
In collaboration with director James Burke-Dunsmore, the Trad Academy Sea Shanty Choir return to Wilton’s Music Hall with Rime (July 14 and 15) for a unique musical interpretation of Coleridge’s classic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Using voices, music and movement, they’ll be transporting the audience on an epic voyage through the freezing stormy southern ocean to the heat of the doldrums and back again.
The latest work from Lost Dog company takes the highlights of Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (July 19 to July 23), combining theatre, comedy and movement to take the audience on a journey through the story of creation condensed into just 75 minutes. This is a show for anyone who has ever created anything and then watched that wonderful thing spiral out of control.
Largely improvised comedy show Bricking It (July 26 and 27) will see 73 year old builder Pat swapping jobs with his daughter, a 29 year old writer-performer. Comedy-virgin Pat will learn how to be a comedian while Joanna will build the stage (brick by brick) for his first time in the spotlight. Warning: Will contain white vans, wolf whistling and dad gags!
Presented by with Wings, Le Bossu (July 28) is a heartfelt and playful adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The set breathes life into a bygone time and space, live original music scores the passionate plot and the bodies and voices of this enchanting ensemble tell the story with their hearts on their sleeves.
For more information or to book tickets, visit www.wiltons.org.uk/.