25th anniversary production of Stones In His Pockets to debut as part of Barn Theatre’s 2021 reopening season
The Barn Theatre in Cirencester have today announced their full 2021 Reopening Season, which includes the 25th anniversary production of Marie Jones’ Olivier award-winning tragicomedy Stones in His Pockets (27 July – 22 August) and the world premiere of Simon Reade’s actor-musician adaptation of David Copperfield (28 September – 6 November) with the Christmas spectacle The Brothers Grimm Present: Cinderella running over the festive season from 16 November 2020 – 2 January 2021.
The season will also see An Elephant in the Garden return to the Barn from 31 August – 11 September following its award-nominated digital run earlier this year as well as the previously announced run of the Olivier Award-winning comedy Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense (15 June – 10 July), which opens this week in Cirencester following its run at The Theatre Chipping Norton.
The theatre has also announced today that following the success of their inaugural outdoor theatre festival in 2020, BarnFest will return to the Cotswolds this Summer.
This expands the Barn’s outdoor offerings for the year which also includes the announced The Barn at Notgrove event, from 21-22 August, which will see the theatre team up with theatre company Scoot Theatre to take over the grounds of the Manor House at the Notgrove Estate for a weekend of outdoor Shakespeare performances.
The Barn at Notgrove, in association with Scoot Theatre will feature performances of Scoot Theatre’s family-friendly, sixty-minute productions of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies A Midsummer Night’s Dream at 5pm (21 August) and 2pm (22 August) and The Comedy of Errors at 5pm (21 August) and 2pm (22 August).
Tickets for the 2021 reopening season are available for priority booking from 14 June at 11am, with general sale from 18 June at 12pm. Tickets for Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense and The Barn at Notgrove in association with Scoot Theatre are now on general sale at barntheatre.org.uk
Cast and creatives for the 2021 productions and further information on BarnFest will be announced in due course.
Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense
The Theatre Chipping Norton and Barn Theatre’s 2020 production of the Goodale Brothers’ Olivier Award-winning comedy Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense returns to the Cotswold venues to mark the 140th anniversary of the author P.G. Wodehouse’s birth. The production runs at the Barn Theatre from 15 June – 10 July 2021.
In this joyous reimagining of the classic P.G. Wodehouse characters, three actors hurl themselves from role to role as they race to tell the story of Bertie’s own farcical adventures.
The production, directed by The Theatre Chipping Norton’s Artistic Director John Terry, sees the return of the production’s original cast with Andrew Ashford (The Full Monty, The Ladykillers) as Jeeves, Matthew Cavendish (The Play That Goes Wrong, A Comedy About A Bank Robbery) as Bertie Wooster and Andrew Cullum (For King and Country, The Crown) as Seppings.
The production also features original music composed by Eamonn O’Dwyer, design by Alex Marker, lighting design by Christopher Nairne, sound design by Harry Smith and movement direction by Bronya Deutsch.
Stones in His Pockets
The Barn’s Summer production will be new 25th anniversary production of Marie Jones’ Olivier Award-winning tragicomedy, Stones in His Pockets, running from 27 July – 22 August 2021.
Directed by Matthew McElhinney, son of the playwright and the play’s original director Ian McElhinney, this new production promises to bring an authentic rediscovery of the worldwide phenomenon, which has won numerous awards including both the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best New Comedy, as well as three Tony nominations on Broadway.
McElhinney said of the production, ‘Stones in his Pockets,’ began life in small community halls and regional venues in Ireland before going on to run for four years on the West End and then Broadway, winning two Olivier Awards and several Tony nominations and has now been translated into over 30 languages. A dream come true; but as a consequence of its success, throughout its many iterations it slowly began to drift away from its original essence and into the more farcical, the pantomime and the Irish with a capital O. This production, on the year of its 25th anniversary, is an opportunity, for us, to reclaim the story.
An Elephant in the Garden
Following its OnComm nominated digital run earlier this year, An Elephant in the Garden will return to the Barn Theatre from 31 August – 11 September.
Simon Reade’s adaptation of the Michael Morpurgo children’s novel follows Lizzie, her mother – and an elephant from the zoo in 1945 Dresden, Germany, as they flee the Allied fire-bombing in the endgame of the Second World War.
The play is adapted and directed by Simon Reade and performed by Alison Reid. The production features design by Max Johns, lighting design by Matthew Graham, costumes by Elizabeth De-Tisi, sound design by Jason Barnes, radio voices by Chris Bianchi and juggling by Rod Laver.
David Copperfield
The world debut production of Simon Reade’s actor-musician adaptation of David Copperfield will run in the Cotswolds from 28 September – 6 November.
In this new dramatisation Copperfield is joined by a pair of quicksilver character actor/musicians to tell his rite-of-passage story of a young man full of hope, learning about life from an eccentric cast of characters on his journey into adulthood.
Modern and dazzling with an eclectic look and feel this fun, uplifting and (to use a very Dickensian word) perspicacious production is the perfect fit for our own unbelievable times.
The Brothers Grimm Present: Cinderella
The Barn’s 2021 season will end with the world premiere of Alan Pollocks’s new play The Brothers Grimm Present: Cinderella, based on the classic fairy tale. The production, which will run over the festive period from 20 November 2020 – 2 January 2021, will be the third play by Pollock to debut over the festive period at the theatre with A Christmas Carol and Peter Pan debuting in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Wilhelm and Jakob are the ultimate odd couple. They are The Brothers Grimm. It’s late and the brothers are at each other’s throats… As the brothers fight, a young girl appears. As she begins to speak we are launched into a tale of kindness, cruelty, music and magic, slippers, pumpkins and wolves. Blending song, illusion, performance and puppetry, The Brothers Grimm Present: Cinderella, is Cinderella as you have always known it.