Leicester University Theatre Society
Autumn term 2014
The Curious Tragedy of Rubashov the Gambler
19th - 21th November, Queen's Hall
Josef Rubashov never used to believe in the Devil. Not while he still had his soul anyway.
New Year's Eve, 1899. A fateful game of poker changes everything in this adaptation of Carl-Johan Vallgren's dramatic novel. Expect chills, heartbreak, and a little humour in this century-spanning tragedy, including cameos from some of the 20th century's most infamous individuals.
Starring
Sam Kent as Rubashov
Azeem Siddique as Wisch
Bryanie Whittingham-Ball as Nina, Announcer, Mute, Thug #2, Fanuela
Dan Brewer as Tsar Nicholas II, Marinus Van der Lubbe, Ahasverus, Stoifain
Michael Oatway as Rasputin, Crowley, Ring Master, Gilles de Rais
Tom Curtis as Isaak, Bouhler, Llull, Philby
Ben Alborough as Mikhail, Paracelsus, Butler
Ed Kaye as priest, Yusapov, Monk, Soldier
Emily Buckley as Sonia, Tsarina, Elizabeth Bathory-Nadasdy
Fran Leone as Orlova, Katya Ivanova, Thug #1, Watchmaker, Yelena
The Grindstone
24th - 27th June, The Little Theatre
Elliot Baker, a troubled new protege fresh out of university, finds himself thrown into the deep end of Timothy Whitbread’s electoral campaign. The Grindstone follows his struggle with his unstable mental health, the attempts to balance his moral standards, his politics and his increasingly ambiguous relationship with his mentor, Cyril, Tim’s spin doctor and long-time friend.
This is the third play by LUTheatre’s own Ivo de Jager following his breakout productions of Sweetmeat and Eden.
Starring
Ivo de Jager as Elliot Baker
Bradley Morgan as Tim Whitbread
Jamie Appleyard as Cyril Spencer
Lizzie Smith as Caroline
Benadetta Fiscon as Mariana
Jane Eyre
4th - 6th November, Queen's Hall
Orphaned Jane Eyre overcomes her early abusive and lonely experiences to become an accomplished governess at Thornfield, the mysterious home of Mr. Rochester. She is drawn to the master of the house, but their future is destroyed by a secret from his past...a secret that also forces Jane to flee Thornfield into poverty and illness. Eventually, Jane is able to find family, wealth, and love, but not without a cost.
Remaining faithful to the original story, this adaptation also focuses on Jane's gradual ability to shed the ghosts of her past to become a fully realised person.
"Calvit has released Charlotte Brontë's famed Gothic novel, Jane Eyre, from its dusty melodramatic confines to show the title heroine's liberation from Victorian oppression. By judiciously trimming the tale of a plain governess loved by a noble man in a house full of deadly secrets, Calvit creates a focused, full-bodied work with a contemporary resonance."
Lucia Mauro, Chicago Tribune
Starring
Alex Hatcher as St. John and Mason
Alice Foster as Lady Ingram and Mary Rivers
Anna Stokes as Diana Rivers and Grace
Annie Cupit as Mrs. Fairfax
Bethany Carter-Bown as Blanche
Charlie Bird as Rochester
Clemence Waller as Helen
Daniel Flavel as Brocklehurst, Rev. Wood, Dr. Carter and Porter
Isabella Greenan as Bertha
Isabelle Staniaszek as Jane
Josien Smit as Amy and Hannah
Katherine Bustin as Mrs. Reed and Mary Ingram
Lauren Freund as Adele
Spring term 2015
Jeff, Oli and the Homosexual Elephant in the Room
6th - 8th February, Manhattan 34 (Dave's Comedy Festival)
Jeffrey and Oliver are two adult male humans who have difficulty coming to terms with what homosexuality is and whether all that sex that they had with each other was, in fact, homosexual.
A brand new quick-fire comedy that deals with no issues in particular apart from the ones that it does.
"Winston Churchill had sex with men and he wasn't homosexual."
"Did he?"
"Wait no; not sex with men - fought in both world wars."
Starring
Adam Unwin as Jeffrey
William Bowers as Oliver
Ivo de Jager as Antoine
The Conversation Box
A sensory experience focusing on thought processes and communication The Conversation Box will allow you to question what you know, confront your fears, and to reveal your deepest secrets. We will need actors to work as facilitators in The Box… But fear not, the experience is just as amazing for you!
The Ambler Gambler
12th –14th March, The ARC, Percy Gee Building
Push the limits. Join a unique story of woman named Lisa. Witness life lived on the emotional and psychological edge. Experience the strange, the surreal, the dark and sinister, as the story makes an unsavoury twist into the deep labyrinth of Lisa’s mind…
Written by Bradley Morgan
Directed by Bradley Morgan and Chris Clatworthy
Starring
Daniel Flavel as Derrick
Emily Buckley as Lisa
Ni Ni Moe Myint as Faceless
Sofia Aneychik as Thomas
Katherine Bustin as Margarate
We Lost Elijah
12th –14th March, The ARC, Percy Gee Building
14 year old Elijah is having a hard time. He only has fourteen friends on Facebook, no particular talents, is living in the shadow of his over-achieving brother, and the girl of his dreams has just majorly turned him down. He's standing on a platform of a train station, about to end it all when he gets stopped by Grace, his brother's girlfriend. She convinces him to "go missing" instead of killing himself: to disappear for a short while so that he can see how much he'd be missed…
Directed by Lizzie Smith and Alex Hatcher
Starring
Emily Buckley as Grace
Lizzie Smith as Kara
Dan Brewer as Malachi
Ivo De Jager as Elijah
Bryanie Whittingham-Ball as Becky
Zee Siddique as Titus
Danny Flavel as Maxwell
Pippa Abbott as Shana
Josien Smit as Holly
Summer term 2015
The Priory
11th -12th June, The Arc
"The Priory" follows a group of wealthy friends who stay in an apparent haunted Priory but as the drinks and drugs flow the group have to deal with addictions, failure and letting go of their youth. Directed by Ivo de Jager and Pippa Abbott.
Starring
Alice Foster as Kate
Adam Unwin as Daniel
Emily Dilworth as Rebecca
Amelia Oliver as Laura
Michael Oatway as Carl
Benjamin Alborough as Ben
Sean Thurgood as Adam
More than a Woman
18th - 20th June, Queen's Hall
Its 1949, Bette Davis has made it to the top of her career but not without making enemies and mistakes. Watch as she relieves what she had to experience to make it in the business.
Directed by Russ Liney and Thomas Chiverton.
Starring
Emily Dilworth as Bette Davis (1949)
Francesca Leone as Bette Davis (past)
Alex Hatcher as Bud
Daniel Brewer as Thom/Glenn Ford
Ben Chrome as Jack Warner
Daniel Flavel as Patrick Harper/Vincent Sherman
Bryanie Whittingham-Ball as Christabel Murgatroyd/Miriam Hopkins
Isabella Greenan as Ruthie Davis/Joan Crawford/Mrs. O'Leary
Hamlet
25th - 27th March, Queen's Hall
A dead mother and a dead queen...
LUTheatre presents William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Hamlet with a twist.
In this production, the characters will not be portrayed by their traditional genders. In LUTheatre’s Hamlet, the Princess of Denmark is haunted by her mother’s ghost, who tells her that she was murdered as she slept.
Now Hamlet must avenge her mother by killing her murderer, who is Hamlet’s aunt, and the new Queen. Hamlet is tormented by her father’s hasty marriage and her mother’s eerie message.
Watch Hamlet orchestrate a return to a just order – a process which means that she and the rest of the court must descend into chaos…
Directed by Emily Dilworth and Jordan Sutton
Staring
Amelia Oliver as Hamlet
Alice Jackson as Claudius
Adam Unwin as Gertrude
Dom Dichen Horatio
Ben Alborough as Ophelia
Ed Kaye as Laertes
Alex Hatcher as Polonius
Cynthia Onyilimba as Rosencrantz
Charlie Bird as Guildenstern
Pippa Abbott as Mother/Fortinbras
Bethany Carter-Brown as Marcellus
Michael Oatway as Bernardo
Clemence Waller as Francisco
