Stage: Coming to The Hawth
Sensational shows live on stage this spring
Following a break of six years, Band of Gold star Cathy Tyson returns to the stage this Spring in Sarah Naomi Lee’s bittersweet black hair salon drama Snakes and Ladders. The Liverpudlian, who found fame starring alongside Bob Hoskins in the 1986 feature film Mona Lisa, put her successful acting career on hold a four years ago to take on the very different role as a mature English student at Brunel University. She now takes the role of Amma in Lee’s affectionate family tale about three mixed race sisters and their relationship with their hair, which comes to The Hawth this spring.
A hairdresser’s salon, an impending wedding and three sisters in an everyday environment. Box braids and banter, curls and confidences, revelations and recriminations, this is a study of family life, of sisterly relationships, hidden truths, secret pasts and deep underlying love.
Snakes and Ladders is inspired by true stories collected from women in a black hair salon in Brighton.
Tuesday 22 & Wednesday 23 April 7.45pm, The Hawth Studio
Austen’s Women
Rebecca Vaughn returns to The Hawth with Austen’s Women this May following previous successful performances of the show in Crawley attracting crowds of Austen fans and lovers of great theatre.
Jane Austen created some of literature’s most celebrated characters, defining her era, sex and class. Two hundred years on, her works continue to speak for the yearning heart as much as they did when they were written – so just how much has really changed for women since?
In a solo performance of extraordinary virtuosity – using only Austen’s words – actor Rebecca Vaughan answers this question by boldly revisiting the most rewarding moments from all six major novels – including Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma – plus those in lesser known works such as Austen’s Juvenilia and the unfinished Sanditon. In scenes of high comedy and profound pathos, Vaughan deconstructs the souls of Emma Woodhouse, Lizzy Bennet, Mrs Norris, Miss Bates and nine other beautifully observed women. These women present a glorious distillation of 19th century feminism and speak volumes about love, friendship, and notorious improprieties.
Saturday 10 May 7.45pm, The Hawth Studio
English Touring Opera
The English Touring Opera return to The Hawth in May with two new operas, Mozart: The Magic Flute and Britten: Paul Bunyan.
English Touring Opera is the leading touring opera company in the UK.ETO travels to more regions and to more venues than any other English opera company, touring annually to around 55 venues and presenting as many as 110 performances per year.
Probably the world’s favourite opera, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, has enchanted music and theatre lovers of all ages for hundreds of years. With the magic and adventure of a classic Disney film, it tells the story of a young prince and princess on a frightening journey..
Like all of ETO’s main-stage productions this Spring, The Magic Flute and Paul Bunyan are sung in English, in full costume with an orchestral accompaniment.
Mozart: The Magic Flute, Monday 5 May, 7.30pm, and Britten: Paul Bunyan, Tuesday 6 May, 7.30pm.
