Theatre in the Quarter

New year’s news

Brian Pearson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:30 +0000

2012 is going to be a busy year for us. In February Star of Wonder finishes its tour in Blackpool, as part of the Showzam Festival. At the end of March, our large-scale community musical Unsinkable is launched in collaboration with the Hammond School. Also in March, A Handbag of Harmonies, leading a massed choir of over 400 voices from across Cheshire, with children from many schools, the Chester Schools Concert Band and Homegrown Dance , will be performing TIQ’s artistic director Matt Baker’s anthem Across the World, commissioned by the BBC Music Nation project as part of the Cultural Olympiad. The anthem will also feature at the Olympic Torch ceremonies in Chester and Tatton Park in May.

Continuing the Olympic theme, June will see the performance of The Chester Giants’ Opera. Our young people’s company, Jigsaw Music Theatre will again be contributing to the International School Theatre Association festival at Porthleven, Cornwall. And we’re pleased to announce that our Christmas show this year will be a bumper Chester musical version of A Christmas Carol!

Rehearsals for Unsinkable start

Brian Pearson — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:58:30 +0000

Rehearsals are now starting for our community production of Unsinkable, in partnership with the Hammond School. This exciting large scale show commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the tragic loss of the Titanic.

The company will consist of community actors and choir from the Chester area, members of Theatre in the Quarter’s young people’s company Jigsaw Music Theatre, and A Level Theatre and Dance students from The Hammond School. Unsinkable (by Richard Wolfenden Brown and Matt Baker) was originally created and performed by Jigsaw Music Theatre as a piece of work for the Merseyside Maritime Museum in 1997. It has since been performed by several youth theatre and community groups around Britain and Germany. It was performed in London as Stagecoach Theatre Arts’ National Showcase production in 2009.

The new production will be an exciting musical re-interpretation of this famous historical episode. It will be directed by Ruth Alexander Rubin, with musical direction by Matt Baker, design by Judith Croft, dance work by Katherine Jacob (Hammond). Assistant Directors – Mandy Hatfield (Hammond) and members of Jigsaw Theatre Company Team

Performances will be on 28 – 31 March at THE HAMMOND SCHOOL.

Cast members take a break from rehearsals to pose outside Garden Lane Church

Star of Wonder to illuminate Blackpool!

Brian Pearson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:54:12 +0000

We’ll be performing Star of Wonder at the Blackpool Grand Studio Theatre on 14 – 16 February 2012 during the Showzam! Festival. There will also be a performance at Edge Hill University on 13 February. For booking details, click here

On Christmas Eve, 1899, under the watchful eyes of a packed house in Chester’s music hall, the impossible happens! The fate of two young lovers hangs in the balance as the lines between illusion and reality, love and ambition are blurred by their encounter with the beautiful and exotic magician known as Isis, the Star of Wonder, self-proclaimed possessor of the lost secrets of ancient Egyptian magic.

Star of Wonder is a musical magical mystery. It features magician and actor Paul Dabek, Michael Magnet, Isla Carter and Emily Barlow, and is created by the Theatre in the Quarter team (writer Helen Newall, director Russ Tunney and music director/composer Matthew Baker) whose previous shows Silent Night and Home for Christmas have enchanted audiences across the region.