A busy summer season as Kully says farewell

Doncaster’s Cast Theatre has announced its busy April-July calendar as its founding director Kully Thiarai prepares to become artistic director and chief executive of National Theatre Wales later in the year.

She will be part of the season on April 25 with a fundraising event when she will talk about running a theatre in the 21st century and the impact the venue has had on the town. Money raised will help support the work Cast does on stage and in the community.

Patricia Rosario and Keisha Atwell star in the world première of new contemporary opera Clocks 1888: the greener on April 15-16 which will give Doncaster audiences the chance to see the show before it plays London’s Hackney Empire.

Sadler’s Well’s Breakin’ Convention, the acclaimed international festival of hip-hop dance theatre, will be at Cast on May 7. 

Marking the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, Northern Ballet come back to Cast to present the world première of Jane Eyre on May 19-21. 

A critically-acclaimed revival of award-winning play Shadowlands tells the extraordinary late-in-life love story of CS Lewis on April 26-30 and stars Stephen Boxer, Amanda Ryan and Denis Lill. 

Shakespeare Untold, a double bill of the Bard’s classics given a surprising new twist by the world famous Shakespeare’s Globe, is on May 4 and on June 9 there is Dinosaur Park, a theatrical parody of Spielberg’s classic Jurassic Park.

On June 16-19, direct from the West End, comes The Gruffalo’s Child.

Yorkshire singer Kate Rusby will be live in concert on May 29, singing a choice of her classics with a selection of new songs from her latest album Ghost. 

The sounds and moves of prohibition New York city will be brought to the stage in Swinging at the Cotton Club on May 11 featuring top jazz dance company Jiving Lindy Hoppers and Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra with Marlene Hill and Megs Etherington on vocals.

The Big Band sounds of the 1940s are set to be brought to life by The Nick Ross Orchestra in The Sounds of the Glenn Miller Era on June 10. 

Doncaster’s own Youth Jazz Association will play in Cast’s Main Space on July 1 alongside Germany’s EKS Big Swing Band, marking the 27th anniversary of the European Partnership Charter between Doncaster and Herten and almost three decades of musical exchanges and collaborations. 

Doncaster-born cellist Anton Crayton plays a programme of Haydn, Janácek and Brahms as part of Marmen Quarter on May 28 in the young ensemble’s first concert at Cast. 

The two day Yorkshire Silent Film Festival takes place on July 6-7 which celebrates timeless classics of the early cinema with screenings of a Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin triple bill, Harold Lloyd in Safety Last! and one of Hollywood’s silent masterpieces, the Phantom of the Opera.

The Exhibitions on Screen series takes place on May 15, June 12 and July 3 offering a chance to explore some of the art world’s finest paintings by Goya, Renoir, Monet and Matisse on the big screen. 

Northern Ballet’s Tortoise and the Hare on May 21 brings to life the much-loved Aesop’s fable. 

Mixing live real-time digital animation and live music, The Adventures of Walter Lemonface on June 1 will offer interactive family fun.

There will also be other performances during the summer season.

Ms Thiarai said: “I have enjoyed three and a half extraordinary years in Doncaster setting up and launching Cast.

“It has been a privilege to be the founding director of a brand new performance venue in the town. 

“Cast has successfully shown that live performance along with a strong artistic vision is both welcomed by audiences and necessary for Doncaster’s development.

“With two world premières and an exciting programme of shows for summer 2016, I do believe that the foundations are well laid for the future.”

Tickets for Cast’s Summer 2016 season are available from the box office on 01302 303959 or online at castindoncaster.com.