CURVE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
SAT 5 SEP 2020
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Welcome to this week’s newsletter from Curve. We hope you are doing well and you’ve had a good week.
We start by wishing you a very Happy Pride 2020! We’re really sorry we can’t all be together this year, but we look forward to marching and spending Pride together next year. Our friends at Leicester LGBT Centre and Trade Sexual Health have come together to curate a day of entertainment, celebration and community in the form of Leicester Digital Pride, which kicks off across their social media channels from 12 noon on Sat 5 Sep. As the Pet Shop Boys‘ score for our production of My Beautiful Laundrette proudly proclaims – “love has no boundaries!”
Speaking of Laundrette, you can enjoy another spin at Powders as our dress rehearsal archive recording of the show is now available to watch on our website. There’s also some extra bubbles of insight to be enjoyed in our digital discussion with Writer Hanif Kureishi, Designer Grace Smart and the entire acting company, plus access to our digital programme and enhanced audio description notes for blind and partially sighted audience members. It’s almost as good as a night at the theatre! We can’t believe it’s been almost a year since we brought Hanif’s screenplay to our stage, and we hope you enjoy watching – or rewatching – the show. Please let us know your thoughts.
And there’s more virtual theatre on the way in a few weeks, as Wise Children ‘visit’ Curve with their digital tour of Romantics Anonymous on Wed 23 Sep. Broadcast live from Bristol Old Vic and with tickets from £16, it promises to be a magical night ‘at the theatre’, but with all your home comforts to hand. Please don’t get too comfortable though, as we’d love to welcome you back to Curve soon!
In this week’s Creative Commentary, Director Julia Thomas shares her memories of creating the imaginative world for our 2017 co-production of George’s Marvellous Medicine. With giant animals, exploding Grandmas, potions and tricks, Julia’s piece discusses the collaboration behind making magic for all the family at Curve.
Meanwhile colleagues at Wild in Art and LOROS Hospice are now inviting submissions from local creatives to design the rocket sculptures for their Rocket Round Leicester trail, which is due to take place in Summer 2021. All artforms and levels of experience are welcome, so if you’re a dab-hand with a paintbrush or madly in love with mosaics, do visit the website to find out how you can get involved. We are excited to see the space rockets across the city before too long.
Finally, we would like to extend enormous thanks to Alex Blake and Lindsay Atherton of online training platform Magnetic Studios, who have made a kind donation of more than £1,100 to Curve this week. Alex played Baby John in West Side Story and when lockdown hit, Alex and his partner Lindsay wanted to do something positive, to make a difference to performers and venues alike. The funds have been raised through the professional classes, workshops and events they have been curating online during this time; its an immense achievement – literally starting a new company from scratch – and we are very grateful they have chosen to support us in this way. For more details on how to join the programme, please see the section below.
We also express our gratitude to Leicester City Council, Arts Council England and to you – our audiences – for your continued kindness and generosity.
Stay well and take care,
Chris & Nikolai
THE SHOW MUST GO ONLINE
Watch My Beautiful Laundrette online now!
Ready for another spin at Powders? You can now enjoy our 2019 Made at Curve production of Hanif Kureishi‘s My Beautiful Laundrette at home, with the release of our captioned dress rehearsal archive recording earlier this week.
Based on Kureishi’s iconic and Oscar-nominated screenplay of the same name, the multi-award nominated stage production of My Beautiful Laundrette was directed by Nikolai Foster and premiered at Curve last autumn, before a national tour. Featuring new and original music from Tennant/Lowe of the Pet Shops Boys, the Made at Curve drama was co-produced by Curve, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham and Leeds Playhouse.
Got time for the full cycle? Learn more about the creative process behind the show with our accompanying digital discussion – featuring the full cast, Director Nikolai Foster, Writer Hanif Kureishi and Designer Grace Smart – and access to our digital programme.
Audio-descriptive introductory notes detailing the production are also available, recorded by Talking Sense Audio Description Services.
Director Julia Thomas on George's Marvellous Medicine
“I felt so lucky to be able to make this production and truly blessed that I was part of a team who loved trying to think like Dahl as much as I did”
Read the latest Creative Commentary from Director Julia Thomas on bringing the magic of Dahl to stage in our Made at Curve production of George’s Marvellous Medicine.
Magnetic Studios support Curve with donation of over £1,100
A few weeks ago we shared details of Magnetic Studios, an online platform for performers to continue their training with professionals, and access online workshops. The company is run by two performers, Alex Blake – who joined us last Christmas as Baby John in West Side Story (pictured right in rehearsals) – and Lindsay Atherton.
We are delighted Magnetic Studios have chosen to support Curve with proceeds raised through their programme, and are extremely grateful for their kind donation.
To find out more about their upcoming classes, workshops and events this Autumn, please visit the link below.
Artist call-out for Rocket Round Leicester
Would you like to share your work on a canvas that’s out of this world? Wild in Art and LOROS Hospice are now looking for local, regional and national artists, designers and illustrators to create inspiring and engaging designs for the Rocket sculptures on the Rocket Round Leicester trail in Summer 2021.
Following the trail, the sculptures will be auctioned to raise funds for LOROS Hospice.
Submissions are now open until Mon 30 Nov, and all artforms are welcomed.
BOOKING NOW
★★★★
“A sweetly funny, gorgeously tender musical rom-com”
The Times
Have you booked your tickets for our digital tour date of Wise Children‘s Romantics Anonymous yet?
Directed by Emma Rice – who also directed our 2011 co-production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and the recent tour of Malory Towers – Romantics Anonymous is a mouthwateringly magical, musical love story about breaking the mould and finding the courage to be happy.
Join us for the special Midlands performance of the show on Wed 23 Sep 2020 at 7.30pm, brought to you LIVE from the Bristol Old Vic stage.
This production has now finished.