AN eclectic offering at the Merlin Theatre has something for everybody, with live streaming of the RSC, The Emperor’s New Clothes for families, comedy from the hugely popular Katy Brand and music and anecdotes from a widely-experienced musical duo.
On Wednesday 24th May at 7pm there is a Royal Shakespeare Company live filmed theatre screening of Antony and Cleopatra.
Iqbal Khan directs Shakespeare’s tragedy of love and duty, picking up the story where Julius Caesar ends. Following Caesar’s assassination, Mark Antony has reached the heights of power. Now he has neglected his empire for a life of decadent seduction with his mistress, Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Torn between love and duty, Antony’s military brilliance deserts him, and his passion leads the lovers to their tragic end.
Iqbal Khan returns to the RSC to direct, with Antony Byrne and Josette Simon in the title roles. Tickets £16 and £10.50, cert 12A, running time 3 hours plus interval.
Another ruler gets his come-uppance on Sunday 28th May at 3pm when Illyria presents The Emperor’s New Clothes, but hopefully it will all end happily!
The Emperor is a lovely man, but he’s not the best judge of character, and is often surrounded by idiots. What keeps him sane is the monthly Grand Parade at which he wears his newest outfit.When two swindlers spin a yarn and everyone is taken in, what price will he have to pay? Will the new clothes they make really enable him to weed out the idiots in his palace? Or will he end up losing his crown jewels?
All will be revealed in Illyria’s cheekiest ever show, although be reassured that there is no actual nudity in the production, which will be outside on the Merlin’s ECOS amphitheatre (inside if wet).
Tickets: Adults £14.50, Concessions £11.50, Children £9.50
Family ticket (2 adults and 2 children under 16) £40 Recommended all ages from 5+, running time 1 hour 40 mins including 20 minute interval
On Friday 2nd June at 7.45pm Katy Brand presents ‘I was a teenage Christian’.
Katy Brand’s hit Edinburgh Festival show I Was a Teenage Christian is an honest, fascinating and funny exploration of her self-imposed conversion and total immersion in evangelical Christianity.
For seven years she put the ‘fun’ into fundamentalism…and the ‘mental’ She performed her first professional comedy gig in a London pub in 2004, before joining acclaimed sketch comedy troupe Ealing Live!, and touring around the country with her own show. She won a British Comedy award for her TV sketch series Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show in 2008 and has since written for and appeared in numerous films, TV programmes and radio shows.
All tickets: £13.50 Recommended 16+ | Running time 60 mins
On Saturday 3rd June at 7.45pm Adam Wakeman and Damian Wilson embark on a duo acoustic tour featuring Damian on vocals and acoustic guitar and Adam on piano, vocals and acoustic guitar. They’ll be playing songs from their individual back catalogues and artists they have worked with, along with tracks from their new album Weirkeepers Tale, intertwined with stories and memories from their extensive touring careers.
Most well-known as the keyboard player with Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, Adam has also released nine albums with father Rick Wakeman, while Wilson is a singer-songwriter widely known for his contribution to the progressive rock and metal genre as lead singer for bands such as Threshold, Headspace and Landmarq. Tickets: Adults £15, Concessions £10
