Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury's Theatre Severn to screen Walker Theatre shows

Pantomime will dominate local theatres for the coming month.

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EMBARGOED TO 2230 FRIDAY JUNE 16 File photo dated 20/08/10 of Billy Connolly, who has been awarded a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday June 16, 2017. See PA story HONOURS Main. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire .

But Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn is giving audiences the chance to enjoy classic entertainment with a series of live screenings in its Walker Thetare.

From the National Theatre to a production of Fleabag, from the Royal Opera House to Matthew Bourne’s Romeo & Juliet, the venue has an eclectic range of performances.

The fun starts tonight with a screening of Billy Connolly’s final stand-up tour.

Recorded in 2015, during the Australian leg of his Sex Life of Bandages tour, this routine is filled with outrageous tales and blistering observations of everyday absurdities.

Screening as a special one-night-only event, Connolly will also muse upon his career, life and legacy in a deeply personal interview filmed exclusively for cinema audiences.

Tomorrow, the venue will screen 42nd Street The Musical, which was filmed live at the Theatre Royal, in Drury Lane, London.

Telling the story of Peggy Sawyer, a talented young performer with stars in her eyes who gets her big break on Broadway, this is the largest ever staging of the Tony Award-winning musical and it was filmed live at the magnificent Theatre Royal in the heart of London’s West End.

Starring national treasure Bonnie Langford as Dorothy Brock and featuring iconic songs 42nd Street, We’re In The Money and Lullaby Of Broadway, it is pure musical magic on the big screen.

On Sunday, there will be a screening of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, featuring Andrew Scott. As he prepares to embark on an overseas tour, star actor Garry Essendine’s colourful life is in danger of spiralling out of control.

Engulfed by an escalating identity crisis as his many and various relationships compete for his attention, Garry’s few remaining days at home are a chaotic whirlwind of love, sex, panic and soul-searching. Captured live from The Old Vic in London, Present Laughter is a giddy and surprisingly modern reflection on fame, desire and loneliness.

On Monday, the Walker Theatre will show Fleabag, starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

The award-winning, one-woman show that inspired the BBCs hit TV series was written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Vicky Jones. It is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life.

Fleabag may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered and self-obsessed, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose. Playing to sold-out audiences in New York and London, the screening gives people the chance to see a ‘legitimately hilarious show’ (New Yorker), broadcast live on the big screen.

Tuesday’s offering is a screening of Coppelia from the Royal Opera House, in London.

Ninette de Valois’ charming and funny Coppélia is a story of love, mischief and mechanical dolls. The intricate choreography is set to Delibes’ delightful score and shows off the technical precision and comedic timing of the whole company.

Osbert Lancaster’s designs bring a colourful storybook world to life in this Christmas treat for the whole family.

The programme will continue on Wednesday with Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet.

The passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic story of love and conflict is set in the not too distant future in The Verona Institute.

Here ‘difficult’ young people are mysteriously confined by a society that seeks to divide and crush their youthful spirit and individuality. Our two young lovers must follow their hearts as they risk everything to be together. A timeless story of forbidden love, repressed emotions and teenage discovery, filmed live at Sadler’s Wells in London especially for cinemas.

On Thursday, there will be a screening of The Winter’s Tale. This beautifully reimagined production, co-directed by Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh, features a remarkable cast including Dame Judi Dench as Paulina, alongside Tom Bateman, Jessie Buckley, Hadley Fraser, Miranda Raison and Sir Kenneth Branagh as Leontes.

King Leontes appears to have everything: power, wealth, a loving family and friends. But sexual jealousy sets in motion a chain of events with tragic consequences. This critically acclaimed show was the first in the hugely successful Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company Live season that was broadcast to cinemas from London’s Garrick Theatre over the course of a year in 2015.

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