THE curtain will go up again at Delph’s Millgate Arts Centre from September with a programme of entertainment arranged to suit every taste.
From Kate Bush to Dick Whittington, Frankie Howerd to a Night at the Proms, audiences can expect timely antidotes to post lockdown blues.
The stage has been empty since March 2020, including the cancellation of the now popular annual pantomime, but Saddleworth Live duo Tim Newbold and Michael Powis are delighted by the prospect of making up for lost time.
“We can promise you an exciting programme of theatrical delights including brand new drama, comedy, cabaret, live music, drag, highlights from the Edinburgh Fringe and, of course, the Christmas Panto,” say Tim and Michael.
“We can’t wait to get back to the theatre once again. The Millgate Arts Centre is a gem of a venue and we are very fortunate to have such a place in Saddleworth.
“None of this would be possible without the fantastic support we get from our audiences.
“Please continue to lend your support by coming out and having a good time! In the meantime, we’re already planning an exciting programme for 2022.”
The last play to be performed at the Millgate before the pandemic struck was Alan Stockdill’s brilliant Le Grand Return.
So, it is fitting the new season opens on Saturday, September 4 with his new play, The Cow Fields of Slack Bottom, described as “a Yorkshire comedy based on a story by Anthon Chekhov.” The playwright himself features among the cast.
A week later (September 11 at 7.30pm) Mirriam Lawton and friends will be entertaining once again for the annual Millgate Night at the Proms, which raises much-needed funds for the theatre.
The show has been sponsored by the Saddleworth Festival of the Arts.
It is an evening of live music featuring beautiful songs from your favourite Broadway and West End shows. The night will be rounded off in suitably rousing style by joining in with the revellers at the Royal Albert Hall.
Fabulous diva, La Voix, is back on October 14 and 15 for unforgettable evenings of side-splitting comedy, huge vocals, mesmerising impressions of the world’s biggest divas and buckets full of energy.
La Voix’s show has become a phenomenon in many towns and cities around the world and she is looking forward to returning to Saddleworth.
An Evening without Kate Bush is a former Fringe Festival hit coming to Delph on Saturday, October 16.
This is a theatrical masterpiece performed and written by Sarah-Louise Young (Julie Madly Deeply, La Poule Plombée, Cabaret Wh*re).
Over a career spanning five decades, Kate Bush has always attracted loyal and devoted followers.
This unique and mind-blowing new show celebrates their stories. Intelligent, brilliant and moving, Young invites you to celebrate the ground-breaking music of the enigmatic Kate Bush.
For half a century, Frankie Howerd was one of Britain’s most loved comedians. But he had a secret and the secret’s name was Dennis.
Howerd’s End (November 6) is a new play by Mark Farrelly (Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope and The Silence of Snow: The Life of Patrick Hamilton) which takes the audience to the heart of Frankie and Dennis’s clandestine relationship, which lasted from the 1950s until Frankie’s death in 1992.
Packed with laughter, but unafraid of truth, Howerd’s End portrays two humans’ journey through closeness, love, grief, and all the other things that make life worth living.
Dick Whittington will turn again towards Saddleworth from December 11 to 31 after the pandemic caused the cancellation of last year’s trip with the Big Tiny theatre company.
With spectacular sets, sensational costumes and a side-splitting script, don’t miss this chance to take in “our most magical pantomime yet.” It is never too early to book.
For prices and tickets for all shows visit www.ticketsource.co.uk/millgateartscentre
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