Oldham Coliseum Spring Season
Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor
The new Spring/ Summer programme for 2019 from Oldham Coliseum seeks to illuminate pressing issues affecting families and communities, and modern-day society as a whole. Exploring themes around ageing, love and longevity, and family this rousing programme celebrates Northern tales and voices through a hearty mix of new plays, musical theatre and contemporary classics.
The impressive season launches with a revival of one of the Coliseum’s most popular productions, Jimmie Chin’s A Different Way Home. This deeply moving and astutely observed play made its world premiere at Oldham Coliseum back in 1998 and starred Roy Barraclough. Now in this eagerly anticipated restaging, the director of the original 1998 production, Kenneth Alan Taylor (The Father), takes on the parts of both siblings.
Following some of the most urgent themes explored in The Father, the Coliseum revisits the vital topic of dementia in a home-grown production of Barney Norris’ award-winning Visitors. A rural farmhouse frames a family who are falling apart. Tackling some of the issues faced by families struggling with the onset of dementia in a loved one, Visitors is timely and urgent programming.
Set to draw the audience into the macabre mystery of an Irish village, the Oldham Coliseum will present a home-grown production of Martin McDonagh’s A Skull in Connemara. Written by BAFTA and Academy Award-winning McDonagh, you can expect a super sharp production.
With superb theatricality and satirical humour, this season the Coliseum will stage Handbagged. A West End hit and Olivier Award nominee, Handbagged imagines what may have happened at the Queen’s infamous weekly meetings with Margaret Thatcher.
Based on the novel by Melvin Bragg, The Hired Man is a must-see for musical theatre lovers, opening at the Coliseum in June. An epic love story with an inspiring and lively musical score, set to the backdrop of English country tradition and the gathering storm of war.
Check out our full listings for this exciting season at Oldham Coliseum.
