Yorkshire Gig Guide© Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
February 2012 click dates for gigs
M
T
W
T
F
S
S
March 2012
M
T
W
T
F
S
S
April 2012
M
T
W
T
F
S
S
Please check Venues and events before setting off-
Written and Composed by Boff Whalley
Director: Rod Dixon, Designer: Ali Allen, Lighting Designer: Tim Skelly
Comedian Phill Jupitus is to star in BIG SOCIETY! A MUSIC HALL COMEDY, an irreverent and satirical new musical comedy from Chumbawamba founder member Boff Whalley. Produced by Red Ladder Theatre Company, and featuring live music from Chumbawamba, the show will open the Spring Summer season at the world famous City Varieties Music Hall, following its £9.9m refurbishment which was completed earlier this year.
Set in the City Varieties of one hundred years ago, BIG SOCIETY! is centred around the cast of an Edwardian Music Hall variety show. It’s 1910, King Edward is dying, the country is run by trumped-up public school boys and the cast of the ‘Big Society’ variety show are under threat.
Trapped between an elitist government and a corrupt media establishment (embodied by the dirt-digging reporter from ‘The Double Standard’), the performers grapple to justify their existence and hold onto their jobs
– that is, until Eve, escapologist and mistress to the King, decides to take things into her own hands. Singing the cause of the downtrodden everywhere from a dilapidated dressing room in Leeds, Red Ladder, Chumbawamba and Phill Jupitus invite audiences to a Music-Hall styled reminder of the old proverb: ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same’, in an evening of relevant, riotous energy.
Rod Dixon comments:
“BIG SOCIETY, in the tradition of 7:84 or Dario Fo, is first and foremost a good night out with sing-along live music and plenty of clowning and gags. But what the show also exposes is the fact that in 2011 we have a Cabinet made up of exactly the same rich Eton-educated millionaires as we had in Edwardian Britain.”
Phill Jupitus is the longest-serving member of the NEVER MIND THE BUZZCOCKS team and regular panellist on QI (BBC 2). His theatre credits include the role of King Arthur in the UK tour of SPAMALOT (2011), Edna Turnblad in the West End production of HAIRSPRAY! and Nick Reed's LIFECOACH (Trafalgar Studios.) He launched the BBC’s digital radio channel 6Music in 2002 and was the host of 6Music's breakfast show until 2007.
Phill also regularly appears on I'M SORRY I HAVEN’T A CLUE (BBC Radio 4).
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who has, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music. Their vocal anarchist politics exhibit an irreverent attitude toward authority, and the band have been forthright in their anti-racist, socialist, anti-war, and feminist social stances.
The band is best known for the song TUBTHUMPING. Other singles have included AMNESIA, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH (with MC Fusion), TIMEBOMB and most recently, ADD ME. BIG SOCIETY! is Red Ladder’s fourth collaboration with the band.
Built in 1865, many of the world's greatest entertainers have
Built in 1865, many of the world's greatest entertainers have
trodden the boards at the City Varieties Music Hall including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harry Houdini, Lilly Langtry, Harry Lauder and Mickey Rooney.
It has played a key role in the careers of Frankie Vaughan, Ken Dodd, The Chuckle Brothers, Roy Hudd and Barry Cryer. For thirty years, the Varieties was also the home of BBC TV's record breaking The Good Old Days which began broadcasting in 1953 and was screened around the world.
Following closure in early 2009, the Varieties has undergone major restoration work including a complete reconstruction of the backstage areas, painstaking ceiling and plasterwork repairs, new carpeting and seating throughout the auditorium as well as vastly improved access to all levels.
The cast of BIG SOCIETY! is Kyla Goodey, Harry Hamer, Lisa Howard, Phill Jupitus and Dean Nolan. The Big Society Band a.k.a Chumbawamba will be played by Jude Abbott, Boff Whalley, Phil Moody and Neil Ferguson.
Red Ladder is a radical theatre company with 40 years of history; acknowledged as one of Britain’s leading national touring companies producing high quality theatre contributing to social change and global justice.
Eve performances: Mon – Sat: 8pm
Matinees: Sat 21, 28 Jan and Wed 1 Feb and Sat 4 Feb: 2pm
Ticket prices: £10 - 17 (concs. available), Boxes (to seat two) £26 - £40
For details about the company please visit
Matinees: Sat 21, 28 Jan and Wed 1 Feb and Sat 4 Feb: 2pm
Ticket prices: £10 - 17 (concs. available), Boxes (to seat two) £26 - £40
For details about the company please visit
PHILL JUPITUS IN NEW MUSICAL AT REFURBISHED CITY VARIETIES
Red Ladder Theatre Company presents the
world premiere of:
BIG SOCIETY!
A MUSIC HALL COMEDY
CITY VARIETIES, LEEDS
18 JANUARY 2012 - 4 FEBRUARY 2012
BOX OFFICE: 0113 243 0808 Tickets>
Red Ladder Theatre Company presents the
world premiere of:
BIG SOCIETY!
A MUSIC HALL COMEDY
CITY VARIETIES, LEEDS
18 JANUARY 2012 - 4 FEBRUARY 2012
BOX OFFICE: 0113 243 0808 Tickets>
