Racial injustice in the Deep South, murder on the streets of Edinburgh, an epic wartime love story on a Greek island and a creepy mansion with a rock and roll party in full swing Newcastle Theatre Royal has it all in its Spring/Summer 2019 season.
The spectacular season opens with Rebus: Long Shadows (25 Feb – 2 Mar), Ian Rankin’s famous literary creation brought to life on stage for the very first time with an all-star cast led by Charles Lawson (Coronation Street), Cathy Tyson (Mona Lisa) and John Stahl (Game of Thrones). Rankin’s legendary Rebus novels have dominated bestseller tables and primetime TV screens, but Newcastle theatre goers can now be mesmerised by Edinburgh’s most famous Detective Inspector in a thrilling live stage experience.
Back by popular demand is the critically acclaimed production of one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, To Kill a Mockingbird (25 – 30 Mar). A sell out success on the Theatre Royal stage in 2015, the moving show retells Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prizewinning novel of racial tensions in a small-town community of the Deep South in the 1930s. Hailed as the theatrical event of its generation, the National Theatre’s landmark production of An Inspector Calls returns in the autumn (22 – 26 Oct). Stirring, thought-provoking and eerie, the play centres on the arrival of mysterious Inspector Goole at a dinner party held by the prosperous Birling family. Investigating the death of a young woman, his startling revelations shake the very foundations of their lives and challenge us all to examine our consciences.
We also visit the picturesque Greek island of Cephalonia for an unforgettable love story set against the turbulent backdrop of World War II in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (21 – 25 May). Based on Louis de Bernières’ best-selling novel that inspired the hit film, the world premiere production tells the compelling story of beautiful Islander Pelagia and how her and her father’s peaceful life on the idyllic island is turned upside down by the arrival of war and foreign occupation.
From one kind of forbidden love to another, October brings a breath-taking new production from Matthew Bourne in Romeo and Juliet (9 – 12 Oct). A passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic love story, two young lovers must follow their hearts as they risk everything to be together.
It’s time to do the time warp again as Richard O’Brien’s legendary monster-mash rock ‘n’ roll musical The Rocky Horror show will make its Theatre Royal debut in the summer (5-10 Aug). With an all-star cast and packed with timeless classics, the show is the story of two squeaky clean college kids, Brad and his fiancée Janet, whose car breaks down outside a creepy mansion where a rock and roll party is in full swing.
Other highlights include the behemoth extravaganza Les Misérables (15 Aug 5 Oct), music and dance spectacular Saturday Night Fever (5 – 9 Mar), Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sparkling musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2 – 6 April) and soul-sational West End hit Motown the Musical (4 – 22 June).
Fans will also delight at the breathtakingly romantic blockbuster musical starring Alexandra Burke The Bodyguard (23 July – 3 Aug) and gripping thriller The Girl on the Train (29 April 4 May), not forgetting that over 70,000 tickets have already been sold for this year’s rip-roaring pantomime spectacular Goldilocks and the Three Bears (27 Nov ’18 – 20 Jan ’19).