A new show based on the novel The Garbage King and another in-house Christmas show top and tail the autumn season at the Unicorn children’s theatre this year.
The season also includes two historical dramas for young people, a portrait of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and another Oily Cart offering for little ones this Christmas.
An adaptation of Elizabeth Laird’s 2004 novel The Garbage King kicks off the new season on 25 September, running to 31 October. Directed by Unicorn theatre Associate Director Rosamunde Hutt and performed by the Unicorn ensemble, The Garbage King tells the story of the unlikely friendship between a slum boy and a rich runaway who meet in a graveyard in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
During the run of The Garbage King the Unicorn also presents work by visiting companies. Unicorn regular Theatre Centre returns from 5 to 9 October to present The Day The Waters Came, a performance about Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 disaster in New Orleans, as told through the eyes of a young girl.
For young people aged 14 and over, Theatre Unlimited presents two dramas which take inspiration from history. Stephen MacDonald’s Not About Heroes (13 to 17 Oct) tells of the meeting and growing friendship between war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen during the First World War, while Sebastian Haffner’s autobiographical play Defying Hitler (20 to 24 Oct) details his life in Hitler’s Germany, leading to his eventual emigration to England in 1939.
Christmas at the Unicorn brings two shows. Celebrated children’s theatre company Oily Cart will entertain youngsters aged three to six with Mole In The Hole, a participatory performance which runs from 4 December to 2 January. Meanwhile the whole family aged seven and over can enjoy the second in-house production of the season, a new version of classic tale Beauty And The Beast, which plays from 4 December to 23 January.
Beauty And The Beast centres on down-on-his-luck Bob and his tempestuous daughter Belle. When Bob finds himself magically transported to a mysterious castle and threatened by the Beast, he is forced to trade his daughter for his life. But the Beast may just have met his match in Belle.
Beauty And The Beast is written by Phil Porter, author of previous Unicorn shows Cinderella and The Flying Machine, and directed by Unicorn Artistic Director Tony Graham.
CB