Workshop images are released for The Children’s Theatre Partnership and Royal & Derngate, Northampton’s co-production of Unexpected Twist.
The new musical will open at Royal & Derngate, Northampton on 11 February 2023 before embarking on a National Tour from 28 February 2023.
Unexpected Twist is a re-telling of the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist, by one the best-loved figures in the children’s book world, Michael Rosen. Adapted for the stage by BAFTA award-winning playwright Roy Williams (Soul, Sucker Punch), with original music by rising R&B star Yaya Bey and BAC Beatbox Academy’s Conrad Murray, Unexpected Twist is a thrilling new production from the producing partnership behind Holes and The Jungle Book, that will tour the UK following its Northampton premiere.
Shona and her class are studying Oliver Twist. She’s new in school and keeps finding herself in trouble – much like Oliver himself! When she’s given a new phone by a stranger, she begins to suspect there’s something fishy about the new kids she’s met…
Directed by James Dacre (Olivier Award-nominated Our Lady Of Kibeho and Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate, Northampton) with design by Frankie Bradshaw’s (Two Trains Running) Unexpected Twist brings to vivid life the worlds of both Shona and Oliver, as their stories twist together, unexpectedly!
Michael Rosen (Writer) said: “I have always been a huge lover of theatre and the dramatic arts. I believe in the power and value of live performance and rate it as an equal to all the other literary activities. I can’t describe what a thrill it is for me to know Unexpected Twist is going to be a play. I’ve already seen a draft script and it leapt off the page. I could immediately ‘see’ it as being a funny, tough, edgy, contemporary, powerful show. I am desperate to see it.”
Unexpected Twist follows The Children’s Theatre Partnership’s hugely successful production of Robert Icke’s Animal Farm, a reimagined version led entirely by puppets, which toured nationally from February 2022.
More information can be found here
