The Barn Theatre in Cirencester has today announced their 2022 Built by Barn Season, which comprises seven new productions.
The 2022 season will begin with a new revival production of Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian’s award-winning musical comedy Murder For Two from 4 February – 5 March. The high-energy musical whodunit, which is a zany blend between classical musical comedy and madcap murder mystery, follows Officer Marcus Moscowicz as he is put to the test to prove his super sleuthing skills and solve the crime of novelist Arthur Whitney’s death before the real detectives arrive.
Bryan Hodgson will reunite with the Barn Theatre to direct the new production of the musical, which sees two actors play thirteen characters and the piano as they pay homage to the murder mystery canon. Bryan Hodgson previously directed the Barn Theatre’s 2019 Built by Barn production of The Importance of Being Earnest, which had successful runs at the Barn Theatre and London’s Turbine Theatre (which marked the Barn’s first London transfer).
The Cirencester theatre will then stage the world premiere of Vicki Berwick’s theatrical adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel The Mozart Question from 21 March – 30 April. The play, which was originally planned to debut as part of the theatre’s 2020 season, will be the fourth production based on Michael Morpurgo’s work to be staged at the theatre and continues their ongoing relationship with the internationally best-selling author.
The Mozart Question follows acclaimed violinist Paolo Levi as he recounts, to a young reporter, his family’s connection to the Holocaust and the power of music in the hardest of times. The new adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s haunting tale of love, secrets and survival will be directed by Jessica Daniels (The Butterfly Lion, Girl From The North Country) and comprise of an actor-musician ensemble with composition, arrangements and musical supervision by Rudy Percival.
Creative Director of Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre Paul Milton will direct a new production of the Rodgers & Hammerstein revue Some Enchanted Evening® – The Songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein from 6 – 28 May. The musical revue celebrates the work of the iconic duo during the golden age of musical theatre, featuring a parade of songs from Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s most beloved scores including Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music and South Pacific. Conceived by Jeffrey B. Moss, the revue juxtaposes numbers in theatrical settings: ‘backstage’, where the songs are sung as personal interplay and ‘onstage’, where the songs are presented to the audience.
The theatre will then debut a new production of the musical Million Dollar Quartet, which follows the events of the December 4, 1956, recording session at Memphis’ Sun Studio that brought four of the music’s best talents together for a once-in-a-life-time event: Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. Million Dollar Quartet is based on an original concept by Floyd Mutrux, who also directed the original production. The new revival of the one-act musical, which features the songs of the legendary performers and book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, will run in Cirencester from 6 June – 16 July.
Next in the season, the Barn will mark the 35th anniversary of Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Driving Miss Daisy with a new staging from 19 August – 17 September. The magnificent eulogy to friendship, which spans 25 years from 1948 to 1973, follows the relationship of an elderly Southern Jewish widow Daisy Werthan and her African American chauffeur Hoke Coleburn and how despite their early differences and prejudices become lifelong friends.
A new staging of Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel’s adaptation of the gripping mystery, suspense thriller The Girl on the Train will run at the Barn Theatre from 26 September – 29 October. Based on the bestselling novel by Paula Hawkins and the blockbuster DreamWorks film, the thriller follows Rachel Watson as she finds herself a witness and suspect in a thrilling mystery in which she will face bigger revelations than she could have ever anticipated.
The final production of the 2022 season sees Alan Pollock return for his fourth annual Christmas production with The True Adventures of Marian and Robin Hood from 21 November – 7 January. The new take on the classic tale follows archer, swordswoman, and trick rider Marian as she joins forces with her childhood nemesis Robin to thwart her hapless husband-to-be, the Sherriff of Nottingham, and overthrow his evil protector Prince John.
The Barn Theatre will hold a 2022 season launch event announcing further details on 21 January 2022.
Iwan Lewis, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Barn Theatre, said of the season: “In March 2020, our team at The Barn Theatre were preparing for our second birthday celebrations and had just opened our most ambitious season to date. It is difficult to now comprehend that it won’t be long before we will be planning to celebrate our fourth birthday and we will have spent half of the theatre’s existence in a pandemic.
Our 2022 season is a sign of the theatre’s ambitious, innovative, and resilient nature. It comprises of new work, family entertainment, musical theatre, and new productions of beloved work that we are thrilled to share with our audiences.
This season would not have been possible without the support from the Culture Recovery Fund from the DCMS and Arts Council England or from our loyal supporters.
I will be forever grateful for the lifeline our theatre has been granted over this difficult period. This has enabled us to come out fighting in 2022 as we go into a new phase of rebuilding. The ambition remains the same, remarkable theatre for our remarkable community”
