Curve Leicester announces socially distanced season including concert productions of The Color Purple & Sunset Boulevard

Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz

Curve Leicester has announced its upcoming socially distanced season of shows launching on 12 November, which will feature revivals of their hit productions: The Color Purple, Sunset Boulevard and Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual.

The auditorium has been reconfigured to seat 553 socially distanced audience members, in-the-round, by combining their main theatre and studio spaces. Producer Cameron Mackintosh has also donated a triple-revolve to accommodate the new layout.

The season will begin with an exclusive live-streamed event on 12 November, with a family and community day being held at the venue on 14 November in a socially distanced way.

A concert version of their award-winning production of The Color Purple will run from 23 November – 5 December, directed once again by Tinuke Craig, with musical direction by Alex Parker and choreography by Mark Smith. T’shan Williams and Danielle Fiamanya will reprise their roles of Celie and Nettie respectively for the new show format.

Following this, there will be a three-week concert revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Don Black’s Sunset Boulevard from 14 December 2020 – 3 January 2021, starring Ria Jones as Norma Desmond and Danny Mac as Joe Gillis, directed by Curve’s Artistic Director Nikolai Foster. The concert will feature a 16-piece orchestra (housed in one of the venue’s rehearsal spaces, fed live into the auditorium) with further cast details to be revealed in due course.

Lastly, their award-winning production of Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual will be presented from 25 January – 6 February 2021. Being performed in the new configuration will hopefully bring a “stadium feel” to the play, according to Chief Executive, Chris Stafford. Foster will direct with further cast and creative team details to be announced.

Rigorous safety measures will be in place to ensure the proposed season can go ahead, including one-way systems, hand sanitiser stations, hospitality apps and temperature checks.

The funding that the venue has received from the Culture Recovery Fund will not only ensure that the productions break-even, but will also allow the venue’s staff to return from next month, alongside its many freelancers.

Speaking about the plans, Chris Stafford and Nikolai Foster said: “COVID continues to have a devastating impact on our industry and we are indebted to Arts Council England and DCMS for the Culture Recovery Fund which will help us plan a future for Curve. 

“Although we have a long road to recovery ahead of us, we are delighted to announce a new programme of work which will reopen our theatre after seven long months of closure. The team at Curve have worked tirelessly on plans to enable us to safely reopen our theatre with social distancing. Curve’s unique architecture has always demanded a bold response in whatever we do, and we are proud to present these performances in our newly configured, socially-distanced, in-the-round theatre which merges our Studio and Theatre into one performance space. The Color Purple, Sunset Boulevard and Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual celebrate all that is great about Leicester and our theatre: community spirit, resilience and the irrefutable transformative power of culture and theatre in all of our lives. Alongside these performances, we look forward to welcoming our Curve Youth and Community Companies, Associate Artists and Resident Creatives back into the building. 

“We couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who donated and supported Curve during this temporary closure, in particular our principal funders Leicester City Council and Arts Council England. We would also like to extend our grateful thanks to Cameron Mackintosh for the loan of the revolving stages used in this special autumn re-opening season; Cameron and his team have been incredibly generous and supportive throughout the lockdown and we are most appreciative to all of them for their support.

“Curve plays an important role in the life of our city, and in reopening our theatre we will be able to play a part in helping revitalise Leicester from the continued impact of this pandemic. We look forward to welcoming our audiences, participants, staff and 100s of freelance artists back to Curve and the City Centre this autumn.”

Tickets go on sale to Curve Friends from Thursday 15 October, Supporters from Friday 16 October and Members from Monday 19 October, before a general on-sale from Wednesday 21 October.

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