Newbury’s Watermill Theatre has confirmed rescheduled dates for the folk-flavoured musical The Wicker Husband as part of its 2022 spring season.
The musical which had its world premiere run at the distinctive Berkshire venue in early March 2020 cut short by the pandemic, will now return to complete its run from 11-26 March 2022.
Based on a short story by Ursula Wills-Jones, the winner of the inaugural MTI Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award in 2016 has a book by Rhys Jennings and music and lyrics by Darren Clark. With casting due to be announced at a later date, the production is directed by Charlotte Westenra.
The Wicker Husband was included in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s 30th Annual Festival of New Musicals in New York in 2018. The Watermill production features handcrafted wicker puppets created by Finn Caldwell whose credits include War Horse, Life of Pi and The Grinning Man.
Set design for the production will be by Anna Kelsey, with choreography by Steven Harris, lighting design by Hartley T A Kemp, sound design by Ella Wahlström and musical direction by Pat Moran.
The Wicker Husband is one of two new British musicals rescheduled from 2020. The musical version of Graham Greene’s classic novel Our Man in Havana will now receive its world premiere at the venue from 7 April until 21 May.
Written by Ben Morales Frost and Richard Hough, Greene’s 1950s spy-satire will be brought to the stage accompanied by a Cuban music-inspired score. Amy Draper directs the production which is designed by Kat Heath with Eliane Correa as co-orchestrator and musical director.
Announcing the season which will launch in January with the premiere of Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s celebration of the life of comic legend Spike Milligan, SPIKE, the venue’s artistic director Paul Hart said: “Joyous new work will galvanise our post pandemic recovery as we bring back two new musicals that were cut short by the pandemic, our young actors in the Youth Theatre return to the stage for the first time since 2019 and I’m delighted to be working with Ian Hislop and Nick Newman to bring the life and work of comic genius, Spike Milligan, to The Watermill. I’m proud and grateful that we’re able to continue creating new and innovative work, thanks to the generous support of our brilliant audiences, supporters and funders.
“It’s been a long road since The Wicker Husband, a piece that is so perfect for The Watermill’s stage, opened and was forced to almost immediately close, in March 2020. With its beautiful score, and incredible puppets, I can’t wait to welcome back the whole team for this remarkable show. And our commission of a new musical version of Our Man in Havana will be performed for the first time, finally making it to our stage, after production was halted by the pandemic.”
The spring 2022 season announcement was accompanied by of the announcement of plans for the newly rebranded Watermill Youth Ensemble to perform its first production along with the appointment of Becca Chadder and Talitha Wing as the new playwrights in residence, mentored by Watermill associate artist Danielle Pearson.
Commenting on the Youth Ensemble, Hart paid tribute to the driving force behind the initiative which opens up access to local young people, outreach director Heidi Bird, adding: “For the first time our newly rebranded Youth Ensemble will be made entirely of young people who attend any one of our regular weekly groups, including our specialist access groups for young people who are home educated, have autism, have added complications in their lives or are Deaf/deaf or have a hearing impairment. We are delighted to form this brilliant company of actors who will come together and tell a unique and inspiring story.”
Angela Thomas
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