The halcyon days of school and the opportunities it afforded her mother has led Wise Children artistic director Emma Rice to adapt Enid Blyton’s classic boarding school story, Malory Towers, into a stage musical. The show premieres this summer, opening at The Passenger Shed in Bristol, before touring.
‘It feels like the show is reaching out to give you a big hug’: WISE CHILDREN – Coventry ★★★★★
My verdict? A show that is unabashedly in love with theatre, revelling in the curious mischief of Angela Carter’s novel – what a joy it is to dance and sing, indeed!
NEWS: Emma Rice follows Wise Children with Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers adaptation
Following the success of Wise Children, Emma Rice will adapt and direct Malory Towers, based on Enid Blyton’s classic children’s novels.
‘An explosion of sheer theatrical joy’: WISE CHILDREN – Touring ★★★★★
Wise Children is the ultimate love letter to theatre. Complete with stars, spotlights, showgirls and Shakespeare – this is a spectacle to behold.
NEWS: Emma Rice steps in to cover the role of Nora Chance in the Wise Children tour
Emma Rice will be stepping into the role of Nora Chance in the critically-acclaimed production of Wise Children, taking over the role from Etta Murfitt, from 26 March to 6 April, covering performances at Richmond Theatre and Belgrade Theatre.
‘A constant frenzy of invention’: WISE CHILDREN – Touring ★★★★
An adaptation of Angela Carter’s 1991 novel about a theatrical dynasty, spanning a century and loaded with Shakespeare, sex and song, Wise Children can exhaust in its constant frenzy of invention, but a surplus of ideas is always preferable than too few.
Debbie begins her Wise Children 2018-19 UK tour diary
Earlier this year I headed out on tour with The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk – well, I went to every venue on the UK leg of their tour… So with this being my year of Emma Rice, I simply had to do the same thing for Wise Children.
Wise Children ‘has blossomed into a show as joyous as I’ve come to expect from Emma Rice’
he beauty of seeing a show several times is that you can take in so many different things across the hours you spend in a theatre with it. With it being Emma Rice (and, let’s face it, Katy Owen) I’d booked four tickets in advance of seeing Wise Children.
Are we in the middle of a golden age of Shakespeare productions?
So what can be done to make Shakespeare less boring, or prove that Shakespeare isn’t boring (depending on how you look at it)? It does feel to me that we’re in the middle of a golden age of Shakespeare productions.
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… Wise Children choreographer Etta Murfitt
Choreographer Etta Murfitt spoke to Love London Love Culture’s Emma Clarendon about creating the choreography for Emma Rice’s Wise Children, playing at the Old Vic Theatre before embarking on a UK tour.
‘A great statement of intent from Emma Rice’: WISE CHILDREN – The Old Vic ★★★★
Wise Children is a beautifully designed and performed show, that’s faithful to the source material without ever feeling constrained by it – a great statement of intent from Emma Rice.
‘All human theatrical life is here’: WISE CHILDREN – The Old Vic ★★★
Now listen carefully’ says the wonderful Gareth Snook, hosting the proceedings as 75-year-old chorus girl Dora Chance in Emma Rice’s Wise Children, ‘or it’s going to be a long evening’.
Mark Shenton views the week of news in the West End & Broadway including a trio of much-anticipated London openings
A big week in London theatre, with three of the most anticipated openings of the autumn: Marianne Elliott’s new production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s 1970 musical Company, Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance at the Noel Coward and the launch of Emma Rice’s new post-Globe company Wise Children with a show also called Wild Children, at the Old Vic.
‘Feeling a curious disconnection’: WISE CHILDREN – The Old Vic ★★★
Emma Rice’s new residency with The Old Vic opens with her adaptation of the book Wise Children and shares its name with the new company she has founded after the wounding debacle downriver at the Globe.
NEWS: Full cast announced for world premiere production of Wise Children at the Old Vic & touring
The Old Vic has announced the cast of Angela Carter’s Wise Children – adapted and directed by Emma Rice – which will have its world premiere at The Old Vic on 17 October 2018, with previews from 8 October, ahead of its UK tour.
Emma Rice at Shakespeare’s Globe: Top 10
I thought it would be great to celebrate some of my favourite things about Emma Rice’s time as the artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe.
‘A truly unmissable show’: THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK – Touring ★★★★★
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk presents a striking non-romanticised view of love and art in a stunningly sensual and passionate way. This is a truly unmissable show.
‘Rice sprinkles in her own brand of magic’: BRIEF ENCOUNTER – Empire Cinema Haymarket
Brief Encounter is a love letter to both film and theatre in which Rice combines elements of David Lean’s 1946 film with the 1936 Noël Coward play Still Life that it was based on, and then sprinkles in her own brand of magic.
‘Moving, heartbreaking & blurring the lines between film & reality’: BRIEF ENCOUNTER – Empire Cinema Haymarket ★★★★
As the leads, Isabel Pollen and Jim Sturgeon are captivating. Suitably reserved and excited at times they create a moving and heartbreaking relationship which blurs the lines between film and reality.
‘It’s a classic’: BRIEF ENCOUNTER – Empire Cinema Haymarket ★★★★
The interactive movie footage in Brief Encounter is well done, there are trains enough to satisfy the most diligent railway enthusiast, and the breaking waves motif is clever. Maybe it’s a pity they couldn’t have intercut some of the David Lean film, it’s still a classic. But, in its own way, so is this production.