Rock’n’roll meets Hamlet in new feelgood stage musical at the Belgrade Theatre

Rock’n’roll meets Hamlet in new feelgood stage musical at the Belgrade Theatre

Postby dutchman » Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:40 pm

The story of how American rock’n’roll transformed postwar Britain is taking to the stage in a musical drawing inspiration from Hamlet.

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The high-energy show Roll Over Beethoven relocates Shakespeare’s classic tale of adolescent angst, teenage rebellion, family feuds and the ghosts of generations past to Britain in the late 1950s. It runs at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry from Saturday September 3 to Saturday September 17.

Writer and director Bob Eaton said: “My idea was always to tell the story of the coming of rock‘n’roll to the UK and how the music gave an energy to the rebellion of youth against the old, grey, black-and-white world of 1950s austerity England.”

The play is set in 1956 against the backdrop of a typical, English suburban town.

Bob added: “This was a whole generation before the Beatles, before the whole British invasion even took place. These were the original young ones, trailblazers who took the music that was setting America alive across the waters and made it their own.”

The feel-good musical-drama features a talented cast of actor-musicians including West End actor Michael Fletcher, best known to TV audiences for reaching the final 20 in ITV’s Superstar.

Having begun his career as a director, writer and actor in 1971, Bob has directed more than 80 professional productions in English regional theatre, London, New York, Dublin and Hong Kong as well as writing or co-writing more than 20 plays, musicals and musical adaptations. He is a former artistic director of The Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, he helped create the Olivier award-nominated Lennon and the hugely popular 2-Tone musical Three Minute Heroes which premiered at the Belgrade Theatre in 2000 starring Tupele Dorgu and was later revived in 2014 to great critical and audience acclaim.

Tickets start at £19. Call 024 7655 3055 to book or for more information.

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