Performances for the Curious opens next month at Wales Millennium Centre with a new spring season of over 35 thought-provoking and joy-fuelled performances (15 March-17 May), adding to the already vibrant offer in Cardiff Bay.
All shows are now on sale, with new play CLASS (1-4 May) coming to Wales for the first time to complete the season. CLASS is a parent-teacher meeting gone wrong and an explosive confrontation over learning difficulties, love and entitlement as two recently separated parents are called in to school to discuss their 9-year old’s reading difficulties. Written by Iseult Golden and David Horan, CLASS was the hit of the Dublin Theatre Festival 2017 and won the Edinburgh Fringe First award in 2018. CLASS is new Irish writing at its finest and completes the programme of cutting-edge contemporary theatre as part of the Performances for the Curious season at Wales Millennium Centre this spring.
Other contemporary theatre taking place in Wales Millennium Centre’s Weston Studio includes Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru’s Merched Caerdydd / Nos Sadwrn o Hyd (10-13 April). Merched Caerdydd (Cardiff Girls) by Catrin Dafydd follows three young, bright women from contemporary Wales, each trying to make sense of their messy lives. And in Nos Sadwrn o Hyd (Saturday Night Forever) by Roger Williams, we meet Lee – who, following a messy break-up sound-tracked by Take That, goes looking for love again. Both are performed in the Welsh language with live English language access available for non-Welsh speakers and Welsh learners via the SIBRWD app.
Audiences are invited to see more new writing and early stages of Wales-based theatre with a week of free Scratch Nights (13-17 May). Or with Bump/Bully (18 April) – a double bill of work-in-progress readings from new company Unsolicited Theatre who aim to make bold, inclusive and accessible performances for everyone. Bump by Kelly Jones is a one-person play exploring the nature/nurture debate. While Bully by Tom Wentworth is a hard-hitting monologue about what happens when a super fit, gay rugby player becomes disabled in a sporting accident.
In addition to cutting-edge contemporary theatre in the Weston Studio, Performances for the Curious offers joy-fuelled live entertainment every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening in ffresh, Wales Millennium Centre’s lively cabaret bar and kitchen. The season opens on Friday 15 March with Ffresh Burlesque – starring ‘weapon of mass seduction’ FooFooLaBelle and support from Cardiff Cabaret Club soloists. And the first Saturday of the season welcomes Wales’ award-winning West End Musical theatre star and Eurovision Song Contest 2017 UK representative, Lucie Jones with new show, This is Me (16 March).
Ffresh bar and kitchen opens at 6pm on show nights, with live entertainment starting at a new earlier time of 8pm. This spring sees a vibrant new menu of small plates featuring a range of seasonal and local Welsh produce. Ideal for sharing, the new menu is proudly entirely gluten free with a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan options, plus new Dessert Cocktails. The perfect pairing to cabaret, comedy and more.
Curious?
Wales Millennium Centre’s Performances for the Curious season takes place from 15 March – 17 May, featuring over 35 unique experiences. The full programme can be explored at wmc.org.uk/curious
For more information on tickets and dining, visit wmc.org.uk or call 029 2063 6464
