STORYHOUSE UNVEILS A GREAT MIDSUMMER SPECTACULAR IN GROSVENOR PARK
Storyhouse is set to fill Grosvenor Park with a spectacular and unmissable programme of performances, events and activities this summer.
The Great Midsummer Spectacular will include comedy, music, children’s theatre and a murder mystery evening, all taking place within the atmospheric surroundings of the Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre village.
There will also be events around Chester Disability Pride and an open mic night.
The programme runs from 2 July to 27 August and has been designed to create a fantastic festival feel and complement the annual open air theatre season which this year features productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Great Gatsby.
The Great Midsummer Spectacular opens on Sunday, 2 July with a return to the park for popular Chester duo Me + Deboe.
Last season the talented pair created original music for Grosvenor Park’s Romeo and Juliet. Expect witty lyrics and sumptuous vocal harmonies when they perform a set amid the atmospheric, fairylight surroundings of the open-air theatre tepee.
The tepee bar is also playing host to a series of Comedy Nights, hosted by Danny McLoughlin who brings his sharp wit, likeable persona and strong stage presence to Grosvenor Park.
The first comedy evening takes place on Thursday 6 July and along with Danny McLoughlin it features Bethany Black and Martin Mor.
A second comedy evening runs on Saturday 15 July where he will be joined by Hatty Preston and Louise Young, while the third will take place on Sunday 23 July and features guest comedians Justin Moorhouse (Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights) and Adam Staunton.
Mai 68 Records continues its association with Storyhouse. The Chester-based independent record label and gig promoter programmed last summer’s music sessions in the park as well as co-producing the popular Storyhouse Sessions at Hunter Street.
Now it returns to stage Storyhouse Summer Sessions in the tepee on Friday 7 July.
The third Chester Disability Pride Parade – part of the annual Kaleidoscope Festival – takes place on Monday 10 July, with the route starting at Chester Town Hall and ending at Grosvenor Park where there will be a performance from actor and disability activist Paul Wilshaw, poetry, choir and brass band performances, and pop-up workshops and activities as well as a chance to mingle, eat, drink and relax.
Dee Sign Choir takes over the tepee at teatime on Sunday 16 July. Based in Chester, Dee Sign Choir was established in 1997 as one of the UK’s original signing choirs and has been entertaining and enthralling audiences ever since.
And on Saturday 22 July it’s the turn of the Port Sunlight Sea Dogs to entertain. Hoist the mainsail and listen to shanties and wistful ballads which tell of a sailor’s hard life, of heroes and villains, of distant ports and cruel seas.
The August programme opens with City of Curses: A Murder Mystery Trial. The event on Sunday 6 August
Chester Ukes appear in the tepee on Sunday 13 August. The ‘Ukes’ bring pazazz and panache to any event, with a wide and lively repertoire of songs delivered with that distinctive ukulele sound.
There is also a social afternoon for the Storyhouse Elders community who are invited to come down to the open air theatre village for some creative activity.
And finally, Storyhouse associate artists Goofus Theatre visit the park from Friday 25 August to Sunday 27 August to enchant and entertain young theatre-lovers. The Knutsford-based theatre company for children mix singing, music, actors, acrobats, clowning and puppets into one irresistible storytelling style.
Storyhouse Producer Helen Redcliffe says: “We’ve got a fantastic summer of entertainment planned for Grosvenor Park this season.
“Last year was the first time we had staged a whole programme of events around our main shows, and it was really well received by our audiences.
“We’re building on that this year in our Great Midsummer Spectacular with its mixture of returning favourites and new performers, and a programme which embraces music, comedy and theatre along with celebrations for Chester Disability Pride Parade.
“And with the magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream and dazzling The Great Gatsby thrilling audiences in the open-air theatre, it should be quite a summer.”
For more details and to book visit www.storyhouse.com
ENDS
For more information, contact:
Nancy Davies
Marketing and PR Manager
Storyhouse
07886 743531
LISTINGS
JULY
Me + Deboe (plus support)
Date: Sunday 2 July
Time: 8pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £12/£10.80 Storyhouse Members
Comedy Night with Danny McLoughlin
Date: Thursday 6 July
Time: 8pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £12/£10.80 Storyhouse Members
Storyhouse Summer Sessions with Mai 68 Records
Date: Friday 7 July
Time: 7pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £15/£13.50 Storyhouse Members
Chester Disability Pride Parade
Date: Monday 10 July
Time: 11.45am-2.30pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park
Tickets: Free
Comedy Night with Danny McLoughlin
Date: Saturday 15 July
Time: 8.30pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £12/£10.80 Storyhouse Members
Dee Sign Choir
Date: Sunday 16 July
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £5/£4.50 Storyhouse Members
Port Sunlight Sea Dogs
Date: Saturday 22 July
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £5/£4.50 Storyhouse Members
Comedy Night with Danny McLoughlin
Date: Sunday 23 July
Time: 8.30pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £12/£10.80 Storyhouse Members
AUGUST
City of Curses: A Murder Mystery Trial
Date: Sunday 6 August
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £25/£22.50 Storyhouse Members
Chester Ukes
Date: Sunday 13 August
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £5/£4.50 Storyhouse Members
Goofus Theatre for Children
Date: Friday 25 August – Sunday 27 August
Time: 10am and 1pm (Friday/Saturday) 10am (Sunday)
Venue: Grosvenor Park Tepee
Tickets: £5/£4.50 Storyhouse Members
About Storyhouse
Storyhouse is one of the UK’s foremost cultural centres incorporating a library, theatres and a cinema. It is one of the country’s most successful arts buildings, with more than one million customer visits each year.
The pioneering new library within Storyhouse, where members of the community work alongside city librarians, boasts the longest opening hours of any UK public library and is open every day until 11pm. It runs over 2,000 sessions a year for marginalised communities
The company also runs a highly successful theatre company and the country’s most successful regional open-air theatre, in the city’s Grosvenor Park and Moonlight Flicks open air cinema.
Storyhouse currently holds the official title as the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre and was the overall national winner in the 2018 Guardian Public Service Awards
Website: www.storyhouse.com To subscribe, visit https://www.storyhouse.com/subscribe Twitter: @storyhouselive Facebook: www.facebook.com/storyhouselive Address: Hunter Street, Chester, CH1 2AR To become a member: https://www.storyhouse.com/storyhousecard
About Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
The award-winning Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, located in Chester, is a purpose-built venue with an annual summer repertory season. Founded in 2010 by Storyhouse, it is the only full-time, site-specific professional open-air theatre company outside London.
The company produces all its work in-house under artistic director Alex Clifton.
The open-air theatre designed by the company is built each summer in Grosvenor Park, a public park in Chester. Performances are staged ‘in the round’, with the audience seated on all sides of a central stage. In 2011 the theatre switched from a traditional built stage to a more Shakespearean ‘thrust’ stage, made from woodchip. Covered seating to around 40% of terraces was introduced in 2012. In 2015, the original horseshoe shape was replaced by full ‘in the round’ seating.
Website: www.grosvenorpark.co.uk
Twitter: @storyhouselive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Grosvenorparkopenairtheatre/
Address: Vicars Lane Chester CH1 1QQ