A strand of his wispy hair falls over bushy eyebrows as Sergei Podobedov, dressed in a dark T-shirt and casual trousers, makes coffee. There’s nothing unusual about his demeanour as he goes about everyday tasks without taking undue care of his hands. But this isn’t a manual labourer or someone who’s been thrust into the uppermost echelons of celebrity without ...

Whenever anyone lists the finest actors who originated from Derbyshire, names such as the late Alan Bates and John Hurt usually crop up, closely followed by current heavyweights such as Robert Lindsay and Jack O’Connell. It’s rare that Maxwell Caulfield is included. Born in Duffield, Maxwell can genuinely be described as a Hollywood superstar. He was playboy Miles Colby in ...

Shelagh Stephenson Nottingham Playhouse 3 to 18 May 2019 One of the reasons why Adele Thomas wanted to direct the comedy drama The Memory of Water was because, she argues, there are not many plays that examine the relationship between a mother and her daughters. There are even fewer that delve into the depths that Shelagh Stephenson plunders in what was her first stage ...

Henrik Ibsen adapted by Mike Poulton Royal and Derngate, Northampton 19 April to 11 May 2019 Even before the start, when incessant rain can be heard falling on an island near a prosperous Norwegian town, right until a climactic, portentous ending, this is a gloomy, dark play. But it has three roles that call for outstanding performances and, in Mike Poulton’s ...

Henry James, adapted by Tim Luscombe Dermot McLaughlin Productions, Mercury Theatre Colchester, Wolverhampton Grand and Exeter Northcott Theatre Theatre Royal, Nottingham 9 to 13 April 2019 Henry James’s novella Turn of the Screw has been adapted countless times for the stage, television and film. James created the kind of confusion and suspense which can appeal to audiences in different media forms, so it’s no ...

Rudyard Kipling, adapted by Neil Duffield Derby Theatre 5 to 20 April 2019 Iniki Mariano (Mowgli) and Esme Sears (Bagheera). Image: Robert Day It’s estimated that Derby has the largest deaf population outside London, so it’s fitting that the city’s theatre has decided to stage its first fully integrated British Sign Language show. Derby Theatre’s artistic director Sarah Brigham chose Neil ...