The Dukes, Moor Lane, Lancaster LA1 1QE
Coming soon to The Dukes
A Valentine's treat at The Dukes, February 21 - 25, 2012
Love will be in the air even after Valentine’s Day at The Dukes which hosts a special production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost from February 21-25.
The Lancaster theatre welcomes back the acclaimed Northern Broadsides who scored recent success at The Dukes with their new play about The Brontes, We Are Three Sisters.
Northern Broadsides are currently celebrating their 20th anniversary with Shakespeare’s romantic and mischievous tale. Northern Broadsides are a unique theatre company with a true Northern voice. Their work is characterised by a high degree of theatrical inventiveness and robust performances from a large ensemble cast of multi-talented and charismatic Northern actors who all perform in their natural voices.
Love’s Labour’s Lost tells the story of The King of Navarre as he persuades three chums to renounce worldly pleasures and embrace the contemplative life for three years.
Unfortunately for them, their solemn vow coincides with the arrival of the Princess of France and three ladies-in-waiting and all four men fall madly in love.
In true Broadsides’ style, Love’s Labour’s Lost boasts rousing song and dance, scintillating performances, jaw-dropping comic timing and hilarious ‘steal-the-show’ scenes.
Barrie Rutter, who also appears in the play, directs a charismatic cast of 16 multi-talented Northern actors who will fill the stage in this fast-paced battle of the sexes.
This is one of the largest casts in a play at The Dukes in recent times and the theatre is temporarily transforming The Round theatre space into extra dressing rooms to accommodate them.
The Dukes is familiar to several cast members, especially Rebecca Hutchinson, originally from Darwen, who starred in last year’s production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.
The cast will be joined at every venue by a surprise different 17th member playing the messenger. The identity of the actor or actress won’t be disclosed until their appearance on opening night. However, they will have performed with the company at some stage over the last 20 years.
Tickets for Love’s Labour’s Lost are priced £11-£18.50, £2 off for concessions. Book before January 31 and save a further £2 off each ticket, not in conjunction with any other offer. There will be a post show talkback after the February 21 performance with the cast and director. There will be an introduction to the performance on February 22 at 6.30pm exploring the themes of romance, comedy and the battle of the sexes.
A day in the life of The Dukes at 40
A series of images showing some of the staff and activities that took place on the day that The Dukes reached its 40th birthday. An interesting glimpse behind the scenes.
Before the Dukes had it's own website LakesUK carried the cinema and theatre programmes as a community service project. For the record we are still carrying these pages so that reference can be made to them. We continue to add new press releases, reviews and other items of interest as they become available.
Quick links - please click these icons - here you will find a collection of information and a really useful archive of past performances - many of which include production photographs. Back Stage - takes you behind the scenes on a tour of the building and property stores.
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A Sign of the Times
Is this the most well traveled theatre sign?
The neon sign promoting The Dukes in Lancaster has been lugged up crags, adorned a city centre landmark, and was recently beached on Morecambe sands. And it’s all in the name of reflecting The Dukes reach across city, coast and countryside as well as subtly promoting its homegrown productions.
Images of the sign at familiar locations across Lancaster district are seen on the front of The Dukes season brochures. Among the featured locations so far have been Warton Crag and Lancaster’s Millennium Bridge.
The latest brochure has a stunning shot of the sign on the shore of Morecambe Bay to promote the Dukes first play of 2011, Quicksand.
Who knows where it will be seen next?
