Brassed Off was last produced and presented at Derby Theatre in 2015, wowing sold-out audiences and playing to standing ovations every single performance….and now it’s back! The production proved a huge, overwhelming success with audiences and the press alike with press quotes including: “One of the finest things Derby Theatre has ever done” ★★★★★ (The Stage); “An emotional see-saw throughout, Brassed Off will make you laugh and cry” (Derby Telegraph); “An emotional and compelling production which deservedly evoked a standing ovation” ★★★★★ (Behind the Arras); “Resoundingly good – funny, honest, unsentimental and cutting to the quick” (The Stage) and “An exhilarating finale… bringing the audience to their feet” (British Theatre Guide). Audience comments included: “wow, just wow”, “utterly compelling and brilliant”, “theatre does not get any better than this” and “just go see it, you HAVE to see this show, enough said”.
Playing the central role of Danny is Gareth Williams. Gareth played the role of MP Dennis Skinner in Derby Theatre’s highly acclaiomed production of The Palace of Varieties in 2022 and Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol in 2019. Gareth’s other credits include: a national tour of Love from a Stranger, The Secret Garden, Comedy of Errors and Macbeth (Chester Performs); A Winter’s Tale (Sheffield Crucible); The Australian and West End production of Waiting For Godot, Far From The Madding Crowd (ETT); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (No1 Tour) and My Fair Lady (No1 Tour); Peterloo (film directed by Mike Leigh) plus Eastenders and Touching Evil (for TV).
Joining Gareth, the cast includes: Lisa Allen (Brassed Off, Home Girl and The Palace of Varieties for Derby Theatre, Horrible Histories No. 1 tours for Birmingham Stage Company, Quality Street for Northern Broadsides at Theatre by the Lake plus Silent Witness, The Sister Boniface Mysteries and Emmerdale for TV); Howard Chadwick (Brassed Off for Derby Theatre, New Vic Theatre, Oldham Coliseum Theatre and Durham Gala Theatre; Pride & Prejudice, The Jungle Book and Merry Wives of Windsor for Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre; plus Gentleman Jack, Coronation Street and Emmerdale for TV); Jimmy Fairhurst (Brassed Off, Look Back in Anger and Kes for Derby Theatre, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Shakespeare North Playhouse, Northern Stage and Not Too Tame; TWO for New Vic Theatre, The Social, Cinderella by Luke Barnes, Electric Eden and Early Doors for Not Too Tame plus Doctors and Emmerdale for TV); Jo Mousley (Brassed Off and TWO for Derby Theatre, Nine Night, Be My Baby, Hamlet and
A Christmas Carol for Leeds Playhouse, Electric Rosary for The Royal Exchange in Manchester, Helen for Theatre 503 plus Hollyoaks, Emmerdale and Coronation Street for TV); Seren Sandham-Davies (Brassed Off for Derby Theatre, Beautiful for Leicester Curve and Bath Theatre Royal, Zorro the Musical for Hope Mill Theatre, Crazy for You for The Watermill Theatre plus The Great for TV); Lee Toomes (Dick Whittington, Mother Goose and Goldilocks and the Three Bears for Lamproom Theatre; The Full Monty tour for David Pugh Ltd. plus Peaky Blinders, Care and Doctors for TV); Jake Waring (Brassed Off for Derby Theatre, Room on the Broom for a UK Tour and West End, The Gingerbread Man for Hiccup Theatre and Saint Jude for Swamp Motel) Thomas Wingfield (The Mousetrap in the West End, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice for Pop-Up Globe in Auckland and Sydney plus Meet the Richardsons for TV) and Kate Wood (Brassed Off for Derby Theatre, Ladies Day for New Vic and Bolton Octagon, The Full Monty tour for David Pugh Ltd. plus Doctors, Coronation Street, Gunpowder for TV and numerous commercials, including ones for Yorkshire Tea, Barclays, Boots, Marmite and T Mobile).
Joing the professional cast of actors will be a community company of performers including: Fraser Fowkes, George Harling, Issac Rothwell and William Spencer-Brown (all playing the role of Shane on alternate dates) and Abena Halliday-Fox, Cheryl Mitchell, Caroline Msimanga, Ruby Murray, Maria Slack, Heather Slonimski, Emma White and Iyisha Williams (all playing the role of pit women).
The creative team for Brassed Off are: Paul Allen (Adaptor); Sarah Brigham (Director); Derwent Brass (Orchestra); Kelvin Towse (Musical Director); Ali Allen (Set Designer); Ivan Stott (Sound Designer); Tim Skelly (Lighting Designer) and Hannah Stone (Assistant Director).
Accessible Performances
BSL interpreted performances: Sat 21 Oct, 2.30pm & Wed 25 Oct, 7.30pm.
Audio Described performances: Thu 5 & 19 Oct, 2.30pm
Dementia-Friendly performance: Thu 26 Oct, 2.30pm
Captioned performance: Sat 14 Oct, 2.30pm & Wed 18 Oct, 7.30pm
Tickets and How to Book
Brassed Off is now on general sale. Tickets: £15 – £35, under 26s £13 – £21 (and only £5 for 16-25 year olds on Friday nights). Friends of Derby Theatre: 50% off Sat 25, Mon 27, Tue 28 and Thu 30 Mar and £5 off all other performances. Early booking is strongly recommended. For more information and to book, visit www.derbytheatre.co.uk, call the Box Office on 01332 593939 or call into Derby Theatre.
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