It’s show time again with Tamworth Assembly Rooms ‘on tour’

The show must go on! Tamworth Assembly Rooms may have closed for refurbishment but audiences will not miss out this autumn and winter as a number of popular events will be taken out into the community to ensure the show goes on.

Annual favourites such as Tamworth Arts Club productions, Christmas concerts and the pantomime will continue as part of ‘Tamworth Assembly Rooms on Tour’, which aims to make sure the theatre’s regular users still get opportunities to perform while the venue is extended and modernised.

This season’s Tamworth Assembly Rooms on Tour will include some different and exciting locations such as St Editha’s Church, a ‘Big Top’ circus tent and a school theatre.

The programme starts with Tamworth Arts Club presenting its annual October show The Sound of Musicals: Showtime at the Landau Forte Academy Theatre in Ashby Road. The award-winning local talent of Tamworth Arts Club will perform a tribute to songs from favourite musicals including Miss Saigon, Joseph, Avenue Q, Singin’ in the Rain, Oliver, Matilda, Shrek and many more. Members of the club are promising a fun-packed evening of entertainment for the whole family.

Performances take place every evening at 7.30pm between October 25 and October 29, with an additional 2.30pm matinee on the Saturday. Tickets to the show are priced at £12.50 and £10 concessions, with family and group discounts available.

Some of the town’s choirs, who regularly appear at Tamworth Assembly Rooms, will be given the opportunity to perform in the magnificent setting of St Editha’s Church for a special remembrance concert on November 12 to mark the centenary of World War One.
We Will Remember will feature the premier of a brand new piece of music, commissioned especially for Tamworth.

‘War Child’ will be performed by Tamworth Voices, Tamworth Male Voice Choir, Tamworth Ladies Choir, Tamworth Arts Club and Flax Hill Junior School.

Other performers to take to the stage during the evening include the William MacGregor Primary School Choir, talented local singer Matilda Pratt and Staffordshire’s first Poet Laureate, Mal Dewhirst, who has written a new commemorative poem for the occasion.

In addition to the original piece of music, audiences will be treated to a variety of songs from the past such as Keep the Home Fires Burning, It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, Pack up Your Troubles and Over the Rainbow. Members of Tamworth Arts Club will also perform a special extract from Oh What a Lovely War.

We Will Remember will raise money towards the repair of the clock on St Editha’s Church which has not been working properly for over a year.

Staging a pantomime with a 14-show run in the absence of Tamworth Assembly Rooms was never going to be easy, but this year Tamworth Pantomime will be brought to audiences live from a Big Top in the town’s Castle Grounds.

Promising to be bigger and better than ever before, this year’s production of Jack and the Beanstalk has all the ingredients for a fantastic show, performed for the first time in a large heated circus tent. The Big Top will be filled with songs, dances, laughter and some of Tamworth’s best loved performers, from Thursday December 15 to Thursday December 22. Several performances take place throughout the week, providing the perfect festive cheer in the run up to Christmas.

Tickets are priced at £14 and £9 concessions, with discounts for group and family tickets. There’s also the option to upgrade to VIP tickets - with ringside seats and opportunities to meet the cast - for an extra pound.

Christmas would not be the same without the annual Amington Band Christmas Show, which this year will kick-start the festive celebrations from the Landau Forte Academy Theatre with a concert of yuletide classics. The show takes place on Saturday December 17 and costs £8/£7 concessions.

Cllr Joy Goodall, Tamworth Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Environment & Culture, said: “The regeneration of Tamworth Assembly Rooms represents a significant investment in the future of our arts and will provide Tamworth performers and audiences with a modern theatre fit for the 21st century.

“However, ensuring that the arts scene continues to thrive during its closure is a top priority and a lot of work has been done by the Arts and Events team to ensure the groups which regularly perform at Tamworth Assembly Rooms still have opportunities to take to the stage. It’s also important for the audiences, who have come to look forward to these popular annual events, that the show continues to go on until the theatre is ready to welcome them back.”

Tickets for all shows are available online from this website, from the Tourist Information Centre in Marmion House or by calling the Box Office on 01827 709618. A transaction fee of £1 is payable on all online and telephone bookings.