Pack your bags and join York Theatre Royal on the trip of a lifetime as it goes Around the World in 80 Days-ish in a circus-themed summer production.
No worries about having an out-of- date passport, getting through security or missing the flight as the greatest show on earth pitches the big top tent (metaphorically) in the theatre at St Leonard’s Place in York from 18 July to 03 August.
Let adapter and director, Juliet Forster take the strain not the train. Just sit back and enjoy a theatrical rollercoaster ride as York Theatre Royal’s finely-tuned Around the World stage vehicle returns after playing outdoors to audiences post-covid and later touring to theatres up and down the land. Now the show returns home to York with a fresh cast and a few tweaks to the script.
Based on the classic Jules Verne novel, Juliet’s adaptation introduces real life character Nellie Bly in the fictional story of Phileas Fogg as he attempts to race across the world for a wager.
Introducing real life investigative journalist Nellie Bly who actually did circumnavigate the world and in less time than the fictional Phileas. This version sets up the pair as rival round-the-world travellers, putting the now largely forgotten Nellie Bly in the spotlight.
Adapter and Director, Juliet Forster said: “Jules Verne’s story is a lot of fun as the characters race against time to complete a full circuit if the earth, and in this version, fact and fiction also go head to head as Nellie Bly puts in an appearance.
“It’s a joyful, very energetic, very silly and highly acrobatic re-telling of the story, delivering the kind of experience that live theatre does best.”
This big top bonanza is produced using much invention, theatrical flair and humour with the versatile cast displaying a range of skills from acrobatics to aerial feats, from hoop work to drunkenness (feigned not real).
Kiefer Moriarty attempts to keep the circus acts in order and Fogg on schedule, doubling up as The Ringmaster and Phileas Fogg. Maria Gray is Nellie Bly and Acrobat, Ambika Sharma is Aouda and Trick Rider, David Abecassis is Passepartout and Clown, and completing the cast is Rowan Armitt-Brewster as detective Fix and Knifethrower.
