January/June 2020

www.craicartscentre.com Craic Youth Presents The Annual Panto Rapunzel The Craic Theatre Panto is one of the highlights of our year. Since the first Pantomime, Oh Yes It Is in 2007 Craic has staged a string of spectacular shows including Beauty & The Beast, Foundered, Cinderfella, Puss in Boots, Robbin’ Hood and last year Aladdin. The 2020 show will be RAPUNZEL This classic will be brought to life by the Craic Youth Theatre in this masterpiece of dazzling production numbers and captivating music. Rapunzel promises to be bigger and better than ever featuring the talents of over 150 “Craicers” from our re- nowned Youth Theatre.

Thursday 16th - Sunday 19th January Friday 24th - Sunday 26thth January @ 7.30pm Sunday Matinee 3pm Admission £12 adult £6 Children (under 16)

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Jump The Ditch Theatre Company STOPPED INTERRUPTING

Jump The Ditch theatre company return to Craic Theatre with this hilarious comedy- Stopped Interrupting by Nick Broadhead

The actors in a play are just getting into their stride in Act One when ‘complications’ arise. The cast are already one actor down due to an accident, and, by sheer coincidence, the author has stepped in to read his lines (even though he is visibly too old for the part). What could possibly go wrong.

This is the second visit to The Craic Theatre for Jump The Ditch, a group of local theatre enthusiasts aiming to allow anyone with an interest in acting or production to get involved.

Friday 7th & Saturday 8th February @ 8pm Admission

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Garth Brooks Tribute with Jason Hughes

Ireland’s top Garth Brooks tribute show starring Jason Hughes and his brand new 6 piece live band is taking bookings now. Known to some for his country music show on Downtown Country, Jason Hughes delivers all the Garth Brooks classics including Friends in Low Places, If Tomorrow Never Comes, Callin’ Baton Rouge and What She’s Doing Now in this popular show which is selling out throughout Ireland. Jason’s Show is the longest running Garth Brooks tribute show, over 20 years on the road, and receiving several awards along the way, one of which was CMI male artist of the year. Jason has toured Ireland, UK, Europe and the USA, filling venues from halls to festivals to . This show is the most exciting, energetic show on the circuit!

At over 2 hours, this show sees Jason performing all the best loved songs, in a fabulously entertaining evening of music, singing & dancing. The audiences love Jason’s engaging per- sonality, interaction and fun, and will go home having experienced something that bit extra special! ..

Friday 21st February @ 8pm Admission £16

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Big Guerilla Productions present An Ogeous Brose by John McManus An Ogeous Brose with Seamus O’Rourke & Charlie McGuinness

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Seamus O’Rourke has teamed up with John McManus before to bring us – ‘The Quare Land’, ‘Danger Money’ and ‘The Cavan Course’. This promises to be another McManus classic ‘An Ogeous Brose’.

A grumpy builder, (Seamus O’Rourke) and his young Shakira loving labourer (Charlie McGuinness) arrive on Mogue’s Island to dig a grave in the depths of winter. It’s cold and eerie and full of myth. The more they dig, the more they realise that this was not such a good idea. Has Barney Bellew and Hector Hoctor really got something in common? – Well, it just might be that they are both entangled in an ancient curse An Ogeous Brose is scary and funny in equal measure where you can expect the unexpect- ed... A great night out!

Seamus O’Rourke teams up with Charlie McGuinness in this rib-tickling, spine-chilling adventure as two men dig a grave on a remote Island in Cavan. It’s Fierce Dark – It’s Horrid Quiet – It’s an Ogeous Brose! Friday 28th February @ 8pm Admission £12

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Dream World Promotions presents Adventures on Old MacDonalds Farm

Join us down on Old MacDonald’s Farm for fun, songs and excitement. Friendly Scarecrow is enjoying his first day on Old MacDonald’s Farm and loves meeting all of the colourful characters that live there. When a mystery unfolds on the farm, can you help Scarecrow find out what’s going on? With an original script and brand new songs written for this production, along with many singalong favourites, this professionally produced show is a thrill for younger children. Aged 2 - 7

Sunday 1st March @ 3pm Admission £8 or Family of 6 £40

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Friends of Zambia Fund-raiser A Night at The Movies

This event is a fund raiser for Friends of Zambia, a voluntary organisation aiming to improve the standards of education, health care and living conditions among our brothers and sisters in Zambia.

Saturday 7th March @ 8pm Admission £5 donations welcome

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com JOLLY PROMOTIONS presents The Baby Shark Show (featuring The Little Mermaid & Friends)

Dive deep down under the sea in this all new mystical, magical adventure of Baby Shark & The Little Mermaid!

Baby Shark is feeling adventurous and wonders what life is like away from her family, but as she wanders deeper into the ocean, things don’t go exactly as planned. On her travels she meets Eugene the rock & roll singing crab, two swashbuckling, trouble- some pirates Calypso & Caspian, &The Owl & the Pussycat, – all who either try to help her or dare to lead him astray. . . Can Baby Shark find her way back to his family before she swims too far? Only you and The Little Mermaid can help her!

Packed with singalong songs, nursery rhymes and lots of audience interaction, this brand new colourful tale from Jolly Promotions promises to be lots of fun for little ones and their adults.

Sunday 8th March @ 3pm Admission £8 or Family of 6 £40

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com LDN Wrestling

Brand new to town, the bone-crunching superstars of LDN Wrestling, bringing a host of top American wrestling stars to the ring to face the very best of home-grown talent and fans’ favourites, in a two-hour rip-roaring entertainment for all the family to enjoy.Brand new to town, the stars of LDN Wrestling are coming for an afternoon of rip roaring professional wrestling.

This show is the ideal place to celebrate a birthday with the opportunity of VIP back stage passes to meet the stars at the end of the show.

If you’ve been before you know how good its gets if you haven’t then give it a try as we guar- antee that the kids will be talking about it for weeks afterwards

Sunday 15th March @ 3pm Admission £12 Adults £10 Children Family of 4 £40

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Footlights Theatre Group Present Bitta Broadway 2

Join the cast of Footlights for a spectacular evening of hit songs from Broadway musicals both old and new. Following the success of Bitta Broadway 1 in 2017, this talented cast is back with an entertaining collection of song and dance with something for everyone in the audience.

Featuring your favourite songs from Les Misérables, All Shook Up, , , Shrek and more and introducing new Broadway sensations like Newsies, Ghost The Musical, Ham- ilton, Come from Away and Dear Evan Hansen this show is guaranteed to blow the roof off and have you singing into the night.

Three performances Thursday 26th - Saturday 28th March @ 7.30pm Admission £10 adults £7 children

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com The Bardic Theatre Donaghmore Present The Field The Field is set in rural Ireland during the mid nineteen sixties....

“As a patriotic tenant farmer with a fearsome temper and an obsession with the field he has toiled for most of his life, the Bull McCabe epitomises the last stand in the protection of the old order, denying permission of entry to the impending industrial change which threatens the ‘status quo’.”

Based on a true story, this dark and at times, hilariously funny tale, by John B Keane is a work which went on to inspire one of Ireland’s most successful films.....Directed by Sean Faloon Not to be missed !!

Friday 3rd April @ 8pm Admission £15

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Craic Theatre Players Present The Perfect Murder

Victor Smiley and his wife Joan have been married for nearly two decades, but each barely recognises the person they wake up next to every morning. Victor is so fed up with his job at the local factory –as well as distracted by his visits to his favourite prostitute, Kamila– that he hardly notices his wife’s constant ridicule.

Joan has resigned herself to the fact that Victor will never see beyond her double-chin to a new cut or outfit. She even puts up with his constant snoring which keeps her up night after night, but only just. For unbeknownst to Victor, Joan is taking her sweet revenge: spending large amounts of money on his credit card, kitting herself out in a sexy new ward- robe to impress her secret lover, Don. But then, as the bills mount, Victor loses his job. Soon he realises that the only way he can achieve his dream of setting up home with Kamila is to get Joan out of the picture, once and for all. But Victor is about to get a nasty surprise, for he’s not the only one with murder on his mind . . .

Four performances Thursday 16th - Sunday 19th April

Admission £12 tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Wake in The West by Michael J Ginnelly

The famous side-splitting comedy farce. After a life devoted to drink, it is no surprise that Tom Healy’s final wish is to be buried in the drink – at sea, that is. The neighbours, one by one, pour into Healy’s front room to ‘pay their respects’, though not all come to pray. A Wake in the West is a high farce play presented by Derrytresk Players

Friday 24th & Saturday 25th April @ 8pm Admission £12 Adults £6 Children Coalisland Tales Crafted, Grafted Woven and Spun by Mark Shields

This play has been developed as part of “Coalisland & East Tyrone – Historical Manufactur- ing Base of Mid Ulster” a community project being delivered by Lough Neagh Partnership. It is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund, with further support from Mid Ulster District Council, Queen’s University, Belfast, the Craic Theatre and other local businesses and agen- cies. Let yourself be transported back to the time of the bustling Coalisland Canal (the first of its kind in Ireland or Britain) and its terminus, the Basin, where goods and stories were ex- changed and traded; meet the women of the Weaving Factory and share in their hopes, fears and dreams (Craic Theatre premises itself once a part of that very factory); experience the bravery and camaraderie of the men who worked in darkness, hundreds of feet below a thriv- ing, hiving Coalisland... Three one-act plays interlinked by the town, its people and industries.

Friday 8th May @ 8pm Admission FREE tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Shaving The Dead by Owen O’Neill

Perrier Award nominee Owen O’Neill and Olivier Award winner Guy Masterson combine for a new, hilarious, blackest-of-black comedy

Undertakers Eurig and Connor depend on death for a living, but even that has let them down. Charles Sterling’s burial offers them a lifeline, but will they take it? As they endlessly await the client of the corpse, they ruminate on love, death and the meaning of life. Waiting for Godot meets The Dumb Waiter meets Six Feet Under!

This multiple 5 star hit at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe is performed by Alan McKee (Grimes & McKee) and Simon Nehan

Friday 15th May @ 8pm Admission £12

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Brassneck Theatre Comapny WORLD PREMIERE!! CONVERSATIONS WITH ANGELS

Thousands have turned up in Belfast for a chance to meet the world famous Angel Medium, Tori Adams. The faithful flock firmly believe that they are all guided through life’s struggles by their very own guardian angels. By meeting Tori today, they hope to get to speak to these angels and if they’re really lucky, maybe even get a wee message back from them… From the people who Brought you ‘The Holy, Holy Bus’, ‘Man In The Moon’ & ‘A Night With George’,‘CONVERSATIONS WITH ANGELS’ is an hilarious, uplifting and ultimate- ly inspiring new play which will leave you with a feeling of being that little bit closer to the angels… Wednesday 20th May @ 8pm Admission £12

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Rozlyn Sheridan Presents Mrs Jones’s Diary

Confessions of a Badass Granny growing old (dis)gracefully! Join the marvelous Mrs Jones in this uninhibited, unruly and outrageous story of her colour- ful life! You’ve laughed at her in the Smash Hit comedy shows ‘It’s Wine O’Clock’ and ‘Nobody Puts Bernie in a Corner’. Now she’s back with her own laugh-out-loud, feel good, one woman show! Recently widowed, Mrs Jones is a woman who smokes too much, drinks too much and has a tendency to say whatever comes into her mind. Hash tag no filter! Learn about her hysterical history as lead singer of renowned country Showband ‘The Smugglers.’ Mrs Jones embraces everything from motherhood, men, menopausal pitfalls, weight gain, wedding night jitters and the joy of friendship. Joining her will be her fabulous family and hypochondriac friends. If you fancy a sing-a-long or a spot of Bonanza Bingo then join Mrs Jones in this high energy, hilariously funny comedy, featuring music through the decades. You’re only old once!

Please Note: Recommended for age 16+ years as some people may find the content offen- sive. Friday 29th May @ 8pm Admission £15

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com SPUD by Conor Grimes & Kevin McAleer Directed by Conleth Hill Ireland, 1847. Two brothers. One potato. No holds barred.

Robert Story is alone in his rural cottage as the great hunger stalks the land, and threatens to come banging at his door. Instead it is his younger brother Felix who rattles the knocker. Back from London with a dazzling array of theatrical airs and graces, and possibly some food in his satchel he holds close to his chest.

The brothers slowly but surely begin to crumble, and stagger into a desperate game of cat and mouse. If only there was a cat. Or a mouse.

With the bailiff's battering ram rumbling ever closer, and their range of survival options dwindling by the hour, the Story Brothers are offered a shot at redemption from an unlikely source. A surreal carrot is dangled, but can they grasp the nettle?

Written by Conor Grimes and Kevin McAleer. Directed by Conleth Hill. Saturday 13th June @ 8pm Admission £12

tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Lights, Camera...Confidence presents... The Lion King! Based on the hit 1994 Walt Disney animated film of the same name, The Lion King musical is set in the African Pridelands and tells the coming of age story of lion cub Simba. Introduced to the animal kingdom as the heir to Pride Rock by his father Mufasa, Simba’s birth has unsettled his Uncle Scar who finds himself relegated down the line of succession, and he plots along with his hyenas to kill both Mufasa and Simba in order for him to become King. As Simba grows up and begins to test the boundaries, Mufasa teaches him about the circle of life and their place within the ecosystem. Tricked by Scar, Simba watches helplessly as his father is killed in a stampede. He is persuaded that the accident is his fault, and to run away leaving his friends and family behind. As Scar becomes King of Pride Rock, Simba grows up in the jungle, but his past soon catches up with him and he’s finally forced to face his destiny.

Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to see some of the most talented young people from schools all over Northern Ireland!

Friday 19th Saturday 20th June @ 7.30pm Sunday 21st June @ 3pm Admission £10 adults £7 under 16’s tickets online www.craicartscentre.com Date Shows at a Glance... Time Price

16th-19th Craic Youth Theatre 7.30 pm £12 24th-26th 3pm £6 Child January Rapunzel Matinee 7th & 8th Jump The Ditch Theatre Company 8pm £10 February Stopped Interrupting 21st 8pm £16 February Garth Brooks Tribute Featuring Jason Hughes 28th 8pm £12 February An Ogeous Brose Seamus O’Rourke & Charlie McGuinness 1st Dream World Promotions present 3pm £8 £40 Family March Adventures on Old MacDonald’s Farm 7th Friends of Zambia Fund Raiser 8pm £5 March A Night at the Movies 8th Jolly Promotions present 3pm £8 £40 Family March The Baby Shark Show 15th 3pm £12 LND Wrestling £8 Child March £40 Family 26th-28th Footlights Theatre Group Present 7.30 £10 March Bitta Broadway 2 £7Child 3rd The Bardic Theatre Donaghmore Present 8pm £15 April The Field 16th-19th Craic Theatre Players Present 8pm £12 April The Perfect Murder 24th - 25th Derrytesk Players Present 8pm £12 April Wake in the West £6 Child 8th Craic Theatre & Lough Neagh Partnership 8pm FREE May Coalisland Tales 15th Theatre Tours International present 8pm £12 May Shaving The Dead 20th World Premiere from Brassneck Theatre Company 8pm £12 May Conversations with Angels 29th Rozlyn Sheridan Presents 8pm £15 May Mrs Jones’s Diary 13th MacChill Productions Present 8pm £12 June Spud 19th-21st Lights Camera Confidence 7.30 pm £10 3pm £7 Child June The Lion King Sunday Matinee