The splendid Theatre Royal Bury, now re-opened!

The Bard was right – all my world is a stage. Without live theatre for the last year or more has been like the loss of a close friend. A much diminished world. So it is wonderful to see the opening of our local theatres; The Cambridge Critique can’t wait to be in stalls (or even the gods) on your behalf.

First out the blocks is a new production of Jules Verne’s ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ at the splendid Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds. If you don’t know this Regency jewel of a theatre, it is worth going there just for the delight of sitting in those galleried boxes. Our theatres have done all they can to make it Covid safe. This means booking in bubbles, space between seats, good fresh air flows and good one-way crowd management. Numbers will be limited and masks essential. The buildings have been scrubbed clean – all that’s missing now is - us!

And so to the first show. ’80 Days’ is an in-house production with a script by Toby Hulse. The familiar story of Phileas Fogg, his loyal companion Passepartout and the audacious bet to get around the world in the eponymous time probably needs little introduction. It lends itself to fast-moving family fun, rattling good yarnery and thrilling pursuit (don’t turn your back on the Victorian detective known as ‘Fix of the Yard’). The three-person cast of OIiver Stoney, Roddy Peters and Naveed Kahn will no doubt draw on all their actorly skills to create a world of pan-global adventure. Theatre is always strongest with a ‘less is more’ structure and I am sure we will enjoy something that has been missing for so long, that essence of live performance: a touch of magic.

‘Around the World in Eighty Day’s runs at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, Friday 21 May to Saturday 5 June.

https://theatreroyal.org/shows/around-the-world-in-eighty-days/