After Rocket Man welcome Puppetman!

Babies, Batman, Bourne and Breeeep! September is going to ‘b’ great in theatre-land. Pulse’s Sammy Jones explains more…

Puppet pal Paul Zerdin will be back on The Stables stage (Sep 3) in the opening week of an extensive new UK tour, when he will be joined by little folks Sam, Albert, Baby, Roger the bodyguard and an urban fox. But that’s not all – the America’s Got Talent winner, and arguably the UK’s No.1 ventriloquist, also has some new surprises for fans.

“I can’t wait to introduce you to my new characters which have really unsettled my existing dysfunctional sponge family,” he said, calling this Puppetman road trip his ‘most personal show yet.’

Over at MK Theatre, the delightful New Adventures bring Matthew Bourne’s brilliance to life with a classic among classics, Romeo and Juliet (Sep 5-9) .
This is the first co-production between New Adventures and Sadlers Wells, two dance powerhouses.

Together they will give the Bard’s timeless story of forbidden love a scintillating injection of raw passion and youthful vitality, as per Bourne’s vision.

The masterful dance re-telling of an ageless tale of teenage discovery and the madness of first love will be a visual feast. Isn’t everything with the Bourne name attached to it?

Urzila Carlson presents her new show, Just No (Sep 6) at The Stables. ‘Urzila has discovered our frustrations are what brings us together – not sport, not love, not peace – but people who do us wrong and get on our tits.’

Tickets were snapped up, but try for returns.
Jordan Gray presents Is It A Bird? (Sep 9) to take on babies, boobies, bigots and Batman in the blistering music and comedy show, and there are more funnies from Seann Walsh with Back From The Bed (Sep 13).

Seann thought better of keeping the same show name for this trawl: “Sticking with Same Again? felt a bit triggering after the year we’ve had,” he said, explaining the change, “It is now called Back from the Bed. Some of the material will be the same as I had always planned and some of it will be new because it will be difficult to avoid mentioning the last year in which millions of decent people tragically lost their lives to TikTok.”

The Third Age Players invite you to join them for a performance of 36 Titty-Ho Lane (Sep 15 – 17).
What’s it all about? Here’s your blurb: 36 Titty-Ho Lane is a crowded council house in suburbia, full of mediocrity, burnt dinners and an out-of-control stamp collection. But the Crankshaws’ day is about to be shattered. Bruce and Blanche are not only in that marital state of near tolerance, together with exasperation, but are desperate for their children to leave home and for Bruce’s mother, Nellie, to… erm, you know.

The Crows also live in Titty-Ho Lane, at number 39, and are nightmare neighbours – loud, uncouth and chaotic. Petula’s numerous children (all by different husbands) are always in trouble with the law. Fast forward, and the Crankshaw’s circumstances have changed. But what is Nellie up to? Why is Stella Weiztman calling at the house? And who is Mikhail Volkov and what is his connection to the Crankshaws?

There is only one way to find out – go grab a ticket for a Wavendon Community Centre performance by the mature storytellers.

Mark Watson makes his Stables return (Sep 17) too, with the show, Search. He’ll consider the search for meaning that we’re all on, with or without Google. A show that’s different every night.

Life of Pi (Sep 19 – 23) made a massive impact on Broadway and in the West End, and now the ‘theatrical phenomenon’ is set to do big business in the new city, visiting MK Theatre as part of its debut UK tour.

After an epic storm in the Pacific Ocean, Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger. Settle back for this epic journey of endurance and hope.

Still at MK Theatre, Tim Vine presents Breeeep! (Sep 26) with a promise that ‘all tickets are non-repundable.’ One-liners, wobbly props and ridiculous humour is the promise.