2019

Productions for the SEASON 2019-20

Family-friendly theatre coming to New West this fall [NWR]

By Staff Reporter

July 23, 2019
[ click to read at their site]

Check out the family-friendly theatre that's coming to New West this fall

The Royal Canadian Theatre Company Company Season 2019-20

The Royal Canadian Theatre Company is coming back to the stage in New West for another season of family-friendly entertainment.

The company has announced its 2019/20 season, and season ticket sales have opened for the three New Westminster performances.

The season launches with Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web, onstage Oct. 18 to 20 at the Anvil Centre Theatre. The company continues its holiday pantomime tradition with Ellie King’s Snow White, onstage Jan. 3 and 4, 2020 at the Massey Theatre. It closes out the season with a return to the Anvil Centre with Norm Foster’s Screwball Comedy in its Western Canadian premiere, March 6 and 7.

All productions will include relaxed performances – open to all but specially designed for audience members with disabilities, with additional support needs or those on the autism spectrum.

Buying a series ticket will get you savings on all three productions, or you can also buy family four-packs and group tickets at a discount. Tickets for relaxed performances are two-for-one.

More Press:

Screwball Comedy brings fast-talking fun to the New West stage [NWR]

Snow White - Enjoy the hilarity at this holiday panto [NWR]

Spider's Web Enjoy an Agatha Christie classic [NWR]

Family-friendly theatre coming to New West this fall [NWR]

British comedy ‘A Bedfull of Foreigners’ returns [SNL]

A Bedfull of Foreigners [NWR]

Hansel Gretel and the Strolling Players [NWR]

Dark comedy offers challenge to returning Langley actor [LAT]

Playing foes in Arsenic and Old Lace [SNL]

Photos included, if any, originally supplied by The Royal Canadian Theatre Company unless credited to the specific publication.

Articles quoted with full attribution under fair use doctrine. The link to the original publication may be deleted by the original publisher. This is beyond the control of RCTC.

Photo Credit:
RCTC

Family-friendly theatre coming to New West this fall [NWR] Read More »

A Bedfull of Foreigners [NWR]

By Staff Reporter

February 25, 2019
[ click to read at their site]

Catch this classic British farce onstage in New Westminster

A Bedfull of Foreigners

The Royal Canadian Theatre Company is wrapping up its season with a classic British farce.

The setting for the play is the dingy Hotel Heinz on the border between France and Germany, where the inept staff create pandemonium after they book two couples into the same room. “Mistresses, mistaken identities, misunderstandings and unexpected wives, along with food poisoning outbreaks, monks, nuns and a Bulgarian lady cyclist all add to the mayhem during the Festival of St. Wolfgang,” a press release says.

The release notes that Ellie King, the theatre company’s artistic director, holds the show close to her heart as a classic British farce, and she loves exploring how relationships are affected through crazy and zany situations.

The cast includes Gary Peterman, Nikolas Perry, Steve Weller, Sally Anderson, Cindy Hirschberg-Schon, Dan Weber and Crystal Weltzin. It’s directed by King. Two New Westminster residents have key production roles: stage manager Stephanie Bruce, and lighting designer Nigel Brooke.

More Press:

Screwball Comedy brings fast-talking fun to the New West stage [NWR]

Snow White - Enjoy the hilarity at this holiday panto [NWR]

Spider's Web Enjoy an Agatha Christie classic [NWR]

Family-friendly theatre coming to New West this fall [NWR]

British comedy ‘A Bedfull of Foreigners’ returns [SNL]

A Bedfull of Foreigners [NWR]

Hansel Gretel and the Strolling Players [NWR]

Dark comedy offers challenge to returning Langley actor [LAT]

Playing foes in Arsenic and Old Lace [SNL]

Photos included, if any, originally supplied by The Royal Canadian Theatre Company unless credited to the specific publication.

Articles quoted with full attribution under fair use doctrine. The link to the original publication may be deleted by the original publisher. This is beyond the control of RCTC.

Photo Credit:
RCTC

A Bedfull of Foreigners [NWR] Read More »

Hansel Gretel and the Strolling Players [NWR]

By Staff Reporter

December 13, 2018
[ click to read at their site]

British pantomime fun returns to New Westminster

The Royal Canadian Theatre Company presents Hansel, Gretel and the Strolling Players

Families and folks of all ages are invited to turn out for merriment and mayhem when Royal Canadian Theatre Company brings its traditional British pantomime back to New Westminster. Hansel, Gretel and the Strolling Players is onstage Friday, Jan. 4 and Saturday, Jan. 5 at the Massey Theatre.

Ellie King, a.k.a. the “Queen of Panto,” brings a newly written script to life featuring all the action expected of a holiday pantomime. The story follows Hansel and Gretel, who live with their father in the town of Understrudel, where the apple crop has failed for the past five years.

When the silly and entertaining Strolling Players come to town, they play their part in foiling the dastardly plans of Mistress Grimm. While Honey Crisp and Billy fall in love, and Dame Lotta Wobbledart teaches her new students, Hansel and Gretel are led into the woods, unknowingly headed towards a dastardly fate. Can the Good Fairy, Queen Bluebird, win the day and save the children? Or will King Raven and Witch Grimm turn the children into servants forever?

As with all panto performances, the audience can cheer the good guys and boo the bad guys, plus enjoy all the cheesy puns and jokes, music and magic that they’ve come to expect. This year marks the debut of a brand-new “dame” – the tradition of a man dressed up as a female character, this time played by James King.

A New Westminster family is front and centre in this year’s cast, as Stephen Elcheshen plays King Raven, with Kerri Norris as Livia Grimm and their children Aeron as Hansel and Cayleigh as Gretel. Also part of the fun are Rebecca Trotzuk as Queen Blue Bird, Michael Widman as Englebert Strudelmeister, Charles Buettner as McIntosh, Shaun McHale as Charlie Wobbledart, Kris Williamson Dewar as Granny Smith, Rachel Craig as Honey Crisp and Crystal Weltzin as Tiffany Grimm.

King is the director, with Stephanie Bruce as stage manager.

More Press:

Screwball Comedy brings fast-talking fun to the New West stage [NWR]

Snow White - Enjoy the hilarity at this holiday panto [NWR]

Spider's Web Enjoy an Agatha Christie classic [NWR]

Family-friendly theatre coming to New West this fall [NWR]

British comedy ‘A Bedfull of Foreigners’ returns [SNL]

A Bedfull of Foreigners [NWR]

Hansel Gretel and the Strolling Players [NWR]

Dark comedy offers challenge to returning Langley actor [LAT]

Playing foes in Arsenic and Old Lace [SNL]

Photos included, if any, originally supplied by The Royal Canadian Theatre Company unless credited to the specific publication.

Articles quoted with full attribution under fair use doctrine. The link to the original publication may be deleted by the original publisher. This is beyond the control of RCTC.

Photo Credit:
RCTC

Hansel Gretel and the Strolling Players [NWR] Read More »

Arsenic and Old Lace [NWR]

By Staff Reporter

October 3, 2018
[ click to read at their site]

Classic comedy Arsenic and Old Lace coming to Anvil Centre

A classic black comedy is coming to the stage at Anvil Centre this month.

The Royal Canadian Theatre Company is staging Arsenic and Old Lace in New Westminster from Oct. 18 to 20, followed by shows at the Surrey Arts Centre Oct. 26 and 27.

The play – best known from the 1944 Frank Capra film, starring Cary Grant – tells the story of Mortimer Brewster, a happy man who heads home to announce his engagement to his family. But there’s a catch: his family is, well, crazy. And in his attempt to keep his fiancée safe from his homicidal aunts, an uncle who believes he’s Teddy Roosevelt and another who doesn’t look quite like he used to, Mortimer starts to lose his own sanity.

The Royal Canadian Theatre Company production features a return of the trio of Steve Weller, Michael Charrois and Jacqueline Becher, who were a hit in the theatre company’s 2016 production of It Was a Dark and Stormy Night.

It also includes the talents of two New Westminster actors: Kurtis Maguire, who plays Dr. Einstein, and Rob Larsen, who plays Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Witherspoon. Steven Simpson is Mortimer, and Amanda Prasow is his fiancée, Elaine.

More Press:

Screwball Comedy brings fast-talking fun to the New West stage [NWR]

Snow White - Enjoy the hilarity at this holiday panto [NWR]

Spider's Web Enjoy an Agatha Christie classic [NWR]

Family-friendly theatre coming to New West this fall [NWR]

British comedy ‘A Bedfull of Foreigners’ returns [SNL]

A Bedfull of Foreigners [NWR]

Hansel Gretel and the Strolling Players [NWR]

Dark comedy offers challenge to returning Langley actor [LAT]

Playing foes in Arsenic and Old Lace [SNL]

Photos included, if any, originally supplied by The Royal Canadian Theatre Company unless credited to the specific publication.

Articles quoted with full attribution under fair use doctrine. The link to the original publication may be deleted by the original publisher. This is beyond the control of RCTC.

Photo Credit:
RCTC

Arsenic and Old Lace [NWR] Read More »

RCTC Season 2018-19

We are proud to present our 2018/2019 season in Surrey and New Westminster

We’re bringing the best of live theatre!
Arsenic and Old Lace | October 2018
Hansel, Gretel and the Strolling Players | Dec 2018 / Jan 2019
A Bedfull of Foreigners | March 2019

Surrey Arts Centre
Surrey Arts Centre

 

Anvil Theatre, N.W.
Anvil Theatre, N.W.
HANSEL, GRETEL & THE STROLLING PLAYERS

Written & Directed by Ellie King

A Traditional British Panto

Surrey Arts Centre – Dec. 21-30, 2018


The apple crop has failed for the past five years which is a disaster for the famous strudel makers of the little village of Unterstrudel, situated somewhere between Austria and Hungary. But the Strolling Players have come to town bringing their own silly brand of entertainment to lighten the mood, and now love is in the air so it can’t all be bad, right?
Oh but what’s this? Young Hansel and his sister Gretel are in terrible danger from Mistress Grimm, their father’s fiancee who is scheming to kidnap them for her own nefarious ends. And nothing attracts youngsters like a Gingerbread House full of candy. Oh dear – who can save them from a terrible fate? (no, in this version she doesn’t eat them!)
All your favourite panto characters are here in this, the most traditional panto in BC. Join in the fun by booing the bad guys, cheering the good guys and add to your Holiday Cheer as this feel-good show sets your feet tapping and lifts your heart.
Suitable for the whole family.

 
TWO-FOR-ONE PREVIEW NIGHT – Friday, December 21, 2018 at 7:30 pm –
Adult Tickets $14 each
 Seniors and Students -Tickets $10 each

RELAXED PERFORMANCE  –  for those with intellectual, learning and other sensory and communications disorders

‘Ellie King’s Hansel, Gretel and the Strolling Players’ Relaxed Performance
Surrey Arts Centre Main stage
Thursday December 27th at 6.30 p.m

 

READ full details about this special presentation >

A BEDFULL OF FOREIGNERS
Written by Dave Freeman
Directed by Ellie King

Surrey Arts Centre – March 8-9, 2019
Anvil Centre, New West – March 14-16, 2019

Fawlty Towers meets Benny Hill in this hilarious, face-paced farce with a succession of enough disasters and misunderstandings, twists and turns to create the perfect comedy of chaos… and just the thing for an end-of-winter celebration.
The setting for the play is the dingy “Hotel Heinz” on the border between France and Germany where the inept staff create pandemonium when they book two couples into the same guest room! Mistresses, mistaken identities, misunderstandings and unexpected wives along with food poisoning outbreaks, monks and nun and a Bulgarian lady cyclist all add to the mayhem during the “Festival of St. Wolfgang.”
Some slightly suggestive situations.

RCTC Season 2018-19 Read More »