Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell returns in 2025
New Adventures has announced that Matthew Bourne’s award-winning show The Midnight Bell will be returning in 2025.
“The Midnight Bell – says Bourne – with its entangled tales of lonely souls, looking for love, was rather appropriately the piece that brought us back to National touring following nearly two years away due to the covid pandemic in 2021. At that time audiences and company were masked and socially distanced but immensely grateful to be back and particularly with a piece that explored the deep-rooted need for human connection.
Touring was necessarily limited and audience confidence still slowly returning so I am particularly thrilled to be bringing back this heart-felt piece and to be presenting it in many venues for the first time.”
The production will open at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham on Thursday 15 May and then embark on a 17-week UK tour including many venues for the first time with this production.
In 1930s London ordinary people emerge from cheap boarding houses nightly to pour out their passions, hopes and dreams in the pubs and fog-bound streets of Soho and Fitzrovia. Step inside The Midnight Bell, a tavern where one particular lonely-hearts club gather to play out their lovelorn affairs of the heart – bitter comedies of longing, frustration, betrayal and redemption.
The Midnight Bell was inspired by the work of the English novelist Patrick Hamilton (Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, Hangover Square) who created some of the most authentic fiction of his era with stories borne out of years of social interactions with the working man and woman at his favourite location – the London Pub.
The show premiered to great acclaim in 2021 and received five nominations at the 2022 National Dance Awards, with Matthew Bourne winning the award for Best Modern Choreography and Michela Meazza for Outstanding Female Modern Performance.
Bourne once again joins forces with the Olivier and Tony award-winning team of Terry Davies (music), Lez Brotherston (set and costume design), Paule Constable (lighting design) and Paul Groothuis (sound design).
“This was a truly collaborative work with all of my celebrated creative team delivering their very best work, along with an all-star cast of the cream of New Adventures’ most beloved stars along with the best of our emerging talent. We look forward to, once again, opening the doors of The Midnight Bell in 2025… please join us… mine’s a gin and tonic!”
MATTHEW BOURNE’S THE MIDNIGHT BELL – 2025 UK TOUR
https://www.new-adventures.net/the-midnight-bell
THURSDAY 15 – SATURDAY 17 MAY 2025
EVERYMAN THEATRE, CHELTENHAM
https://www.everymantheatre.org.uk
ON SALE NOW
TUESDAY 20 – SATURDAY 24 MAY 2025
THEATRE ROYAL, BATH
https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk
ON SALE SOON
WEDNESDAY 28 – SATURDAY 31 MAY 2025
HALL FOR CORNWALL, TRURO
https://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk/
ON SALE SOON
WEDNESDAY 4 – SATURDAY 7 JUNE 2025
YORK THEATRE ROYAL
https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 10 – SATURDAY 21 JUNE 2025
SADLER’S WELLS
https://www.sadlerswells.com
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 24 – SATURDAY 28 JUNE 2025
CURVE THEATRE, LEICESTER
https://www.curveonline.co.uk/
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 1 – SATURDAY 5 JULY 2025
THE LOWRY, SALFORD
https://thelowry.com
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 8 – SATURDAY 12 JULY 2025
NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL
https://www.theatreroyal.co.uk
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 15 – SATURDAY 19 JULY 2025
ROYAL AND DERNGATE, NORTHAMPTON
https://www.royalandderngate.co.uk
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 22 – SATURDAY 26 JULY 2025
THEATRE ROYAL, PLYMOUTH
https://theatreroyal.com
ON SALE SOON
WEDNESDAY 30 JULY – SATURDAY 2 AUGUST 2025
THEATRE ROYAL, BRIGHTON
https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/theatre-royal-brighton
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 2 – SATURDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 2025
THEATRE ROYAL, NOTTINGHAM
https://trch.co.uk/
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 9 – SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2025
NORWICH THEATRE ROYAL
https://norwichtheatre.org
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 16 – SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER
LIVERPOOL PLAYHOUSE
https://www.everymanplayhouse.com
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 23 – SATURDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2025
LYCEUM THEATRE, SHEFFIELD
https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/lyceum
ON SALE SOON
TUESDAY 30 SEPTEMBER – SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER 2025
ALHAMBRA THEATRE, BRADFORD
https://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/alhambra-theatre
ON SALE SOON
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
