Emma Rice brings her own brand of theatrical wonder to this most beguiling and disturbing of tales.
Multi-award-winning director, Emma Rice (Wise Children, Malory Towers, Romantics Anonymous, Tristan & Yseult, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk and Brief Encounter) returns to HOME with her ground-breaking theatre company Wise Children for her latest world premiere production, a music-fuelled feminist revenge on the magician who first seduces, then obliterates.
Blue Beard the Magician makes hearts flutter and pupils dilate. With a wink, a stroke and a flick – things just seem to vanish.
Cards, coins, scarves… and women. Puff! Gone. Without a trace.
He meets his match when his young bride discovers his dark and murderous secret.
She summons all her rage, all her smarts and all her sisters to bring the curtain down on his tyrannous reign.
Written and directed by Emma Rice, with her signature sleight of hand, Blue Beard explores curiosity and consent, violence and vengeance – all through an intoxicating lens of music, wit and tender truth.
When someone tells you not to look, OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR!
In 2022, Sky Arts named Emma amongst Britain’s 50 most influential artists of the last 50 years, and The Times put Tristan & Yseult on its list of the 25 best theatre productions of the 21st century.
About Wise Children
Created and led by Emma Rice, Wise Children launched in April 2018 and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Based in the South West, we make ground-breaking work with exceptional artists, and tour across the world. Alongside our shows, we run a unique professional development programme, The School for Wise Children, training a new and more diverse generation of theatre practitioners. We have just bought a building, The Lucky Chance, in Frome, Somerset which we use as our creation space, a home for the School and make theatre in which to welcome audiences of all shapes and sizes. We launched The Lucky Chance to the general public in December 2023 with The Little Matchgirl and Happier Tales.
Emma Rice is the proud Artistic Director of her company, Wise Children, and an internationally-respected theatre-maker and director. For Wise Children Emma has adapted and directed the following productions: Blue Beard, The Little Matchgirl and Happier Tales,Wuthering Heights, Bagdad Cafe, Angela Carter’s Wise Children, Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and Romantics Anonymous.
As Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe (2016/18): Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales).
For the previous 20 years, Emma worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director and created critically acclaimed productions including The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Tristan & Yseult, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre); Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions); Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic); Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler’s Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages); Steptoe and Son and the West End production of Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
Emma received the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre award at the 2019 UK Theatre Awards.
Stu Barker returns to work with the company after his work on Wise Children (The Old Vic). He also worked extensively as composer/musical director with Kneehigh Theatre (1999-2016). His other work as composer/musical director includes Brief Encounter (Broadway / West End), A Matter Of Life And Death / Tristan And Yseult (National Theatre), Cymbeline / Don John, The Empress (RSC), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe), 946-The Amazing Story Of Adolphous Tips (Kneehigh), Hansel And Gretel (Bristol Old Vic), The Bacchae / The Wooden Frock (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Nights at The Circus, The Red Shoes (Lyric Hammersmith), The Wild Bride, Rapunzel, Midnight Pumpkin (BAC), and Pandora’s Box (Northern Stage), as well as work on The Grinning Man (West End), Pippi Longstocking (Royal & Derngate), and with the Donmar Warehouse, Bristol Old Vic, Welfare State International, Contact Theatre, Horse And Bamboo, Liverpool Lantern Company, And Now, and Travelling Light. For television, his work includes The Cult of The Suicide Bomber, and Beyond Grief.
Mirabelle Gremaud returns to the company, having previously appeared in Wise Children (The Old Vic/UK tour), Malory Towers (Bristol Passenger Shed/UK tour), and Wuthering Heights (Bristol Old Vic, National theatre and UK tour). Her theatre credits as an actress/dancer and contortionist include Le Conte des Contes (Théâtre Kléber-Mélau), Peter Pan (Birmingham Rep), Swan Lake (The Lost Estate), Acrojou (Roundhouse), Falling (Complicité), and her solo show Sombre Sloughing (UK and European tour).
Stephanie Hockley returns to the company – she previously appeared in Wuthering Heights (UK and US tour) and Malory Towers. Her other theatre credits include Robin Hood (Watermill Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Storyhouse), The Show Must Go On (St Luke’s Bombed Out Church), Return to the Forbidden Planet (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Robin Hood the Rock n’ Roll Panto, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel (Liverpool Everyman), Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Storyhouse, Chester) and Sleeping Beauty (Mercury Theatre Colchester).
Patrycja Kujawska returns to the company, having previously appeared in Bagdad Cafe (The Old Vic), and Wise Children (The Old Vic/Wise Children). Her other theatre credits include Cyrano, The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic), The Tin Drum, Midnight’s Pumpkin, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (Kneehigh), The Red Shoes, The Wild Bride, Tristan and Yseult (Kneehigh Theatre Company, UK/US tour), Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and Other Love Songs) (Kneehigh/UK tour/Shanghai tour), Don John (RSC), Drop Dead Gorgeous, Let The Mountains Lead You To Love, Punch Drunk, Fairy Tale, Test Run, If We Go On, Underworld (Vincent Dance Theatre), and Broken Chords, and Motherland (Vincent Dance Theatre UK/US tour).
Adam Mirsky’s theatre credits include Town Planning in the Apocalypse, Handel and Hendrix (NYT), Scratch (Izzy Parriss Productions), Emile & Emily (Tightrope Theatre), Imaginary Natural Beings (Vaults), Maklena (Night Train Theatre), Mojave (Citizens Band Radio), Walk Swiftly and with Purpose (Three Sisters), Coriolanus (Corpus Playroom), Romeo and Juliet (Cambridge Arts Theatre), and Boys, and Little Shop of Horrors (ADC Theatre). For television, his work includes Endeavour.
Katy Owen returns to the company - she previously appeared in Wise Children (The Old Vic/UK tour), and Wuthering Heights (Bristol Old Vic, National theatre and UK / US tour). Her other theatre credits include UBU Karaoke!, Rebecca (Kneehigh), The Little Matchgirl and Other Happier Tales (Bristol Old Vic/Shakespeare's Globe/UK tour), Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe), 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tipps (Kneehigh/ Shakespeare's Globe/UK tour), The World of Work, The Night Before Christmas (Chapter Arts Centre), Apparitions of Spirits with the Forsythe Sisters (Gaggle Babble), Maudie's Rooms, Plum - and Me, Will!, Cinders (Sherman Theatre), Ill Met by Moonlight (Wales Millennium Centre), The Tempest (Theatr Iolo) and The Moon Dragon & The Wounded Angel (Theatr Gwent). Her television credits include The Story of Tracy Beaker; and for film, Cyrano and Daddy’s Girl.
Robyn trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.Stage credits include: 'The Enormous Crocodile' (Leeds Playhouse & Regents Park open Air Productions), 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' (Watermil lTheatre), 'Wildfire Road' (Sheffield Theatres), 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' (National Tour & the Gillian Lynne Theatre), 'Amélie' (Criterion Theatre), 'Mog' (The Wardrobe Ensemble, Royal and Derngate & Old Vic), ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (The Watermill Theatre), 'Macbeth’ (The Watermill Theatre), ‘Electrolyte’ (Wildcard Theatre), ‘The Wind in the Willows’ (New Vic Theatre), ‘Mood Music’ (Old Vic), 'The Snow Queen' (Theatre Clwyd/Paperfinch Theatre) and ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (Oxford Shakespeare Company).Film credits include: ‘Not Knowing Needing’ and ‘Fledgeling’ (Lightbox Films).
Tristan Sturrock’s theatre credits include The Meaning of Zong (Bristol Old Vic at the Barbican), The Nutcracker, Cyrano, Messiah, Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Coram Boy, Treasure Island, Juliet and Her Romeo, Faraway, The Beaux Stratagem (Bristol Old Vic), Rebecca, Danger My Alley, The Young Man of Currie (Kneehigh), 101 Dalmatians (Tobacco Factory), The Little Table of Delights, Frankenspine (Theatre Damfino), Mayday Mayday (Theatre Damfino and St Ann’s Warehouse), Brief Encounter (Kneehigh, West End and Broadway), A Matter of Life and Death, Salome (Kneehigh, National Theatre), Tristan and Yseult (National Theatre, Sydney, US), Edward II, Blue Remembered Hills (Sheffield Theatres), As You Like It (Royal Exchange Theatre), Jerusalem Syndrome, The Station (Soho Theatre), The Mysteries, Spanish Tragedy (RSC), and King of Prussia (Kneehigh/Donmar Warehouse). For television, his work includes Truelove, The Marlow Murder Club, The Tower, Malpractice, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, The Outlaws, Poldark, Death in Paradise, The Interrogation, Strike Back, The Crown, Three Girls, Doc Martin, Jamaica Inn, The Borgias, The Best of Men, The Queen, Garrow’s Law, Bad Girls, Bodily Harm, The Project, Menace, Rescue Me, and The New Adventures of Robin Hood; and for film, Long Way Back, My Policeman, Bait, Christopher Robin, and Saving Grace.
This Touch Tour of Blue Beard gives visually impaired patrons the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the set, key props and costumes before the show…
This show contains strong language, adult themes and depictions of violence
Ticket information
Tickets from £11.20 – £33.20
Groups of 10 – 39 get 10% off each full price ticket
Groups of 40+ get 15% off each full price ticket
Tickets for school groups are £11 each. A teacher gets a free place with every 10 student tickets. This offer is available on weekdays only and must be booked in advance.
Please email groups@homemcr.org or call Box Office on 0161 200 1500 (12:00-20:00 daily).
Access information
Accessible Performances
British Sign Language Interpreted Performance: Mon 19 Feb 19:30
Touch Tour: Wed 21 Feb 18:30
Audio Described Performance: Wed 21 Feb 19:30
Find out more about Access at HOME here and if you have any questions contact access@homemcr.org
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