Renowned Salida Productions come to The Bike Shed Theatre, 18th – 21st April

Salida Productions
presents
 

FORMBY
By Ewan Wardrop

Touring nationally with Ewan Wardrop as George Formby

Co-devised and directed by Ed Hughes

“Turned out nice again hasn’t it?”
 

Formby charts George Formby’s rise from awkward stable boy to one of Britain’s biggest stars. In a one-man performance Ewan Wardrop plays the role of Formby, as well as other the key characters involved in this slice of his life.

The production embarks on a small scale tour, coming to The Bike Shed Theatre, Exeter (18th and 20th April) before playing at this year’s Edinburgh Festival.

Formby is a new play written by Ewan Wardrop and co-devised and directed by Co-Artistic Director of Salida Productions, Ed Hughes. It is not only a celebration of one of Britain’s greatest performers, but a funny, touching and thoughtful look at the life of an essentially ordinary man with an extraordinary talent.

The production features many of George Formby’s classic hits brilliantly recreated by Wardrop on the ukulele, including Blackpool Rock, Leaning On a Lamp-Post, When I’m Cleaning Windows, TT Races, Mr Wu and many more.

And in case that isn't enough…
 

MAYAKOVKSY: THE SLANTING RAIN
By Andrew Rattenbury
 

Whilst at The Bike Shed Theatre, the production will play in rep with Salida’s production of Mayakovsky: The Slanting Rain by Andrew Rattenbury, 19th and 21st April.

Ewan Wardrop initially trained as a dancer and was a principal performer with Matthew Bourne’s company Adventures in Motion Pictures. He played leading roles in Swan Lake, Nutcracker!, The CarMan, and Play Without Words.

His recent acting credits include Enron (Noel Coward Theatre), The Deep Blue Sea and Rattigan’s Nijinsky at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Far From the Madding Crowd (ETT) and Up From the Waste (Soho Theatre). He has also worked with companies including Complicite and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Wardrop also performs solo gigs and with bands; and for film his credits include The Magic Flute.
 

Ed Hughes is the Co-Artistic Director of Salida Productions. His previous director credits include Romeo and Juliet with Astillero Tango Orchestra and The Farmer and the Shepherd (film) and the part of Mayakovsky in Andrew Rattenbury’s Mayakovsky: The Slanting Rain.

As an actor, his credits include Democracy (as part of the Michael Frayn Season at Sheffield Theatres), Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien (Arcola), Enron (Headlong and Noel Coward Theatre), Everything Must Go (Soho Theatre), The Lifesavers (Theatre 503 and Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Rough Crossings (Headlong), The Canterbury Tales (RSC, West End and world tour), Hamlet (Old Vic), Romeo and Juliet (ETT), Finding the Sun (RNT), The Little Foxes (Donmar) and ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Young Vic).

For television, his work includes David Copperfield and Wallander, and for film, Bulletproof Plan, Anesthesia and Incendiary.

Michael Vale directs. As a director, his credits include The Raun Tree (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Project 3 Sixty (Castle Hill, Bolton), The Lost Voice (Blue Room, RFH), Elegy and Tightrope (Lyric Hammersmith), Doorman (Plymouth Theatre Royal, Liverpool Everyman and tour), The White Crow (Colchester Mercury Theatre), Neville's Island and California Suite (Chester Gateway Theatre), Art and A Place with The Pigs (Globe Theatre, Warsaw), The Singing Brothers and The National Sport (Grove Theatre, London) and They Shoot Cowboys…Don't They? (Edinburgh Pleasance).

A prolific designer, he has designed the sets and costumes for over one hundred and seventy theatre and opera productions both in the UK and abroad, including those he has directed.

Salida Productions are Ed Hughes, Michael Vale and Andrea Pelaez. Formed in 2009, their first production was Romeo and Juliet with Astillero Tango Orchestra a co-production between Salida and the Mercury Theatre Colchester. The production was awarded an Unesco High Achievement Award.
 

In 2011 they, together with Dreamepic, premièred Gutter Junky by David Kantounas at the Edinburgh Festival, and most recently partnered with the Mercury Theatre for a second time on Mayakovsky: The Slanting Rain by Andrew Rattenbury.

Their first film The Farmer and the Shepherd is currently in post production, and this Autumn they are creating a new production of Macbeth with Circo Para Todos in a co-production with the Old Vic Tunnels.

www.salidaproductions.com

For further information, please contact:
Nicolas Nino Ramirez
07728546698

[email protected]