Here At Last Is Love – coming soon to the Stables Theatre

All you need is love!

It’s all happening at the Stables Theatre! As a part of their successful new programme of concerts, staged in the Art Gallery, the Stables Theatre again enjoyed a sell-out audience, for Love Is Here To Stay. Laurie Temple reports.

Love Is Here To Stay, a musical show of 1930s’ and 1940s’ music from both sides of the Atlantic, was performed with great assurance by Neil Sellman, the chairman of the Stables Theatre, with David Charles Manners providing virtuosic accompaniment on the piano.

Neil Sellman

Since taking over the role of chairman, two and a half years ago, Mr Sellman has brought a refreshingly broad and imaginative repertoire programme to the Stables theatre that he hopes will appeal to all sectors of the community. “I want everyone in the community to feel as welcome as possible and that the Stables Theatre is a comfortable and safe space for all. I want to encourage the broadest range of audience, theatre and diverse repertoire,” he said.

The Sunday afternoon concerts in the Art Gallery are an example of this innovative leadership and have proven to be very popular, with three of the initial concerts completely sold out.

Neil has already organised the next series of concerts, which will take place in September, performed by talented young pianists from the Royal College of Music and including a special concert by Margaret Fingerhut, piano tutor at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He is also planning to develop a programme of readings and soirées in the upstairs gallery.

David Charles Manners

The next production at the Stables Theatre  (25-28 May) will be Here At Last Is Love, a remarkable new stage play by bestselling author David Charles Manners (the highly talented pianist in the above-mentioned concert). This play will include several of the songs from the art gallery concert.

It is the true story of Sodomy Johnson, who ruled the Pink Sink Bar beneath the Ritz Hotel and who provided refuge and hospitality for some of the most glittering figures in wartime London. It is a show with a delightful dash of song and dance and Simon Callow, the award-winning actor, writer and director, said of the play, “It’s delicious – funny, touching and very skilfully fashioned”.

The rest of the current season at the Stables also reflects the same broad diversity, with a second gay-themed play, The Seventh Summer, followed by Hay Fever, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Hunk the Musical.

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