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The Carlton Theatre Group will present their production of the Stephen Briggs adaptation of Wyrd Sisters, directed by Richard Broughton, next month:

"This fantastical, satirical, retelling of a certain 'Scottish Play' is sure to put a smile on your face. We invite you to an evening of magical mayhem, a comical brew of good witches, divers soldiers, peasants, wicked aristocracy, a ghost and a fool... With an amazing cast, and suitable for ages 12+, this play is a perfect option for a family outing."

When: 9th–13th May 2017
Venue: New Wimbledon Studio Theatre, The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1QG
Time: all evening performances (Tuesday-Saturday) 7.45pm, Saturday matinee 3pm.
Tickets: £15.40 (Theatre Card members £14.00), no fees. To purchase online, go to http://www.atgtickets.com/
shows/wyrd-sisters/new-wimbledon-studio/

http://www.carltondramaticsociety.org/current-production




...and a cast photo of three familiar faces:

CHATS Productions are staging their production of Wyrd Sisters this week!

When: 29th March – 1st April 2017
Venue: Jetty Theatre, 337 Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales 2450
Time: all evening shows 8pm, Ist April matinee 2pm
Tickets: $25, Concessions $22, U-21 $20, Groups 10+ $20, also 29th March $20, available online at http://bit.ly/2n8VjnZ or via the Box Office (02 6652 8088, open Tuesday through to Friday 12 noon to 4pm)

http://jettytheatre.com/wyrd-sisters/

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The University of Kent Players will stage their production of Wyrd Sisters in April, in aid of the Orangutan Foundation:

"Follow Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick, our three witches, as they attempt to stop the destruction of their kingdom from the wicked Duke and Duchess. Expect ghosts, spells and a whole lot of fun as Pratchett’s reworking of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is brought to life."

When: 6th, 7th and 8th April 2017
Venue: Gulbenkian Arts Centre, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NB (phone for information 01227 769075)
Time: 7.30pm all shows
Tickets: £10 (assorted concessions £8), available online from http://www.thegulbenkian.co.uk/events.html

https://www.facebook.com/uokplayers/

From the BBC:

   "A bronze bust of Sir Terry Pratchett has been unveiled ahead of plans to install a 7ft (2.1m) statue of the author in Salisbury, Wiltshire. It was created by Paul Kidby, who illustrated Sir Terry's Discworld novels, before his death in 2015. The statue of the author, who lived locally, is due to be erected in the marketplace or Elizabeth Gardens. Mr Kidby said getting his expression right so 'he's not unhappy' but 'not smiling too much' was the hardest part. Plans for a larger than life-sized bronze statue of the author were backed by the city council following an online campaign for a permanent "tribute to Sir Terry" in the city.

   "Mr Kidby said it had been 'scary' creating a tribute to Sir Terry that his fans and family would 'be pleased with'. 'You don't want it to be too stuffy or too haughty – you want it to be quite human and, I suppose, approachable and people to be drawn to it,' he said. 'But the feedback's been positive and Terry's family are happy with what I've done so that's wonderful.' The next stage is to make a small maquette or model of the author, with the possible addition of a few 'hidden' extras. 'It would be nice to make it as intriguing as possible, so if you haven't read any of Terry's books it makes you want to know more,' said Mr Kidby. 'And it would be lovely just to sneak a few of his characters in – maybe in his pocket.'..."

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-39229886

It's black, not blue, but it is halfway up a wall...

From the official Buckinghamshire website:

"A plaque honouring Sir Terry Pratchett has been unveiled at Beaconsfield Library, where the late author once worked. The plaque, which was commissioned by Beaconsfield Town Council, was unveiled by Sir Terry's daughter Rhianna and Business Manager Rob Wilkins, alongside Mayor Patrick Hogan today (Tuesday, March 7)... Councillor Philip Bastiman, Chairman of the Open Spaces Committee at Beaconsfield Town Council, said: 'It is only right that there is a permanent celebration of Sir Terry in the town where he was born, and what better place than at the library which first sparked his amazing imagination. The town council is proud to have commissioned this plaque commemorating one of Beaconsfield's most famous sons.'..."

https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/news/plaque-unveiled-at-library-celebrating-sir-terry-pratchett/

From the Bucks Free Press:

"A commemorative plaque, unveiled by Sir Terry’s daughter Rhianna, now sits proudly outside the library where the fantasy writer was a Saturday boy and returned to give talks. Ms Pratchett, who is an award-winning scriptwriter, story designer and narrative paramedic, spoke to the Bucks Free Press about the honour, saying it was “wonderful” to see her dad commemorated at the library where 'the Terry Pratchett was born.' She said: 'He's always loved libraries, and librarians, a lot so it's very, very fitting. It feels like even more significant than having it, say, in the house that he was born in. This is where he got his education, where the ideas, the interest in the world and the love of reading took off.' ... Speaking about growing up with her father, Ms Pratchett, who studied journalism at university, said he instilled a love of books and reading into her from an early age. She said: 'I spent a lot of time in the library reading and I was always reading library books up trees. It's wonderful to see his legacy continuing long after his death. The ripples he left in the world – one of the quotes from his book was "a man is not dead while his name is still spoken", and it feels like he's very much alive and present in the world.'..."

[NOTE: includes a video of the unveiling, plus a gallery of 39 iconographs]

http://bit.ly/2lZtqhz

Discworld plays are popping up all over Roundworld! And here's the latest one:

"The Phnom Penh Players theatre troupe is back this Friday with a stage adaptation of Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett's 1988 parodic reimagining of Macbeth... Director Kevan Stuart, a massive fan of the sci-fi writer Pratchett, says Wyrd Sisters seemed fitting as a twisted story around Macbeth, which the Phnom Penh Players is preparing to stage later in the year. Describing the characters as 'fascinating', he says he especially enjoys the reinterpretation of the witches, who are presented as evil in Macbeth, whereas '[in Wyrd Sisters] the witches are portrayed as evil [by the duke and duchess] but they are not'... With a cast of 19 playing 31 characters, Stuart advises theatre-goers to take note of recurring actors who come back as minor characters with one-liners. 'Often those lines are the funniest in the entire scene, or the most important,' he says. 'It's really very funny, if you’ve got a British dry sense of humour'."

When: 24th and 25th February, 3rd and 4th March 2017
Venue: Department of Performing Arts, Street 173, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Time: 7pm all shows
Tickets: $10, available from Box Office, Showbox, Eleven One Kitchen and Tusk. "All proceeds go to OIC Cambodia, an organisation dedicated to speech therapy in Cambodia."

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/players-get-wyrd-macbeth-parody

https://www.facebook.com/PhnomPenhPlayers/

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A four-month exhibition on the works and life of Sir Terry Pratchett opens at the Salisbury Museum this coming September:




(as tweeted by the Discworld Emporium here)

Meanwhile, Terry Pratchett: Back in Black is currently airing on BBC2 and will be available via BBC iPlayer for a 'short while' afterwards. And for those of you who don't mind spoilage of a documentary (if such a thing can even be A Thing), here be a freshly posted review by Frank Cottrell Boyce in The Guardian:

   "One of the charms of this docudrama is that it largely eschews the usual talking heads in favour of Discworld fans. Even the famous faces that do appear – Neil Gaiman, Pratchett's consigliere Rob Wilkins, the illustrator Paul Kidby – first entered Pratchett's orbit as fans. Whether it was the life-changing offer he made to collaborate with the young Gaiman on Good Omens, or the blessing to Stephen Briggs's attempts to map Ankh-Morpork, or simply Tipp-Exing over an old dedication in a secondhand copy of one of his books so he could 'unsign' it for its new owner, Pratchett showered his fans with favours like a Highland clan chief. It's a clan with its own code of honour: to 'be a bit more Terry' is to be kinder, more tolerant.

   "At first, it feels a little uncomfortable that instead of the man himself, we have the actor Paul Kaye dressed up as him. But then you notice that nearly everyone here is dressed up – as a witch, a member of the Nightwatch or some other character – and of course Pratchett himself was always dressed up as Terry Pratchett, with the iconic hat, big beard and black jackets..."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/11/terry-pratchett-docudrama-discworld-back-in-black-frank-cottrell-boyce

...the Year of the Backwards Facing Artichoke. At least according to the good folk at Cunning Artificer HQ, aka the Discworld Emporium. And as they're located in Wincanton, official twin town of Ankh-Morpork, we have to assume they'd know!

Here be the Emporium’s rather spiffy artwork for the YotBFA:




To view it in its original posting, go to the this post on the Discworld Emporium's Twitter account.

"Ave bossa nova, similis bossa seneca!"

   – Mr Slant, a noted lawyer of extremely long tenure, who knows about this sort of thing






Note: original image, from art by Paul Kidby for the Discworld trading cards series, can be found at the Discworld.com website