DARLINGTON Civic Theatre’s autumn season brings a mix of regulars and new faces in a packed programme of comedy, drama and music.

With events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the First World War still fresh, the first of the theatre’s week-long productions is Peaceful Private (September 9-13) by Michael Morpurgo, the awardwinning author of War Horse.Published in 2003, it is about a soldier called Thomas “Tommo”

Peaceful looking back on his life from the trenches in Belgium.

Amid the horrors, it raises the question of injustice surrounding the execution of soldiers often on false grounds of desertion or cowardice.

Later in the season, Regeneration (November 11-15), the latest production by the Touring Consortium Theatre Company which brought To Sir With Love and Brassed Off, is adapted from Pat Barker’s First World War novel about the poet Siegfried Sassoon and his Army psychiatrist, Dr William Rivers.

This new dramatisation by Olivier Award-winning playwright Nicholas Wright is directed by Simon Godwin (National Theatre, RSC and Royal Court) and promises a powerful statement on the insanity of war.

In lighter vein, next month brings Dreamboats and Miniskirts (September 15-20) updating the stories of characters in Dreamboats and Petticoats as it follows them into the Swinging Sixties, and Poirot is back, this time in Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee (September 22-27).

More murderous intent follows in Double Death (September 29-October 1) amid sibling rivalry between a pair of identical twins in an isolated house on the cliffs of Cornwall, with a cast including TV actors Brian Capron, Andrew Paul, Kim Tiddy and Judy Buxton.

Shobna Gulati, well-known from Coronation Street and Dinnerladies, appears opposite Joe McGann in John Godber’s romantic comedy April in Paris (October 14-18).

On the musical front, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (November 18-22) returns to Darlington with a new cast including Danielle Hope, winner of ITV’s Over the Rainbow competition, Lloyd Daniels X-Factor finalist and EastEnders and Dancing on Ice Star Matt Lapinskas.

Maureen Nolan heads the cast as Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s acclaimed Blood Brothers (November 24-29). Darlington OS stages Sister Act The Musical (October 22 to November 1), the hilarious musical comedy about a set of nuns who find their voices and a diva who finally finds true friendship.

The Manfreds (November 4) revisit all the chart hits of the 1960s’ RnB pop group Manfred Mann.

Highlights among many one-night shows include Simon Cowell in The Man Jesus (October 2) giving a powerful portrayal of the tyrants, traitors and madmen and in Jesus’ life, asking what sort of a man was able to inspire the history of the world in a production suitable for people of all faiths and none.

The tribute show, Over the Rainbow – The Eva Cassidy Story (October 3-4) stars Bad Girls and Emmerdale actress Nicole Faraday.

Darlington and Stockton Times:
The Manfreds will revisit hits from the 1960s

Canadian actor Charles Ross recreates Middle Earth in One Man Lord of the Rings (October 8), with nothing more than elbow pads and his outrageous imagination.

Highlights for children include Theatre Hullabaloo’s heart-warming comedy Angel (October 10) at Central Hall, a story of a girl who returns an old woman’s shopping bag and finds her life is never the same again, a funny new play about childhood and ageing recommended for children aged ten and over.

Playing at Central Hall as part of the Take Off festival, Handmade Tales (October 23) recounts five original children’s stories with live music exploring a land of lost things, magical kingdoms, supernatural dictionaries and more; recommended age six to 11. The following night, Educating Ronnie at the Quaker Meeting House tells the true story of a gap year friendship in Uganda that proves life-changing; recommended age 12+, and Me and My Cat?

(October 27) at Central Hall offers hilarious adventure for junior sleuths using projection, puppets and fastpaced action, ages six and over.

Autumn season brochures giving details of the full programme are available at the usual outlets or for tickets contact the box office on 01325 486555 or darlingtoncivic.co.uk.