Intoxicated tales from darkest Soho

Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company return to York Theatre Royal in 2025 with The Midnight Bell.

In 1930s London ordinary people emerge from cheap boarding houses nightly to pour out their passions, hopes and dreams in the pubs and fog-bound streets of Soho and Fitzrovia. Step inside The Midnight Bell, a tavern where one particular lonely-hearts club gather to play out their lovelorn affairs of the heart; bitter comedies of longing, frustration, betrayal and redemption.

Inspired by the great English novelist Patrick Hamilton (Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Hangover Square) who created some of the most authentic fiction of his era; stories borne out of years of social interactions with the working man and woman at his favourite location – the London Pub.

Hailed by The Observer as ‘the undisputed king of dance theatre’, master storyteller Matthew Bourne has created some of the most successful dance productions of the last thirty years including Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Red Shoes, Romeo and Juliet and Edward Scissorhands.

The Midnight Bell premiered to great acclaim in 2021 and received five nominations at the 2022 National Dance Awards, with Matthew Bourne winning the award for Best Modern Choreography and Michela Meazza for Outstanding Female Modern Performance.

The cast for The Midnight Bell will feature fourteen of New Adventures’ finest actor/dancers in roles that challenge and reveal the darker reaches of the human heart.

Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Venue: Main House, York Theatre Royal

Price: From £15

Content guidance: 14+ Contains scenes of a sexual nature, including sexual violence and mental distress, smoking on stage (e-cigarettes), haze and flickering lights (not strobe).

Audio Described Performance: Fri 06 Jun at 7:30pm

Wed 04 Jun: 19:30

Thu 05 Jun: 14:00
Thu 05 Jun: 19:30

Fri 06 Jun: 19:30 (Audio Described Performance)

Sat 07 Jun: 14:30
Sat 07 Jun: 19:30