Check in to The Grand Babylon Hotel
New Vic Theatre to stage world premiere in Stoke-on-Trent’s centenary year
The New Vic Theatre will present the world premiere of The Grand Babylon Hotel, an adaptation of a story by acclaimed Stoke-on-Trent author Arnold Bennett, as a centrepiece of the city’s centenary celebrations in their next season.
Stoke-on-Trent-born playwright Arnold Bennett’s rollicking comedy thriller will be adapted for the stage by Deborah McAndrew and directed by UK Theatre Award Best Director nominee and Artistic Director of Claybody Theatre, Conrad Nelson (One Man Two Guvnors, The Card).
Previously aired as a radio play, this latest version will be the first ever stage production of Arnold Bennett’s comedy thriller. Coinciding with the anniversary of Stoke-on-Trent officially gaining city status, it will open on Saturday 13 September and run through to Saturday 4 October.
This new production will be staged alongside only the second ever professional outing of a tender and uplifting play Big Big Sky by award-winning playwright Tom Wells. The theatre will then end the year with performances of The Little Mermaid. This new adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale will combine contemporary circus with enchanting storytelling, stunning live music and incredible moments of adventure.
New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins said: “2025 is a big year for the city of Stoke-on-Trent and what better way to celebrate its rich creative heritage than with Arnold Bennett’s The Grand Babylon Hotel. To top off the year, Newcastle-under-Lyme’s unique place in circus history forms part of the inspiration for our festive show, The Little Mermaid. We are looking forward to bringing the creative talents of our local cultural heroes to a wider audience.”
Bennett himself was born in 1867 - well before Stoke-on-Trent became a city. It’s hard to explain these days just how big a ‘celebrity’ the lad from “Up ‘Anley” eventually became. But it’s probably enough to say that he would have been extremely well-known to the man most responsible for granting Stoke-on-Trent its city status in 1925, King George V.
Bennett’s literary legacy is vast. He was a writer of books, novels, plays and philosophical musings. He was a journalist, a travel writer, a raconteur and wit, and the Head of War Propaganda during the First World War. He was a resident of the Savoy Hotel, in London. He gave his name to an Omelette (still cooked and served by many of the leading chefs and top restaurants in Britain today). He lived in France. And Stoke-on-Trent. And London. And he was mourned nationwide, and paid the highest of respect, when he died.
He also explained to the world how easy it is to spot someone from Stoke-on-Trent (just watch for the people who turn-over their cups, saucers and plates to see where they were made!). Most importantly of all, however, it was Arnold Bennett who best illustrated the enormous debt which Britain owes to The Potteries of Stoke-on-Trent: "You cannot drink tea out of a tea-cup without the aid of the Five Towns,” he said. “You cannot eat a meal in decency without the aid of the Five Towns”.
Bennett's novels of the 'Five Towns' which have attracted a world-wide following for well over a century now were described by the author in great detail in novels such as Anna of the Five Towns, The Old Wives’ Tale, Clayhanger and The Card. They were filled with "pitheads, chimneys and kilns, tier above tier, dim in their own mists" - very different from the six towns of current day Stoke-on-Trent, but for all that, a fitting tribute to the city’s history and heritage.
Bennett’s statue sits proudly in front of the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, and his books still attract visitors to the city.