WISE CHILDREN’S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR EMMA RICE ADAPTS AND DIRECTS EMILY BRONTË’S WUTHERING HEIGHTS
A CO-PRODUCTION WITH THE NATIONAL THEATRE, IN ASSOCIATION WITH YORK THEATRE ROYAL
Wise Children today announces the world première of Artistic Director Emma Rice’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, which she also directs, as part of their 2020 season of work. With her trademark musical and visual style, Rice brings new life to the classic story in this elemental stage adaptation. This co-production with the National Theatre, in association with York Theatre Royal, opens at the Lyttelton in autumn 2020 before touring the UK, with venues to be announced.
Emma Rice said today, “I loved Wuthering Heights with a passion as a teenager. I thought it was a love story, a wild romance. I now find little love within its pages, but these multi layered readings are what makes it such a fascinating story. My Wuthering Heights promises to be a revenge tragedy for our time – but it will also be about hope. I want to wrestle hatred to the earth and let a new story grow. Wild and fierce, elemental and true – I cannot wait to start work on this timeless classic. And that is theatre romance, right there!
“It is a privilege and a pleasure to be returning to the National Theatre after 12 years – and even more exciting to be returning with my new company Wise Children! This is an ambitious project with creative roots in Yorkshire and the South West – the National Theatre is the perfect place to nurture, create and home this special work. Even more thrilling to me is that this production will perform both on the South Bank and in venues across the UK. It is vitally important to both the National Theatre and Wise Children that we take work on the road and entertain audiences across the UK.”
Wise Children’s production of Malory Towers is currently touring the UK, with performances at York Theatre Royal (until 14 September), Exeter Northcott Theatre (17 – 21 September), HOME, Manchester (24 – 28 September) and Oxford Playhouse (1 – 5 October); and their inaugural production of the critically acclaimed Wise Children will be screened in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from 3 October. Further plans for 2020 will be announced shortly.
Created and led by Emma Rice, WISE CHILDREN launched in April 2018 and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Based in Bristol, the company makes ground-breaking work with exceptional artists, and tours across the world. Alongside shows, it runs a unique professional development programme, The School for Wise Children, training a new and more diverse generation of theatre practitioners.
The NATIONAL THEATRE’s mission is to make world class theatre that’s entertaining, challenging and inspiring – and to make it for everyone. It aims to reach the widest possible audience and to be as inclusive, diverse and national as possible with a broad range of productions that play in London, on tour around the UK, on Broadway and across the globe. The National Theatre’s extensive UK-wide learning and participation programme supports young people and schools through performance and writing programmes like Connections, New Views and Let’s Play, while Public Acts creates ambitious new works of participatory theatre in sustained partnership with theatres and community organisations around the country. The National Theatre extends its reach through digital programmes including NT Live, which broadcasts some of the best of British theatre to over 2,500 venues in 65 countries, and the free streaming service On Demand In Schools, used by nearly 65% of UK state secondary schools. The National Theatre invests in the future of theatre by developing talent, creating bold new work and building audiences, partnering with a range of UK theatres and theatre companies.
For more information, please visit https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/.
YORK THEATRE ROYAL has brought delight and fulfilment to the people of York and beyond by offering a rich and diverse programme of creative activity for 275 years. York Theatre Royal is one of the UK’s leading creative producers and presenters, constantly building on its reputation for producing high quality and ambitious theatre with highly regarded productions of new commissions, revivals at all scales and each year delivering a pantomime of international renown. The theatre serves audiences of all ages – children, youth, teenagers, adults and seniors. In the second half of 2019 productions will include Emma’s Rice adaptation of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers, Sarah Waters’ The Night Watch, Nigel Slater’s Toast and the return of The Woman In Black. At Christmas the York pantomime family of David Leonard, Suzy Cooper, Martin Barrass and A.J Powell return in Sleeping Beauty, written by Berwick Kaler.
Website: www.wisechildren.co.uk
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