BARN THEATRE AND ARCOLA THEATRE TO CO-PRODUCE THE WORLD PREMIERE OF CAT GOSCOVITCH’S A RUSSIAN DOLL
THE PRODUCTION, WHICH WILL REOPEN THE BARN THEATRE FOR LIVE PERFORMANCES, WILL RUN FROM 18 MAY – 13 JUNE 2021
DIRECTED BY NICOLAS KENT, A RUSSIAN DOLL WILL PLAY IN CIRENCESTER AHEAD OF A LONDON RUN
The Barn Theatre in Cirencester and the Arcola Theatre in London have today announced that they will be teaming up to co-produce the world premiere of Cat Goscovitch’s new play, A Russian Doll.
The play, which is based on a true story, follows twenty-something Masha as she becomes embroiled in the world of data and deceit as a member of Russia’s disinformation campaigns during the EU referendum.
A Russian Doll, which will be directed by Nicolas Kent (All The President’s Men?, Another World), will run in Cirencester from 18 May – 13 June 2021, with press night on 20 May at 7pm. Following the run in the Cotswolds, the production will open Arcola’s new outdoor space, Arcola Outside,in East London.
The world premiere will feature design by Liz Da Costa, lighting by Sam Rowcliffe-Tanner, sound and composition by Harry Smith and AV design by Benjamin Collins.
The production will also mark the Barn Theatre’s first live indoor performances since their run of Peter Pan was cut short on Christmas Eve due to the Cotswolds moving into Tier 3 prior to the third national lockdown.
Cat Goscovitch, who is the daughter of the acclaimed playwright C. P. Taylor, said of her play, “The EU referendum was a moment that changed the history of the United Kingdom forever. In writing this play, I wanted to explore what role Russian disinformation played in influencing the vote and how it impacted not just our political lives but also our personal. How does a click become a vote? What does it mean to take someone down the rabbit hole? And will we ever come back?”.
Iwan Lewis, Artistic Director and CEO of the Barn Theatre, said of the theatre’s reopening, “We love great partnerships here at the Barn Theatre. We were able to negotiate a global pandemic through creative and brilliant collaborations and it’s great to kick off our 2021 season with another. The Arcola Theatre produce incredible work and we are proud to be working with Leyla and her wonderful team on this incredibly exciting new play. We are also incredibly excited to showcase the partnership between one of the most exciting new voices in the industry, Cat Goscovitch, and one of the most acclaimed directors in the country, Nicolas Kent, with A Russian Doll.”
Leyla Nazli, Deputy Artistic Director and Executive Producer at the Arcola Theatre, said of the collaboration, “Arcola is thrilled to be working with Barn Theatre on this co-production of Cat Goscovitch’s play, A Russian Doll. We can’t wait to open our summer festival, Today I’m Wiser, with this new play which asks important questions about democracy, global politics and disinformation”.
Tickets for the Barn Theatre run are now on sale at barntheatre.org.uk, with prices from £11.50.
Casting and performance dates for the run at the Arcola Theatre to be announced in due course.
The Watermill Theatre Production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s
“TELL ME ON A SUNDAY” STARRING JODIE PRENGER
UK National Tour
Opening at Malvern Festival Theatre
on 15 June 2021
Jamie Wilson is delighted to announce a UK national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s classic musical TELL ME ON A SUNDAY starring Jodie Prenger, opening at Malvern Festival Theatre on 15 June 2021. Tour schedule attached with further dates to be announced. www.tellmeontour.co.uk
Producer Jamie Wilson said today “We are thrilled that we are able to revive the acclaimed Watermill Theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s Tell Me On A Sunday to be able to play a part in the reopening of theatres around the UK. Tell Me On A Sunday, with its cast of just one actress, is probably the most naturally socially distanced musical in the world! We are delighted that Jodie Prenger is able to return to this role to reprise her incredible performance as “Emma”. This production is the perfect way for audiences to support their local theatre with this classic show.”
TELL ME ON A SUNDAY charts the romantic misadventures of a young English girl in New York in the heady days of the 1980’s. Brimming with optimism, she seeks success and love. But as she weaves her way through the maze of the city and her own anxieties, frustrations and heartaches she begins to wonder whether she’s been looking for love in all the wrong places.
This iconic musical features Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wonderful score, accompanied live by West End musicians, including the chart-topping Take That Look Off Your Face, and title track Tell Me On A Sunday.
Jodie Prenger most recently starred in the National Theatre’s West End production of A Taste of Honey. Recent theatre work includes the national tours of Abigail’s Party, Shirley Valentine, Annie, Fat Friends The Musical, Tell Me On A Sunday and Calamity Jane. In the West End she has starred in Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, One Man Two Guvnors at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Spamalot at the Playhouse. She also appeared in Les Misérables which was the inaugural production at the Dubai Opera House. Jodie has also starred in pantomimes at the Liverpool Empire and Birmingham Hippodrome. Her television acting work includes Years and Years, Jamie Johnson, Citizen Khan, Casualty, Wizards vs Aliens, Candy Cabs and Waterloo Road. Television presenting work includes Let’s Dance For Comic Relief, Top Dog, Over The Rainbow and Let It Shine. Writing credits include Cinderella: The Socially Distanced Ball for Turbine Theatre and The Choir Musical.
Originally conceived for television, TELL ME ON A SUNDAY has been performed by many legendary musical theatre stars including Marti Webb, Bernadette Peters and Sarah Brightman. This new production for 2021 will include an intimate chat with Jodie and Musical Director Francis Goodhand about life, love and playing the role of Emma.
ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER is the composer of some of the world’s best known musicals including Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard, School of Rock and the forthcoming Cinderella. He is the recipient of many awards including 7 Tonys, 7 Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, 2 International Emmys and the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre.
DON BLACK is an Oscar winning lyrist for Born Free and has penned numerous James Bond theme tunes, and chart hits including Michael Jackson’s Ben and Lulu’s ‘To Sir With Love.’
TELL ME ON A SUNDAY is directed by Paul Foster, has musical direction by Francis Goodhand and musical supervision by Catherine Jayes. It is designed by David Woodhead with lighting design by Howard Hudson and sound design by Tom Marshall.
SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL TO BEGIN FIRST PHASE OF CAPITAL AND BUILDING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT WITH FAÇADE CLEAN –
AHEAD OF THEATRE REOPENING FOR AUDIENCES IN JUNE 2021
With the successful interactive audio adventure for children and families Curse of the Crackles!currently available online, Shoreditch Town Hall today announces it will begin its three-phase capital and building development project with a large scale clean of the Grade II listed building’s façade, ahead of audiences returning to the building in June. The East London venue will reopen for audiences with the London première of Wayward Productions’ adaptation of Christie Watson’s bestselling memoir, The Language of Kindness, based on her 20 years of experience working as a nurse for the NHS and adapted for the stage and directed by Sasha Milavic Davies and James Yeatman.
The external clean is the first in the building’s 155-year history, and marks the start of the previously announced three-phase capital and building development project that focuses on opening up the building, improving appearance, and removing physical and psychological barriers to better engage with visitors, strengthening the organisation’s civic responsibility for communities in Shoreditch and beyond.
Generously supported by Backstage Trust and managed by Reed Watts Architects, the external clean of the Town Hall’s 48,000sqft building will begin today, Monday 19 April, and will continue until 26 April, delivered by leading scaffold-free façade cleaning experts Thomann-Hanry.
The Language of Kindnessruns at Shoreditch Town Hall from 3 – 12 June 2021 concluding its UK tour, produced byWayward Productions, Assembly Hall Theatre Tunbridge Wells, Complicité and Warwick Arts Centre, in association with Shoreditch Town Hall and Guy Chapman. The production will be staged in a Covid safe environment following government guidelines.
James Pidgeon, Director & Chief Executive of Shoreditch Town Hall, today said: “It has long been an ambition of ours to properly clean and give some attention to the façade of our much-loved landmark building, and so I’m delighted that we’re now able to start these works ahead of welcoming audiences back to our building for The Language of Kindness. The clean will no doubt have a transformative impact on the public’s perception of the Town Hall, and is a fitting and timely reminder of our presence and future ambition as we fully emerge from the horror of the last 12 months and continue to serve artistic and local communities in Shoreditch, Hackney and beyond.”
Whilst closed to live audiences, Shoreditch Town Hall has continued to support their local community, offering free workspace and resources for artists through the Made in Shoreditch: Artist Workspace initiative, and providing a series of creative digital workshops for young people as part of the RE(Connect) programme supported by Hackney Council’s Discover Young Hackney programme
Wayward Productions, Assembly Hall Theatre Tunbridge Wells, Complicité and Warwick Arts Centre
in association with Shoreditch Town Hall and Guy Chapman present
THE LANGUAGE OF KINDNESS
By Christie Watson
Adapted and directed by Sasha Milavic Davies and James Yeatman
Set and Costume Design: Zoë Hurwitz; Lighting Design: Jess Bernberg; Sound Design: Gareth Fry
Video Design: Hayley Egan
Cast: Tina Chiang, Etta Fusi, Tamzin Griffin, Keziah Joseph, Clive Mendus and Harriet Webb
3 – 12 June 2021
Tuesday 8 June: Post Show Q&A with author Christie Watson and members of the cast and creative team.
Wednesday 9 June: BSL Interpreted performance
A new work for a new performance world.
Based on Christie Watson’s bestselling memoir of her twenty years as a nurse, The Language of Kindness is an ensemble-style piece of dance theatre: a joy-filled celebration of nurses and front-line healthcare workers which will resonate with audiences everywhere following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Language of Kindness brings to life the realities, the challenges, heartbreaks and incomparable joys of working for the NHS and supporting families as they face their best and worst moments.
A socially distanced production about the tactile work of nurses where the company never touch.
With support from Arts Council England.
Christie Watson is an award-winning, bestselling writer. She was a nurse for twenty years and is currently Professor of Medical and Health Humanities at the University of East Anglia and Patron of the Royal College of Nursing Foundation. Her first novel, Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away, won the Costa First Novel and Waverton Good Read Awards and her second novel, Where Women Are Kings, also achieved international critical acclaim. Her non-fiction, The Language of Kindness, was published in 2018 and was a number one TheSunday Times bestseller, spending five months in the top ten. It was a Book of the Year in the Evening Standard, New Statesman, The Times, Guardian and The Sunday Times and has been translated into twenty-three languages. Her latest memoir on nursing, The Courage to Care was published in 2020 and the paperback edition is published on 10 June 2021.
Sasha Milavic Davies is a Director and Choreographer. Her directing credits include The Antipodes with Annie Baker (National Theatre), She Ventures, She Wins (Young Vic); and as an assistant director,The Weimar Republic (LA Phil). She has worked with Akram Khan, Complicité and was a founding member of The Yard Theatre.
James Yeatman is a director, writer and co-founder of theatre company, Kandinsky for which his credits include A Light that Never Goes Out (Royal Exchange Theatre), Dinomania (New Diorama Theatre) and Trap Street (New Diorama Theatre/Schaubühne, Berlin)). As an assistant director his credits include Beware of Pity (Schaubühne, Berlin) and The Kid Stays in thePicture (Royal Court Theatre).
Wayward Productions with Assembly Hall Theatre Tunbridge Wells, Complicité and Warwick Arts Centre in association with Shoreditch Town Hall and Guy Chapman
THE LANGUAGE OF KINDNESS
3 – 12 June 2021
Tickets: £20 (£15 concessions and NHS staff)
SEE IT SAFELY
All tour venues have been granted the use of Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre’s See It Safely mark. The mark certifies that they are complying with the latest Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines, to ensure the safety of their staff and audiences. Ticket holders can find out more here [https://officiallondontheatre.com/see-it-safely/] about the measures that have been put in place ahead of their visit, and what they will need to know beforehand.
Thomas Hopkins & Michael Quinn for Ginger Quiff Media, Amy Hart, Guy Chapman, and Bailey Harris-Kelly with Stream.Theatre Acclaimed digital revival of Scaramouche Jones, starring Shane Richie, returns due to popular demand Streaming on Demand: Monday 3rd – Sunday 16th May 2021
Due to popular demand the acclaimed digital revival of Justin Butcher’s Scaramouche Jones or The Seven White Masks will return to streaming for two weeks. Featuring a star-turn from much-loved entertainer Shane Richie (EastEnders; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here), the production has garnered huge acclaim for his incredible ‘tour-de-force performance’ (British Theatre). The revival will be available to stream on demand via Stream.Theatre from Monday 3rd to Sunday 16th May.
Filmed in a London theatre under the direction of Olivier Award-nominee Ian Talbot (The Pirates of Penzance, Regents Park Open Air Theatre; The Mousetrap, West End), Scaramouche Jones was Richie’s first foray into digital theatre, blending his TV and stage talents. Taking on the role made famous by the late great Pete Postlethwaite to critical acclaim, the production is a powerful one-man drama and acting masterclass.
Scaramouche Jones is a bizarre, comic, and heartfelt portrait of a clown unmasked. Bursting with exoticism and lyrical prose, Butcher’s storytelling creates a fantastical life shaped by extraordinary misfortune as Scaramouche finds himself caught in the riptides of a cruel and changing world. A witness to pivotal moments of the 20th century, Scaramouche enters the dawn of a new millennium, marking his own centenary and preparing for death.
Thomas Hopkins and Michael Quinn of Ginger Quiff Media said, The response to the production has been overwhelming, and we’re thrilled to see the well-deserved recognition for both Justin Butcher’s writing, and Shane Richie’s phenomenal performance. We’re excited to bring the revival back for On Demand streaming to give audiences the chance to see Scaramouche Jones in action once again.
Simply superb. (★★★★★ Love London Love Culture)
An exceptional production and a timely revival – Shane Richie gives a momentous performance. (★★★★★ Please Mind the Blog)
Shane Richie delivers… one of the most outstanding performances of his career so far. (★★★★ LondonTheatre1)
NextUp Comedy & the Live Comedy Association Partner to launch the #SaveLiveComedy fund
Fund made possible with the initial support of Panadol, the headache relief brand
NEW LIVE COMEDY ASSOCIATION (LCA) SURVEY FINDS:
· 50% of all workers in the comedy industry have lost over half of their annual income.
· 81% say their mental health has been negatively impacted by job & industry uncertainty during the pandemic.
· 60% of comics have made less than 5% of their pre-pandemic income from online comedy.
A new survey* completed by comedians and other professional individuals in the comedy industry has today confirmed that the situation for most people working in live comedy has continued to deteriorate as the pandemic goes on. In response, NextUp Comedy & the Live Comedy Association have partnered to launch the #SaveLiveComedy Fund, which will provide hardship grants to those within the live comedy industry who are most in need.
It has been over a year since the first comedy shows were cancelled, with no indoor shows at all in that time in Scotland and Wales and only a small window last year where indoor gigs were allowed in England. Now, future indoor gigs are restricted until mid-May at the earliest, and with planned social distancing regulations, very few gigs and tours will be financially viable when reopening does become legal.
The road to live comedy’s recovery is long, with 57% of those in the industry believing that work won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until 2022 at the earliest.
50% of the industry have given serious thought to leaving comedy because of the pandemic, with this rising to 60% of people of colour. It’s for this reason that NextUp and the LCA have launched a fund which will help #SaveLiveComedy – by helping those who make live comedy happen, both on and off-stage.
Alongside this, Panadol have also today announced a new initiative that highlights the value of stand-up comedy in the UK today. Alex Hall, Chair of the LCA’s Board, explains: “The UK’s world-renowned comedy scene has faced disaster over the last year. In the past year so many of our industry, both on and off-stage, have lost their jobs, fallen through the gaps in government support and have seen their income levels halved. Over 50% of the industry have already given serious thought to leaving comedy as a result of the pandemic. We are hoping to raise as much money as possible over the next few weeks to help those most in need and are so grateful for Panadol’s initial support of 25,000 £ towards this campaign.”
The Fund, will distribute grants of £500 over two rounds, with the first open for applications now savelivecomedy.co.uk/apply-to-the-fund. It will target those most in need, focussing on those who are self-employed, unemployed, or who run an organisation that has been ineligible for any existing government support.
The LCA are asking comedy fans all across the UK to help support the Fund, with a Crowdfunder https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/savelivecomedy now live for donations. Owen Donovan from the LCA said “The more that is raised, the more grants will be able to be awarded. The more grants awarded, the better the chances of the UK being able to slowly re-establish the thriving comedy industry it is known and loved for. With your support, we want to work to give everyone who was part of the industry in 2019 the opportunity be part of it when gigs and shows restart again”.
Alongside the Fund, Panadol invites Brits to enjoy an exclusive three-month free trial of premium comedy content on the streaming platform NextUp.
New Panadol research** has revealed that the UK is facing a laughter deficit with 60% of UK adults feeling like they have laughed less than 5 times a day during the past 12 months (before the pandemic adults reportedly laughed 17.5 times a day on average). One in three UK adults (35%) believe their laughter levels are down – the majority (75%) of them claiming this is due to a lack of social interaction. 52% said they were feeling generally low due to the impact of the pandemic. Knowing that laughter can help boost people’s mood and make them feel happier, Panadol set out to launch this new campaign through which all Brits are invited to get their dose of laughter on NextUp.
Spring comedy on NextUp in partnership with Panadol
For the next three months (between April 20 and July 20, 2021) Brits can access over 200 on-demand comedy specials and livestreams across the diverse comedy circuit. All consumers have to do is go to nextup.com/panadol and sign up for free***. NextUp is available worldwide via web browsers, mobile and TV apps.
SOHO THEATRE CELEBRATES RE-OPENING WITH THE PREMIERE OF
THE VERITY BARGATE AWARD WINNING PLAY
SHEDDING A SKIN
17 JUNE – 17 JULY 2021
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY AMANDA WILKIN
DIRECTED BY ELAYCE ISMAIL
A SOHO THEATRE PRODUCTION
New skin honouring old skin. A play about joy, healing and protest.
And having a good belly laugh.
Soho Theatre celebrates the relaunch of its theatre programme this summer with an exhilarating new play. Shedding A Skin, written by Amanda Wilkin, the 2020 winner of the acclaimed Verity Bargate Award, sponsored by Character 7, introduces audiences to a fresh and fierce new voice. Shedding A Skin is a Soho Theatre production sponsored by NJA.
A story for our times, Shedding A Skin is a play about finding kindness in unexpected places, moments of connection, intergenerational friendship and joy. It will be the first new play staged in front of live audiences at Soho Theatre since the pandemic and brings together the creative talents of Amanda Wilkin and Elayce Ismail, who also directed the sell-out hit GIRLS (Soho Theatre 2016).
Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge described this award-winning drama as ‘profound, modern, funny, stark and hopeful’ and it was also singled out for its excellence by fellow Verity Bargate Award judges including Russell T Davies(It’s a Sin), Lolita Chakrabati (Hymn), Laura Wade(The Watsons) and Stephen Garrett of Character 7, the hitmakers behind The Night Manager and The Undoing.
Wilkin, who starred in Morgan Lloyd Malcom’s hit show Emilia and will also be performing in this solo play, says she wanted to create a universal story that was “intrinsically hopeful” and “speaks to people no matter what gender, colour or age”. She also says: “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I’d want to see when I go back to the theatre and I want belly laughs and to feel invigorated.”
Elayce Ismail adds: “It’s rare to find a story that has weight and depth but is ultimately very joyful and positive. The friendship at the heart of Shedding A Skin is so beautiful and poignant. It’s the unsung moments that happen between people in real spaces that are the fabric of our lives and they can be just as informative and important as the big wider world stuff.”
The Verity Bargate Award is Soho Theatre’s flagship new-writing award, sponsored by Character 7. Since 1982, the biennial playwriting award competition has uncovered the best new play by an emerging UK and Irish writer and launched the careers of some of Britain’s most established writers. From a record number of 1493 entries for the 2020 Verity Bargate Award, Amanda Wilkin’s spellbinding play captivated the Award’s readers and judges and was announced as the Award winner in October.
Shedding A Skin will run for 5 weeks in Soho Theatre’s Main House from 17 June to 17 July.
Simon Russell Beale will play JS Bach in the world premiere of Nina Raine’s Bach & Sons, directed by Nicholas Hytner. Performances at The Bridge are from 23 June – 9 September 2021 with opening night on 29 June 2021. The associate director is James Cousins, with set designs by Vicki Mortimer, costumes designed by Khadija Raza, lighting by Jon Clark, sound by Gareth Fry and music supervised by George Fenton. Further casting will be announced shortly.
Priority booking for Bach & Sons opens today with public booking opening at 10am on 20 April 2021.
Johann Sebastian Bach, irascible and turbulent, writes music of sensuous delight for his aristocratic patrons, and gives voice to his deep religious faith in music for the church. He’s touchy, he’s fabulously rude, he has high standards (he stabs a bassoonist for playing badly) and he’s constantly in trouble with his employers. Music is the family business – both his wives and all his children are musicians. His eldest son, Wilhelm, is brilliant, chaotic and paralysed by his father’s genius. Tense, industrious Carl is less talented than his father but more successful. As the years pass, their gripping family drama provokes furious arguments about love, God and above all music. What is it for – to give pleasure, like a cup of coffee in the sun, or to reveal the divine order that gives life its meaning? Nina Raine’s play is an anthem to the art that draws us together and sings of our common humanity.
Simon Russell Beale made his Bridge debut last year in A Christmas Carol, also directed by Nicholas Hytner whom he has previously collaborated with on The Alchemist, Much Ado About Nothing, Major Barbara, Collaborators, London Assurance and Timon of Athens all at the National Theatre. In 2019 he was seen in The Lehman Trilogy at the National Theatre and in the West End and later reprised the role in 2020 on Broadway. As well as being the recipient of multiple theatre awards, in 2003 he was made a CBE for his services to the Arts and in 2019 he was made a Knight Bachelor.
Nina Raine’s other plays include Stories, Consent,Tiger Country, Rabbit and Tribes as well as an adaptation of The Drunks by the Durnenkov Brothers. She was shortlisted for the 2004 Verity Bargate Award and awarded the 2006 Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Most Promising Playwright for her debut play Rabbit. Tribes won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign Play and the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play and has been performed in eighteen different countries. Raine was nominated for a Susan Blackburn Smith Award for Stories and Consent.
Nicholas Hytner co-founded London Theatre Company with Nick Starr. For the Bridge Theatre he has directed Young Marx, Julius Caesar, Allelujah!, Alys, Always, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,Two Ladies, Beat the Devil, The Shrine, Bed Among the Lentils and A Christmas Carol. Previously he was Director of the National Theatre from 2003 to 2015. Hisbook Balancing Acts is published by Jonathan Cape.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE OF SUZAN-LORI PARKS’
W H I T E N O I S E
DIRECTED BY POLLY FINDLAY
Suzan-Lori Parks’ White Noise will receive its European premiere at the Bridge Theatre, directed by Polly Findlay. Performances are from 5 October – 13 November 2021 with opening night on 12 October 2021. Set designs are by Lizzie Clachan with costumes by Natalie Pryce, lighting by Jackie Shemesh and sound by Donato Wharton. Casting for White Noise will be announced at a later date.
Priority booking for White Noise opens today with public booking opening at 10am on 20 April 2021.
Thirty-somethings Leo, Misha, Ralph and Dawn have been inseparable since college. Making their way together in the big city, they are liberal, open-minded and socially aware. Misha is producing the hit online show ‘Ask A Black’; Ralph is waiting for tenure at his university, and as a lawyer, Dawn spends her days fighting for social justice. Leo would be a talented visual artist – if only he could sleep. As best friends and lovers, confident in their woke-ness, their connection with each other is stronger than anything else – until, that is, Leo is assaulted by the police in a racially motivated incident. Shaken to the core, he brings to the group an extreme proposition. White Noise takes an unflinching look at race in the 21st century from both a black and white perspective.
Suzan-Lori Parks photo by Tammy Shell
Suzan-Lori Parksis a multi-award-winning American playwright and the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her Broadway hit Topdog/Underdog. Parks’ adaptation of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Her other works include The Book of Grace, Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Musical, In the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, The America Play and Fucking A. Her project 365 Days/365 Plays – where she wrote a play a day for an entire year – was produced in over 700 theatres worldwide, creating one of the largest grassroots collaborations in theatre history. Parks is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow. Her novel Getting Mother’s Body is published by Random House. She also works extensively in film and television, most recently, as the screenwriter for The United States vs Billie Holiday and, also premiering earlier this year, as showrunner/executive producer/head writer for Genius: Aretha. In her spare time she writes songs and fronts her band Sula & The Noise.
Polly Findlay returns to The Bridge where she previously directed Caryl Churchill’s A Number. Her other recent directing credits include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Limehouse for the Donmar Warehouse, The Alchemist and The Merchant of Venice for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Rutherford and Son, Beginning and As You Like It for the National Theatre.
White Noise received its world premiere at the Public Theater in New York in March 2019 and was the winner of the 2019 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play.
RETURN PERFORMANCES OF VOX MOTUS’
F L I G H T
Flight will return to the Bridge Theatre from 17 May – 6 June 2021. The Barbican again collaborates to co-present this theatre installation by Vox Motus which made its London debut at The Bridge last year before lockdown halted the run. Priority booking for Flight opens today with public booking opening at 10am on 20 April 2021.
From a private booth, audiences are drawn into this tale of orphaned brothers and their desperate odyssey across Europe, the action unfolding in an exquisite world of moving miniatures. Based on
Caroline Brothers’ novel Hinterland, Flight combines timely themes with engrossing images to honour the resilience of refugee children adrift in dangerous lands.
With their small inheritance stitched into their clothes, young Aryan and Kabir set off on an epic journey by foot from Kabul to London. Braving bustling train stations, hazardous sea crossings, menacing strangers and threats of violence, their heart-wrenching story speaks of terror, hope and survival.
Audiences are seated individually and given headphones for this intimate experience staged by Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison who is magic and illusions designer for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Like a 3-D graphic novel brought to life, the revolving scenes contain detailed sets and figures which are accompanied by binaural sound and narration.
Flight was originally commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival in 2017 and presented in association with the Beacon Arts Centre. It won a Herald Angel Award and was included in The New York Times’s Unforgettable Theatre Moments of 2018. The production has also toured to the Melbourne Festival, Brighton Festival 2019 and the New York University Abu Dhabi Arts Centre.
PHILIP PULLMAN’S
T H E B O O K O F D U S T – L A B E L L E S A U V A G E
A NEW STAGE ADAPTATION BY BRYONY LAVERY
Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage, will be directed by Nicholas Hytner in Bryony Lavery’s new stage adaptation which takes place twelve years before Pullman’s epic His Dark Materials trilogy. Previously planned for Summer 2020 and delayed due to the pandemic, further details of this production, due to open in December 2021, will be announced later this year.
Performances of Bach & Sons will go on sale with socially distanced seating; when government guidelines allow, these performances will move to full seating capacity. White Noise will be sold at full seating capacity. All performances of Flight are socially distanced. All customers will be notified of any necessary changes to their bookings.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Address: Bridge Theatre, 3 Potters Fields Park, London, SE1 2SG
My Son’s A Queer But What Can You Do, written by and performed by Rob Madge (Oliver!, Les Misérables) and directed by Luke Sheppard(& Juliet, In The Heights) celebrates the joy and chaos of raising a queer child, and runs at the Turbine Theatre for a limited run from 17 June until 03 July.
When Rob was 12, they attempted to stage a full-blown Disney parade in their house for their Grandma. As Rob donned a wig and played Mary Poppins, Ariel, Mickey Mouse and Belle, their Dad doubled as Stage Manager, Sound Technician and Goofy. Unfortunately, Dad missed all his cues and pushed all the floats in the wrong direction. Mum mistook Aladdin for Ursula. The costumes went awry. Ariel’s bubble gun didn’t even work properly. Grandma had a nice time though.
Join Rob as they delve into the archives of their old home videos in attempt to recreate this parade and celebrate the joy that can be discovered when parents champion the creativity and absurdity of their child.”
Paul Taylor-Mills, Artistic Director, The Turbine Theatre, said “Over the last year we’ve all spent a lot of time online. We’ve seen performers relish in the digital world and seeing Rob’s rise to social media notoriety has fascinated me. The first time I watched one of Rob’s childhood videos I burst into tears. It reminded me of my childhood and that there is another side of the queer narrative that is often presented on stage. And that was that, we set about sharing Rob’s beautiful story with more people.
I have been transfixed, entertained and completely moved by the videos Rob shared. Rob has a touching honesty that is impossible to resist and I can’t wait to share My Son’s A Queer But What Can You Do with our audiences at The Turbine Theatre.‘’ June – 3 July
How To Save A Rock is a bike-powered family comedy about how to still have hope – made by multi-award winning Pigfoot, the first explicitly carbon-neutral theatre company in the UK.
Following successful runs at the National Student Drama Festival, Edinburgh Fringe & VAULT Festival, we now embark on a digital tour, having reworked How To Save a Rock for online audiences at Slung Low. We’ll be streaming our digital show and workshops to The Albany, Poplar Union, Camden People’s Theatre and Pound Arts, alongside schools in their local communities, between 25th April – 8th May. Supported by Arts Council England.
The Show
It’s 2026, and we’ve found a letter from the last ever polar bear. He’s somehow ended up at the top of Scotland. We’re going to save him.
Join us on a wild polar bear chase, through peat bogs and protests. We might just need your help…
How To Save A Rock is a bike-powered family comedy about how to still have hope.
This show is entirely carbon-neutral. The lighting is powered by a bike cycled live on stage, production materials are recycled and recyclable, and the digital footprint of streaming is offset.
Winner of the 2019 Sunday Times Playwriting Award, the Samuel French New Play Award, Camden People’s Theatre Award & the Staging Change Award for VAULT Festival 2020.
The Company
Pigfoot are a multi award-winning carbon-neutral theatre company, dedicated to making collaborative theatre with & and for those grappling with the climate and ecological crisis. We reject the current systems we live in, but we embrace ecosystems and global connectivity.
We make devised work with & and for those grappling with climate and ecological crisis, as well as running workshops for schools, young people & theatre-makers.
Our work ‘practises what it preaches about climate change.’ (The Sunday Times on Pigfoot) and protests from within an industry which, in London alone, has been shown to have a carbon footprint of 50,000 tonnes a year – equivalent to driving a car 1.5 million times around the M25.
WINNER of the Sustainable Fringe Award 2019 for Best Company, an inaugural prize at the last Edinburgh Fringe, recognising those with the will and creativity to tackle climate change.
UNDERBELLY FESTIVAL SET TO TRIUMPHANTLY RETURN THIS SUMMER
WITH A NEW HOME IN CENTRAL LONDON
1 July – 26 September, Cavendish Square W1G 0PU
London’s top festival of comedy, cabaret, circus & family entertainment
Brand new home in Central London, adjacent to Oxford Street, Soho & the West End
Live Entertainment Programme to be announced and on sale in May
Underbelly Festival is set to return to London this summer with a brand new home in Cavendish Square in the heart of Central London’s Oxford Street District.
Underbelly have this week submitted a planning application for the festival to run every day from 01 July – 26 September, with free entry and access to the site.
A feast of fun and affordable live entertainment, great outdoor bars and street food, Underbelly Festival is one of the UK’s top summer festivals. The festival has been a London cultural icon for over a decade and is acknowledged to have been at the vanguard of the city’s ‘pop-up boom’ since opening on the Southbank in 2009.
Underbelly Festival will present a full programme of live performances in its beautiful Spiegeltent venue, with most tickets ranging from £6 to £18. With its much-loved blend of cabaret, circus, variety and family entertainment, the festival’s cultural programme is known for being one of the most extensive and affordable in the country, with over 1.2M tickets sold to Underbelly Festival performances since first opening in 2009. The initial programme of shows will be announced and go on sale towards the end of May.
In addition to the fantastic setting and unparalleled programme of live entertainment, Underbelly Festival offers affordable ticket prices and shows that run for an hour on average (with no intervals….we were doing ‘no interval’ before everyone started having a go!), in a performance venue that can be easily adapted to incorporate any necessary social distancing measures or other health safeguards should they be required – all the ingredients for the perfect summer day and night out in one destination.
Underbelly Co-Director, Ed Bartlam, said:
“We are thrilled to bring Underbelly Festival back to London and to be able to bring this much-loved festival to the heart of the Oxford Street District. Our proposed new home in Cavendish Square is perfectly positioned within minutes of Oxford Circus, the city’s artistic heart in the West End, and its late-night cultural soul in Soho, making it the perfect place for our festival atmosphere and unique programme of live entertainment.
“We’re looking forward to collaborating with local stakeholders and businesses and playing our part in bringing Central London roaring back to life this summer. Most importantly, we are so pleased to be able to once again provide a platform and a home for so many brilliant artists, freelancers and arts sector workers who have been deprived of a stage and a living for over a year.
“We have committed to keeping our ticket prices affordable and our shows an accessible length. Our beautiful Spiegeltent can easily be adapted to adhere to social distancing measures and other health and safety precautions and of course a large part of the Underbelly Festival concept is alfresco eating, drinking and socialising. This has been our model for as long as we’ve existed so we feel we are in a particularly strong position to deliver a top-quality festival experience safely and in a way which will make people feel comfortable this summer. We can’t wait to share further news on our programme of shows in May.”
The return of this year’s Underbelly Festival is subject to planning approval, which was submitted to Westminster City Council on 13 April 2021.
If approved, Underbelly will be supporting Westminster City Council’s Inside Out festival, which is a way for visitors to the West End to rediscover the vibrant arts and culture scene through open air performances, outdoor exhibitions and installations in a bid to attract visitors back to the West End to enjoy London’s cultural and hospitality offerings safely. Inside Out is hoping to run from August to October 2021.
