McQUEEN

TO TRANSFER TO

THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET

FROM 13 AUGUST TO 7 NOVEMBER

PRESS NIGHT ON 27 AUGUST

McQUEEN, which received its world premiere in May at St. James Theatre, where it broke box office records, will transfer to London’s West End, opening at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on Thursday 27 August, following previews from 13 August, for a strictly limited season until 7 November.

Written by James Phillips and directed by John Caird, the production stars award-winning actor Stephen Wight in the title role. Janet McQueen, one of Lee Alexander McQueen’s sisters, said of the play and the production at St. James Theatre, “It was as though the play and Stephen’s performance brought Lee back to me again. I felt as though he was real again for me.” Gary McQueen, Lee’s nephew, added, “It does really hit something in your heart.”

Joining Stephen in the West End run will be Carly Bawden in the role of Dahlia. The role was originated by Dianna Agron who is not participating in the transfer due to filming commitments. Reprising their roles as Isabella Blow and Arabella will be Tracy-Ann Oberman and Laura Rees respectively. Michael Bertenshaw will be joining the cast as Mr Hitchcock. Further casting for the West End transfer to be announced.

For the transfer to the West End, scenes have been rewritten and an interval has been added. James Phillips said, “I’m so delighted to have McQueen in the West End, and to take this opportunity to refine some things from the original production. For me, it’s also thrilling that we’re going into the Theatre Royal Haymarket, as it was in this theatre that I had my first ever professional job, a few months after leaving college. I was a peasant – a silent role! – in Miss Julie starring Christopher Eccleston, Aisling O’Sullivan and Maxine Peake that Thelma Holt produced. It really is one of the most beautiful theatres I’ve ever been in.”

McQUEEN is a journey into the visionary imagination and dream world of Alexander McQueen, fashion’s greatest contemporary artist. Set on a single London night, it is more than a bio-play. It is stepping into the fairy story landscape of McQueen’s mind, the landscape seen in his immortal shows, where with a dress an urchin can become an Amazon, where beauty might just help us survive the night. A girl has watched McQueen’s Mayfair house for eleven consecutive days. Tonight she climbs down from her watching tree and breaks into his house, to steal a dress, to become someone special. He catches her,

but, instead of calling the police, they embark together on a journey through London and into his heart.

Lee Alexander McQueen died on 11 February 2010 aged 40. Born in Lewisham and raised in Stratford, East London, at 16 he served an apprenticeship with Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard. Later, he studied at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design and his graduation collection was bought in its entirety by influential fashion stylist Isabella Blow. He was appointed head designer at Givenchy in 1996, where he remained until 2001. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label, and the Gucci Group acquired 51% of his company in 2000, with McQueen serving as Creative Director. McQueen achieved the title British Designer of the Year four times between 1996 and 2003, and was also awarded the CBE and named International Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers in 2003. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted a posthumous exhibition of McQueen’s work in 2011 titled Savage Beauty. The exhibition is currently being shown at the V&A until 2 August.

Stephen Wight was named Outstanding Newcomer at the Evening Standard Awards for his performances in Michael Grandage’s production of Don Juan in Soho and Samuel West’s production of Dealer’s Choice. Other theatre includes Nicholas Hytner’s production of The Habit of Art at the National and Sean Foley’s production of The Ladykillers in the West End. On television, he has played Simon in Bluestone 42 (BBC 3), Sam in The Paradise (BBC 1), Mitch in Threesome (Comedy Central), Fletcher in Sherlock and Charles in the BBC mini-series Fingersmith. His films include Wilderness, Highlander: The Source, Weekender with Jack O’Connell, Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Zawe Ashton and Ashes with Jim Sturgess and Ray Winstone.

Carly Bawden’s theatre credits include Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory), Dead Dog in a Suitcase, Tristan & Yseult and The Beggar’s Opera for Kneehigh, My Fair Lady with Dominic West (Sheffield Crucible), Pippin (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Leicester Curve and Gielgud Theatre), and the tours of Whistle Down the Wind and Evita, for which she was nominated for TMA Award for Best Supporting Actress 2009.

Tracy-Ann Oberman played Chrissie in EastEnders, Yvonne Hartman in Doctor Who, Lizzie Clapham in Monroe, Aunty Val in Friday Night Dinner, Mrs Purchase in Toast of London and Diana in the film Filth starring James McAvoy and Jamie Bell. In theatre, she has acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the National, including playing opposite Kenneth Branagh in Edmond.

Laura Rees’s theatre credits include Ophelia in Ninagawa’s Hamlet at the Barbican, Christopher Luscombe’s Comedy of Errors, Lucy Bailey’s Titus Andronicus and Kathryn Hunter’s Pericles at Shakespeare’s Globe, and Rupert Gould’s Macbeth and Philip Franks’s Twelfth Night at Chichester.

Michael Bertenshaw’s recent theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well and Anne Boleyn, all for Shakespeare’s Globe. His many television credits include playing Ralph Miliband in the documentary drama Miliband of Brothers, two three-part thrillers Murderland and Oktober, and regular appearances in the drama series Seaforth and in the children’s drama series C.A.B..

James Phillips’s first staged play, The Little Fir Tree, was commissioned by and performed, under his direction, at the Sheffield Crucible in 2004. He wrote and directed The Rubinstein Kiss at Hampstead Theatre in 2005. His most recent plays were Hidden in the Sand, which opened at the Trafalgar Studios in 2013, and City Stories, which was staged at the St. James Theatre Studio during the run of McQueen.

John Caird is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his work includes over 20 productions of classic and new plays including co-productions with Trevor Nunn of Nicholas Nickleby, Peter Pan and Les Misérables. His National Theatre productions include Hamlet and Humble Boy, both with Simon Russell Beale, Stanley with Antony Sher, and his own new version of Bernstein’s Candide for which he won a Laurence Olivier Award.

McQUEEN has production design by David Farley, choreography by Christopher Marney, video design by Tim Bird, lighting design by David Howe, sound design by John Leonard, wigs designed by Linda McKnight and casting by Kate Plantin CDG & Jayne Collins CDG.

McQUEEN is produced at the Theatre Royal Haymarket by Robert Mackintosh, AMIR Ltd, Hilary A. Williams, Deborah Negri, with Julian Stoneman as executive producer, for and on behalf of McQ Productions Ltd.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

13 August to 7 November 2015

Theatre Royal Haymarket

18 Suffolk Street

London SW1Y 4HT

Box Office: 020 7930 8800

Performances: Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm*, Thursdays and Saturdays at 3.00pm**

*7.00pm on Thursday 27 August

**No 3.00pm performances on Thursday 13, 20 and 27 August

Ticket Prices: £15 – £65 (including booking fees); Premium Seats £85; Previews: £15 – £45

Running Time: 2 hours, including interval Website: www.mcqueentheplay.com

Facebook: facebook.com/McQueenThePlay

Twitter: @McQueenThePlay

 

National Youth Theatre, The Christmas TV and Film Company and Sky Arts present
GENERATION SEXT

Generation Sext, airing on 29th July at 10pm on Sky Arts, is an innovative new docu-drama exploring sexualisation and sexual consent  amongst young people, created by The Christmas TV & Film Company, in collaboration with the National Youth Theatre. Focusing in on the relatively recent and increasingly common phenomenon of ‘sexting’, sending explicit images or messages, the documentary follows the young members of the NYT as they develop their forthcoming West End play Consensual, based around similar themes.

An exploration of a particular issue facing young people today, told by those young people themselves, the enlightening 30 minute film has been made by The Christmas TV and Film Company in collaboration with NYT and was specially commissioned by Sky Arts for its Sex Season. The piece has been created as a mix of real-life testimony, documentary footage and dramatic scenes written on location as an immediate response to the issues generated by the workshops. The multi-layered film will star some of Britain’s best young acting talent.

Generation Sext is directed by Frances Dickenson (The Christmas TV & Film Company), and Paul Roseby (Artistic Director, The National Youth Theatre). It is produced by The Christmas TV & Film Company’s Caz Gorham and Jo McClellan is Executive Producer for Sky. The drama elements were written by Kirsty Swain.

Consensual is a brand new play written by Evan Placey (Girls Like That, Holloway Jones) and will be directed by Pia Furtardo (Dirty Great Love Story at Soho Theatre and L’Elisir D’Amore at Opera Holland Park).  Exploring teenage testosterone, teacher pupil relationships and the age of consent in the UK, Consensual will examine the relationship between PSHE teacher Diane and her class, specifically fifteen year old Freddie. “Think of Sexual Relationship Education as a war zone and you’re the journalist. Give the facts, show the photos, but don’t get too close unless you want your head blown off”. It will premiere at The Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End this autumn.

The NYT’s rep season returns to the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End later this year with three new productions. The 10-week season will feature: Consensual; Wuthering Heights, a new adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel and The Merchant of Venice – Shakespeare’s play abridged especially for schools by Tom Stoppard. Performances will start on 25 September 2015, with press performances on 6 and 7 October 2015.

Generation Sext airs on Wednesday 29th July at 10.00pm on Sky Arts as part of the channel’s Sex Season.

 

REP SEASON LISTINGS
Ambassadors Theatre, WC2H 9ND
18 September – 4 December 2015

Consensual Press Performances 6 & 7 October, 7:30pm
Matinee performance (2:30pm):18 September
Evening performances (7:30pm):, 29, 30 September; 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 October; 3, 4, 10, 11, 18, 24 November; 2 December

Wuthering Heights Press Performance 6 October, 2:30pm
Matinee performances (2:30pm):
25 September; 2, 6, 13, 14, 23, 30 October; 6, 10, 11, 24, 27 November; 1, 4 December
Evening performances (7:30pm):
27, October; 17, 25 November;

The Merchant of Venice
Press Performances 7 October (2:30pm) & 9 October (2:30pm)
Matinee performances (2:30pm):
29, 30 September; 7, 9, 16, 20, 26, 27 October; 3, 4, 13, 17, 18, 25 November; 2 December
Evening performances (7:30pm):
1 December

Box Office
www.theambassadorstheatre.co.uk
08448 112 334
or
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
020 7452 3000

More information at www.nyt.org.uk

GARY MAVERS, NEIL STACY AND DEBORAH GRANT

JOIN

FRAZER HINES, MARK CURRY, BEN NEALON, ERIC CARTE AND KEZIA BURROWS

 

IN AGATHA CHRISTIE’S

 

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

 

WORLD’S BEST-SELLING THRILLER WELCOMES NEW CAST MEMBERS

TO DOUBLE ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION IN LEEDS

 

Three more famous faces from stage and screen are set to become Agatha Christie’s latest guests as they join the UK tour of And Then There Were None this summer, which marks the 10^th anniversary of The Agatha Christie Theatre Company and the 125^th anniversary of the author’s birth.

West End and TV stars Gary Mavers, Neil Stacy and Deborah Grant will join this production of the Queen of Crime’s most popular and best-selling thriller, when it comes to Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday August 17^th to Saturday 22^nd August.

Gary Mavers, best known as Peak Practice heart-throb Dr Andrew Attwood, will play retired police inspector William Henry Blore, Neil Stacy, who is best known for his role as Robert Cochran in the 80s ITV sitcom Duty Free, will play judge Sir Lawrence Wargrave, Bergerac and Peak Practice’s Deborah Grant will star as eccentric spinster Emily Brent, while Kezia Burrows, best known as junior doctor Cath Llewellyn in the 2009 BBC drama series Crash, joins the cast as secretary Vera Claythorne.

They join Frazer Hines, best known for his role as companion Jamie McCrimmon in Doctor Who, as Rogers, formerBlue Peter presenter and actor Mark Curry as Dr. Armstrong, Soldier Soldier’s Ben Nealon as Philip Lombard andBouquet of Barbed Wire’s Eric Carte as General Mackenzie.

 

A group of 10 strangers is lured to a remote island off the coast of Devon. Upon arrival it is discovered that their host, an eccentric millionaire, is missing. At dinner a recorded message is played accusing each of them in turn of having a guilty secret and by the end of the evening the 10 guests become nine. Stranded on the island by a torrential storm and haunted by an ancient nursery rhyme, one by one the guests begin to die. And with only the fallen believed to be innocent who amongst them is the killer?

And Then There Were None is the world’s best-selling mystery ever, with 100 million sales to date. Widely considered to be Christie’s masterpiece, her own stage adaptation of this dark and captivating tale will thrill and enthral, as murder unfolds.

And Then There Were None is at Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday 17^th to Saturday 22^nd August.

Tickets are still available priced from £18.50 to £35.

Book online at leedsgrandtheatre.com or call Box Office on 0844 848 2700

 

BEWARE! DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS HEADING FOR THE LYCEUM!

Direct from the West End, critically acclaimed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – The Musical starring Michael Praed, Noel Sullivan, Carley Stenson and special guest Mark Benton, is set to transport audiences to the French Riviera with style, sophistication and a good deal of mischief when it comes to the Lyceum from Tuesday 25 – Saturday 29 August.

The hit musical based on the legendary 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels follows two seasoned swindlers as they attempt to hoodwink a millionaire heiress.  Sophisticated conman Lawrence Jameson’s world comes crashing down with the arrival of larger-than-life Freddy Benson – a conman of an entirely different order.

As the pair go head-to-head in the con of their lives, pulling out all the stops in a bid for the affections of millionaire soap heiress Christine Colgate, little do they know what they’ve let themselves in for!

Michael Praed, best known for his starring role as Robin Hood in Robin of Sherwood and Prince Michael inDynasty, plays sophisticated swindler Lawrence.  Noel Sullivan (Hear’Say, Rock of Ages, Priscilla Queen of the Desert) returning to the Lyceum stage, plays street smart Freddy, with Carley Stenson (Hollyoaks, Shrek – The Musical, Spamalot) as the desirable Christine. Guest star Mark Benton (Waterloo Road, Strictly Come Dancing, Hairspray) plays hilarious side-kick Andre Thibault.

Enjoy a stylish, slick and fabulously funny trip to the luxurious Riviera with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – The Musical this summer at the Lyceum Theatre from Tuesday 25 – Saturday 29 August. Tickets are priced from £19.00 – £39.00 and can be purchased by calling the Box Office on 0114 249 6000 or by visiting sheffieldtheatres.co.uk (a transaction fee of £1.50 (£1.00 online) applies to all bookings made at the Box Office, excluding cash).

Crucible Lyceum Studio 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA             
Box Office 0114 249 6000 – Mon – Sat 10.00am to 8.00pm
A transaction fee of £1.50 (£1.00 online) applies to all bookings made at the Box Office (excluding cash).
On non-performance days the Box Office closes at 6.00pm.
sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
Twitter: @crucibletheatre @SheffieldLyceum

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Tue 25 August – Sat 29 August

Press Night Tue 25 August 7.30pm

Tue – Sat 7.30pm

Fri & Sat 7.30pm

Wed & Thu 2.00pm

Sat 3.00pm

£19.00 – £39.00 (concessions and group discounts available)

Bill Kenwright presents two of the UK’s best loved stars together for the first time on stage – Tom Conti and Gwen Taylor, in BEFORE THE PARTY – a bitingly funny adaptation by Rodney Ackland of a short story by Somerset Maugham.

They are two of the UK’s best-loved stars of stage and screen, but have never performed together, that is until now. For the first time in their careers, TOM CONTI and GWEN TAYLOR are set to take to the stage in the satirical comedy BEFORE THE PARTY. Premiering at the Theatre Royal Windsor on 2nd September 2015, before a short run at 6 selected theatres, Tom Conti will also be directing this new production of writer Rodney Ackland’s black comedy, having first directed it in 1980 at the Apollo Theatre in London starring Jane Asher and the late Michael Gough.

TOM CONTI is one of the most respected and celebrated actors of his generation. Unforgettable as the leading man in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and Shirley Valentine, he has also appeared as myriad characters on screen and stage. He was recently voted Most Popular Actor in the West End alongside Dame Judi Dench. This year saw him tour the UK as Juror #8 in Twelve Angry Men, a role he reprised from the successful and sold-out extended run of the drama at the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End.

GWEN TAYLOR is best known in recent years for her role as Anne Foster, mother of the villainous Frank Foster in Coronation Street, but she is also much loved for starring in the ITV sitcoms Duty Free, A Bit of A Do with David Jason – for which she was nominated for a Best Actress TV Bafta – and as the lead character in Barbara. She also starred as Peggy Armstrong in Heartbeat, and has appeared in Yes, Prime Minister, Murder Most Horrid, Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders and Fat Friends. Her theatre credits include Driving Miss Daisy, The Butterfly Lion, Prick Up Your Ears and Calendar Girls.

The war is over and the Skinner family is trying to return to normal. If only the blasted Government wasn’t such a nuisance with rationing preventing Cook from acquiring delicious delicacies. With daughter Laura returned from Africa, widowed but not alone, they prepare for the latest social gathering.

Rodney Ackland, who adapted the play from a short story by Somerset Maugham, has recently seen a huge resurgence in the popularity of his work, which is much admired by such artists as Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and originally Dame Edith Evans and Sir John Gielgud.

Ackland is best known for his play Absolute Hell, set in a decaying West End drinking club at the end of the Second World War and performed at the National Theatre in 1996 starring Judi Dench. BEFORE THE PARTY is based on a short story by Somerset Maugham, lauded for his 1915 novel Of Human Bondage, widely considered to be his masterpiece.

TOUR DATES 2015:
2nd – 12th September
Theatre Royal, Windsor
01753 853 888 / http://www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk/

14th – 19th September
Theatre Royal, Norwich
01603 63 00 00 / https://secure.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk/

21st – 26th September
New Victoria Theatre, Woking
0844 871 7645 / http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-victoria-theatre/

28th September – 3rd October
Festival Theatre, Malvern
01684 892 277 / http://www.malvern-theatres.co.uk/

5th – 10th October
Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham
01242 572573 / http://www.everymantheatre.org.uk/

12th – 17th October

Theatre Royal, Bath

01225 448844 / http://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/

19th-24th October

Devonshire Park, Eastbourne

01323 412000 / http://www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk/shows/before-the-party/

 

SHARK WEEK to premiere on Discovery Channel in the UK from Sunday 2^nd – Saturday 8^th August

 

 

SHARK WEEK, Discovery Channel’s must see summer event returns to Discovery Channel on Sunday 2^nd August. Uncharted technology will capture all-new shark images and behaviour, while also drawing attention to these incredible animals and their evolving habitats.

Programme highlights for 2015 include;

 

SHARK TREK featuring Dr. Greg Skomal, Massachusetts’ senior marine fisheries marine biologist, as he tags Great White sharks off the coast of Cape Cod and attempts to determine their swim patterns once they leave the Massachusetts coast. As patterns point to the southern U.S., Dr. Skomal tries to determine why the Florida coast is the new Great White shark hotspot in the Atlantic.

LAIR OF THE MEGA SHARK, which sees shark experts Jeff Kerr and Andy Casagrande head to New Zealand to investigate the sightings of a 20 foot Great White Shark. The team explore the nocturnal feeding ground of the modern day legend, in the hope of coming face to face with the legendary Great White.

MONSTER MAKO; Mako sharks are the fastest of all species of sharks in the world however little more is known about this particular breed. MONSTER MAKO explores this area as scientists fit a Mako shark with cameras in order to unlock and reveal the mysteries of their swift, immediate and unseen world. And a rare sighting is caught on film as a Mako shark breaches the waters during the expedition.

Additional SHARK WEEK 2015 programming will include SPAWN OF JAWS: THE BIRTH featuring Dr. Michael Domeier as he continues on his quest to unlock one of the greatest shark mysteries: the location of great white pupping grounds. This two year mission follows the journey of a pregnant great white called Gil Rakers as she prepares to give birth; BRIDE OF JAWS which searches for Joan of Shark, the largest female Great White ever tagged and NINJA SHARKS which explores six sharks with unique adaptations that have evolved over millions of years making them the most lethal hunters in the sea.

 

SHARK WEEK will premiere in the UK from Sunday 2^nd August – Saturday 8^th August on Discovery Channel

(Sky 520 / Virgin 211 / BT TV 322 / TalkTalk 322)

HECUBA
A new version by Marina Carr
Directed by Erica Whyman
Swan Theatre: 17 September – 17 October 2015

Full casting is announced for the Swan Theatre production of Marina Carr’s new play based on the epic tale of Hecuba, directed by RSC Deputy Artistic Director Erica Whyman with Derbhle Crotty in the title role, opening on Thursday 24 September 2015.

Derbhle Crotty returns to the RSC to play Hecuba, having previously played Lady Macbeth and Lady Duncan in the 2007 repertory season of Macbeth and Ionesco’s Macbett. Derbhle is currently playing Bolingbroke/Henry IV in DruidShakespeare, which has played various venues in Ireland, New York and at the Kilkenny Festival. She is known for her film roles in Notes on a Scandal (2006), Rory O’Shea Was Here(2004) and Noble (2014).

Also returning is RSC Associate Artist Ray Fearon as Agamemnon, who has worked extensively with the RSC, most recently as Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and as the title role in Othello (1999). His recent theatre credits include playing Macduff in Macbeth at the Manchester International Festival; Ray also appeared in the 2006 series of Strictly Come Dancing. Joining him is Edmund Kingsley who plays Polymestor. Edmund can currently be seen in the BBC 2 mini-series Life in Squares as John Maynard Keynes. His RSC credits includeAntony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and The Tempest, as part of the Complete Works Festival, Richard III,King John and Lord of the Flies. His film credits include Hugo (2011) and Stonehearst Asylum (2014).

The full cast includes: Nadia Albina (Cassandra); David Ajao (Nepotolemus); Derbhle Crotty (Hecuba);Ray Fearon (Agamemnon); Edmund Kingsley (Polymestor); Amy McAllister (Polyxena); Chu Omambala(Odysseus) and Lara Stubbs (Hecuba’s Woman).

Hecuba is designed by Soutra Gilmour with lighting by Charles Balfour. The music is composed by Isobel Waller-Bridge with sound by Andrew Franks. Movement is by Ayse Tashkiran.

To book tickets call 01789 403493 or online at www.rsc.org.uk

The RSC Ensemble is generously supported by THE GATSBY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION and THE KOVNER FOUNDATION

 

Transport Theatre presents
THE EDGE
Devised and Directed by Douglas Rintoul
Designed by James Button
Music Composed by Raymond Yiu
Sound by Helen Atkinson
Lighting by Matt Haskins
Projection by Will Duke

Co-produced with New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
14+

From 8 October to 14 November, Transport, the critically acclaimed Folkstone-based theatre company behind Invisible, 1001 Nights and Elegy will present a brand new devised production, The Edge, with original music composed by award-winning Raymond Yiu. Inspired by real life narratives taken from the south coast of England and the Sundabans in India and developed in collaboration with leading lecturer in coastal oceanography Dr Ivan Haigh, The Edge is an extensive exploration of climate change and migration. Based on an encounter between two people from different cultures that encompasses myths from the sea, the history of human migration, the formation of rivers and seas, the piece will be devised and directed by Douglas Rintoul and the creative team behind Elegy.

A woman steps into the English Channel. A man is swept up by a great storm in West Bengal. Two decades later their children meet on a beach by an English town that’s been abandoned to the sea. She’s training to swim the Channel. He’s a climate change refugee.

Powerful and poetic, The Edge is a love story between two people from different continents and cultures, connected by weather patterns and the shared experience of a radically changing world.Douglas Rintoul, Artistic Director of Transport Theatre was awarded the British Council Connections through Culture Award to visit the Sundarbans in West Bengal India where he worked with the Kolkata based theatre company Ranan, drawing real life narratives from an area directly on the frontline of climate change. The company also worked with young adults in Folkestone, developing an audio and visual work exploring narratives from the Kent Coast. Combining this quantative research from two different continents, Rintoul’s production questions what it really means to live on the geographical edge and explores the universal issue of climate change.

Developed in collaboration with leading lecturer in coastal oceanography Dr Ivan Haigh, with music by award-winning composer Raymond Yiu, The Edge will fuse text, movement, music and projection to transport its audience between continents, exploring the place where the sea meets the land.

In partnership with Kent Libraries, the tour will include a three day site specific run at Folkestone Library, Grace Hill. The production will be filmed in this creative venue and then released digitally to the public for National Library Day 2016.

Douglas Rintoul is Artistic Director of Transport and the Queens Theatre in Hornchurch. He has directed for the Barbican, Hampstead Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, Watermill Theatre, Trafalgar Studios, Dundee Rep Theatre, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, National Theatre Studio, Salisbury Playhouse, New Wolsey Theatre, Ice&Fire and Creation and is a long-standing associate director to Complicite and was an assistant and associate director to Deborah Warner. He recently received the Royal National Theatre Foundation Playwright Award for his production Elegy.

Raymond Yiu is the winner of a BASCA British Composer Award, and three times previous nominee. His early work received the advocacy of American composer-pianist-conductor Lukas Foss and he has worked with ensembles and artists including BBC Singers, BBCSO, Chroma, Concorde Ensemble (Ireland), Ensemble 10/10, London Sinfonietta, Lontano, LSO and Andrew Watts. The Original Chinese Conjuror, with libretto by Lee Warren, was commissioned by Aldeburgh Production for the 2006 Aldeburgh Almeida Opera Season. Maomao Yü, a quintet for piano and traditional Chinese instruments was commissioned by LSO for Lang Lang and the Silk String Quartet. The Earth and Every Common Sight, for soprano and piano, won the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize 2010. In April 2013, Teatro Barroco of Vienna mounted a new production of The Original Chinese Conjuror, directed by Bernd Bienert.

TRANSPORT is an internationally minded arts company based in Folkestone. Positioned on a geographical border, the company’s focus is rooted in the near and far looking towards the channel and beyond.