WISE CHILDREN, BRISTOL OLD VIC, YORK THEATRE ROYAL AND THE NATIONAL THEATRE
CO-PRODUCE EMMA RICE’S WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Wise Children today announces new dates for the world premiere of Artistic Director Emma Rice’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, which she also directs, in a coproduction with the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and York Theatre Royal. Starring Lucy McCormick as Cathy, this elemental stage adaptation brings new life to the classic story with Rice’s celebrated musical and visual style. The production opens at Bristol Old Vic on 20 October, with previews from 11 October, and running until 6 November, with livestreamed performances in the final week at Bristol. It then transfers to York Theatre Royal, 8 – 20 November, and runs at the National Theatre in 2022 before touring to The Lowry, Theatre Royal Nottingham, Sunderland Empire and King’s Theatre, Edinburgh with further dates to be announced.
Emma Rice said today, “It is with an earthy spring in my step and epic twinkle in my eye that I announce our new plans for Wuthering Heights. So many projects have fallen by the wayside during lockdown that there were times when I lost hope – but there was no need! Wise Children are back; stronger, wiser and grateful for the chance to sing and dance again. The exceptional cast, crew, administrative and creative teams are ready to go and we are fizzing with ideas, dreams and anticipation. Emboldened and humbled by the enforced break, I feel truly lucky. I cannot wait to get back to doing what I love most and to share this thrilling and important piece with the world. It’s time.”
The Yorkshire moors tell an epic story of love, revenge and redemption.
Rescued from the Liverpool docks as a child, Heathcliff is adopted by the Earnshaws and taken to live at Wuthering Heights. He finds a kindred spirit in Catherine Earnshaw and a fierce love ignites. When forced apart, a brutal chain of events is unleashed.
Shot through with music, dance, passion and hope, Emma Rice transforms Emily Brontë’s masterpiece into a powerful and uniquely theatrical experience. Lucy McCormick leads the company of performers and musicians in this intoxicating revenge tragedy for our time.
“I am Heathcliff! Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
With set and costume design by Vicki Mortimer; sound and video by Simon Baker; composition by Ian Ross; movement and choreography by Etta Murfitt;lighting design by Jai Morjaria.
Rice has also adapted and directs Percy and Eleonore Adlon’s Bagdad Cafe, which opens at The Old Vic on 28 July 2021, with previews from 17 July, and runs until 21 August 2021, and will be streamed live for OLD VIC: IN CAMERA 25 – 28 August.
Emma Rice is the proud and excited Artistic Director of her new company, Wise Children. She adapted and directs the company’s forthcoming Bagdad Cafe, and previous productions Angela Carter’s Wise Children (The Old Vic/UK tour) and Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers (Bristol Passenger Shed/UK tour). For the ENO she directed Orpheus in the Underworld. As Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe (2016/18), she directed Romantics Anonymous, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales). For the previous 20 years, she worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director. Her productions for Kneehigh include The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Tristan & Yseult, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler’s Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages), and Steptoe and Son. Other work includes the West End production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Oedipussy (Spymonkey), The Empress (RSC), and An Audience with Meow Meow (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). In 2019 Rice received the UK Theatre Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre.
Lucy McCormick plays Cathy. Her previous theatre credits include Post Popular, Roller Diner, First Love is the Revolution (Soho Theatre), Lessons for Life (Battersea Arts Centre), Dear Elizabeth, Effigies of Wickedness (Gate Theatre), Collective Rage (Southwark Playhouse), Cinderella (Oxford Playhouse), The Naked Truth (UK tour), Splat! (Barbican Centre), and The House of Bernada Alba (Tristan Bates Theatre). Her television credits include This Time with Alan Partridge, and for film, Fast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, and Exhibition of a Film.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS LISTINGS
Bristol Old Vic
11 October – 6 November 2021
Livestream dates TBA
Box Office: 0117 987 7877 / www.bristololdvic.org.uk
York Theatre Royal
8 – 20 November 2021
Box Office: 01904 623568 /www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
National Theatre, Lyttelton
2022 – Dates TBA
Box Office: 020 7452 3000 / www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
Theatre Royal Nottingham
26 – 30 April 2022
Box Office: 0115 989 5555 / www.trch.co.uk
The Lowry
3 – 7 May 2022
Box Office: 0343 208 6000 / www.thelowry.com
Sunderland Empire
10 – 14 May 2022
Box Office: 03330 096 690 / https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/sunderland-empire/
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
24 – 28 May 2022
Box Office: 0131 529 6000 /www.capitaltheatres.com/your-visit/kings-theatre
ABOUT WISE CHILDREN
Created and led by Emma Rice, Wise Children launched in April 2018 and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Based in Bristol, we make ground-breaking work with exceptional artists, and tour across the world. In the dark days of 2020, we led the field in livestreaming, becoming the first UK company to broadcast a full staged production, without social distancing, from a UK theatre after lockdown. Alongside our shows, we run a unique professional development programme, The School for Wise Children, training a new and more diverse generation of theatre practitioners.
Blog: www.wisechildren.blog
Twitter: @Wise_Children
Instagram: @Wise_Children
Facebook: @WiseChildrenCompany
