NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE ANOUNCES IT’S SWEET VENGEANCE AUTUMN SEASON, PANTO AND ITS FIRST SPRING SHOW OF 2017
“Things can never been the same again. I feel I’ve been tempered by madness. I stand outside and see myself for the first time without responsibility.” Sleuth.
Tales of revenge have been gloriously imagined in works of fiction for centuries. Why are we so fascinated by them? The drama in these stories comes from a blend of opposites; a mixture of good motives (desire for justice) and wicked means (violence).
Nottingham Playhouse is proud to present its Sweet Vengeance Season, opening with Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth, a co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse. Sleuth is an expertly written satire of the classic crime genre in which two characters fight mercilessly for power over one another through carefully calculated game play. First staged in 1970, Sleuth has won numerous awards for its bewitching cunning, twists and turns.
Revenge can take time, as John Harvey’s adaptation of his own novel, Darkness, Darkness shows the past cannot be buried or forgotten. John Harvey is one of the UK’s most well-known crime writers with an internationally acclaimed reputation. His most recognisable collection of work is his series of Resnick novels, based in the city of Nottingham. In this World Premiere stage production, a co-production with New Perspectives, Resnick is on the verge of retirement when DI Catherine Njoroge convinces him to take on one more case following the discovery of the body of Jenny Hardwick, a young woman who disappeared during the bitterly-fought miners’ strike 30 years earlier.
Despite the justice of the cause, revenge takes its toll on the revenger in Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean play The Revenger’s Tragedy. The last play in Nottingham Playhouse’s, The Sweet Vengeance season, Middleton’s black comedy explores the inevitable consequences of taking the law into your own hands.
Nottingham Playhouse’s celebrated panto returns once more with Aladdin. Join Widow Twankey and Aladdin on their magic carpet ride full of family fun and frolics! Aladdin promises to be a sensational show, dazzling with wit, shimmering with glitter and sparkling with song, dance and magical costumes.
In the Neville Studio at Nottingham Playhouse.
September sees the return of Tony’s Last Tape– based on the diaries of Tony Benn, one of Britain’s most respected, divisive and celebrated politicians, this critically acclaimed play returns to Nottingham Playhouse prior to a national UK tour, including Blackpool, Cambridge, Cardiff, Liverpool and Oxford.
The Underground Man, is an adaption by Nick Wood of Mick Jackson’s award- winning novel. Nottingham Playhouse and ajtc have combined their talents to coproduce Mick Jackson’s Booker Prize shortlisted novel. William Cavendish Scott-Bentinck is an eccentric Nottinghamshire aristocrat whose imagination and curiosity know no bounds. This deceptively simple man struggles to come to terms with a world that is teeming with new knowledge, ill-founded opinion and gossip. Why does he hide himself away? What is his fascination with tunnels? Will he ever unearth the secrets hidden in his memory?,
For younger children, the Neville Studio at Nottingham Playhouse will be presenting The Princess And The Frog. A magical re-telling of the classic Brothers Grimm tale about friendship and the making and breaking of promises. Brought to you by the same team who created 2015’s Hare & Tortoise, the show is packed full of action and songs and will most definitely include audience participation for all the little ones.
Nottingham Playhouse is delighted to announce that its first main stage show of Spring 2017 is Touched, starring BAFTA award-winning Vicky McClure (This is England, Line of Duty and Broadchurch).
Stephen Lowe’s Touched is a powerful and poignant Word War Two dram set during the 100 days between VE and VJ Day. It centres on the lives of a family of working class Nottingham women. The promise of a brave new world has arrived with peace in Europe and the election of the first ever Labour government. But the fighting is not yet over. With her husband away at war and having lost her son in a tragic car accident during the blackout, Sandra is torn apart by grief. Meanwhile, her sisters – the brash Joan and naïve Betty – are brimming with hope for the future and the possibilities of new lives ahead for all of them. Touched is a modern classic celebrating the 40th anniversary of its premiere at Nottingham Playhouse.
Giles Croft, Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, said: “I’m delighted that we’re able to announce the World premiere of a new play by John Harvey as part of our Sweet Vengeance season at the same time as we are announcing the 40th anniversary production of Stephen Lowe’s Touched starring the brilliant Vicky McClure. Darkness Darkness provides the heart of a season of revenge dramas that will thrill, entertain and surprise whilst Touched is a beautifully moving story of longing and loss that provides, in the central role of Sandra, a part that could have been written for Vicky to play.”
Seasons listings.
Neville Studio
Tony’s Last Tape Directed by Giles Croft.
15 September to 18 September
The Underground Man Directed by Andrew Brakewell
22 September to 8 October
The Princess and the Frog Directed by Allie Spencer
8 to 31 December
Main Stage
Sleuth Directed by Giles Croft
9 to 24 September
Then at West Yorkshire Playhouse
Darkness, Darkness Directed by Jack McNamara
30 September to 15 October
The Revenger’s Tragedy Directed by Fiona Buffini.
28 October to 12 November
Aladdin Directed by Kenneth Alan Taylor
25 November to 21 January
Touched Directed by Matt Allston
17 February to 9 March 2017
This year’s proud sponsors of Nottingham Playhouse are –
Nottingham City Transport, Nottingham Trent University, Gleeds and Stick and Ribbon.
Box Office information
http://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
Box Office 0115 9419419