ENGLISH TOURING THEATRE ANNOUNCES RICHARD TWYMAN’S INAUGURAL SEASON AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Richard Twyman has announced his inaugural season as Artistic Director of English Touring Theatre which includes a series of first-time collaborations with theatres, theatre companies and artists.
In the Spring, English Touring Theatre joins forces for the first time with Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory on Twyman’s production of Othello which, following a run at the Tobacco Factory Theatre, tours to venues in the UK beginning at Wilton’s Musical Hall.
This is followed by two autumn shows – firstly, ETT works with Simon Godwin, Associate Director of the National Theatre, to present the first tour of Sam Holcroft’s comedy Rules for Living which premièred at the National’s Dorfman Theatre in 2015. The show reunites ETT with co-producers Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Rose Theatre Kingston, with whom they created the critically acclaimed, award-winning revival of Peter Whelan’s The Herbal Bed in 2016. It opens in Northampton on 12 September before touring.
Secondly, the autumn sees another new partnership as ETT co-produces with Mercury Theatre Colchester on the Regional Touring Network production of Conor McPherson’s The Weir, twenty years after its world première at the Royal Court. The show, opens at Mercury Theatre Colchester on 14 September before travelling to Harrogate, Cheltenham, Doncaster, Barnstaple, Exeter, Oldham, Warwick, Poole and Huddersfield.
Richard Twyman said “I’m delighted to announce our new season of work and my first as Artistic Director. In this time of complex and extraordinary change in the country, ETT’s role as a national touring company has never felt more important. This season sees us tour to 21 theatres throughout England, bringing audiences together to explore the conventions and fears that shape our national identity and govern our experience of contemporary life.
“Othello, a co-production with Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, is one of Shakespeare’s plays that speaks most directly to our world today. This production interrogates one of the burning tensions of our age, the fear of the ‘other’ and the perception that their identity may threaten our own.
“In the autumn, we tour the deliriously funny Rules For Living by Sam Holcroft with Simon Godwin making his ETT debut as director. Playful and theatrical, Rules for Living explodes the instantly recognisable dynamic of the family unit at Christmas, laying bare the conventions and anxieties of contemporary society.
“Autumn ’17 also sees year two of the Regional Touring Network, a three-year partnership with nine regional theatres to develop new audiences, it continues our commitment to tour top quality drama as widely as possible. This year we are staging a major tour of the 20th Anniversary production of The Weir by Conor McPherson. One of the great pieces of theatrical story-telling, I’m proud we can share this moving and seminal play with new audiences throughout England.”
Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, Tobacco Factory Theatres and English Touring Theatre present
Othello
By William Shakespeare
16 February – 1 April at Tobacco Factory Theatres
And then English Touring Theatre co-produces the tour to Exeter Northcott Theatre (9 – 13 May) and Wilton’s Musical Hall (16 May – 3 June. Public booking opens 27 February).
English Touring Theatre, Rose Theatre Kingston and Royal & Derngate, Northampton present
Rules for Living
By Sam Holcroft
8 – 30 September at Royal & Derngate, Northampton
And then on tour (details to be announced shortly)
English Touring Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester present
The Weir
By Conor McPherson
8 – 16 September at Mercury Theatre, Colchester
TOUR DATES
Mercury Theatre Colchester
8 – 16 September
Box office: 01206 573 948
www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
Harrogate Theatres
19 – 23 September
Box Office: 01423 50116
www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk
Cheltenham Everyman
26 – 30 September
Box Office: 01242 572573
www.everymantheatre.org.uk
Cast, Doncaster
3 – 7 October
Box Office: 01302 340422
www.castindoncaster.com
The Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple
10 – 14 October
Box Office: 01271 324242
www.northdevontheatres.org.uk
Exeter Northcott Theatre
17 – 21 October
Box Office: 01392 726363
www.exeternorthcott.co.uk
Oldham Coliseum Theatre
24 – 28 October
Box Office: 0161 624 2829
www.coliseum.org.uk
Warwick Arts Centre
31 October – 4 November
Box Office: 024 7652 4524
www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
Lighthouse Poole
7 – 11 November
Box Office: 0844 406 8666
www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
14 – 18 November
Box office: 01484 430528
www.thelbt.org
ENGLISH TOURING THEATRE
English Touring Theatre is one of the UK’s most successful and influential touring companies. The company works with leading artists to stage an eclectic mix of new and classic work for audiences throughout the UK and overseas; theatre that is thrilling, popular and engaged in the contemporary world. At the heart of everything ETT does is the passionately held belief that everyone, wherever they are in the country, deserves to have access to the very best work. Upcoming tours include Sandi Toksvig’s Silver Lining which opens at Rose Theatre Kingston in February and the Olivier Award winning Shakespeare’s Globe production of Nell Gwynn, starring Laura Pitt-Pulford.
