‘The sky is the first thing, I haven’t… I haven’t ever seen the sea, it isn’t the colour I… The boat dips and…’ Lucy Snowe, a clone – one of three, survivor of a deadly pandemic sets out on a journey in search of a future. She travels to an archaeological dig, a hill of bones, a project looking for the elusive Lady of Villette.p> But the hill slides, haunted by the past Lucy begins a faltering journey back to living and the possibility of desire. ‘To say it, I never said it out-loud, That love… Could be possible.’ On the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, West Yorkshire Playhouse celebrates her unique genius with a daring new adaptation by Linda Marshall-Griffiths.
London. 2016. A strange and unsettled time – where men and the violence of gangs rules the streets. In a dangerous world we hear a new voice – Imogen’s. Suffocated by her father’s aggression – her man kicked out of town, her life under threat, poisoned by the drugs of her step-mother – she strikes out on her own to try and reach the man she loves. A thrillingly raw and modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline , re-told and created by young Londoners. This production will employ modern costumes and staging.
The Arctic is in danger and the only thing that can save it is bureaucracy. Frank Montgomery is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chief Scientific Advisor to the Arctic Council. He’s in Barrow, Alaska, at the biannual meeting of the Council to give the speech that will tilt the scales. The only problem is he’s spilt yoghurt on his suit, left his speech at the breakfast buffet and been kidnapped by militant activists. Can he make it to the back to the podium before it’s too late?
The Emperor tells the story of the downfall of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia and with it the end of a threethousand- year-old monarchy that traced its origins back to King Solomon. Based on the extraordinary book by legendary Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński, it is told from the unique perspective of the Emperor’s former servants, courtiers and ministers. It is a powerful exploration of the nature of power and loyalty. This adaptation and production is from the adaptor and the team that created the international hit Kafka’s Monkey which also starred the master of transformation, Kathryn Hunter.
Woolwich. Club Paradise. Valentine’s Night. Nigerian nightclub toilet attendants Abiodun and Sophie brace themselves for the busiest night of the year: loved up couples; rowdy singletons; and everything in between. The clubbers aren’t the only ones celebrating though. Tonight Abiodun and Sophie are marking their one year anniversary together having met in Paradise: united in love, divided by a toilet wall. But as the countdown to midnight and the end of their shift begins, bosses, exes and clubbers threaten to stall the anniversary plans of the young lovers. Will Abiodun and Sophie be forever destined to facilitate the love lives of others or will they insist on making it back in time for their very own Valentine’s celebration?
An adventure story of love, devotion and betrayal. Under Persian skies, in the valley of the Alburz mountains, Hussain falls asleep with his young love, Zamurrud. He awakes to find a letter perched on her grave. She is in Paradise. To be reunited, must Hussain accept the Assassins’ creed? Written a century ago by the famous Lucknow polymath and communist, Abdul Halim Sharar, this compelling story is adapted by award-winning director Anthony Clark and told with dynamic theatricality for our times.
The most famous of the hilarious, heartbreaking comedies with which Marivaux shocked and delighted eighteenth-century Paris. A wickedly funny translation, as performed at the Royal National Theatre.
Based on the book by Torgny Lindgren A man goes on a journey in search of love and returns to his village carrying death in the form of a plague-ridden rabbit. The village is ravaged by sickness, and of those who survive, none any longer knows what is right and what is wrong. The opposing values of civilisation and barbarity balance on a knife edge.Directed by Simon McBurney, Light opened at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield in September 2000. The play was also performed in Stockholm, Dublin and at the Almeida Theatre, London.
Includes the plays Fitting for Ladies, A Close Shave and Sauce for the Goose.In Fitting for Ladies, a man on the look-out for a new romantic rendezvous is mistaken for a dressmaker…In A Close Shave, a woman's would-be lover has to assume the identity of her artist husband, who is about to be called up for military service.In Sauce for the Goose, a man discovers that the woman he is pursuing is the wife of an old friend…
The three plays in this volume are representative of Ibsen's extraordinary achievement as a playwright. The first is perhaps his best known work, the great dramatic poem Peer Gynt, presented here in the acclaimed translation used by the Royal Shakespeare Company for its 1982 production. With this are Romersholm, in which Ibsen unmasks the moral evasions which prevent us from being truly free, and When We Dead Waken, in which a figure from the past rises to haunt an ageing artist. These distinctive translations are accompanied by an introductory foreword and are followed by notes on pronunciations and other details and aspects of Ibsen's original texts