Launch of 2011 season at the Everyman & Playhouse
It follows on from an "outstanding" season for the venues, which they say saw more than 25,000 theatregoers watch Kim Cattrall in Janet Suzman's production of Antony and Cleopatra. Artistic director Gemma Bodinetz said: "This season we undertook two of our most ambitious productions to-date with the long-awaited Antony and Cleopatra at the Playhouse, and ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore and Anthology in rep at the Everyman as part of the Unbound season. This week and next we prepare for more magic, sparkle and, dare we say it, even more extraordinary design, as we open our two Christmas shows: Sleeping Beauty at the Everyman; and No Wise Men with Peepolykus at the Playhouse. Today we are delighted to announce three new pieces of work across both theatres, each one daring, bold and exhilarating." Executive director Deborah Aydon added: “It’s been wonderful to see the many thousands of new visitors we have attracted in 2010. This started with our first production Ghost Stories, which played to over 90% capacity and brought in many new theatergoers, and which will continue to scare the life out of people in the West End until February 2011. Our extraordinary autumn season attracted a similarly high level of new audiences and we hope the programme in the coming months will encourage them to return again and again to our theatres.” The 2011 season at the Playhouse launches in February with Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Sophocles’s greatest Greek tragedy, OEDIPUS. This Nottingham Playhouse co-production, directed by the man himself, it promises a "stirring theatrical experience", as one man's blind ambition to appease the angry Gods unearths a hideous secret. A hit when it was performed in a rehearsed reading at Everyword in May 2010, the first production at the Everyman next year will be DEAD HEAVY FANTASTIC - a new comedy by Liverpool playwright Robert Farquhar (Bad Jazz, Anthology – A Word Does Not Exist). Directed by Matt Wilde (On Tour, Lost Monsters) the story follows lonely heart Frank as finds himself on one nightmarish rollercoaster of a night out in Liverpool . In April at the Playhouse, Roald Dahl’s renowned dark short stories for adults are brought to the stage for the first time by The League of Gentlemen’s Jeremy Dyson, co-writer of the Playhouse smash-hit Ghost Stories. ROALD DAHL’S TWISTED TALES enters a dark and dangerous world where nothing is quite as it seems. An Everyman and Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith and Northern Stage co-production, this show will also be seen in Hammersmith and Newcastle . The theatres continue to bring some of the highest quality theatre companies from around the UK to Liverpool. Paines Plough will visit with their Drum Theatre Plymouth co-production LOVE, LOVE, LOVE - Olivier Award winning playwright Mike Bartlett's take on the baby boomer generation as it retires. Hull Truck brings their production of Alan Bennett's classic, THE LADY IN THE VAN, starring Nichola McAuliffe. Then Out of Joint and Max Stafford-Clark make a return to Liverpool with their Lyric Hammersmith co-production, THE BIG FELLAH, Richard Bean's potent political drama, which received rave reviews when it opened in September 2010. For dance aficionados, the theatres are welcoming back Henri Oguike’s company with BUTTERFLY DREAMING TOUR - a new triple bill performed by five dancers. Following last season’s critically acclaimed Declarations, which had its world première at the Playhouse, internationally renowned contemporary dance company Phoenix Dance Theatre return with REFLECTED, their latest mixed programme. At the Everyman THEY CALL HER NATASHA will offer a unique evening where songwriting and performance come together . Fresh Glory Productions’ LILIES ON THE LAND, based on letters and interviews, is a revealing, funny, and moving portrait of four land girls during World War II. Following its rehearsed reading at Everyword in May 2010, and successful performances at the Latitude and North Wall Festivals, Liverpool playwright Laurence Wilson's (Lost Monsters, Urban Legend) TINY VOLCANOES comes to the Everyman as part of a UK tour. Two actors play a host of characters in a fast-paced inquisition into "noble old Blighty". Some old favourites return as world-renowned virtuoso of the flamenco guitar, JUAN MARTÍN follows his mesmerising live performance in the 2008 Playhouse production, Blood Wedding, with a solo performance for the more intimate Everyman. Comedian Daniel Kitson cames back after his previously highly acclaimed We Are Gathered Here, C90, and 66a Church Road, with a new storyshow THE INTERMINABLE SUICIDE OF GREGORY CHURCH. And Sheffield 's finest son, John Shuttleworth, brings back his sell-out 2010 Everyman show A MAN WITH NO MORE ROLLS. The theatres continue their commitment to theatre for everyone with a variety of family shows for February and March,including CHARLIE AND LOLA’S BEST BESTEST PLAY, poet John Hegley's double-bill THE ADVENTURES OF MONSIEUR ROBINET for over 7s, and ANIMAL ALPHABOAT for age 3, and Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s award-winning sequel THE GRUFFALO'S CHILD. Tickets for all shows go on sale on Wednesday, December 1. For more information, dates, and to book tickets telephone Box Office on 0151 709 4776 or go online at www.everymanplayhouse.com.
