Frantic Assembly, National Theatre of Scotland Closes BEAUTIFUL BURNOUT, 10/2

Frantic Assembly and National Theatre of Scotland present BEAUTIFUL BURNOUT by Bryony Lavery
Directed by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett and featuring the music of Underworld at York Hall Leisure Centre, 5 - 15 Old Ford Road, BethnAl Green in association with the Barbican
Thursday 16 September - Saturday 2 October
Booking: 020 7638 8891

The National Theatre of Scotland joins forces with Frantic Assembly to create a new production about Scottish boxers. Beautiful Burnout premieres at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before going on a UK tour. It arrives at the world famous East London boxing venue, York Hall (in association with the Barbican) from 16 September to 2 October.

Four young men and a battling lassie are training in a Glasgow gym. They want to be champions and win fistfuls of money. They want to be like Calzaghe and land 950 punches out of 1000.

Beautiful Burnout is about the soul sapping three minute bursts where men become gods and gods become mere men. It is the second when the guard drops, the eyes blink and miss the incoming hammer blow. Beautiful Burnout tells a bruising and lyrical tale of aspirations and counterpunches, delivered in a visceral, hearts-in-your-mouth production about one of the most controversial sports of our time.

Frantic Assembly, co-founded by existing co-Artistic Directors Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett, is celebrated in the UK and internationally for creating high octane, physical, Contemporary Theatre, attracting new and young audiences. Frantic Assembly's unique physical style combines movement, design, music and text. Recent production highlights include Stockholm by Bryony Lavery, Othello, pool (no water) by Mark Ravenhill and the site-responsive Dirty Wonderland for Brighton Festival. In addition to its productions, Frantic Assembly operates an extensive Creative Learning and Training Programme introducing 5,000 participants a year to the company's process of creating theatre in a wide variety of settings. Frantic Assembly is supported by Arts Council England.

Bryony Lavery's plays include Her Aching Heart, Ophelia and A Wedding Story (2000). Her play Frozen, commissioned by Birmingham Rep, won the TMA Best Play Award and was produced on Broadway where it was nominated for four Tony awards. Stockholm for Frantic Assembly won the Wolff-Whiting award for Best Play of 2008. Bryony's recent work includes Kursk with Sound and Fury (The Young Vic) and The Wicked Lady (the New Vic, Stoke), A Christmas Carol at Birmingham Rep and The Snow Queen at Chichester Festival Theatre. Future works include the opera 57 Hours in The House Of Culture, with John Keane, Peter Wyer and Phyllida Lloyd.

Beautiful Burnout is designed by Laura Hopkins; lighting designed by Andy Purves; sound designed by Carolyn Downing; and video design by Ian William Galloway.

The full cast is Ryan Fletcher, Eddie Kay, Vicki Manderson, Lorraine McIntosh, Taqi Nazeer, Henry Pettigrew and Ewan Stewart.
London Press Night: Thursday 16 September at 8pm

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