Neil Patrick Harris to Produce ACCOMPLICE at Menier this Fall; Full Autumn/Winter Schedule Announced

The Menier Chocolate Factory announces its Autumn/Winter 2010 season beginning with the European premiere of Accomplice - part game, pArt Theatre, part tour around the streets of SE1. Accomplice is followed by Jonathan Munby's production of Caryl Churchill's A Number starring Timothy and Samuel West, and Ken Hill's The Invisible Man directed by Ian Talbot.

Tickets for the Accomplice and A Number go on sale at 10am tomorrow, 5 August 2010. Booking dates for The Invisible Man will be announced shortly.

THE Menier Chocolate Factory

Under the direction of Artistic Director David Babani, the Menier Chocolate Factory, as well as producing in SE1 at its home theatre, has transferred ten productions to the West End - Fully Committed, Sunday in the Park with George, Little Shop of Horrors, Dealer's Choice, Maria Friedman Re-Arranged, La Cage aux Folles, A Little Night Music, Sweet Charity which is currently playing at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Willy Russell's Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine which are playing at the Trafalgar Studios.

From the end of July, the Menier Chocolate Factory will have five productions playing worldwide: Aspects of Love at the Menier, Sweet Charity and Educating Rita/Shirley Valentine in the West End, as well as Trevor Nunn's production of A Little Night Music at the Walter Kerr Theatre and Terry Johnson's production of La Cage Aux Folles at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway.

As well as the theatre space, the multi award-winning Menier Chocolate Factory has a restaurant serving pre-theatre and à la carte menus.

EUROPEAN PREMIER OF

A C C O M P L I C E

Chocolate Factory Productions, Tom Salamon and Neil Patrick Harris will present the European Premiere of Accomplice from 4 September 2010. Set on the streets of SE1, Accomplice - part game, pArt Theatre, part tour - takes audiences on a walking discovery of theatre and mystery. Armed with basic information and aided by clues and cast members at various locations en route, each group of 10 participants will be sent on a mission on the streets of SE1 to piece together a meticulously crafted plot.

Accomplice will be produced in London by Neil Patrick Harris and presented by Chocolate Factory Productions. Accomplice opened in New York in 2005 to great acclaim. There are now two productions running with a third planned to open soon. The New York opening was followed in 2009 in Los Angeles by Accomplice: Hollywood.

Performances take place on Saturdays and Sundays every half hour from 1pm - 4.30pm and ticket prices are £29.50. Each performance will take participants on a walking tour of Southwark of approximately 1 mile. After booking, participants will be contacted with details of where to meet to begin their experience.

Writer/Director Tom Salamon is the creator, writer, and director of Accomplice productions in New York City and Hollywood, California. Accomplice: New York, the original production, was created and co-produced with Betsy Sufott, and began its run in April 2005. The creators returned with an all new New York City adventure, Accomplice: The Village, in January 2007. In 2009, the team joined forces with co-producer Neil Patrick Harris on a west coast production, Accomplice: Hollywood. Previously Salamon was the co-songwriter and bassist for the modern rock band The Dirges, performing alongside artists such as Bob Dylan and The Allman Brothers. He has also worked as a film colourist on music videos, advertisements and documentary films. He is currently collaborating with the American Museum of Natural History in NYC on an all new Accomplice production.

Producer Neil Patrick Harris was last in the UK for his directorial debut of The Expert at the Card Table at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actor, perhaps best known for his role as Doogie Howser MD, is currently playing the role of Barney Stinson in the acclaimed American sitcom How I Met Your Mother. His film work includes Clara's Heart, The Next Best Thing, Starship Troopers and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. His theatre work includes Arthur Miller's All My Sons at the Geffen Playhouse, Tony Award-winning musical Assassins, Cabaret and Proof, as well as Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick...Boom at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

LISTINGS INFORMATION ACCOMPLICE

Dates from 04 September 2010
Press performances 16, 17, 18 & 19 September
Performances Saturday & Sunday every half hour from 1pm until 4.30pm
(nb only 10 people per performance)
Ticket prices All tickets £29.50
Box Office 0207 907 7060, £2 transaction fee on phone bookings
Restaurant 0207 407 4411
Address 53 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU
Transport London Bridge Tube, Borough High Street exit
RV1 and 381 buses
On street parking after 6.30pm or all day Saturday & Sunday
Website www.accomplicetheshow.com
www.menierchocolatefactory.com
No booking fee for on-line booking

Samuel West AND Timothy West IN Caryl Churchill'S
A N U M B E R

Written by Caryl Churchill, this two-hander starring father and son Samuel and Timothy West will be directed by Jonathan Munby. Previewing from 29 September 2010, with press performances on 04 October, A Number is designed by Paul Wills with lighting by Oliver Fenwick and music by Olly Fox.
Set in the near future, the story is structured around the conflict between father and son, addressing the subjects of human cloning, identity and nature versus nurture.
A Number debuted at the Royal Court in 2002, directed by Stephen Daldry, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Play. The Menier production is based on a production which was presented at Sheffield Theatres in 2006.
Actor and director Samuel West was last at the Menier Chocolate Factory directing Patrick Marber's Dealer's Choice, which transferred to the Trafalgar Studios. His most recent stage appearance was as Jeffrey Skilling in Lucy Prebble's Enron. His extensive stage credits include Betrayal and The Family Reunion for the Donmar Warehouse, A Number and Much Ado About Nothing for Sheffield Theatres, Doctor Faustus and The Master and Margarita for Chichester Festival Theatre, the title roles in Hamlet and Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company (both directed by Steven Pimlott) and The Sea and Arcadia for the National Theatre. His film credits include Howards End, Notting Hill, Van Helsing, Persuasion and Iris and on television he has been seen in Foyle's War, Cambridge Spies and as TEd Heath in Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley. His forthcoming television includes Murder on the Orient Express and Any Human Heart. His directing work includes Waste for the Almeida and The Romans in Britain, Insignificance and As You Like It for Sheffield Theatres, where he was Artistic Director. He also directed Cosi fan Tutte for English National Opera.
Timothy West's performances on the London stage include Gentle Jack, The Italian Girl, Abelard and Heloise, The Homecoming, Beecham, Master Class, When We Are Married, The Sneeze, It's Ralph, Twelve Angry Men, The Birthday Party, The Old Country and The Collection. Further performances include Long Day's Journey into Night, King Lear and Luther for the National Theatre, Laughter for the Royal Court, seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Chichester Festival Theatre and Prospect/Old Vic Company. For English Touring Theatre, both parts of Henry IV, Ibsen's The Master Builder, and King Lear. He has played in Caryl Churchill's A Number at Sheffield Crucible; The Winslow Boy at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, and tour; and Quartet at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and tour. His many television credits include Edward VII, Brass, The Contractor, Blore, M.P., Beecham, Framed, Murder in Mind, Bedtime, Bleak House, A Room with a View, Not Going Out, Going Postal and Lewis and his recent films include Ever After, Joan of Arc, Villa des Roses, Iris, The Fourth Angel, Beyond Borders and Endgame. His work as a director includes HMS Pinafore for Carl Rosa Opera. West senior has taken part in over 500 radio broadcasts, and recorded many talking books. His autobiography, A Moment Towards the End of the Play, and So You Want to be an Actor (co-written with his wife Prunella Scales) are published by Nick Hern Books. He was made CBE in 1984, and is currently President of the London Academy of Dramatic Art, and of the Society for Theatre Research.

Multi award-winning Caryl Churchill wrote her first stage play, Owners, in 1972 for the Royal Court where she was Resident Dramatist. Her many plays include Bliss, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?, Far Away, Serious Money, Blue Heart, This Is a Chair and Top Girls. Her other plays include Fen, A Mouthful of Birds, A Dream Play, Cloud Nine and The Skriker. Churchill has also written for television - After Dinner Joke, Turkish Delight and The Judge's Wife, and for the radio - Perfect Happiness, Henry's Past, Abortive and Identical Twins.

Jonathan Munby's production of The Prince of Homburg has recently opened at the Donmar Warehouse where he previously directed Life Is a Dream. For the Menier Chocolate Factory he has previously directed The White Devil. His other directing credits include Serious Money and She Stoops to Conquer for Birmingham Rep, Carmen for Holland Park Opera, The Dog in the Manger for Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company, A Midsummer Night's Dream for Shakespeare's Globe, Henry V and Mirandolina for Manchester Royal Exchange, Nakamitsu for The Gate and Don Giovanni for English Touring Opera.

LISTINGS INFORMATION A NUMBER

Dates 29 September 2010 - 05 November 2010
Press Night Monday 04 October at 4.30pm
Performances Wednesday 29 September 8pm
Thursday 30 September 8pm
Friday 1 October 8pm
Saturday 2 October 3.30pm & 8pm
Sunday 3 October 8pm
Monday 4 October - press performances at 4.30pm & 7.30pm
Tuesday 5 October 8pm
Wednesday 6 October - no performance
Thursday 7 October 8pm
Friday 8 October 8pm
Saturday 9 October 3.30 & 8pm
Sunday 10 October 3.30 pm
Then Tuesday - Saturday at 8pm
Saturday and Sunday at 3.30pm
Except Thursday 4 November at 3.30 & 8pm
Friday 5 November at 7 and 9.15pm
Tickets Preview performances 29 September - 03 October
£15 - All Seats, £23 - Meal Deals
From 04 October:
£19.50 - All Seats, £17.50 - Concessions
£27.50 - Meal Deals
Meal Deals include a theatre ticket and a two-course meal in the Menier Restaurant prior to the show
Box Office 0207 907 7060, £2 transaction fee on phone bookings
Restaurant 0207 407 4411
Address 53 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU
Transport London Bridge Tube, Borough High Street exit
RV1 and 381 buses
On street parking after 6.30pm or all day Saturday & Sunday
Website www.menierchocolatefactory.com
No booking fee for on-line booking

Ian Talbot TO DIRECT Ken Hill'S
T H E I N V I S I B L E M A N

Ken Hill's The Invisible Man will preview from 12 November with press night on 24 November and is booking until 13 February 2011. The Invisible Man will be directed by Ian Talbot, with set designs by Paul Farnsworth, costume designs by Matthew Wright, lighting by Jason Taylor, sound by Gareth Owen and illusions by Paul Kieve. Casting details will be announced shortly.

H.G. Wells's classic novel has been converted into a music hall romp for the entire family. The ‘ideous ‘appenings that shook the bucolic village of Iping when the sinister Griffin arrived, wrapped in bandages and with a distinctly unsociable manner, are told with tongue-in-cheek humour combined with jaw-dropping special effects.

Ian Talbot, former Artistic Director of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, was awarded the OBE in the 2007 New Year's Honours List. At the Open Air Theatre he produced over 75 productions, directing many, including High Society, Lady Be Good, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Boy Friend. As an actor he was most recently seen as Wilber Turnblad in the West End production of Hairspray. Later this year Talbot will direct Lend Me a Tenor which will open at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth followed by a West End run.

Ken Hill's adaptation of The Invisible Man received its world premiere at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in 1991. Hill previously had a long association with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at Stratford East, where many of his plays were premiered, such as The Count of Monte Cristo, Dracula and The Land of the Dinosaurs. He was principally known for his irreverent and inventive stage adaptations of well known literary works, the most successful of which was The Phantom of the Opera. First performed in 1976, his own 1984 production in Newcastle transferred to Theatre Royal Stratford East and then toured for over two years in the USA, followed by a UK tour and West End run. During his tenure with the Tyne Wear Theatre Company in Newcastle from 1982 to 1987 he directed his own adaptations of two Catherine Cookson novels, Katie Mulholland and The Gambling Man, as well as his adaptations of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. At the time of his premature death in 1995 Ken was rehearsing his version of Zorro at Theatre Royal Stratford East. The production went ahead as a fitting tribute to his significant contribution to popular theatre.

Stage and screen illusionist Paul Kieve's many theatre credits include The Lord of the Rings and The Witches of Eastwick both at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Our House at the Cambridge Theatre, Theatre of Blood for the National Theatre, Scrooge at the London Palladium, The Invisible Man at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and in the West End and Improbable Theatre Company's Cinderella at the Lyric Hammersmith. On film his work includes Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As well as extensive opera and dance credits, Kieve is a consultant to Derren Brown and David Copperfield and is a member of the Magic Circle.

The box office for The Invisible Man will open in early September.

Menier Chocolate Factory

7 July 2010 - 26 September 2010
ASPECTS OF LOVE

From 04 September 2010
ACCOMPLICE
Press Performances 16/17/18/18 September

29 September 2010 - 05 November 2010
A NUMBER
Press performance Monday 4 October at 4.30pm

12 November 2010 - 13 February 2011
THE INVISIBLE MAN
Press Night 24 November at 8pm
Menier Chocolate Factory IN THE WEST END

Booking until 8 January 2011
SWEET CHARITY
Theatre Royal Haymarket

Booking until 30 October 2010
SHIRLEY VALENTINE & EDUCATING RITA
Trafalgar Studios

Menier Chocolate Factory ON BROADWAY

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
Walter Kerr Theatre

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
Longacre Theatre