Following its top selling run at the Orange Tree Theatre this autumn, Maya Arad Yassur's strikingly original and audacious play Amsterdam will take to the road in early 2020. The three-way co-production, between Actors Touring Company, the Orange Tree Theatre and Theatre Royal Plymouth embarks on a tour that opens in Plymouth in February and stretches across the UK. Amsterdam is directed by Matthew Xia as his inaugural production as artistic director of ATC.
A violinist. Living in her trendy canal-side Amsterdam apartment. Nine months pregnant.
One day a mysterious unpaid gas bill from 1944 arrives.
It awakens unsettling feelings of collective identity, foreignness and alienation.
Stories of a devastating past are compellingly reconstructed to try and make sense of the present.
Amsterdam is a contemporary, inventive, playful and dazzling work that dissects the mechanisms of the stories we make, in order to try to find some order in our chaotic worlds.
Maya Arad Yasur's plays have been staged in Israel, Germany, Austria, Norway, France and the US. She is the recipient of the Berliner TheaterTreffen Styükemarkt prize 2018 for Amsterdam, the 1st prize of the international playwriting competition of ITI-UNESCO 2011 for Suspended and the Habima (Israel's National Theatre) Prize for emerging artists 2014 for God Waits at the Station. Her new play Bomb will premiere in Schauspiel Cologne in season 2019/2020.
Matthew Xia, one of the busiest and most exciting directors in the UK, was appointed Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company in November 2018. He is a former Associate Artistic Director of Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Director in Residence at Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse; and Associate Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East. He is currently an Associate Artist at
Nottingham Playhouse. Some of Matthew's acclaimed productions include: at the Royal Exchange, Manchester Frankenstein, and Into The Woods, Wish List (also Royal Court) and Blue/Orange at the
Young Vic; and Shebeen and One Night in Miami at
Nottingham Playhouse. In 2019 Matthew directed Eden at
Hampstead Theatre, Blood Knot at the Orange Tree. Matthew is a founding member of Act for Change and a trustee of Artistic Directors of the Future.
Founded in 1980 by inspirational theatre-maker
John Retallack, Actors Touring Company has always dedicated itself to making imaginative, theatrical and challenging work based on the versatility and dexterity of actors in a wide range of styles. With more than 60 productions to its credit, the company has consistently toured the most ambitious, thought-provoking plays to the widest possible range of places both in the UK and abroad. ATC is only UK touring company to consistently explore and celebrate international work. The company has rediscovered international classics and is the touring sector's leading advocate for premiering new international plays. It has toured to small-scale venues, school and village halls, studio theatres and main houses, covering all corners of the globe. ATC's recent productions include: The Brothers Size, produced with the
Young Vic (2008 & 2018); The Events (Traverse,
Young Vic, Schauspielhaus Vienna, 2013 -2017), revived in Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Australia and the US.; The Suppliant Women toured to Edinburgh, Belfast Festival,
Young Vic, Dublin Theatre Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival (2017-2018); Living with the Lights On (2016-2019) toured to Barcelona, Madrid and Helsinki; Keep on Walking Federico (2018-19) which toured the UK following its premiere in Barcelona.
The Orange Tree is an award-winning, independent theatre. Recognised as a powerhouse that creates high-quality productions of new and rediscovered plays, the theatre entertains 70,000 people across the UK every year. It holds to the belief in the power of dramatic stories to entertain, thrill and challenge us; plays that enrich our lives by enhancing our understanding of ourselves and each other. As a registered charity sitting at the heart of its community, the Orange Tree work with 10,000 people in Richmond and beyond through participatory theatre projects for people of all ages and abilities. The Orange Tree Theatre's mission is to enable audiences to experience the next generation of theatre talent, experiment with ground-breaking new drama and explore the plays from the past that inspire the theatre-makers of the present.
Theatre Royal Plymouth is the South West's home of new writing, specialising in the production of new plays, both as producer and co-producer, alongside the presentation of a broad range of theatre - including classic and contemporary drama, musicals, opera, ballet and dance. They have three performance spaces - The Lyric, The Drum and The Lab. Their work with young people and communities is extensive and radical, taking place across all three venues and beyond. Recent productions and co-productions include God Of Chaos, by
Phil Porter, The Kneebone Cadillac by
Carl Grose, You Stupid Darkness! by Sam Steiner (with Paines Plough) and The Unreturning by
Anna Jordan (with Frantic Assembly).
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