Bristol School of Acting Announces New Season of Work at Tobacco Factory Theatres

Bristol School of Acting has announced a complete season of theatre productions staged at Bristol's Tobacco Factory Theatres this autumn.

The season comprises of five productions, two of which are directed by Nancy Medina, the incoming director of Bristol Old Vic. The programme includes the world premiere of Donna Quixote, a new comedy adapted and directed by Breman Rajkuma based on María Amparo Ruiz de Burton's version of the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes, the UK premiere of Icarus by Edwin Sánchez and a promenade production María Irene Fornés' Fefu and Her Friends, both directed by Nancy Medina, Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales directed by Nastazja Domaradzka and Youth's the Season...? by Mary Manning adapted by Breman Rajkumar & Evan Lordan and directed by Evan Lordan. Tickets are due to go on sale Week Commencing 4th July 2020, and will be available from https://tobaccofactorytheatres.com/.

Bristol School of Acting is the first school to be based in a Working Theatre, Bristol's Tobacco Factory Theatres, and has powerfully made its mark on the Bristol theatre scene by doing things differently. They challenge the status quo by nurturing their artists to release their uniqueness and use their real-life experiences to bring distinction to their work.

Themes of love and friendship, bravery, and shocking revelations run through the season which has a broad international influence and shines a light on plays and playwrights have been less performed.

Co-Director of BSA, Stuart Wood says: "We are delighted to stage this important season of work at Tobacco Factory Theatres. It is a great opportunity for audiences, not only to see something quite different - but also to see two of Nancy Medina's pieces of work before she moves onto Bristol Old Vic next year."

In Not About Nightingales and Youth's The Season, Bristol School of Acting offers audiences a chance to see two rarely performed plays. Despite Tennessee Williams' global success, Not About Nightingales remained virtually unknown and never performed, until its 'rediscovery' and world premiere in 1998. Irish playwright and novellist Mary Manning emerged during one of the country's most thrilling theatrical and literary periods, but despite being one of the most exceptional writers of her time, her work is rarely performed in comparison to her contemporaries. Both productions are underpinned by shocking revelations of hardship - Not about Nightingales is a prison drama that offers an unremittingly ugly account of the Depression-era American penal system and Youth's The Season looks at challenges faced by young people in Dublin as they wrestle with their ambitions, gender roles and uncertain futures.

With themes of humanity and friendship, María Irene Fornés' Fefu and Her Friends is as audacious and ambitious as it is witty and Donna Quixote is a joyfully uproarious, uplifting show about love and friendship.

Icarus the gallant quest of a faded film star, a wheelchair-bound brother, a 'disfigured' sister and wandering drifter who are united in their exploration of yearning, dreaming and sacrifice.

Fefu and Her Friends

By María Irene Fornés
Directed by Nancy Medina
Designed by Aldo Vázquez
Lighting design by Lucía Sánchez Roldán
Sound design by Elizabeth Purnell

Originally produced by the New York Theater Strategy

13-15 Oct, Tobacco Factory Theatres (multiple spaces), £12/£10

Directed by the new, incoming Bristol Old Vic Artistic Director, Nancy Medina, Fefu and Her Friends invites you into the home of the titular Fefu, sprawled across all corners of the Tobacco Factory in this one-off, promenade powerhouse of a play that scoops you from room to room as the events of a single, unforgettable day, unfold.

Written by influential Cuban-American playwright, María Irene Fornés, an all-female group of friends gather at the house of Fefu to rehearse a charity event. Around the day's main activity, however, the audience drops in on private moments and intimate conversations as the friends talk, flirt, provoke and swap stories, simultaneously unpacking and retreating from their shared understanding of womanhood and female friendship.

A game-changing forerunner for immersive theatre, Fefu... comprises a glorious exploration of humanity, friendship and femininity that is as audacious and ambitious as it is enigmatic, witty and welcoming; and all spun from the imagination of a director at the height of her powers.

Fefu and Her Friends is performed by graduating students of Bristol School of Acting

Not About Nightingales

By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Nastazja Domaradzka
Designed by Noemi Daboczi
Lighting design by Lucía Sánchez Roldán
Sound design by Jovana Backovic

Not About Nightingales is presented by special arrangement with the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, USA. This amateur production of "Not About Nightingales" is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk

20-22 Oct, The Spielman Studio, Tobacco Factory Theatres, £12/£10

"As far as the world is concerned, you don't exist no more."

Lyrical, muscular, raw and rippling, the great poet-dramatist, Tennesse Williams' 1930s prison drama offers an unremittingly ugly account of the Depression-era American penal system, based on a true story that is as shocking now as it was nearly a century ago.

When a group of brow-beaten inmates band together on hunger strike to protest the appalling conditions of their incarceration, the brutal Warden Whalen seeks retribution that is vicious, swift and horrifying.

Despite Williams' huge global success, Not About Nightingales remained virtually unknown and never performed, until its 'rediscovery' and world premiere in 1998. Directed by Nastazja Domaradzka and designed by an international all-female team, this production breathes new life into this powerful, claustrophobic and violent tale, flushed with unexpected beauty, humanity and love, in the unlikeliest of places.

Not About Nightingales is performed by graduating students of Bristol School of Acting.

Youth's the Season...?

By Mary Manning
Adapted by Breman Rajkumar & Evan Lordan
Directed by Evan Lordan
Designed by Charlotte Cooke
Lighting design by Joe Price
Sound design by Dave Price

24-26 Nov, The Factory Theatre, Tobacco Factory Theatres, £12/£10

Des is turning 21 and is about to throw the party to end all parties... literally. After all, he's making that fateful transition into adulthood and so playtime must come to an end. Mustn't it? What place do dreams, hopes and happiness hold in the face of 'real life'?

In this coming of age tragi-comedy, these occasionally vivacious, often morose, always droll Dublin youths wrestle with their ambitions, gender roles, uncertain futures, but most of all, with themselves. Director Evan Lordan's production mines Mary Manning's evocative state of the nation satire, as much as it does the lives of the cast, whose collective experiences provide the fuel, vitality and urgency to our story.

Emerging from Ireland during one of its most thrilling theatrical and literary periods, Manning - a close friend of Samuel Beckett, who suggested the confounding question mark at the end of the play's title - is one of the country's most exceptional, yet underappreciated playwrights, as evidenced by this witty, wild and ultimately shocking tale.

Youth's the Season... ? is performed by graduating students of Bristol School of Acting.

Icarus

By Edwin Sánchez
Directed by Nancy Medina
Designed by Aldo Vazquez
Lighting design by Chuma Emembolu
Sound design by Dinah Mullen

Originally produced by San Jose Repertory Theater, CA

1-3 Dec, The Spielman Studio, Tobacco Factory Theatres, £12/£10

"There is no place for me, in what you call the real world..."

In a sun-baked beachfront house, set against the laps and roars of the ocean, an assortment of mismatched strangers gather.

A faded filmstar can't let go of her past; a wheelchair-bound brother and his 'disfigured' sister prepare for an impossible feat; a wandering drifter hides a heavy secret beneath his ski mask and a man carrying a suitcase of dreams watches on.

United by their damage and drawn together by hope, they jointly reflect and act on their broken lives, slowly and quietly doing kind and wonderful things for one another.

Directed by incoming Bristol Old Vic Artistic Director, Nancy Medina, Puerto Rican writer Edwin Sánchez's lyrical and shape-shifting Icarus, like the Greek myth from which the play takes its name, is a quest; an exploration of yearning, dreaming and sacrifice that rises into a rousing chorus cheer for lost souls and that most human of pursuits: the search for happiness.

Icarus is performed by graduating students of Bristol School of Acting.

Donna Quixote

A comedy adapted and directed by Breman Rajkumar
Based on María Amparo Ruiz de Burton's version of the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes
Designed by Aldo Vázquez
Lighting design by Joe Price
Sound design by Dinah Mullen

2-4 Feb, The Factory Theatre, Tobacco Factory Theatres, £12/£10

Regendered, reimagined and re-energised, Donna Quixote is a laugh-out-loud comedy, stuffed full of funk-laden music, song and heart-stirring romance.

Lady Donna is hell-bent on rescuing the woman of her dreams, vanquishing her foes and cementing her legend as the last chivalrous crusader. The only problem is her troublesome sidekick, Sasha Panza, who has a habit of blurting out the first thing that comes into her head, which is often a stream of R&B lyricspeak.

As they journey through foreign lands and all sorts of strange and exciting encounters, Donna becomes obsessed with bravery and gallantry. Sasha, however, is all about vibes. How do you save the world when all your squire wants to do is kick back and chill?

Directed by Breman Rajkumar and underscored by the neo-soul sorcery of Erykah Badu, Donna Quixote is a joyfully silly, uplifting show about friendship, storytelling and that crazy little thing called love.

Donna Quixote is performed by graduating students of Bristol School of Acting.

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