CHORALE Set for Belgrade B2, 10-17 May

The Belgrade Theatre Coventry in association with Presence Theatre and the Actors Touring Company has announced that Chorale: A Sam Shepherd Roadshow will play to the Belgrade B2 stage for one week only from Saturday 10th - Saturday 17th May.

Sam Shepard is America's most adventurous and poetic living playwright and Chorale is a rare opportunity to experience his work through this unique roadshow. The production will mark its UK premiere at the Belgrade theatre this May as part of a nationwide tour.

This unique roadshow incorporates two extraordinary double bills of his work, The Holy Ghostly & War In Heaven and Savage/Love & The Animal (You) comprising of theatre, film, music and workshops and featuring a special guest appearance from eclectic punk, rock and folk band, Herons.

In 2011, Actors Touring Company brought together acclaimed director and former Artistic Director of the Belgrade Theatre (1994-1996), Simon Usher and actor Jack Tarlton to create a new piece based on the prose and poems of Sam Shepard. Along with the musician Ben Kritikos of the band Herons, they presented a scratch performance of Making the Sound of Loneliness at the Arcola theatre. It was subsequently commissioned by Latitude Festival and previewed there in summer 2012.

Presence Theatre are now presenting the material under the new title The Animal (You), as well as staging two further pieces by Sam Shepard, the visceral early play The Holy Ghostly and the poetic monologue The War in Heaven and a screening of the rarely seen film version of Savage/Love, directed by Academy Award-winning director Shirley Clarke.

Presence Theatre creates theatre as an art form whose primary strength lies in the power of the actor and the word and aims to help to advance the medium in every sphere: art, production, education and community.

The co-producer Actors Touring Company present the best international contemporary theatre, using theatre to tell stories from different perspectives from around the world. They are currently touring The Events by David Greig which was voted Best Play 2013 by the Guardian.

Simon Usher has recently directed Dead Dogs and Ivy and Joan at The Print Room and The Complaint at Hampstead Theatre. For Presence Theatre he directed If So, Then Yes by N. F. Simpson at Jermyn Street Theatre in 2010 ("This play is a wonder." Daily Telegraph) and Warm by Jon Fosse at Theatre 503 ("Simon Usher is an adventurous director." Time Out). He has also staged major productions for Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court Theatre, the National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Paines Plough and in London's West End. He has been Artistic Director at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Associate Director of the Leicester Haymarket and Literary Manager at the Royal Court Theatre.

Jack Tarlton has played leading roles at the foremost theatres in Britain, including the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Old Vic, Royal Exchange Theatre, the Young Vic and in the West End, and has performed across the world from New York to Tokyo. He has worked with such influential directors as Rufus Norris, Stephen Daldry, Melly Still, Michael Boyd, Carrie Cracknell, Michael Attenborough, Indhu Rubasingham and Edward Hall. Recently he received high praise for his work in From Morning to Midnight at the National Theatre, while also filming The Imitation Game, playing Enigma code-breaker Charles Richards alongside Benedict Cumberbatch's Alan Turing, due for a major international release later this year. He has also been seen on screen as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for the landmark BBC series The Genius of Mozart, as well as guest roles in Doctor Who and The Golden Hour.

Ben Kritikos is an American musician and songwriter and formed the band Herons! in 2008 in Dublin. He played support to John Cooper Clarke and toured throughout Europe before moving to the UK. Ben has recorded and performed extensively with Herons! and with other artists, including Choice Music Prize-winner Wallis Bird and producer Sean Genockey (Manic Street Preachers, Suede). Following Herons! debut album So Long! in 2011, the second record Some Things Run Wild is on general release from 12th April 2014. Ben is also currently in the studio with Sean Genockey, as a member of the band Hermes.

Chorale plays on the Belgrade's B2 stage from Saturday 10th - Sat 17th May. Performances of Savage/Love & The Animal (You) take place on Monday at 8pm, Tuesday 13th May at 7.00pm, Friday 16th and Saturday 17th May at 8.00pm and Wednesday 17th May at 2.45pm. Performances of The Holy Ghostly & The War in Heaven take place on Saturday 10th May, Wednesday 14th May &Thursday 15th May at 8.00pm and Tuesday 13th and Saturday 17th May at 2.45pm.

For more information about the production and the work of Presence Theatre, visit http://www.presencetheatre.com/current-production

Tickets for Chorale are available now from the Belgrade Theatre's Box Office on 024 7684 6715 priced from £9.75 - £15.50 or via www.belgrade.co.uk where cheaper tickets are available.

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