Catherine Cusack Leads Cast of Howard Barker's JUDITH: A PARTING FROM THE BODY

Judith: A Parting From The Body by internationally-renowned playwright Howard Barker returns to the stage for a UK tour this autumn, telling the apocryphal story that has fascinated artists for centuries. Barker, lauded by The Times as 'England's greatest living dramatist', pulls back the dusty sheets of Holofernes' tent in this radical re-telling revealing what really happened in this mystic tale.

Catherine Cusack (Coronation Street, ITV; The Crucible, Belfast Lyric; All That Fall, Broadway, Arts Theatre, Jermyn Street) leads the cast of this powerful reimagining. The cast also includes Liam Smith (Cuffs, BBC; The Winterling, Theatre by the Lake in Keswick; Through The Night, Finborough) playing Holofernes and Kristin Hutchinson (Beyond Caring, National Theatre; The Empress, RSC; The Waves, National Theatre) playing the Servant.

The city under siege, the night before the battle that will see this country fall. A beautiful widow, Judith, infiltrates the enemy camp with her Servant, with the intention of seducing and killing the blood-crazed army general, Holofernes, to save her country from invasion and destruction. Her land is at stake - but what of her heart and mind? In Robyn Winfield-Smith's unsettling and emotionally charged production, we see a passionate double-seduction and a web of truth and lies between a man who has chosen murder and a woman who has chosen love.

Brimming with political potency, Judith probes deep into fundamental questions about the human experience, about the nature of truth, and about the apparently inescapable cycles of violence in our world.

Robyn Winfield-Smith, Artistic Director of REND Productions, comments, REND is thrilled to be taking JUDITH on national tour in co-production with Lighthouse, Poole, following the success of our 4-week run at Arcola in 2015 (the 20th anniversary year of the play's TMA-winning premiere at the Traverse). With ongoing global controversy over the trustworthiness of those in political power, and with continued violence and political unrest sweeping across the world, this intense and hard-hitting play is as devastatingly urgent as it was in both 1995 and 2015 - testament to the state of affairs internationally, the uncomfortable truths about human nature, and the calibre of Barker's writing.

Stephen Wrentmore, Artistic Producer of Lighthouse, says, In a little less than 60 minutes, Judith manages to deftly expose the hypocrisy and influence of the state that other plays take hours to tackle. It is a brilliant and exposing piece that muscularly deals with complex themes of desire, love, power and its abuse. It addresses war, propaganda, and wraps itself around the most physical and gruesome acts of apocryphal storytelling. This production is important to Lighthouse and our new Sherling Studio Theatre as we continue to celebrate new and bold plays in our programming, working in partnership and collaboration, and setting our bar of quality and ambition high.

Howard Barker's original TMA-winning production of Judith premiered at the Traverse in 1995. Judith was first performed at the Arcola Theatre as part of REND Productions' Howard Barker DOUBLE BILL in 2015, which received an Arts Council England Grant For The Arts.

Exhilarating and provoking. An insightful, innovative staging that breathes humanity and humour into [a play] by one of the UK's most uncompromising writers (???? Tom Wicker, The Stage).

Following a successful partnership on the Howard Barker DOUBLE BILL at Arcola in 2015, REND Productions will once again be collaborating with VocalEyes to provide accessible performances where possible, most notably Omnibus' first ever tour and audio-described performance.

Alongside this production of Judith, REND Productions will continue to organise university and sixth form workshops, directing masterclasses as well as additional educational and outreach events.

29th - 30th September Mercury Theatre, Studio, Colchester (£13.50/£9 concessions). Balkerne Gate, Colchester, CO1 1PT. Tickets available from www.mercurytheatre.co.uk (01206 573 948)

Robyn is Artistic Director of REND Productions, Associate Director at Omnibus (Peter Brook Royal Court Award 2016), and Education Associate Practitioner at the RSC. She recently spent 5 weeks with Katie Mitchell at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, having trained at the RSC with Deputy Artistic Director Erica Whyman, at the Donmar Warehouse on Trafalgar Season 2012/13, and at the Print Room with Lucy Bailey. Robyn's vision for REND Productions is to create enthralling theatrical experiences that push at the boundaries of what is possible onstage, and that stimulate, challenge and amaze audiences of all backgrounds through truthful, powerful stories that ask potent questions about what it means to be human. Robyn's previous credits include: GREY MAN (Theatre503); her Arts Council England-funded "exhilarating and provoking" (The Stage) Howard Barker DOUBLE BILL (Arcola); her Arts Council England-funded WOYZECK (Omnibus); and her multi-Off West End Award nominated debut professional production: the "shrewd and searching" (Lyn Gardner, Guardian) UK premiere of LOT AND HIS GOD (Print Room). Alongside her directing work, Robyn is the youngest founding Board member of Stage Directors UK, a trustee of the Directors Charitable Foundation and a member of the Equity Directors & Designers Committee.

To post a comment, you must register and login.