China Plate Announces Autumn 2019 Season

Midlands-based independent producing studio China Plate today announces the shows it will present during Autumn 2019. Following a run in Summerhall's Main Hall during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (31 Jul -25 Aug), Caroline Horton's All of Me (the possibility of future splendour) will have a three-week run at East London's The Yard Theatre from 10 - 28 September.

Unpicking the cyclical nature of ongoing recovery, all of me is an intimate and absurd exploration of wanting to live and wanting to die. Reunited with director Alex Swift (Mess, How to Win Against History) Caroline will bring audiences an unapologetically dark show about dark things: grudgingly hopeful, fabulous and lyrical, played against a backdrop of broken glitterballs. Caroline has collaborated with composer James Atherton and sound designer Elena Peña to create a cabaret soundscape as well as working with Professor Matthew Broome (Director of the Institute for Mental Health), Dr Alexandra Pitman (Senior Clinical Lecturer at University College London), and STOP Suicide, an award-winning campaign by charity Mind, during the making of the show.

Also on the road post-Fringe following a run in Traverse One, David Edgar's Trying It On will have further tour dates including performances at Clapham's Omnibus Theatre (11 - 13 Oct). Trying It On sees the prolific playwright directed by triple Fringe First Award-winner Christopher Haydon in a solo show considering the legacy of the events of 1968, when David was 20 years old. Covering some of the most important and formative events in modern history, including the Paris student revolt, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech, and the ongoing war in Vietnam, the show reflects on the legacy of this momentous year. Trying It On draws on first-person interviews with some of the leading political figures of the time, as well as contemporary activists, and marks David's first professional stage performance in this autobiographical one-man play.

And following a Fringe First winning debut at last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK and international touring, and inclusion in the British Council Showcase, Status is set for further touring (13 September - 2 November). Still bracingly topical as Brexit continues to play out, Status reunites Chris Thorpe with director Rachel Chavkin, whose Hadestown recently won eight Tony Awards. Status is the second in what will be a trilogy of plays from the partnership, with the first being the hugely acclaimed Confirmation, also a Fringe First winner. The third show is currently in development. Examining the intersection between our individual humanity and our politics, Status takes as its starting point the former UK Prime Minister Theresa May's assertion that 'if you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere', and attempts to show that feeling like a citizen of the world and having a specific national identity, are not mutually exclusive.

Speaking about the Autumn programme, Directors Ed Collier and Paul Warwick said "We're really excited to be announcing our autumn season, 3 shows with very different contemporary takes on personal and political identity. We're delighted to be able to bring Caroline's Horton's new work to London for the first time and to take Chris Thorpe and David Edgar to wider audiences across the UK. It's going to be interesting to see how the resonances of each piece shift as the political activity of the autumn unfolds."

Continuing the company's commitment to developing new work, following China Plate and Warwick Arts Centre's First Bite festival earlier this year, three Midlands based artists were selected to receive a commission to develop their work which will be showcased at Bite Size in January 2020. The commission includes £3000, producing support and development space and is supported by Midlands Arts Centre, Attenborough Arts Centre and In Good Company. The artists are also offered the opportunity to perform their work at First Bite/Bite Size's London partner venue. Camden People's Theatre. The commissioned shows are Georgie Jones's Ish..., Laura Ryder & Co's Slow Violence and Mika Johnson's Before the Flagz.

Away from the stage, China Plate has been working with Artist Wellbeing Practitioner Lou Platt to research the best ways to formalise and embed approaches to artist wellbeing across its productions. This has resulted in an Artist Wellbeing Policy now being rolled out across the company. The policy aims to ensure professional, ethical and productive working environments for artists that stimulate creative freedom and risk taking whilst safeguarding physical and mental health. The policy can be viewed online here.

Established in 2006, China Plate is one of the UK's most prolific and respected independent producers of contemporary theatre, producing work that engages 35,000 audience members annually. The company's central mission is to 'challenge the way performance is made, who it's made by and who gets to experience it.' China Plate has worked with some of the UK's most talented artists, including Caroline Horton, Inspector Sands, David Edgar, Chris Thorpe, Rachel Chavkin, Rachel Bagshaw, Urielle Klein-Mekongo and Contender Charlie. They are Resident Producers at Warwick Arts Centre, partners in the Rural Touring Dance Initiative (RTDI) founded to bring contemporary dance to rural venues around the UK, partners in the ACE Ambition for Excellence funded Musical Theatre Consortium led by Royal and Derngate Theatres, Northampton and Derby Theatre's Performing Arts Producing Hub.

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