Everyman & Playhouse to Present HAMMER, THE ODYSSEY & More This Autumn

Autumn 2015 will see the Everyman & Playhouse collaborating with some of the greatest theatre makers in the country. The season begins with Simon Armitage's The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead, directed by Associate Director Nick Bagnall, a co-production with English Touring Theatre. The Haunting of Hill House follows the success of Ghost Stories at the Playhouse in a co-production with Sonia Friedman Productions and HAMMER. The Glass Menagerie marks the theatres' first co-production with Headlong since King Lear in partnership with West Yorkshire Playhouse, while smash hit co-production with Kneehigh, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs), tours the country with a homecoming at the Everyman.

The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead reunites long-time collaborators Simon Armitage (Oxford Professor of Poetry, Fellow of Royal Society for Literature) and Nick Bagnall following in the footsteps of The Last Days of Troy, their interpretation of Homer's epic poem The Iliad. As Everyman & Playhouse Associate Director, Nick directed A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Everyman and his other directing credits include Henry VI Trilogy at Shakespeare's Globe and Entertaining Mr Sloane at Trafalgar Studios. Former Playhouse Youth Theatre member Colin Tierney (The Father, Tricycle; The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, Liverpool Playhouse & English Touring Theatre) returns to the role of Odysseus. Armitage plunges Odysseus from the political 21st Century in to the world of the Cyclops, Sirens, witches and whirlpools who he must overcome in the struggle for survival and the long voyage back to the present day. Following the run at the Everyman from 25 September to 17 October the production tours with English Touring Theatre, including two weeks at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Following the international and West End success of Ghost Stories, the horror genre makes a return to the Playhouse with The Haunting of Hill House. The production is a collaboration with Sonia Friedman Productions and HAMMER to create the first major UK stage adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel, which became the legendary horror movie The Haunting in 1963. This stage version is adapted by Anthony Neilson (The Wonderful World of Dissocia, National Theatre Scotland; Realism, Edinburgh International Festival) and will be directed by Olivier and Tony Award nominee Melly Still (Coram Boy, Nation; National Theatre). An alternative theatre experience over the festive period, the 150-year-old Playhouse is the perfect setting for this terrifying psychological thriller.

In October, Ellen McDougall directs one of Tennessee Williams' most powerful and lingering plays, The Glass Menagerie, in a co-production with Headlong and West Yorkshire Playhouse which opens in Leeds and Liverpool before touring to venues around the UK. One of the UK's brightest young directing talents, Ellen's previous work includes critically acclaimed productions of Anna Karenina (Royal Exchange), Henry the Fifth (Unicorn) and Idomeneus (Gate Theatre). Headlong are renowned for bold interpretations of classic work, seen recently on tour in Liverpool with The Absence of War, Spring Awakening and 1984. This marks the first co-production between the theatres and Headlong since Pete Postlethwaite's King Lear in 2008.

After returning to the Everyman last year, the rock 'n' roll panto remains Liverpool's best Christmas party. This year regular writers Sarah A Nixon and Mark Chatterton adapted the Brothers Grimm to their own joyous and anarchic style in Rapunzel: Hairway to Heaven.

The Everyman & Playhouse will also be part of several major initiatives running throughout the UK. On 3 October the Everyman will be transformed in to a Fun Palace. Inspired by Joan Littlewood the event will include collaborations with local artists ranging from singing, dance, performance and design activities. The theatres will also be working with Graeae on the Ramps on the Moon project and Eclipse Theatre Company on Revolution Mix. All projects demonstrate the Everyman & Playhouse's commitment to opening the doors to the heart of the organisation by offering opportunities to under-represented people, artists and audiences. The theatres continue to develop accessibility at all levels with all in-house productions captioned and audio described, a BSL performance for panto as well as 'relaxed' performances of Rapunzel and The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead.

The company's commitment to talent development continues thanks to the Talent Fund, set up to support new work and emerging artists. This autumn the theatres will be supporting Box of Tricks Theatre (Plastic Figurines, Word:Play/NWxSW) on Narvik, Lizzie Nunnery's latest play which will be premiered in the Playhouse Studio ahead of a UK tour. There will also be a return for smash hit co-production with Kneehigh, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs), which tours the country with before a triumphant homecoming at the Everyman in November.

The new generation of theatre makers continue to thrive as The Stage Theatre School of the Year, Young Everyman Playhouse, create two news shows. This year's annual park show, Robin Hood, will take place in Princes Park from 24 to 26 July, featuring 35 young actors aged 11 to 22 years old. The autumn will see YEP performing for a week in the Playhouse Studio.

The best of the country's touring theatre will also be coming to Liverpool. Out of Joint return to the Everyman with Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern by Rebecca Lenkiewicz which tells the story of the last witch trial to take place in Britain, Little Bulb Theatre and Battersea Arts Centre transport Orpheus to a 1930s Paris jazz bar in a re-imagining of the Greek myth and Pilot Theatre present Outsiders, a play inspired by Albert Camus's novel L'Etranger, in the Playhouse Studio.

The Original Theatre Company, the producers behind Birdsong, return to the Playhouse with a production of Terence Rattigan's Flare Path and Northern Broadsides present their take on William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, directed by Conrad Nelson. There's comedy from Nina Conti who brings her show In Your Face and entertainment from The Movie Doctors, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo. The Playhouse will also be welcoming family audiences to enjoy a stage version of Jacqueline Wilson's Hetty Feather in November, while in February it will host Regent's Park Theatre's production of Lord of the Flies.

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