HighTide Festival Theatre Announces the HighTide Festival 2012

Artistic Director Steven Atkinson today announces eighteen World and European premiere productions for the sixth annual HighTide Festival in Halesworth, Suffolk, from May 3 to13 2012. New this year is the Festival Bus, providing return travel from London Liverpool Street to Halesworth for the under 30’s for £30, including a ticket to two plays.

‘This year the Festival premieres new playwrights and new work with world-class partners The Public Theater, Nuffield Theatre, and Headlong, and with the most promising newer companies curious directive, Bad Physics, and nabokov. We preview new works that will tour to the Latitude Festival, to the Edinburgh Festival with Utter and macrobert, and Soho Theatre, and we will present the European premiere of Mike Daisey’s The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.’

‘As a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England this is the first time that the Festival has had core funding. These eighteen plays are a huge expansion from our historical four. They present a wide range of new writing, from full production to work in progress, and experimentations in form including promenade performances and audio headset productions. We are also producing a mid-week symposium on the state of new writing in partnership with the University of East Anglia, the British Theatre Consortium, and Central School of Speech & Drama.’ Steven Atkinson, Artistic Director.

Season Highlights:

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs | The European Premiere of Mike Daisey’s international cause célèbre. Performed by Daisey and directed by his collaborator Jean-Michele Gregory for HighTide Festival 2012.

Clockwork | Twenty-five year old Laura Poliakoff’s debut play for a generation ignorant to issues concerning care in their old age. Directed by Artistic Director Steven Atkinson and designed by Richard Kent (Richard II, Donmar Warehouse).

Boys | Ella Hickson returns to HighTide Festival with the World Premiere of her new play. A HighTide Festival Theatre / Nuffield Theatre Southampton / Headlong production, then touring to The Nuffield and Soho Theatre.

Rifle Hall Plays | Four new American plays by
Perish by Stella Fawn Ragsdale
Neighbours by Branden Jacob-Jenkins
The Hour of Feeling by Mona Mansour
Bethany by Laura Marks
All produced in collaboration with The Public Theater Emerging Writers Group.

HighTide Festival 2012
The Cut, The Rifle Hall and The Printworks
Halesworth
Suffolk
IP19 8BY

BOX OFFICE: 020 7566 9767
ONLINE: www.hightide.org.uk
FULL PRICE FESTIVAL TICKETS: £14.50 and £9.50
UNDER 30 TICKETS: £11.50 and £6.50
MULTIBUY OFFER: Save around 25% when you purchase tickets to two plays or more.

Weekend Programmes: 5 / 6 / 12 / 13 May
Weekend programme running time: 11h00 until 23h00
Mid-week evening performances of Clockwork, Mudlarks and Boys
9 / 10 / 11 May, which are Pay What You Can events.

Festival Bus Under 30s Package
£30.00 (Return bus travel from London and tickets for two Festival plays)

To hear first about The HighMind Talks:
Follow HighTide Festival Theatre on Twitter: @_HighTide_
Join us on Facebook: facebook.com/HighTideFestivalTheatre

To view HighTide’s online brochure visit: www.issuu.com/hightidefestivaltheatre/docs/hightide_festival_2012

HIGHTIDE FESTIVAL 2012 – FULL PRODUCTIONS AND LISTINGS

ORGANS OF LITTLE APPARENT IMPORTANCE
Written by Jon McLeod

Organs of Little Apparent Importance is an innovative new work by sound designer Jon McLeod that invites its audience to journey through an imaginEd Halesworth. This promenade play for headphones was created with contributions from students at Halesworth Middle School.

Dates/Time: 3 - 13 May (not 7), Headphone collection from 12-7pm
Price: Free
Venue: Headphone collection at The Cut

BOYS
Written by Ella Hickson
Directed by Robert Icke

Ella Hickson’s BOYS receives its world premiere directed by Headlong’s Associate Director Robert Icke in a HighTide Festival Theatre / Nuffield Theatre Southampton / Headlong Production. It's finals day for the Class of 2011. Benny, Mack, Timp and Cam are due out of their five bedroom flat tomorrow morning; five bedrooms, five chairs, four boys - and one hell of a party. Stepping into a world that doesn’t want them, these boys start to wonder whether there's any point in getting any older. BOYS then tours to Nuffield Theatre (16-26 May) and then to the Soho Theatre (30 May – 16 June). Production Sponsored by Ingenious Media Plc.

Dates/ Times: 3 & 11 May, 7pm
5 & 13 May, 3pm
6 May, 6pm
12 May, 5pm
Price: £14.50 (£11.50 under 30)
Pay What You Can: 11 May
Venue: Main House, The Cut

CLOCKWORK
Written by Laura Poliakoff
Directed by Steven Atkinson

Laura Poliakoff’s debut play CLOCKWORK is a powerful call to arms for a generation of twenty year olds not considering their own old age. How we care for our elderly, where we put them and the sacrifices that are made fuels this often comic yet touching play. HighTide Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director Steven Atkinson directs, designed by Richard Kent. Production Sponsored by AEM International.

Dates/Times: 4, 9 & 10 May, 7pm
5, 12 & 13 May, 3pm & 7pm
6 May, 6pm
Price: £14.50 (£11.50 under 30)
Pay What You Can: 9, 10 May
Venue: The Studio, The Cut

MUDLARKS
Written by Vickie Donoghue
Directed by Will Wrightson

Set on the muddy banks of the River Thames MUDLARKS is Essex-born Vickie Donoghue’s urgent and beautifully tragic debut exploring the lives of three Essex boys as their dreams are shattered by a single reckless act. With producer Lucy Jackson, HighTide brings a new and powerful voice to the British stage. Former Resident Assistant Director Will Wrightson directs as part of HighTide’s commitment to championing new artists.

Dates/ Times: 4, 9 & 10 May, 7pm
5, 12 & 13 May, 1pm and 5pm
6 May, 1pm and 4pm
Price: £14.50 (£11.50 under 30)
Pay What You Can: 9,10 May
Venue: HighTide Upstairs, The Cut

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS
Written and Performed by Mike Daisey
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory

In THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS, a hilarious and harrowing tale of pride, beauty, lust, and industrial design, Mike Daisey illuminates how the former CEO of Apple and his obsessions shape our lives, while sharing stories of his own travels to China to investigate the factories where millions toil to make iPhones, iPods and iPads. HighTide Festival Theatre is delighted to welcome Mike and his director, Jean-Michele Gregory to the UK for this European premiere.

Dates/Times: 5 May, 7pm/ 6 May, 3pm
Price: £14.50 (£11.50 under 30)
Venue: Main House, The Cut

BINARY
Two short plays by Alexandra Wood and Ian McHugh
Directed by Jack Lowe

BINARY, two new short plays, is a writer focused project from award-winning devising company curious directive which asks two playwrights (Alexandra Wood and Ian McHugh) to engage with an area of science they are curious about. The writers are then paired with a scientist of their choice and together they create a new hybrid work. At the HighTide Festival, the process of the collaboration as well as the two world premieres of the new plays will be shared. Directed by Artistic Director Jack Lowe.

Dates/Times: 12 May, 3pm
Price: £9.50 (£6.50 under 30)
Venue: Main House, The Cut

Seven New Productions without décor

The Rifle Hall
The Festival weekends conclude in the Rifle Hall. Tickets give membership to a late night cabaret space, infused with relaxed but decadent Americana with a full bar serving signature cocktails. HighTide will showcase a new American play each evening, curated from the Emerging Writers’ Group at The Public Theater, New York City.

PERISH
A new play by Stella Fawn Ragsdale | Director: Rob Drummer
A son lost, a view of the mountains, a world is eroding.

THE HOUR OF FEELING
A new play by Mona Mansour | Director: Richard Fitch
Faith is a passionate intuition (Wordsworth).

BETHANY
A new play by Laura Marks | Director: Steven Atkinson
fore•clo•sure def. to deprive of the right to redeem property

NEIGHBORS
A new play by Branden Jacob-Jenkins | Director: Melanie Spencer
Black face, not on my doorstep, not today.

In addition, the Rifle Hall premieres a new chain play by nabokov, and two new pieces of genre melding performance poetry-stand-up-theatre by Philip Wells The Fire Poet.

Internationally acclaimed new writing company nabokov present THE BEST YEARS OF YOUR LIFE. An anthology of blistering new plays charting some of the most turbulent and vital birthdays of our lives: from sweet 16 to 25, from adolescence to adulthood. Directed by Artistic Director Joe Murphy.

Philip Wells The Fire Poet presents two new works; RHAPSODY IN RAP OR RHAPSODY IN VERSE, the big bang of theatre: the rhapsode, who before the Greeks invented the chorus was weaving lyrics ancient and new as he improvised and memorised in the presence of the moment. And THERE IS NO PLANET B, revealing the original mystery that ignites every renaissance, including first-ever extracts from his brand new play on Saint Francis.

Rifle Hall Plays

Perish
Date/Time: 5 May, 9pm
Price: £14.50 (£11.50 under 30)

The Hour of Feeling
Date/Time: 6 May, 9pm
Price: £14.50 (£11.50 under 30)

Bethany
Date/Time: 12 May, 9pm
Price: £14.50 (£11.50 under 30)

Neighbors
Date/Time: 13 May, 9-11pm
Price: £14.50 (£11.50 under 30)
LISTINGS: The Best Years of Your Life

Dates/Times: 5, 6 May, 8pm
Price: £9.50 (£6.50 under 30)
LISTINGS: The Fire Poet

Dates/Times: 12, 13 May, 8pm
Price: Free

Four Work-in-progress Productions

In THE ADVENTURE, inspired by The Famous Five, join an intrepid gang of young detectives on a promenade journey through an explorable building. Decipher interactive puzzles, offer suggestions and help to choose how the story unfolds. Created by interactive theatre specialists Bad Physics, and written by Oliver Birch.

EDUCATING RONNIE, by Joe Douglas and Gareth Nicholls, is a semi-autobiographical show about the relationship between Joe and Ronnie. It tells the story of Joe financing Ronnie's education in Uganda over a decade and explores how good intentions can easily become guilty burdens. Produced with new company Utter and Stirling’s macrobert.

Stephanie Street’s new play, SEIZING CINDERELLA, is a revelatory story based on real lives and events. It examines the deep-seated prejudices faced by the half a million people with epilepsy in the UK, the systematic shortcomings in how their condition is managed, and the extraordinary dogs that could offer them a lifeline.

THE ADVENTURE, EDUCATING RONNIE, and SEIZING CINDERELLA are work-in-progress performances being created through HighTide’s organisational development programme Jerwood East supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

Throughout the Festival we will pitch a tent and invite audiences to a bespoke installation in the Engine Room Café of EISTEDDFOD, giving a flavour of this new work by Luke Barnes. Luke is a northern born emerging playwright, both a unique and exciting wordsmith. It premieres at the 2012 Latitude Festival in July directed by Rob Drummer.

Work in Progress Productions

The Adventure
Dates/Times: 5, 6 May, 12pm and 5pm
Price: £9.50 (£6.50 under 30)
Venue: The Printworks

Educating Ronnie
Date/Time: 6 May, 3pm
Price: £9.50 (£6.50 under 30)
Venue: The Studio, The cut

Seizing Cinderella
Dates: 13 May, 6.30pm
Time: Free
Venue: Main House, The Cut

Talks and Events

HIGHTIDE FESTIVAL 2012 SYMPOSIUM
In partnership with the University of East Anglia, the British Theatre Consortium and Central School of Speech & Drama
The opportunities to produce new plays in the UK are highlighted as some of the best in the world; we are a nation of writers, a theatre industry inspired by discovery. However, with the need for a changing tide in new models to discover, develop, produce and support writers, how have these opportunities changed and what of their impact? For writers, theatre makers, industry professionals, academics, directors.

HIGHMIND TALKS
Festival weekend start with talks with leading artists, academics and pundits debating issues and topics related to the HighTide Festival 2012 programme. Speakers announced in March. Supported by Lansons Communications.

BRUNCH PLAYS
Readings of new short plays by playwrights in the East of England and playwrights whose writing is inspired by Halesworth. Comes with coffee and a light brunch.

ARTISTS TALK
Free post-show conversations with playwrights, directors and actors for CLOCKWORK, BOYS, MUDLARKS, and BINARY.

LISTINGS: Talks and Events

HighTide Festival 2012 Symposium
Dates/Times: 9 May from 10.30am (all day)
Price: £25 (£20 students)
Venue The Cut

HighMind Talks
Dates/Times: 5, 6, 12, 13 May at 1pm
Price: £7.50 (£5.50 under 30)
Venue Main House, The Cut

Brunch Plays
Dates /Times: 6, 13 May at 11am
Price: Free
Venue Engine Room Café, The Cut

To post a comment, you must register and login.