Initial Casting Announced for John Harvey's DARKNESS DARKNESS

Initial casting has been announced for the Nottingham Playhouse and New Perspectives production of John Harvey's own adaptation of his acclaimed novel Darkness Darkness which receives its premiere this autumn.

The work, which brings Harvey's most famous creation, detective Charlie Resnick to the stage for the very first time, will star David Fleeshman (include War Horse - National Theatre, Edge of Darkness BBC TV) as the jazz loving sleuth. This marks his welcome return to the Nottingham Playhouse stage having appeared at the theatre in Steven Berkoff's Ritual in Blood in 2001 and in Greg Doran's production of Waiting for Godot in 1982. David is joined by Elizabeth Twells (Saturday Night Sunday Morning - Mercury Theatre Colchester, Aloe Aloe Arcola Theatre) as impassioned activist, Jenny Hardwick. Other cast members so far include Martin Miller and Chris Donnelly.

Darkness Darkness, which is Harvey's own adaptation of his best selling novel, runs from September 30 to October 15. The production is part of The Playhouse's Sweet Vengeance season, which comprises a series of works that explore the themes of revenge, justice and resentments buried deep.

Darkness Darkness, set in present day Nottingham is the most recent of the Charlie Resnick novels, It tells the story of Resnick, on the verge of retirement, when DI Catherine Njoroge convinces him to take on one more case following the discovery of the body of Jenny Hardwick, a young woman who disappeared during the bitterly-fought miners' strike 30 years earlier. As Resnick and Njoroge's investigation unfolds, old wounds sustained on the Nottinghamshire picket lines are re-opened and memories of broken relationships resurface. Resnick, too, must confront the ghosts of his past and guilt for his own role in policing the strike.

Darkness, Darkness displays award-winning novelist John Harvey's 'great gifts for sharp but compassionate characterisation' (The Telegraph). His tense, contemporary crime thriller is a poignant and compelling tale of a modern day Britain scarred by its recent past, of fractured communities trying to heal and of the painful process of laying ghosts to rest.

Darkness Darkness writer John Harvey says

"It was the excitement of the then newly opened Nottingham Playhouse that first brought me to the city in the mid-60s; the prospect of seeing one of my Resnick novels dramatised on that same stage so many years later is truly exciting and a perfect way of squaring the circle."

Darkness Darkness Director and New Perspectives Artistic Director Jack McNamara says

"We are thrilled to be working in co-production with Nottingham Playhouse for the first time to tell this story by one of Nottingham's major international voices, John Harvey. At New Perspectives, we are interested in the unheard, the unearthed and the unexpected. With Darkness Darkness, we have had the thrilling opportunity to work with one of the country's leading crime novelists to find a theatrical form for his latest investigation into the dark heart of our city."

Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse Giles Croft says

"It was in 2012 at the opening of Diary Of A Football Nobody by William Ivory that I first spoke to John about the possibility of his writing something for Nottingham Playhouse. Those sorts of conversations are always entered into with the expectation of rejection, but here we are preparing for the opening of Darkness, Darkness which is every bit is entertaining, intelligent and surprising as I could have wished. It's thrilling to have a new play as part of our Sweet Vengeance season and I can't think of a more appropriate person to have written it."

Jack McNamara has been Artistic Director of New Perspectives since 2012. He has directed and adapted a range of work for the company including world and regional premieres by major International Artists including TEd Hughes, Lars Von Trier, Saul Bellow, Daphne Du Maurier, David Rudkin and Athol Fugard. Previously he was staff director at the Royal Shakespeare Company and trained on the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme at the Nuffield Theatre Southampton and at the National Theatre Studio. He makes experimental theatre under the moniker Future Ruins.

John Harvey was born in London in 1938. After teaching English and Drama in secondary schools for twelve years, he turned to writing in the mid-1970s, since when he has published numerous novels, in addition to scripts for TV and radio and three volumes of poetry. His dramatisation of Darkness, Darkness, the twelfth and final novel in his Nottingham-based Charlie Resnick series, is his first ever work for the theatre. Harvey's awards include the CWA Silver Dagger for Fiction in 2004, the CWA Short Story Dagger in 2014, and the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for Sustained Excellence in Crime Writing in 2007. In 2009 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Nottingham.

Nottingham Playhouse has been one of the United Kingdom's leading producing theatres since its foundation in 1948. It welcomes over 110,000 customers through its doors each year and creates productions large and small from timeless classics and enthralling family shows to adventurous new commissions, often touring work nationally and internationally. 2013 marked Nottingham Playhouse's 50th anniversary in its current home. During those 50 years The Playhouse stage has played host to many outstanding performers and helped create a generation of dedicated theatre goers. Recent notable productions include The Kite Runner, The Threepenny Opera, Posh and the acclaimed adaptation of 1984 co-produced with Headlong.

New Perspectives is an East Midlands based national touring theatre company, specialising in creating dynamic performances for rural audiences. The company makes ambitious and original theatre, focusing on new writing, adaptations and revivals, which we present in community settings and venues nationally and internationally. We provide career defining training and mentoring opportunities for emerging regional talent and manage the rural touring scheme Northants Touring Arts.

Friday 30 September - Saturday 15 October 2016 DARKNESS DARKNESS RESNICK'S LAST CASE Adapted by John Harvey from his own novel Director Jack McNamara

Nottingham Playhouse Wellington Circus Nottingham NG1 5AF Tickets: £8 - £32 BOX OFFICE: 0115 941 9419 / http://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

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