New Diorama Theatre Announces 2016/17 Season

Supporting and presenting work by some of the best emerging theatre companies from across the UK, New Diorama - one of the capital's most dynamic, inventive and forward-thinking Studio Theatres - today announces its 2016/17 programme.

Among the exciting transfers from the Edinburgh Fringe this autumn is Tank - the new show from Total Theatre Award winning Breach Theatre following their critically acclaimed The Beanfield (???? "A truncheoning force" The Sunday Times); and the playwriting debut from "voice of a generation" stand-up Liam Williams, with Travesty - a darkly comic exploration of gender roles in twenty-something relationships from the twice Foster Award nominated comedian.

The season's first extended run will be Box of Tricks' ????"courageous and personal" (The Guardian) Plastic Figurines (27 Sept -22 Oct), the show, whose central character is a young boy with autism, will also feature New Diorama's first ever relaxed performance - the first of five throughout the season. Always having a strong and pioneering commitment to access these relaxed performances will run alongside twelve captioned shows and will be the first time a Studio Theatre has run a full programme of relaxed performances focusing on adult work.

The first world premiere of the season comes from the multi-award winning Kandinsky who last season at New Diorama won both the OffWestEnd Award for Best Ensemble and Peter Brook Festival award for Dog Show. Their new show, Still Ill, is supported by the legendary devised theatre company Complicité for whom Kandinsky Artistic Director James Yeatman is Associate Director. (1-19 November).

This is followed by another premiere, this time from cinematic, Lecoq-trained maestros Rhum & Clay whose new piece, Testosterone, an exploration of gender norms, is the follow up to their ????? (Time Out) Hardboiled which sold out last season and was nominated for two OffWestEnd awards. (22 Nov-3 Dec)

"London is f*cked" begins the blurb of New Diorama's first ever Pantomime: Fight In The Dog's Ricky Whittington & His Cat. Written by Daran Johnson (co-writer BBC's Siblings, Flat TV, People Time) and Liam Williams (twice Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, People Time) - both alumni of lauded sketch comedy outfit Sheeps - and starring a cast of the country's finest up-and-coming comic talent, Ricky Whittington puts a hilarious and unexpected political twist on the traditional panto. (10 Dec -7 Jan)

The New Year opens with a showcase of emerging theatre companies from 2017 Hull City of Culture, including the latest play from Margaret Thatcher and Rotterdam playwright Jon Brittain, A Super Happy Story About Being Super Sad, presented by Hull based Silent Uproar. Supported by 2017 Hull City of Culture, Hull Truck and the University of Hull, the full-line up of the showcase week will be announced in October 2016 and will feature Sunday Times Playwriting Award winners, Pub Corner Poets.

Another highlight will be Engineer Theatre Collective - whose previous show Run (small but sparkling " The New Yorker) gained plaudits and award-nominations for giving the banking industry a human face - returning with haunting new horror-inspired tale The Gap in the Light. (2-27 May)

Capping off the season, after another blockbuster run in 2016, Incoming Festival, co-produced with A Younger Theatre, will then return to showcase the best and brightest new shows from some of the country's finest emerging companies. (2-11 June)

This spring saw New Diorama launch of what Exeunt described as "possibly the most exciting artist development programme the country has ever seen" and in addition to their full suite of pioneering artist support - New Diorama will also be announcing its first ever support artist programme for Associate Comedy Ensembles through an open call for applications, with the aim to champion the next generation of sketch comedy talent.

And, finally, New Diorama will be launching a Capital Campaign to enhance the theatre's technical specifications, further improve access and build a new accessible office space for supported artists. This technical enhancement is being supported by Nick Flintoff, Technical Associate at the National Theatre who says:

"New Diorama immediately struck me as not just a unique theatre for artists to put on new work with a very loyal audience but also as a pioneering engine room for the development of new, emerging theatre companies and artists. The small and dedicated team running New Diorama really care for and support their artists in the best way possible. These improved technical resources are the only ingredient missing from making New Diorama one of the most exciting, dynamic Studio Theatres in the country."

New Diorama's Artistic Director David Byrne said:

"We're six years old this year and this is our most exciting season to date.

The whole team here have worked incredibly hard to bring together this brilliantly enticing programme for our audiences and the most incredibly appetising menu of support for our artists.

We've had such a huge response over the last year to the innovations we've introduced for artist development and for reshaping the vision of what a small theatre - especially one without regular Arts Council funding - can achieve. Hopefully, with this announcement, we're demonstrating that we're only just getting started!"

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