Nuffield Southampton Theatres Announces Autumn Season
By: BWW News Desk Jun. 12, 2017
Director of Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Sam Hodges, today announced NST Campus' Autumn season, featuring a varied programme of high quality touring work including West End hits People, Places & Things and Hetty Feather. The season is announced as NST moves closer to the opening of NST City, their newly acquired theatre in Southampton's city centre arts venue.
The Autumn season presents work from some of the UK's best touring theatre companies opening with 1927's Golem by Suzanne Andrade, which incorporates handmade animation, claymation and live music, opening 12 September.
This is followed by Graeae's hit punk rock musical, Reasons to be Cheerful, a gritty coming of age tale featuring hits from Ian Dury and the Blockheads. All performances include captioned dialogue, BSL-interpreted songs and audio description.
In October Bristol Old Vic and Royal & Derngate, Northampton present a new version of Harold Pinter's classic, The Caretaker, directed by Christopher Haydon; following this is Fuel's adaptation of the infamous coastal myth, The Hartlepool Monkey, created by Gyre & Gimble.
Opening at NST on 7 November is Headlong's critically-acclaimed People, Places and Things, written by Duncan Macmillan and directed by Jeremy Herrin, the production premièred in 2015 at the National Theatre ahead of a sell-out West End run.
Also in November, Frantic Assembly and State Theatre Company South Australia present Andrew Bovell's Things I Know To Be True, co-directed by Scott Graham and Geordie Brookman.
Concluding the season is Rose Theatre Kingston's Olivier Award nominated production of Jacqueline Wilson's Hetty Feather. This West End hit directed by Sally Cookson opens at NST this December for a 7 week Christmas run.
Director of NST, Sam Hodges, said today, "This autumn, as we get closer to moving into our new theatre in the heart of Southampton's Cultural Quarter; NST City, we feel excited to build the reputation of NST Campus as a home for the country's most important and innovative touring theatre companies. What better way to signal this, than welcoming Headlong, Frantic Assembly, 1927, Fuel and Graeae."
A 1927, Salzburg Festival, Theatre de la Ville Paris & Young Vic co-production presents
GOLEM
Written and directed by Suzanne Andrade
Film, animation and design by Paul Barritt
12 - 16 September
The danger lies not in machine becoming more like man but in man becoming more like machine.
Like a giant graphic novel burst into life, 1927 invites you to take a step through the looking glass into a dark and fantastical tale of an extraordinary ordinary man.
Blending 1927's synthesis of handmade animation, claymation, live music and performance Golem is a dystopian fable for the twenty first century, which cleverly and satirically explores one of the great questions of the modern world - who or what is in control of our technologies?
Golem is the follow up to 1927's hit international shows The Animals and Children took to the Streets and The Magic Flute (created in collaboration with Komische Opera Berlin).
A Graeae Theatre Company production in association with the Belgrade Theatre
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
Book by Paul Sirett
Music by Ian Dury & the Blockheads
Directed by Jenny Sealey
26 - 30 September
It's 1979: Labour loses to the Tories, strikes rock the nation. Ultimate fans, Vinnie and his mates would do anything to see Dury at the Hammersmith Odeon, only the gig is sold out. One night of frustration becomes something else entirely...
Featuring Ian Dury and the Blockheads' greatest hits including 'Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll,' 'Sweet Gene Vincent,' 'Spasticus Autisticus' and 'Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick.'
A punk rock musical and gritty coming of age tale, which leaves audiences shouting for more.
All performances include captioned dialogue, BSL-interpreted songs and audio description.
Recommended 14+
A Bristol Old Vic and Royal & Derngate, Northampton co-production
THE CARETAKER
Directed by Christopher Haydon
10 - 14 October
Aston welcomes the homeless Davies into his dilapidated flat, sheltering him from the violence of the streets. Recognising an opportunity, Davies attempts to leave his past behind and start afresh. But what is he being offered? Friendship? Shelter? A job? Or a home?
Harold Pinter's 20th century masterpiece explores everyone's search for a sense of belonging in a world where the line between truth and reality is constantly in flux.
Directed by Christopher Haydon (Grounded, Twelve Angry Men), this bold new production sets the paranoia of living in an ever-changing landscape against our own politically and culturally uncertain times.
Produced by Fuel in association with Stratford Circus Arts Centre
THE HARTLEPOOL MONKEY
By Gyre & Gimble
Written by Carl Grose
31 October - 1 November
An adventure story for sea dogs, landlubbers, children and adults alike.
A French ship runs aground off the coast of England. Only a cabin girl and the ship's mascot, a chimpanzee, survive. But the townsfolk mistake the monkey, in its military uniform, for a spy, and condemn him to a life-or-death trial. What will the verdict be?
The legend of The Hartlepool Monkey has survived the test of time, capturing the imagination of people of all ages for over 200 years. A boisterous crew tell this timely tale through spirited sea shanties and mischievous puppetry from Gyre & Gimble (War Horse, Running Wild).
Recommended 10+
A Headlong, National Theatre, HOME and Exeter Northcott co-production
PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
7 - 11 November
An intoxicating play about surviving in the modern world.
Emma was having the time of her life. Now she's in rehab.
Her first step is to admit that she has a problem. But the problem isn't with Emma, it's with everything else. She needs to tell the truth. But she's smart enough to know that there's no such thing. When intoxication feels like the only way to survive the modern world, how can she ever sober up?
People, Places & Things is now on tour following a critically-acclaimed, sold-out season at the National Theatre and in London's West End.
A Frantic Assembly and State Theatre Company South Australia production
THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE
Co-directed by Scott Graham and Geordie Brookman
14 - 18 November
As beautifully touching as it is funny and bold, Things I Know To Be True tells the story of a family and marriage through the eyes of four grown siblings struggling to define themselves beyond their parents' love and expectations.
Bob and Fran have worked their fingers to the bone and with their children ready to fly the nest, it might be time to relax and enjoy the roses. But the changing seasons bring home some shattering truths.
Featuring Frantic Assembly's celebrated physicality (Othello), Things I Know To Be True is a complex and intense study of the mechanics of a family that is both heartbreakingly poetic and brutally frank.
Recommended 14+
Nuffield Southampton Theatres in association with Kenny Wax, William Archer and Novel Theatre present a Rose Theatre Kingston Production
HETTY FEATHER
By Jacqueline Wilson
Adapted for the stage by Emma Reeves
Directed by Sally Cookson
21 November 2017 - 7 January 2018
With beautiful storytelling, spectacular circus skills, original songs and live music, this critically acclaimed five-star production is set to be the perfect family treat this Christmas.
Hetty Feather is set in Victorian London and tells the story of an orphan, born in 1876 who is left by her mother at the Foundling Hospital for abandoned children. This strict Victorian institution can't contain Hetty and she sets off on daring adventures including running away to the circus. Huge-hearted and headstrong, she's a great heroine, searching for her true home and the identity of her real mother.
The critically acclaimed 2016 touring company will return. Hetty Feather is played by Pheobe Thomas, known for BBC's Holby City and directed by Sally Cookson (Peter Pan and Jane Eyre, National Theatre, Stick Man, Scamp Theatre and We're Going On A Bear Hunt, Kenny Wax Family Entertainment).
From best-selling children's author Jacqueline Wilson, this Rose Theatre Kingston production in association with Kenny Wax, William Archer and Novel Theatre, this Christmas brings thrillingly to life on stage, the adventure of plucky Hetty Feather at NST Campus.
ABOUT NUFFIELD SOUTHAMPTON THEATRES
Nuffield Southampton Theatres is one of the UK's leading professional theatre companies. The Company is led by Samuel Hodges, supported by a team of associates: directors Blanche McIntyre, Natalie Abrahami, Michael Longhurst and Abbey Wright, designer Tom Scutt and playwright Adam Brace, and develops and produces work with some of the UK's most exciting and dynamic regional theatres. NST won 'Regional Theatre of the Year' at The Stage Awards 2015 & Best Design UK Theatre 2015 (The Hudsucker Proxy).
NST will soon take over a second venue in Southampton's new £28M city centre arts venue. This new venue will include a flexible 450 seat main house theatre, a 135 seat studio, screening facilities, rehearsal and workshop spaces. It will transform NST's ability to show high quality professional work from local, national and International Artists and allow the programme to include dance, film and music. NST will run the new city centre venue alongside its existing theatre on the University of Southampton's Highfield Campus.
Nuffield Southampton Theatres is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and a registered charity, receiving additional core funding from the University of Southampton, Southampton City Council and Hampshire County Council.
For full details of the programme, please visit www.nstheatres.co.uk.
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