Old Red Lion Theatre Summer Season

The Old Red Lion Theatre has announced its summer season, which includes a revival from 1982 to celebrate its 40th anniversary, four new plays, plus Edinburgh Previews.

The season starts with award-winning play Bromley Bedlam Bethlehem by Rachel Tookey. Inspired by the playwright's own family, this visceral and candid new play explores how mental illness can affect multiple generations. The run coincides with mental health awareness week and includes 'pay what you can', relaxed, and parent and baby performances.

Next up is the world premiere of Flinch - a raw, discomfiting comedy about gender roles by Emma Hemingford. This new play takes an unabashed look at emasculation, failure and the struggle for intimacy.

Transferring from its short, critically-acclaimed run at Tristan Bates Theatre is The Knot by Dan Daniel. Based on the lived experiences of the actors themselves, this intimate, personal and timely new play addresses masculinity, Culture Clash and how the government can become too involved in our romantic lives.

Two weeks of Edinburgh Previews will feature several emerging companies as multiple productions debut before transferring to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

First presented at the Old Red Lion before transferring to the West End in 1983, Crystal Clear devised by Phil Young is a raw and moving play about love and loss in a world made for the sighted. Returning to the ORL stage 37 years later, all performances of this revival will be fully accessible to visually impaired audience members.

Closing the season is Skin in the Game, a contemporary urban thriller by Paul Westwood. Infused with the spirit of Philip Ridley and Irvine Welsh, this fast-paced new play centres on an inner-city working-class family from Birmingham as they fight to overcome a dangerous mix of drugs, gambling addiction and each other.

The Artistic Director, Katy Danbury, comments: "The Old Red Lion Theatre continues to stand strong in its 40th year, presenting and welcoming back artists who shake up the Off-West End sector by creating challenging work that responds to society as a whole. This season you will discover comic and tragic stories interrogating our responses to mental health, gender, bureaucracy, ethnicity, disability and what it is to be working-class in twenty-first century UK. Furthermore, visually impaired and neurodivergent audiences new to the venue will now be able to make use of our audio and visual guides prior to their first visit and enjoy a number of relaxed performances."

The season at a glance:

Bromley Bedlam Bethlehem by Rachel Tookey
Directed by Thomas Martin
Produced by Hannah Tookey for Voxie Productions
May 3 to 25, with press night on May 8

Flinch by Emma Hemingford
Directed by Rosalind Brody
Produced by Leila Sykes for Sounds Like Thunder
May 28 to June 15, with press night on May 29

The Knot by Dan Daniel

Directed and Produced by Dan Daniel

June 18 to July 6, with press night on June 20

Edinburgh Previews

Various companies

July 8 to 20

Crystal Clear devised by Phil Young
Directed by PJ Stanley
Produced by Pia Wojtinnek for White Deer Theatre
July 23 to August 17, with press night on July 25

Skin in the Game by Paul Westwood
Directed by Clemmie Reynolds
Produced by James Haddrell
August 20 to September 14, with press night TBC

Tickets are available from www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk or 0333 012 4963.

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