Print Room Reveals More Details on Karen Blixen Double Bill

Print Room at the Coronet has today announced further details for Out of Blixen and Babette's Feast, two productions that will run consecutively, putting a spotlight on the fascinating life and writing of Karen Blixen.

Although Blixen died 55 years ago, her work remains as relevant and enchanting as ever. A programme of talks and exhibitions will take up residency in the beautiful Victorian venue to accompany the two productions.

Karen Blixen is widely remembered through Meryl Streep's portrayal in the Oscar winning 'Out Of Africa'. This spring Print Room at the Coronet will lift the curtain on the many sides to Blixen's richly layered personal life and career, from the multiple identities she created for herself to the intricate, diverse and enduring stories she told.

Riotous Company's Out of Blixen will receive its world premiere at the Coronet, previewing from 3 April 2017. This brand new co-production with Print Room at the Coronet is directed by the award-winning Kathryn Hunter, Patron of Riotous Company. Riotous Company Founder, Mia Theil Have, has long had a fascination with Blixen, the complex woman behind the myth, who wrote some of the most daring Danish fiction of the twentieth century, often under pseudonyms, the best known of which is probably Isak Dinesen. Out of Blixen will mark the culmination of a 10 year exploration bringing Riotous Company's playful and unexpected style to a selection of Blixen's fantastic stories: The Sailor Boy, Sorrow Acre from Winter's Tales, The Diver from Anecdotes of Destiny and The Blank Page from Last Tales.

Out Of Blixen is devised and performed by Femi Elufowoju, jr, Kathryn Hunter, Nikola Kodjabashia, Marcello Magni and Mia Theil Have. Dramaturgy and writing is by Paul Tickell, original music and sound design by Nikola Kodjabashia, production design by Luis Carvalho, lighting design by David Plater and aerial advising from Alex Harvey. Riotous Company is supported by PRS For Music Foundation for the original live music score.

Kathryn Hunter said, 'In a world that seems more and more divided, Blixen's stories have for us a powerful appeal; in their explorations of the paradoxes of being human they connect us and unleash our imaginations.'

Following Out of Blixen, the creative team from the hugely successful Sweeney Todd in a Pie Shop reunites to present Glyn Maxwell's specially commissioned adaptation of Blixen's much loved short story Babette's Feast. Previewing from 8th May, this world premiere will see Print Room at the Coronet's typically innovative style applied to Blixen's tale of one community's willingness to accept a stranger in need and the ensuing act of thanksgiving.

Babette's Feast will be directed by Bill Buckhurst with design by Simon Kenny the pairing who collaborated on the hugely successful 2015 Tooting Arts Club production of Sweeney Todd which opens on Broadway next month. New music for Babette's Feast will be composed by Olly Fox.

Bill Buckhurst said, 'Karen Blixen's story is, on the surface, a simple tale of a woman who escapes revolution in her country and arrives in a new community which welcomes her as a refugee with open arms. The original story is only about 50 pages long but each page is crammed full of heart and soul which jumps out at you, written in Blixen's extraordinary but economic style. Glyn's adaptation has been done with great sensitivity and affection tackling ideas of tolerance, acceptance and forgiveness. Babette's Feast is also a story of the transformative power of the creative arts and I'm really excited to be working with this creative team and the Print Room on this, at this moment in time.'

Glyn Maxwell said, 'These days I'm constantly on the lookout for anything that shows hope and Babette's Feast really is a tale that goes against the current, showing how good deeds can resonate through the world. I've long been an admirer of the Print Room so when Anda Winters first approached me about this I said yes immediately. Since reading the original text I've been captivated and I'm thrilled to be bringing it to life surrounded by so much talent'

Riotous Company will conduct a number of critical post-show panel talks on themes including race, storytelling, gender and independent theatre companies in relation to Out Of Blixen, supported by The Danish Embassy, as well as a small exhibition of Blixen's publications supported by Rungstedlund (Blixen Estate). There will be a captioned matinee performance (22nd April) and a relaxed matinee performance (15th April) of Out Of Blixen and an extensive education programme in collaboration with Central School of Speech and Drama.

IF YOU GO:

3 - 22 April 2017
Evenings: 7.30pm, Matinees: Saturdays 3pm
Out Of Blixen
Created by Riotous Company
Press Night: Friday 7 April, 7pm

Directed by Kathryn Hunter
Dramaturge/Writer Paul Tickell
Artistic Director Mia Theil Have

Relaxed performance: 15th April, matinee
Captioned performance: 22nd April, matinee

8 May - 3 June 2017
Evenings: 7.30pm, Matinees: Saturdays 3pm
Babette's Feast
Based on a novella by Karen Blixen
Press Night: Monday 15 May, 7pm

Adapted by Glyn Maxwell
Directed by Bill Buckhurst

The Print Room began life in September 2010 in a converted printing warehouse just off Westbourne Grove, with a mission to present an exciting mixture of theatre, dance, concerts, art exhibitions and a variety of multidisciplinary collaborations. The theatre is now realising its unique artistic vision in its new, permanent home, Notting Hill's iconic Coronet. Visit www.the-print-room.org or follow @the_printroom for more information.

Founded in Denmark and now based in the UK, Riotous Company create playful and unexpected performances blending theatre, storytelling, live music, poetry, pictures and dance. The Company is run by former Odin Teatret actor and director Mia Theil Have together with patron Kathryn Hunter, composer Nikola Kodjabashia, designer Luis F. Carvalho and a team of associates. Riotous are an international collective of artists who have staged performances across the globe from Cuba to Palestine, Macedonia to Kathmandu. With deep roots to the Odin Teatret/Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium, where they are Associate Artists, Riotous share a holistic approach to theatre-making as pioneered by Eugenio Barba, integrating theatre performance, practice and education. They are also Associate Artists of the Third Theatre Network. Past productions in the UK also include the dramatic duologue, SCHERZO for piano and stick, which toured to Print Room at the Coronet and HOME Manchester, Divertimento for rope and strings, an aerial theatre-concert which played at London's Tete a Tete Festival, and the dance-theatre piece, Insomnia: a pas de deux drama for two girls and a piano man which played at HOME, London's Park Theatre and Arcola Theatre as part of its international tour in 2014. Further afield, Riotous created the hit musical Penelope X for the National Ballet and Opera of Macedonia, composed by Nikola Kodjabashia and Balkanika Literary Award Laureate Venko Andonovski, and directed by Mia Theil Have. As part of their ongoing collaboration with The Freedom Theatre, Palestine and The Palestinian Circus School, they devised and developed Sarha with young people in refugee camps, to create an outdoor performance inspired by Raja Shehadeh's Palestinian Walks which combined poetry with stilt walking and parkour. Go to www.riotouscompany.co.uk or follow @RiotousCompany.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Kathryn Hunter is an Olivier Award winning Actress and Director. Theatre includes: Valley of Astonishment (Peter Brook); 'Hearts (Robert Lepage); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Julie Taymor); 'Fragments' (Peter Brook, Young Vic, Bouffes du Nord, world tour); King Lear (Helena Kaut-Howson, Young Vic); 'The Bee' (Hideki Nodi, Tokyo, SOHO); The Diver (Hideki Nodi, Tokyo, SOHO); Kafka's Monkey (Walter Meierjohann, Young Vic, world tour) Yerma (Helena Kaut-Howson, Arcola); Celestina (Calixto Bieito, Birmingham, Edinburgh); Whistling Psyche; Doña Rosita (Phyllida Lloyd); 'Richard III' (Barry Kyle, Shakespeare's Globe); The Taming of the Shrew (Phyllida Lloyd, Shakespeare's Globe); Macbeth; Electra (Leicester Haymarket); Far Away (Bouffes du Nord); The Rose Tatoo; The Devils (Theatr Clwyd); Live Like Pigs; The Recruiting Officer; Our Country's Good (Royal Court); The Hypocondriac (Lyric Hammersmith); Women of Troy (The Gate); Romeo & Juliet (Watermill); Spoonface Steinberg (Ambassadors, Washington); Mother Courage (Shared Experience); The Striker; The Visit (National Theatre); Anthony & Cleopatra (RSC), King Lear (RSC). Théâtre de Complicité includes: Foe; Out of the House Walked a Man; Anything for a Quiet Life; Help! I'm Alive; The Winter's Tale. Direction includes: Othello (RSC), The Birds (National Theatre); Mr Puntila and his man Matti (Almeida, Albery, Traverse); The Glory of Living (Royal Court); Comedy of Errors; Pericles (Shakespeare's Globe); My Perfect Mind (Young Vic). Films include: Baby of Macon (Peter Greenaway); Orlando by Sally Potter; All or Nothing (Mike Leigh); Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix; Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Julie Taymor).

Femi Elufowoju, jr is a London born Nigerian performer and director. He trained as an actor at Bretton Hall, Leeds University and has been directed by luminary theatre directors including Sir Richard Eyre, Nicholas Hytner, Yvonne Brewster, John Retallack, Annabel Arden, Jude Kelly and the late Annie Castledine. His extensive stage work include seasons at the Royal Court, National Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Manchester's Royal Exchange, Theatre Royal, Stratford East and Soho Theatre. Notable Television appearances to date are the BBC comedy series Little Miss Jocelyn, serial dramas Moses Jones and Wire in the Blood and Scandinavian BAFTA award winner Borgen. Films includes The Legend of 1900 for Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore and recent Hollywood franchise Mechanic; Resurrection.

As a theatre director, Femi trained under Philip Hedley at the Theatre Royal Stratford East (Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme, 1996). He formed and artistically led Tiata Fahodzi, UK's first national touring African theatre company) between 1997 and 2010. The company toured internationally and was nominated for an Olivier Award (Iya-Ile, the first wife) before his departure in 2010. Femi returned to Stratford in 2016 to direct Bonnie Greer's The Hotel Cerise and recently directed the British premiere of Blues for an Alabama Sky by American playwright Pearl Cleage. In development is Rotimi Babatunde's stage adaptation of Lola Shoneyin's award-winning and popular novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives scheduled for a 2018 National tour.

Marcello Magni is a pioneer of the physical theatre. Born in Bergamo, Italy, Marcello graduated from the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in 1980-82. He continued his studies with Pierre Byland, Philippe Gaulier and Monica Pagneux. He is an actor, director, movement director; he has taught at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq and leads workshops internationally all over the world: this year in Turkey, USA, London and China. Marcello is co-Founder of Complicite in London in 1983, and has worked with the company for over twenty ?ve years and performed in many shows including The visit, Streets of Crocodiles, A minute too late, The Winter's Tale, Out of a House Walked a Man, Help I am alive, Foe, A Dog's Heart, More Bigger Snacks Now and Please Please Please.

Marcello worked for The Globe Theatre, National Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Clwyd Theatre and Shared Experience. He has worked with his wife Kathryn Hunter since 1987 and more recently projects including the co-creation with Kathryn Hunter in Fragments 2006 - 2015, The Valley of Astonishment 2014 - 2015 both directed by Peter Brook and Arlecchino solo show directed by Kathryn and Jos Houben. With Peter Brook he has also collaborated as a movement director in A Magic Flute by Mozart and as a performer in the documentary The Tightrope. Further theatre includes: Red Demon and The Bee (Hideki Noda), Mother Courage (Nancy Meckler), King Lear and The Rose Tattoo (Helena Kaut Housen), The Game of Love and Chance (Neil Bartlett and Mike Alfred), Les Enfants du Paradis (Mike Alfreds and David Glass) The Birds, Comedy of Errors, Pericles and Wise Guy Scapino (Kathryn Hunter). Directing credits include: Spoonface Steinberg, Pinocchio, Tell Them I am Young and Beautiful, Everyman. Films include: 'Mr. Turner', 'Nine', 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' and 'The Lake', and 'Pingu'.

In 2015 he created and performed the theatre show Marcel at the Bouffes du Nord and in 2013 created and performed Hearts directed by Robert Lepage for Ex Machina in Quebec City.

Mia Theil Have is the founder and Artistic Director of Riotous Company. She was in the core ensemble at Odin Teatret from 2003-2007, performing in four productions directed by Eugenio Barba, including the role of Ophelia in Ur-Hamlet at Elsinore Castle in 2006. As a theatre director, Mia's credits include: Penelope X (Macedonia), Sarha (Portugal & Palestine), Bodas de Sangre (Cuba), Carnival over the Rainbow and Feast Kakhulu (South Africa), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Kathmandu & Delhi), White Suit (GDIF 2012 Greenwich Festival), The Third Man (Secret Cinema) and Divertimento for rope and strings (Tete a Tete Festival). Mia directed the RPS Award-winning We are Shadows for Spital?elds Music Festival, a hugely ambitious production rehearsed over 18 months and performed by 300 residents of Tower Hamlets. Mia worked as an associate director on Dalston Songs and Singing Circle (ROH), Kafka's Monkey (Young Vic & international tour), The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (Liverpool Playhouse), Romeo & Juliet (HOME) and Told by an Idiot's My Perfect Mind (Young Vic & international tour). Creating a bridge between new Danish drama and the UK, Mia has translated Sandholm by Anna Bro into English, directing it for the Unicorn Theatre, as well as initiating a festival of new Danish writing at the Danish Embassy in London in 2015, for which she translaTEd Thomas Howalt's award-winning play, Hemmeligheden (The Secret). As an actor Mia recently created and performed in Riotous Company productions Scherzo for piano and stick, Insomnia a pas de deux drama for two girls and a piano man, and was acting for Katie Mitchell this summer in Aix en Provence Festival, as Melisande Double to Barbara Hannigan.

Paul Tickell grew up in Carlisle. He initially trained for the Catholic priesthood but left the seminary to attend the University of East Anglia followed by Worcester College, Oxford. In the 1970s he worked in music publishing and band management (The Pack, Theatre of Hate). This led him to a career in freelance journalism, writing for Melody Maker, NME, The Face, Time Out and Elle, amongst others. In the 1980s Paul joined LWT as a researcher and later became a producer/director on South of Watford, the London Programme, Network 7 and the South Bank Show. From there he moved into his current freelance career, directing dramas and feature films as well as continuing to make documentaries. For BBC's long-running Arena series, he has made films on The Sex Pistols and the punk movement, what constitutes a relic, and the phenomenon of sanctity. His latest film, Arena: 1966 - 50 Years Ago Today went out on BBC Four in July 2016.

Selected filmography: 1966 - 50 Years Ago Today (Arena 2016); Going Postal (2009); Saints (Arena 2006); Imagine: Frida Kahlo (2005); Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry (2000); Crush Proof (1998); A History of British Art (1996); Punk and the Pistols (Arena 1995); Zinky Boys Go Underground (1995); The Relique (Arena 1994)

Nikola Kodjabashia is considered to be one of the most eminent representatives of the Balkan and East European musical avant-garde and composer of four critically acclaimed albums. Nikola has scored music for numerous internationally acclaimed and award winning theatre productions in the UK and internationally. Theatre includes: Bacchai (Sir Peter Hall, National Theatre), Kafka's Monkey (Young Vic, world tour), C.A.T.S. Awards 2011 multiple winner The Three Musketeers and The Princess of Spain (Dominic Hill, Traverse Theatre), C.A.T.S. 2014 Awards multiple winners Crime and Punishment, Hamlet, This Restless House, A Christmas Carol and Hansel and Gretel (Dominic Hill, Glasgow Citizen's Theatre), Death of a Salesman (Joe Douglas, Dundee Rep), Scorched (Old Vic), Hecuba (Jonathan Kent, Donmar Warehouse). Other commissions include scores for La Biennale di Venezia 2004, BBC Singers 2010, numerous scores for BBC TV and Radio 2005/10 as well as The National Theatre 2002/3. His music is released by ReR, described by the Guardian as "one of the most adventurous and coherent of avant-rock labels."

Luis F. Carvalho attained ?rst class degrees with hons. in Fashion Design and Technical Arts Design from Central St Martin's College and Wimbledon School of Art respectively. Luis has since worked extensively in theatre and opera throughout the world. Most recent projects include collaborations with Sophie Gilpin - Romeo & Juliet, Rose Theatre Kingston; Mia Theil Have - Penelope X National Opera & Ballet Macedonia; The Collaborators - I Do G Noc Noc 2013; Bruno Ravella - Giulio Cesare, Stand Moutier; Mia Theil Have - Sarha Guimaraes Capital for Culture Europe 2012; Robert Carsen - Turn of the Screw, Theater an der Wien; Mia Theil Have - John Barber We are Shadows Spital?elds Music Festival. Associate collaborations with Paul Brown include: The Phantom of the Opera 2012 UK Tour, Don Giovanni Glyndebourne Opera Festival, The Fairy Queen Glyndebourne Opera Festival, As You Desire Me The Playhouse Theatre; Lucio Silla Santa Fe Opera. www.lfctheatre.com

Glyn Maxwell's plays include Liberty, which was staged at Shakespeare's Globe in 2008, The Lifeblood, which was awarded British Theatre Guide's 'Best Play' on the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004, and The Only Girl In the World, which was a Time Out Critics' Choice at the Arcola in 2008. Several of his plays have been staged in New York City by the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, for whom he is Resident Writer. He has adapted several plays for Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre in Chester, including Wind in the Willows and Cyrano de Bergerac, which he also adapted for BBC Radio in 2015. This summer his new versions of Alice in Wonderland and The Beggars' Opera will be the first plays staged at Chester's new £37m Storyhouse Theatre. He has published many poetry collections, including Pluto, Hide Now, and The Breakage, all of which were shortlisted for the Forward or T.S. Eliot Prizes, and The Nerve, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was awarded a Cholmondeley Prize from the Society of Authors in 2014 for his poetry. His critical guidebook On Poetry (2012) has been described as 'a modern classic' (The Spectator) and 'the best book about poetry I've ever read' (The Guardian), and last year he published its sequel, the novel Drinks With Dead Poets. His opera libretti include The Firework Maker's Daughter, composed by David Bruce, which was nominated for 'Best New Opera' at the Olivier Awards in 2014, The Lion's Face, composed by Elena Langer, and Nothing, which premiered at Glyndebourne in 2016.

Bill Buckhurst directed the hugely successful Sweeney Todd for Tooting Arts Club (Harrington's Pie and Mash Shop, West End and Broadway). Also for Tooting Arts Club, Buckhurst directed Barbarians in 2015 Tinderbox in 2011, Barbarians in 2012 and A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2014. He previously co-directed the international touring production of Shakespeare's Globe's Hamlet alongside Dominic Dromgoole. His other directing credits include The Vegemite Tales in the West End and numerous touring productions for Shakespeare's Globe.

Simon Kenny is a UK based set and costume designer. Future productions include Sleeping Beauty at the Watermill, and the New York off-Broadway transfer of Tooting Arts Club's pie-shop Sweeney Todd at Barrow Street Theatre. His recent designs for theatre include Kander and Ebb's The World Goes Round (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Twelfth Night (Shakespeare's Globe); Caresses at HOME; Barbarians at the abandoned St Martin's School of Art building in Soho, and the West End transfer of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tooting Arts Club); The Ladykillers (Watermill); Fallen Angels (Salisbury Playhouse); Measure For Measure (Cambridge Arts Theatre); a major new national touring production of Saturday Night Fever for Theatre Royal Bath; The Light of Heart and Ghosts at Clwyd Theatr Cymru; The Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare's Globe; the UK premiere of Noel Coward's This Was A Man (Finborough); the London transfer of In The Next Room or the vibrator play at St James Theatre; two American Seasons at the Ustinov Studio, including 4000 Miles (also the Print Room), Fifty Words (also Arcola), Red Light Winter, In A Garden, and In The Next Room or the vibrator play (Winner - Best New Play, Theatre Awards UK); Sherlock's Last Case and Sleuth (Watermill); Island at the National Theatre and the world premiere of Philip Ridley's Feathers in the Snow (Southwark Playhouse).

Olly Fox has been composing music for nearly 20 years, and has composed over 100 scores for theatre productions, many radio plays, television and short films in collaboration with the National Theatre, RSC, Royal Court, Shakespeare's Globe, Channel 4, BBC, and various TV and film production companies. All kinds of commissions have yielded all kinds of styles and genres from Cuban Son Montuno (for Marianne Elliott's highly-acclaimed Much Ado About Nothing, RSC), Jazz-swing and bittersweet barroom Blues (The Life & Times Of Vivienne Vyle, Saunders & French/BBC), Soul, Ska & Reggae (The Frontline, Shakespeare's Globe), cinematic thriller (Inside The Mind Of Hitler, BBC Timewatch), Romantic Classical and Baroque (Royal Collection, BBC/Endemol), and a contemporary classical song-cycle for the internationally-acclaimed counter tenor, Robin Blaze, as Cesare, in Caligari for BBC Radio 3. Some examples of work include: The Life & Times Of Vivienne Vyle (Saunders & French/BBC), No Ball Games (Irresistable Pictures), Nosferatu and Caligari (BBC Radio 3), and for theatre: Women Beware Women (National Theatre),Troilus & Cressida (Shakespeare's Globe), Therese Raquin (National Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC).

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