Simon Stephens' HERONS and More Slated for Lyric Hammersmith's Spring 2016 Season

The Lyric Hammersmith today announces its Spring 2016 Season. They will present the first professional production of Simon Stephen's HERONS since the play premiered at the Royal Court in 2001, directed by the Lyric's Artistic Director Sean Holmes. This is followed by the return of their co- production with Filter Theatre of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM last staged in 2012. Whilst the Royal Opera will present, two contemporary operas, PLEASURE by Mark Simpson featuring well-known British soprano Lesley Garrett and the world premiere of Sarah Kane's 4:48 PSYCHOSIS by Philip Venables, both presented in association with the Lyric.

Currently playing is Laura Wade's electrifying new adaptation of Sarah Waters' bestselling novel, TIPPING THE VELVET, directed by Lyndsey Turner, which will transfer to the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from Wednesday 28 October. Over the festive season audiences will be treated to a new pantomime of CINDERELLA, by Tom Wells, and Raymond Briggs' Father Christmas in the studio.

Sean Holmes, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith said: "We are delighted to announce our 2016 Spring Season - a provocative and playful programme of reimagined texts. The return of Filter's crazed Dream; a disrespectful revival of HERONS - Simon Stephens's searing examination of pained youth - and the premiere of two radical new operas Philip Venables' adaptation of Sarah Kane's 4:48 PSYCHOSIS as well as Mark Simpson's PLEASURE."

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IN THE MAIN HOUSE:

HERONS
By Simon Stephens Directed by Sean Holmes

A Lyric Hammersmith production
Fri 15 January - Sat 13 February 2016

Fifteen years after its first production Simon Stephens' unflinching and incendiary play HERONS returns to the London stage in this new production directed by the Lyric's Artistic Director Sean Holmes.

HERONS is the disturbing and moving story of fourteen-year-old Billy, whose life has been made a misery by a gang. Their brutal campaign of terror finally pushes him towards a terrible and violent act.

Simon Stephens is an Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith and his work for the Lyric includes Punk Rock (also Manchester Royal Exchange. Winner of the 2009 Manchester Evening News Award for Best Production); Three Kingdoms (London, Tallinn and Munich) and Morning. HERONS, was originally staged at the Royal Court in 2001, where his early work also included Bluebird, Country Music and Motortown. His other work includes Harper Regan (National Theatre); Sea Wall, (Bush); Pornography (Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hanover; Edinburgh Festival, Birmingham Rep and Tricycle Theatre); I Am The Wind (Young Vic); Ibsen's A Doll's House (Young Vic and Duke of York's Theatre); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre, West End and Broadway); Carmen Disruption (Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg and Almeida); Birdland (Royal Court); Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (Young Vic); Songs From Faraway (Young Vic); Heisenberg (MTC, New York) and The Funfair, a new version of O?do?n von Horva?th's Kasimir and Karoline, (Home, Manchester). Simon's adaption of Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won the Olivier Award for Best New Play. His other awards include the 2001 Pearson Award for Best Play for Port and the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore of the Wide World. Simon has won the Theater Heute's Award for Motortown, Pornography in 2008 and Wastwater in 2011. Simon is also an Associate Playwright at the Royal Court.

Sean Holmes is Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith and most recently directed its critically acclaimed production of Bugsy Malone. In 2010 he revived Sarah Kane's Blasted at the Lyric and the production was awarded the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. His other theatre credits at the Lyric include A Series of Increasingly Impossible Acts, Chamber Piece, A Streetcar Named Desire, Woyzeck, Cinderella, Desire Under the Elms, Morning, Have I None, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Saved, Ghost Stories, Three Sisters and Comedians.

Cast to be announced.

Directed by Sean Holmes Design by Hyemi Shin Lighting by Paule Constable Sound by Nick Manning

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
By William Shakespeare
Co-Directed by Sean Holmes & Stef O'Driscoll

A Lyric Hammersmith & Filter Theatre Production Sat 20 February - Sat 19 March 2016

The Lyric and Filter's riotous reinterpretation of one of Shakespeare's best loved plays returns to the Lyric, after its critically acclaimed 2012 run.

Featuring music from members of The London Snorkelling Team, this classic tale of young lovers and warring fairies is given a unique and irreverent twist.

Filter is led by actors Oliver Dimsdale and Ferdy Roberts, and composer Tim Phillips and they have been creating innovative, exciting theatre since 2003. Filter originated as a contemporary deviser of new pieces and now the company creates new works of original theatre, as well as incarnations of existing texts. Faster premiered at Battersea Arts Centre in 2003, playing Soho Theatre, the Lyric Hammersmith, then touring the UK, Germany and New York. Water, directed by David Farr for the Lyric Hammersmith in 2007, was revived for the Tricycle, the Sydney Theatre Company and New York's Next Wave Festival, BAM in 2011/2012. Silence, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, premiered in May 2011 at Hampstead Theatre. Filter has produced several interpretations of classic texts: Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle for the National Theatre (2006); Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for the RSC and the Tricycle Theatre (2007); Chekhov's Three Sisters for the Lyric Hammersmith (2010); Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM for the Lyric Hammersmith, Manchester Royal Exchange and a UK Tour (2012) and Macbeth at the Tobacco Factory Theatres and UK Tour (2014/2015).

Cast to be announced.

Created by Filter
Co-Directed by Sean Holmes & Stef O'Driscoll
Design by Hyemi Shin
Sound Design & Original Music by Tom Haines & Chris Branch

PLEASURE
By Mark Simpson
Libretto by Melanie Challenger

Thu 12, Fri 13 & Sat 14 May at 7.30pm

Val works the toilets in 'PLEASURE', a hedonistic gay club in the north of England. For years, she has been a shoulder to cry on and a confidante - much loved but viewed as an enigma. Why is she still there? Why does she never leave? When a young man, both beautiful and unpredictable, arrives from the city and leaves a gift for Val - performed in this premiere production by the well-known British soprano Lesley Garrett - it marks the start of a passionate and violent night.

Born in Liverpool in 1988, composer Mark Simpson won BBC Young Musician of the Year as a clarinettist in 2006 and also, that same year, received the accolade of BBC Young Composer of the Year - the only individual to have won both competitions. In 2010 he won the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Award, and he has a growing catalogue of works to his credit, including his orchestral scores A Mirror Fragment and Threads (both 2008) as well as sparks (2012), which have all been well received. Most recently his oratorio The Immortal was performed to acclaim at the Manchester International Festival. Here he turns to opera for the first time; his librettist is long-time collaborator Melanie Challenger, whose poetry and prose have been widely admired.

Contains themes of an adult nature.

Co-commission and co-production with Aldeburgh Music, Opera North and The Royal Opera.
In association with the Lyric Hammersmith.
Supported by a legacy from Ms D. Kurzman via Arts Council England, the Opera North Future Fund, the Emerald Foundation and the Esme?e Fairbairn Foundation.

Cast includes: Lesley Garrett, Timothy Nelson, Steven Page and Nicholas Pritchard

Conducted by Nicholas Kok Directed by Tim Albery Designed by Leslie Travers Lighting by Malcolm Rippeth Orchestra Psappha

4.48 PSYCHOSIS
By Philip Venables
Based on the play by Sarah Kane

World Premiere
Tue 24, Thu 26, Fri 27 & Sat 28 May at 7.30pm

This new opera by the British composer Philip Venables is an important adaptation of a radical and much-discussed 20th-century play by British playwright Sarah Kane, who took her own life in 1999 at the age of 28. Kane felt that 4.48 in the morning was a time of great clarity, when one's mind could realise its darkest thoughts. This new work is the first time any of Kane's work has been adapted. Partnered with Venables' strong musical language and visceral sense of theatre, it is certain to generate intense interest.

Born in Chester in 1979, Venables is a former pupil of David Sawer and Philip Cashian; his works have been performed by many of the leading ensembles in the UK and elsewhere. He is the first Doctoral Composer in Residence in a joint programme run by The Royal Opera and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and 4.48 PSYCHOSIS is the culmination of this residency.

Contains themes of an adult nature.

A co-commission and co-production with The Royal Opera and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In association with the Lyric Hammersmith.

Cast includes: Gweneth-Ann Jeffers, Clare Presland, Lucy Schaufer, Jennifer Davies*, Emily Edmonds*.

(*members of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, generously supported by the Oak Foundation)

Conducted by Richard Baker Directed by Ted Huffman Designed by Hannah Clark Lighting by D.M. Wood Movement by Sarah Fahie Orchestra CHROMA ensemble

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For tickets, call the box office at 020 8741 6850, or go online at www.lyric.co.uk, or visit in person at Lyric Square, King Street, London, W6 0QL.

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