THE STORY GIANT Brings Four Children From Different Corners Of The World Together In Dreamtime This Easter

This Easter a magical storytelling adventure for all the family will be brought to life by the Everyman Company. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Mersey Sound, the Hope Street venue will present a new adaptation of The Story Giant. The production runs from Thursday 13 April to Saturday 29 April and features Richard Bremmer as the eponymous Story Giant.

Once upon a time, as darkness falls, four children from different corners of the world meet in dreamtime. By the flickering firelight, up the spiral staircase of his crumbling library, the Story Giant waits for them. He is older than memory, older than time and for generations he has collected stories like falling stars.

The ancient Story Giant, collector and keeper of all the world's stories, enlists their help to find the one missing tale. The four children, from different backgrounds, exchange the tales they know from their own cultures, to see if between them they can piece together the elusive missing story. If they cannot track it down the castle will crumble and fall, and the Story Giant himself will die. And if he does, so will all the stories, and the world will be a poorer, duller, grimmer place.

Brian Patten's story has been adapted by Lindsay Rodden (Writer-In-Residence, Live Theatre) and is directed by Matt Rutter. The production is part of Liverpool's Summer of Love and a celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Mersey Sound.

Richard Bremmer will play the Story Giant. He was last at the Everyman in 2011 for Macbeth and his theatre credits include Krapp's Last Tape / A Kind of Alaska (Bristol Old Vic) and The Last Days of Troy (Royal Exchange, Manchester). He is joined by Melanie La Barrie (The Lorax, Old Vic Theatre; Matilda, RSC), Tom Kanji (The Winter's Tale / Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's Globe), Asha Kingsley (Coronation Street, ITV; The Queen and I, Arcola) and Elliott Kingsley who came through Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP) auditions to take up a training place in The Company.

Everyman & Playhouse Artistic Director Gemma Bodinetz said: "We are thrilled to be representing Brian Patten's work as our contribution to the 50th Anniversary of The Mersey Sound. The Story Giant is a magical tale for children that contains all the poetry and humanity one associates with Brian's writing for adults. We hope that this new theatrical incarnation of Brian's imagination will inspire the next generation of storytellers and poets to create a voice as fresh and distinct as he, Roger and Adrian did all those years ago."

Brian Patten came to prominence in the 1960s as one of the Liverpool Poets, their joint anthology, The Mersey Sound has been credited as one of the most significant anthologies of the twentieth century for its success in bringing poetry to new audiences. Brian has published over sixty books and his work has been translated into many European languages. His book Gargling with Jelly was adapted for the stage and performed at the Everyman in 1990.

For tickets and more information, visit www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/the-story-giant.

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