Theatre Royal Plymouth Sets Spring Season

Simon Stokes, Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Plymouth, today announces an exciting season of new plays at the Theatre Royal Plymouth.

A smash hit at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe and a Theatre Royal Plymouth co-production with Graeae, Jack Thorne's The Solid Life Of Sugar Water returns to Theatre Royal Plymouth as part of a seven-venue UK tour, including a run at the National Theatre.

This is followed by the world première of Monster Raving Loony, a new comedy from James Graham and directed by Simon Stokes, which tells the story of British democracy and Screaming Lord Sutch by way of a whistle-stop tour through post-war British comedy.

The second world première of the season is Phil Porter's The Man with the Hammer. The booming popularity of cycling in Britain is the backdrop to the story of Jodie & her father, Tony.

Completing the season is Russian Play-Readings: Power, Politics and Performance in Russia - a series of four play-readings by contemporary Russian writers taking place from 12-15 January at the Frontline Club in West London.

Artistic Director Simon Stokes said today, "It's always fascinating to be tracking the eventful journey of a vital new play from commission through to performance, particularly when these writers, James Graham and Phil Porter, are so experienced and on their game. And when you add the immense talents of Jack Thorne and Amit Sharma with the Graeae team to the programme and get a peek, too, at some of the best writers currently operating in Russia just now, then I really think we in Plymouth have a bit of a theatrical feast in prospect this Spring."

Theatre Royal Plymouth and the Frontline Club in association with Sputnik Theatre Company present

Russian Play-Readings: Power, Politics and Performance in Russia

12 - 15 January at the Frontline Club, London

Translated by Noah Birksted-Breen

Four contemporary Russian play-readings at The Frontline Club, London, the plays give a kaleidoscopic picture of the challenges of living in modern Russia.

Doctor
By Elena Iseva
12 January at 7pm

A touching portrait of a doctor's journey from medical graduate to leading surgeon in rural Russia.

Zhanna (Joan)
By Yaroslava Pulinovich
13 January at 7pm

A successful business woman takes revenge on her lover after she is jilted at the altar. Zhanna is a tale of misogyny, love and ruthless business practice in 1990s Russia.

Grandchildren: The Second Act
By Alexandra Polivanova and Mikhail Kaluzhsky
14 January at 7pm

Taking testimony from the grandchildren of Stalin's inner circle, the play explores whether familial loyalties outweigh historic truths.

The War Has Not Yet Started
By Mikhail Durnenkov
15 January at 7pm

Depicting the perverse logic of self-destruction; a dark comedy about the dehumanising effects of living in a society on the brink of an all-out war.

Following the readings there will discussions on issues raised by the plays led by eminent Russian and British writers and journalists including Elena Gremina, Artistic Director of Moscow's beleaguered Teatr.Doc, Luke Harding of The Guardian, BBC foreign correspondent Gabriel Gatehouse, Alexandrina Markvo, recently granted political asylum in the UK, Oliver Bullough, author of 'The Last Man in Russia: And the Struggle to Save a Dying Nation' and Vladimir Ashurkov, Executive Director of Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.

THE DRUM

Graeae & Theatre Royal Plymouth co-production

The Solid Life of Sugar Water

By Jack Thorne

20 - 30 January

Press night: 29 February at 7pm, National Theatre

Director: Amit Sharma

Following rave reviews and audience acclaim at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Graeae Theatre Company and Theatre Royal Plymouth's co-production of The Solid Life of Sugar Water by Jack Thorne will be embarking on a seven-venue national tour in early 2016. Following its Theatre Royal Plymouth run, 20-30 January, it tours to Birmingham, Manchester, Lancaster, Hull and Cambridge, culminating with a run at the National Theatre in London from 26 February to 19 March.

A tender, compelling and unsettling play, The Solid Life of Sugar Water follows the journey of a young couple, Phil and Alice, as they attempt to rediscover their relationship following a stillbirth. The Solid Life of Sugar Water is a play about love, loss and the ways in which two people in a relationship deal with tragedy.

Premiering at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the production picked up three five-star reviews (including from The Observer) and fifteen four-star reviews from across the national press. It was also awarded the most accessible production at the fringe at the inaugural Euan's Guide Awards.

Amit Sharma directs. Sharma has been Graeae's Associate Director since 2011, and is a graduate from Graeae's Missing Piece actor training course. In summer 2012, Amit co-directed the outdoor spectacle Prometheus Awakes (GDIF and SIRF), marking the first large-scale outdoor production to be artistically led by Deaf and disabled people in the UK. Also for Graeae, he directed Ted Hughes' The Iron Man which toured both nationally and internationally and co-directed Graeae's Rhinestone Rollers in Sequins and Snowballs with Jenny Sealey at the Southbank Centre. He has worked extensively as an actor and director for various companies including the BBC, the National Theatre, Tamasha Theatre Company, East 15 Drama School and The Unicorn where he was part of the Ensemble.

Arthur Hughes (Phil) and Genevieve Barr (Alice) will reprise the roles they created for the run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Arthur Hughes has acted in several productions for the Richard Burton Company and was a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company in 2013, receiving the Carleton Hobbs Award. Genevieve Barr is best known for BBC One primetime drama The Silence for which she received BAFTA and International Emmy nominations for Best Actress. Additionally, she has appeared in Channel 4's Shameless, also written by Jack Thorne.

Jack Thorne is an award-winning writer for stage, television and film. His new play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child written with JK Rowling, will open in the West End in 2016. He recently adapted the cult-novel and film Let the Right One In for the stage, which played to sell-out audiences at the Royal Court, in London's West End and in New York. He previously collaborated with Graeae on co-writing the radio adaptation of Hunchback. For television, his credits include The Last Panthers, Glue, Skins, Shameless and This is England.

The Solid Life of Sugar Water will include a creative combination of captioning and audio description.

About Graeae
Graeae is a force for change in world-class theatre - breaking down barriers, challenging preconceptions and boldly placing Deaf and disabled artists centre stage. Artistically led by Jenny Sealey, Graeae's signature characteristic is the compelling creative integration of sign language and audio description, which engages brilliantly with both disabled and non- disabled audiences. Championing accessibility and providing a platform for new generations of artists, Graeae leads the way in pioneering, trail-blazing theatre. Graeae won the Promotion of Diversity Award at the TMA Theatre Awards UK 2012. www.graeae.org

Recommended for ages 16+. Contains language of an adult and sexual nature.

THE DRUM

A Theatre Royal Plymouth Production

Monster Raving Loony

By James Graham

6 - 27 February

Press night: 10 February at 7.45pm

Director: Simon Stokes

Monster Raving Loony is a fast-paced and hilarious journey using the life and exploits of Screaming Lord Sutch to examine the state of the nation and Britain's post-war identity crisis. Featuring a full house of 'cameos' of iconic comedians, sitcom characters and stand-ups it asks if the British sense of humour can begin to uncover who we are, where we have been and where we might be going next.

Seen through the eyes of one extraordinary man, Monster Raving Loony is a theatrical feast for the heart and mind from acclaimed writer James Graham (whose play The Angry Brigade ran at Theatre Royal Plymouth in 2014). Directed by the Theatre Royal Plymouth's Artistic Director, Simon Stokes.

James Graham is a playwright and film and television writer who won the Pearson Playwriting Bursary in 2006 and went on to win the Catherine Johnson Award for the Best Play in 2007 for his play Eden's Empire. His play The Vote (Donmar Warehouse) aired in real time on television in the final 90 minutes of the 2015 polling day. His other plays include This House (National Theatre), The Angry Brigade (Theatre Royal Plymouth and Paines Plough), Tory Boyz for the National Youth Theatre, and The Whisky Taster (Bush Theatre). James has written the book for Finding Neverland the musical with music by Gary Barlow which is currently on Broadway. His television work includes Caught in a Trap. For films, his credits include X and Y. He is currently adapting the bestselling book Gypsy Boy as a feature film also for BBC Film and working with the Weinstein Co. on an adaptation of Mrs Queen Takes the Train.

Simon Stokes was Artistic Director at the Bush Theatre in London from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s. Thereafter he was Artistic Associate and Director of Development for the Turnstyle Group in the West End. An international director, Simon's work includes Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Bush Theatre with Simon Callow and Mark Rylance; When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream and Shout by Sharman Macdonald, with Julie Walters, Geraldine James and Dawn French in the West End and subsequently in the USA and A Slip of the Tongue by Dusty Hughes, at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago and in the West End, with John Malkovich and Ingeborga Dapkunaite. In Plymouth, Simon has directed Carl Grose's Grand Guignol and Horse Piss for Blood, The Astronaut's Chair by Rona Munro, Nostalgia by Lucinda Coxon, Moonshine by Snoo Wilson and both The Green Man and Presence by Doug Lucie. Among an ongoing series of collaborations with Simon Callow have been Inside Wagner's Head at the Lynbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House and Emmanuel Darley's Tuesdays At Tesco's in Edinburgh and New York.

THE DRUM

A Theatre Royal Plymouth Production

The Man with the Hammer

By Phil Porter

10 - 26 March

Press night: 15 March at 7.45pm

Director: Justin Audibert

A powerful story about hope, desire and the danger of obsession.

And so it begins.

We climb on, we clip in, we cycle, climb a hill, breathe deep, near the top, change up, push on...

Jodie cycles to college every day but something happened and she started skipping lessons. She has a crush on her hero. She can't shake the feeling she's being chased.

Change up, push hard, legs burn...

Plumber Tony's got a dodgy shoulder. He only bought his bike to impress his daughter, now he's hooked.

Teeth hurt, fingernails hurt, everything hurts...

A charismatic pro-cyclist, Noah's just the man to lead his tarnished sport into a bright new era.

But we push on and we push on. In search of that snowblind peace, that magical frequency. In search of The Man with the Hammer.

From the writer of The Christmas Truce (RSC 2014), Blink (Soho Theatre/Broadway) and The Cracks In My Skin (Manchester Royal Exchange).

Justin Audibert directs. He is Artistic Associate for HighTide Festival Theatre. Recent directing credits include The Jew of Malta (RSC), Beached (Marlowe Theatre and Soho Theatre), Wing Man (Soho Theatre, Pleasance Edinburgh), Raymondo (BAC, Summerhall, Pulse Festival), World Enough and Times (Park Theatre), Unscorched (Finborough Theatre), The Fu Manchu Complex (Oval House), A Season In The Congo: Parallel Project (Clare, Young Vic), Wrong' Un (Red Ladder), Gruesome Playground Injuries (Gate Theatre), The Tempest (RSC Shakespeare in a Suitcase). In 2012 he was the Acting Coach for the finalists of BBC 2's Shakespeare Off By Heart. He was the recipient of the 2012 Leverhulme Award for Emerging Directors.

Phil Porter's plays include The Christmas Truce, Here Lies Mary Spindler (RSC), Blink (Soho/nabokov/Off-Broadway), The Reprobates (Hightide), The Cracks In My Skin (Manchester Royal Exchange, Bruntwood Award winner) and Stealing Sweets & Punching People (Theatre 503/Off-Broadway). He has edited/adapted A Mad World My Masters and The Tempest (RSC) and the English version of Janos Hay's The Stonewatcher (National Theatre). Plays for young audiences include The Flying Machine (Unicorn), Smashed Eggs (Pentabus, Brian Way Award winner) and adaptations of Cinderella (Unicorn), Tove Jansson's Moominsummer Madness (Northampton Theatre Royal/Polka) and Tim Bowler's Starseeker (Northampton Theatre Royal). Current projects include commissions for Soho Theatre and the RSC.

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