Wise Children Reveals New Season Including Emma Rice's Adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST

With their co-production with the RSC of The Buddha of Suburbia about to transfer to the Barbican, Wise Children has announced their forthcoming season of work, which includes Artistic Director Emma Rice's brand-new adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, which she also directs. Co-produced by York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse the production previews at York Theatre Royal from 18 March, with press night on 26 March, before touring to Manchester, Liverpool and other UK venues, with full details to be announced soon.

Also announced today, the company's family show The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales will return to their home base The Lucky Chance in Frome over Christmas, running in tandem with a production for younger children, The Ugly Duckling, directed by Mike Shepherd. 2025 also sees the return of their smash-hit production of Wuthering Heights for tour of Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China, with full details coming shortly.

Emma Rice said today, “I feel breathless as I think about the months ahead. Wise Children will be taking work across the planet, up and down the country, and just around the corner. The company will be truly local and international, as we perform our beloved Little Match Girl to neighbours in Frome, new show North by Northwest to friends in Manchester, York, Liverpool and beyond, and returning favourite Wuthering Heights to new audiences in Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. Astonishing! I couldn't be prouder and, as we look ahead to our seventh year, I thank the theatre gods (and my incredible team of actors, musicians, administrators and technicians!) for all their blessings. Imagine playing London's Barbican Centre one month, Frome's Lucky Chance the next, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival weeks later. We are walking through our dreams, and I could jump for joy. Join us for one, or join us for all – this is dizzying.”

A Wise Children, York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse co-production

Alfred Hitchcock'S NORTH BY NORTHWEST 

Adapted and directed by Emma Rice

It would be strange, would it not, if, in a city of seven million people, one man were never mistaken for another...

But that is exactly what happens to Roger Thornhill, reluctant hero of North by Northwest, when a mistimed phone call to his mother lands him smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy. Now he's on the run, dodging spies, airplanes and a femme fatale who might not be all she seems. 

Emma Rice takes on film legend Alfred Hitchcock in this riotously funny reworking that turns the original thriller on its head. With just six shape-shifting performers, a fabulous ‘50s soundtrack and a LOT of hats, this dazzling production plays with the heart, mind and soul. Join us for a night of glamour, romance, jeopardy and a liberal sprinkling of tender truths.

Based on the Turner Entertainment Co. Film North by Northwest

Produced by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Kay & McLean Productions

North by Northwest is a 1959 film, produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason.

Emma Rice is the Artistic Director of Wise Children and is an internationally respected theatre-maker and director. For Wise Children she has adapted and directed The Buddha of Suburbia, Blue Beard, The Little Matchgirl and Happier Tales, Wuthering Heights, Bagdad Café, Angela Carter's Wise Children, Enid Blyton's Malory Towers and Romantics Anonymous. As Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales). Rice worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director, creating critically acclaimed productions including: The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler's Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages), and Steptoe and Son. She received the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre award at the 2019 UK Theatre Awards.  

Wise Children presents

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL AND HAPPIER TALES

Based on the original production written and co-adapted by Joel Horwood and Emma Rice

Directed by Emma Rice

As the Little Match Girl struggles to survive, she strikes her precious matches to keep warm. Each match conjures a new story, and we hold her hand as she tumbles down a rabbit hole of folk tales.

Inspired by the beautiful and poignant Hans Christian Andersen tale and interweaving it with The Princess and the Pea and The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales reveals a spellbinding world of magic and mystery.

Steeped in the metaphor and meaning that run through Andersen's enduring stories, this will be an event to delight, transport, move and surprise. For adults and brave children alike, the show will feature music, puppetry, dark magic... and perhaps some modern truths that we all might rather remain hidden.

The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales will play at The Lucky Chance, Frome, in December with full dates and booking details to be announced at the start of October.

Silent Tide and Wise Children present

Hans Christian Andersen's

THE UGLY DUCKLING

Directed by Mike Shepherd

Puppets by Lyndie Wright

When Mother Duck's eggs start to hatch, one of her ducklings is a little bit different from the others. He's larger, clumsier and just, well, not quite like the rest…

This beautiful new show from Kneehigh's Mike Shepherd fuses storytelling, live music and puppets from Lyndie Wright (The Little Angel) to bring the beloved Hans Christian Andersen tale to life in a sweet, silly and sometimes sad show for children aged three and up.

Mike Shepherd started Kneehigh in 1980 and remained in ‘the middle of things' for over 40 years. Mike is an actor, teacher and director who continues to run the Kneehigh Barns in Cornwall as a home for artists, community and creativity, aiming to ‘tickle, jolt and edify the numb parts of us all back into being'. Shepherd's recent work includes: Calvino Nights, a show for everyone; a pop-up version of The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings; and films Cyrano and Princess and Peppernose with Joe Wright.

Lyndie Wright is founder of the legendary Little Angel Theatre in Islington, London. Her artistic vision has played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of British puppetry and made Lyndie a luminary in the world of puppetry. Designing and making for theatre and film, Wright's puppets have performed for companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company; Kneehigh; Wise Children; and The National Theatre. Lyndie is still making full-time and teaching, passing on her skills to the next generation of artists, and inspiring audiences young and old with her creations. Wright's work can currently be seen in an exhibition at Hauser & Wirth.

The Ugly Duckling Tales will play at The Lucky Chance, Frome, in December with full dates and booking details to be announced at the start of October.

A Wise Children, National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and York Theatre Royal co-production

EMILY BRONTE'S WUTHERING HEIGHTS

Adapted and directed by Emma Rice

After successful UK and US tours, and a run at The National Theatre, Emma Rice's smash-hit adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights returns for an international tour – of Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, with full details to be announced shortly.

The Yorkshire moors tell an epic story of love, revenge and redemption.

Rescued from the Liverpool docks as a child, Heathcliff is adopted by the Earnshaws and taken to live at Wuthering Heights. He finds a kindred spirit in Catherine Earnshaw and a fierce love ignites. When forced apart, a brutal chain of events is unleashed.

Shot through with music, dance, passion and hope, Emma Rice transforms Emily Brontë's masterpiece into a powerful and uniquely theatrical experience. Lucy McCormick leads the company of performers and musicians in this intoxicating revenge tragedy for our time.

“I am Heathcliff! Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

With composition by Ian Ross; set and costume design by Vicki Mortimer; sound and video by Simon Baker; lighting design by Jai Morjaria; movement and choreography by Etta Murfitt.

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