RSC To Tour Roy Williams's DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE
By: Carrie Dunn Sep. 14, 2009
The Royal Shakespeare Company will tour Roy Williams' acclaimed and blisteringly topical play, Days of Significance, to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford, Coventry, Poole, Cardiff and Salford in October and November 2009.
Two young soldiers join their friends to binge-drink the night before they leave for active service in Iraq. Their complex love lives and mortal fears directly impact on their tour of duty. Roy Williams' timely and explosive play examines the aftermath of a war whose conflicts rage far beyond the Iraqi battleground.
Days of Significance enjoyed an initial run at the Swan Theatre in Stratford before a critically acclaimed transfer to the Tricycle Theatre in London. For the Tricycle in 2008, Roy significantly re-worked the text to dramatise and acknowledge the shifting mood of a country now looking at troop withdrawal from Iraq.
RSC Company Dramaturg Jeanie O'Hare says of the changes to the play: "Roy's play is very funny and captures the other side of the news. It is a captivating portrait of young people pitting their wits against a political war they find baffling. Roy captures the subtle moods and atmospheres of disillusion and desperation of small town life. He looks at how we make our young soldiers into extreme versions of themselves and then we dump them back into the life they left. His characters have an inventive wit, which when mixed with cigarettes, sex and alcohol becomes lethal. It drives them tumbling into an uncertain future."
Roy Williams is one of the UK's most exciting playwrights. His recent work includes the stage adaptation of Absolute Beginners (Lyric Hammersmith), Joe Guy (Tiata Fahodzi in association with Soho Theatre and New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich), Fallout (Royal Court), Baby Girl and Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads (National Theatre and tour). He was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2001 for Clubland (Royal Court), the Alfred Fagon Award in 1997, and the OBE in 2008.
Commenting on what inspired him to write the play, Roy says: "Like others, I was against the war [in Iraq], but I had no interest in writing about the people in power. I remember watching a news item on telly about young people binge drinking at the weekends in city centres across the country. I wanted to capture that image and put it on the stage ... young men returning from war, first love, old love."
Days of Significance is directed by Maria Aberg. Maria directed the original production, and her other directorial work includes State of Emergency (Gate Theatre), Crime and Punishment (National Theatre), Alaska (Royal Court), Gustav III (National Theatre of Sweden) and Stallerhof (Southwark Playhouse). The production is designed by Lizzie Clachan, the lighting designer is David Holmes, the composer is Carolyn Dowing, the movement director is Ayse Tashkira and the fight director is Malcolm Ranson.
The cast is: Danny Dalton (Tony/Sean), Jason Deer, Simon Harrison (Steve), Scott Hazell, Steven Helliwell (Vince/Darren), David Kennedy (Lenny), Luke Norris (Dan), George Rainsford (Jamie), Mark Theodore (Brookes/Bouncer), Venetia Campbell (Donna), Sandy Foster (Clare), Sheryl Gannaway (Wedding Guest), Joanna Horton (Hannah) and Sarah Ridgeway (Trish).
Venetia Campbell, Danny Dalton, Simon Harrison, Luke Norris and Mark Theodore were all members of the original Days of Significance cast.
Tour Schedule
Northern Stage, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
21-24 October 2009
Box Office: 0191 230 5151 or www.northernstage.co.uk
Tickets on sale now.
Oxford Playhouse, Oxford
27-31 October 2009
Box Office: 01865 305305 or www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Public booking opens 30 March
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
3-7 November 2009
Box Office: 024 7655 3055 or www.belgrade.co.uk.
Contact Box Office for details of onsale dates.
Lighthouse, Poole's Centre for the Arts
10-14 November 2009
Box Office: 0844 406 8666
Contact Box Office for details of onsale dates.
Sherman, Cardiff
17-21 November 2009
Box Office 029 2064 6900 or www.shermancymru.co.uk
Tickets on sale now.
The Lowry, Salford
24-28 November 2009
0870 787 5793 or www.thelowry.com
Public booking opens on 3 July.
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