Royal & Derngate Unveils 2015 MADE IN NORTHAMPTON Season

Building on the successes of Made in Northampton 2014, Royal & Derngate's Artistic Director James Dacre today announced details of his second season: Made in Northampton 2015.

Introducing the season, Dacre said: "Our Made in Northampton 2015 season aims to reflect the energy and range synonymous with Royal & Derngate, staging classic stories in imaginative new ways and premiering stories that need to be told today. This new season of epic plays looks back to the 12th Century Northampton of King John and forward to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World of 2540. In the company of some of our largest ever casts, audiences will enter the Elizabethan garden of Peter Whelan's The Herbal Bed, the Brooklyn waterfront of Arthur Miller's The Hook, the terrifying Victorian world of Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight, the frozen land of Georgia Pritchett's The Snow Queen and the Parisian streets of Cyrano De Bergerac. But wherever and whenever these plays are set, they have been chosen or commissioned because I believe that each reflects and considers an experience of life in Britain today."

On the Royal stage, the season starts in April with CYRANO DE BERGERAC, in a co-production with Northern Stage of Anthony Burgess' translation of Edmond Rostand's epic play. It will be directed by Northern Stage Artistic Director Lorne Campbell, who said: "This is a play of true scale, and Royal & Derngate and Northern Stage collaborating again in this way allows us both to create something this ambitious for our stages. It is a remarkable play in a remarkable version. An epic and profoundly human love story about the greatness and weakness that lives in all of us."

Also in April, to mark the 800th anniversary year of the Magna Carta, Artistic Director James Dacre will direct Shakespeare's KING JOHN in the twelfth century Holy Sepulchre Church in Northampton, which was often visited by King John and his court. Partly set in Northampton, Shakespeare's early history play charts one King's struggle to retain the crown against claims that he is not the rightful heir. This ambitious new production will see a large company of actors and musicians transport the church back in time to a twelfth century world of politics, power struggles, unlikely alliances and inheritance battles. Written during a time of great political uncertainty, King John will explore, in this election year, whether the power struggles of the ruling class have changed. This production, which will tour nationally, sees Royal & Derngate co-producing for the first time with Shakespeare's Globe.

Amidst the political tensions of 1950s America, Arthur Miller's THE HOOK was suppressed by the FBI for fear that it could cause unrest in New York's dockyards. To mark the centenary of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's birth, Royal & Derngate and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse will co-produce the world premiere of Miller's 'play for the screen' adapted for the stage by Emmy Award-winning Ron Hutchinson, directed by James Dacre. Sixty years on, the dockyards of Brooklyn's epic waterfront will come alive on the Royal stage for the extraordinary story of Marty Ferrara, a longshoreman who challenges the mobsters and gangs of '50s New York and takes a stand against the corruption he witnesses from the authorities who control the docks. The story of a close-knit community grappling with a world of crime and punishment, of changing industry and immigration from abroad, The Hook is a study in integrity and betrayal, charting one man's struggle for meaningful change.

In September, Aldous Huxley's ground-breaking novel BRAVE NEW WORLD will be brought to life in a new version by multi-award-winning young playwright Dawn King (Foxfinder, Ciphers), opening at Royal & Derngate before a major National Tour. First written in 1932, yet still shedding a blazing light on the present, this world premiere production is directed by James Dacre, with original music by These New Puritans, whose last album was described by Record Collector as "arguably the musical achievement of the 2010s so far." Brave New World marks the latest co-production with Touring Consortium Theatre Company, following on from the success of Regeneration and To Sir, With Love, and will embark on a nationwide tour after opening in Northampton in September.

In October, Lucy Bailey, celebrated for her revisionist stagings of Baby Doll, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Dial M For Murder, will direct Patrick Hamilton's powerful psychological drama GASLIGHT, a classic mystery thriller in which a marriage is shaken to its core.

For Christmas 2015 on the Royal stage, the theatre presents a life-affirming new version of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale THE SNOW QUEEN, by Emmy Award-nominated comedy writer Georgia Pritchett (Miranda, My Family, Not Going Out) with music by MTM and Off West End Award-winning composer Dougal Irvine (The Bacchae, Blood Wedding at Royal & Derngate). Directed by Sarah Tipple(Dirty Dancing, West End and Madama Butterfly, ENO), this co-production marks the second year of a new partnership between Royal & Derngate, Northampton, and Nuffield, Southampton, which sees them collaboratively commission, develop and produce annual adaptations of well-loved children's titles to play at both theatres across two Christmas seasons.

In February 2016, Royal & Derngate will collaborate with English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston on a major revival of Peter Whelan's THE HERBAL BED. The production will open at Royal & Derngate ahead of a national tour, completing its run at the Rose Theatre Kingston.

As part of an 18-month long Heritage Lottery Funded project, in which Royal & Derngate is working with Northampton Museum and Art Gallery to explore the legacy of World War I on the town, theatre-maker and writer Daniel Bye (Story Hunt) returns to Northampton with a brand new play inspired by stories gathered locally. AFTERMATH has been developed with members of the community and will be performed by the theatre's community acting group and members of its youth theatre, directed and staged by emerging director Rebecca Frecknall. Royal & Derngate's Young Company will also stage a new commission by Oladipo Agboluaje (The Hounding of David Oluwaleand Iya Ile).

Royal & Derngate is committed to supporting the best emerging talent both locally and nationally. In addition to its Writer's Forum, JMK Directors Group, Actors Company, Community Choir, Youth Theatre and Young Company, Royal & Derngate will also host emerging director Jesse Jones on an 18-month residency as part of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme. This residency supplements partnerships with Stage One, the National Theatre Studio and the JMK Trust which allow the theatre to engage emerging artists in Made in Northampton productions. This year, Royal & Derngate has also hosted open auditions for actors within the region and has begun to develop initiatives with the University of Northampton for supporting local theatre-makers.

At the launch of the 2014 Made in Northampton season, James Dacre announced two new prizes - the Perfect Pitch / Royal & Derngate Award for new musicals, and the Royal & Derngate / HighTide Award for playwriting.

In March 2014, the Perfect Pitch Award went to the team of Chris Bush and Matthew Winkworth, for their musical ODD - a contemporary adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. The writers were awarded a major commission to complete a full draft over a twelve month period, supported and mentored throughout by Royal & Derngate and Perfect Pitch. As part of its further development, Odd will be presented in a public staged concert performance on the Royal stage on 20 February.

This summer, Northampton-born playwright Melanie Spencer was announced as the winner of the Royal & Derngate / HighTide Award. This new award was designed to commission and develop plays which examine life outside of our major cities; original work which explores and has its roots in those towns and rural communities that make up the majority of the population.

For more information about any of the Made In Northampton productions visit www.royalandderngate.co.uk. Individual shows can be booked online or by calling Box Office on 01604 624811.

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