A Night Less Ordinary launches
Feature by Lizzie Guilfoyle
THE Arts Council England’s under-26 free theatre scheme, A Night Less Ordinary, has been launched, with 12 of London’s leading producing theatres working together to offer a wide range of productions, workshops and activities for young people.
Taking part are the Almeida Theatre, BAC, Bush Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Greenwich Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Royal Court, Soho Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Young Vic, facilitated by Audiences London, the regional audience development agency.
Free tickets will be available for productions and events, including Tom Kempinski’s Duet For One (Almeida Theatre), Neil LaBute’s Wrecks (Bush Theatre), Noël Coward’s Private Lives (Hampstead Theatre), Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith), Marius von Mayenburg’s The Stone (Royal Court), In-Sook Chappell’s This Isn’t Romance (Soho Theatre), and Mad Blud (Theatre Royal Stratford East).
London’s young people will have the opportunity to explore some of London’s most imaginative theatres through back stage tours, post-show debates, meet-the-director sessions and workshops on topics from playwriting to percussion, musical theatre to stage combat. And at participating theatres, free tickets will be available to young people aged 25 and under until March 2011.
Speaking about the scheme, Moira Sinclair, Executive Director of Arts Council England, London said:
“At Arts Council England we believe that the arts should lie at the heart of national life, and this scheme marks another important step in realising our ambitions. Young Londoners will have free access to hundreds of performances in over 20 boroughs across the capital. This scheme not only gives young people something different to do for one night – it offers the chance to develop the habit of a lifetime – once experienced, the range and quality of the productions on offer will prove to be irresistible to future theatre goers.”
A Night Less Ordinary is an Arts Council England scheme in association with Metro, which will provide 618,000 free theatre tickets to anyone under 26 in more than 200 venues across England. For more information about the scheme visit the Official Website