Camden People's Theatre - January to June 2016
Season preview
WITH a brand new youth theatre, three festivals, four major premieres, and (almost) 100 shows from some of the most inspiring contemporary theatre makers in the UK, Spring at Camden People’s Theatre will have something to suit all tastes.
Calculating Kindness (March 29 to April 16), a new co-production between CPT and Undercurrent, explores the extraordinary life of American scientist George Price (1922-75), who lived yards from CPT in Tolmers Square.
Price formulated an equation widely acknowledged as the mathematical explanation for the evolution of altruism – something science had been trying to do since Darwin. The magnitude of this discovery shook Price’s atheism to the core. Three years later, Price was discovered in a squat having taken his own life.
Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Will Adamsdale presents his new play The Joke (May 17 to June 4), featuring an Englishman, an Irish man and a Scotsman (CPT’s very own Brian Logan) who become trapped in a joke. The play explores humour, countries, life, and why we need them.
The Joke is the latest from the creator of Jacksons Way, The Victorian in the Wall and Borders.
Several shows take a sideways look at the impact of digital technology on our lives. Coney’s REMOTE (April 19 to April 30) is a participatory exploration of the algorithms that make the internet tick. The ever popular Beta Public returns for Beta Public Presents (April 19 to April 23), a series of wild and weird gaming/theatre crossover experiments, and Thomas Martin’s Human Basic (April 26 and 27) is a story-show that asks questions about identity, intimacy and communication, informed by the shifting pluralism of internet culture.
Venues and producers from across the UK take over the building as part of A Nation’s Theatre (May 3 to May 19), a London wide celebration of theatre making across the nation. Arc Stockton, Derby Theatre and Buzzcut (Glasgow), curate a compelling line up of homegrown artists including the likes of Daniel Bye, Luca Rutherford, Ivo and Jack Britton.
As part of A Nation’s Theatre, CPT partners with BAC to present All Tomorrow’s Theatre (May 19), a day exploring Artist Support programmes, with work from some of the most exciting platforms in the country.
The season features two major festivals. In January, Whose London Is It Anyway? (January 9 to January 31) is a major festival of new work by early career theatre makers exploring the London housing crisis, the impact of regeneration, and the changing face of Europe’s only megacity, headlined by CPT’s in-house production, directed by Brian Logan, This is Private Property (January 13 to January 30).
And Sprint (March 3 to March 26) returns for the 20th annual celebration of the newest, most unusual festival, with highlights including Atres Bandes, Hannah Sullivan, Jamie Wood and lots more.
Spring also sees CPT join forces with Fitzrovia Centre and New Diorama Theatre to launch Camden Youth Theatre, a new creative club for 13-19 year olds in the area. The company will share their inaugural performance as part of Sprint 2016.
For CPT’s full Spring 2016 programme visit www.cptheatre.co.uk/whats-on/upcoming-shows/.