Lyric Hammersmith - Autumn/Winter 2015
Season preview
THE Lyric Hammersmith has announced its programme for Autumn/Winter 2015.
Following the success of Posh, Laura Wade and Lyndsey Turner reunite to bring a new adaptation of Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet to the Lyric’s main stage in September.
And over the festive season, a new pantomime of Cinderella, written by Tom Wells, will play on the main stage, while Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas returns to the Studio.
Sean Holmes, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith said: “We are delighted to announce another typically eclectic Lyric season. As well as our much loved Seasonal favourites Father Christmas and Lyric Panto returning we have a world premiere with the stage adaptation of Tipping The Velvet. Sarah Waters Laura Wade and Lyndsey Turner – what a team.’
Adapted by Laura Wade and directed by Lyndsey Turner, the world premiere of Tipping the Velvet runs in the Main House from Friday, September 18 to Saturday, October 24, 2015.
It’s 1887 and Nancy Astley sits in the audience at her local music hall: she doesn’t know it yet, but the next act on the bill will change her life. Tonight is the night she’ll fall in love… with the thrill of the stage and with Kitty Butler, a girl who wears trousers. Giddy with desire and hungry for experience, Nancy follows Kitty to London where unimaginable adventures await.
Sarah Waters said: “I am absolutely thrilled that Tipping the Velvet is to be brought to life on the stage of the Lyric Hammersmith. I can think of no better setting for the play than the lush Lyric interior, and no more exciting creative talents than those of writer Laura Wade and director Lyndsey Turner. The production promises to be full of energy, fun and music-hall sparkle – in other words, everything I could hope for. I am simply delighted.”
Sarah Waters has written six novels: Tipping the Velvet (1998, Betty Trask Award); Affinity (1999, Somerset Maugham Award, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award); Fingersmith (2002, short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, and won the South Bank Show Award for Literature and the CWA Historical Dagger); The Night Watch (2006, shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize); The Little Stranger (2009, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the South Bank Show Literature Award) and The Paying Guests (2014, shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction).
TV and film adaptations include Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith and The Night Watch for the BBC and Affinity for ITV.
Laura Wade most recently wrote the screenplay for The Riot Club, an adaption of her 2010 play Posh, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2014. Directed by Lone Scherfig, the film stars Max Irons, Sam Claflin and Douglas Booth. Posh opened at the Duke of York’s in 2012 having originally played at the Royal Court in 2010.
Her other work includes the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Kreutzer vs Kreutzer (Sydney Opera House and Australian national tour); Alice, a new adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield) directed by Lyndsey Turner and Other Hands (Soho Theatre).
In 2006, Wade won the Pearson Most Promising Playwright Award and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for her plays Colder Than Here (Soho Theatre) and Breathing Corpses (Royal Court).
Lyndsey Turner’s credits include Chimerica (Almeida/West End), Fathers and Sons (Donmar Warehouse), Contractions, A Miracle and Our Private Life (Royal Court); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Edgar And Annabel and There Is A War (National Theatre); Joseph K and Nocturnal (Gate Theatre); My Romantic History (Traverse/Bush/Sheffield Theatres) and The Lesson (Arcola).
Turner has worked at the Royal Court as Trainee Associate Director and International Associate and as associate director at Sheffield Theatres where her work includes Alice and The Way of the World. Later in 2015, She will also be directing Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet at The Barbican.
Tipping the Velvet will be designed by Lizzie Clachan, with choreography by Alistair David, lighting by Jon Clark, music by Michael Bruce and sound by Nick Manning. Casting is still to be announced.
Cinderella runs in the Main House from Saturday, November 21, 2015 to Sunday, January 3, 2016.
Following the success of Jack and the Beanstalk and Dick Whittington and his Cat, award-winning playwright Tom Wells pens another traditional panto with plenty of festive fun in true Lyric style.
Casting is still to be announced.
Adapted by Pins and Needles, Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas returns to the Lyric Studio for the fourth year, running from Friday, November 20 to Thursday, December 24, 2015.
Based on the book by Raymond Briggs, Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas follows Santa as he awakes from a dream of sun, sea and sand only to find it is the busiest day of the year: Christmas Eve. This timeless festive story bursts into life with live music, playful puppets and a masterfully magical set.
Directed by Emma Earle, Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas will be designed by Zoe Squire, with lighting by George Ogilvie and music and sound by Lucy Rivers. Puppet designer and maker is Max Humphries.
This production is suitable for little people under the age of 6.
The new stage production of Bugsy Malone continues at the Lyric Hammersmith until August 1, 2015.