Lyric Hammersmith - Spring 2016
Season preview
THE Lyric Hammersmith has announced its Spring 2016 Season and it includes the first professional production of Simon Stephens’ Herons since the play premiered at the Royal Court in 2001, and the return of their co-production with Filter Theatre of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, last staged in 2012.
The Royal Opera will also present two contemporary operas – Pleasure by Mark Simpson featuring well-known British soprano Lesley Garrett and the world premiere of Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis by Philip Venables, both presented in association with the Lyric.
Directed by Sean Holmes, Simon Stephens’ Herons runs from Friday, January 15 to Saturday, February 13.
Described as an unflinching and incendiary play, Herons is the disturbing and moving story of fourteen-year-old Billy, whose life has been made a misery by a gang. Their brutal campaign of terror finally pushes him towards a terrible and violent act.
Simon Stephens is an Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith, where his work includes Punk Rock (also Manchester Royal Exchange. Winner of the 2009 Manchester Evening News Award for Best Production); Three Kingdoms (London, Tallinn and Munich); and Morning. His adaption of Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won the Olivier Award for Best New Play. His other awards include the 2001 Pearson Award for Best Play for Port and the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore of the Wide World.
Sean Holmes is Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith and most recently directed its critically acclaimed production of Bugsy Malone. In 2010, he revived Sarah Kane’s Blasted at the Lyric and the production was awarded the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.
Herons will be designed by Hyemi Shin, with lighting by Paule Constable and sound by Nick Manning. Casting is still to be announced.
Co-Directed by Sean Holmes and Stef O’Driscoll, William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs from Saturday, February 20 to Saturday, March 19.
The Lyric and Filter’s riotous reinterpretation of one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays returns to the Lyric after its critically acclaimed 2012 run. Featuring music from members of The London Snorkelling Team, this classic tale of young lovers and warring fairies is given a unique and irreverent twist.
Filter is led by actors Oliver Dimsdale and Ferdy Roberts, and composer Tim Phillips and they have been creating innovative, exciting theatre since 2003. As well as Faster, Water and Silence, Filter has produced several interpretations of classic texts, including Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle for the National Theatre (2006); Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night for the RSC and the Tricycle Theatre (2007); and Chekhov’s Three Sisters for the Lyric Hammersmith (2010).
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be designed by Hyemi Shin, with sound design and original music by Tom Haines and Chris Branch. Casting is still to be announced.
Pleasure by Mark Simpson (making his opera debut), with libretto by Melanie Challenger, runs from Thursday, May 12 to Saturday, May 14 at 7.30pm.
Val works the toilets in ‘Pleasure’, a hedonistic gay club in the north of England. For years, she has been a shoulder to cry on and a confidante – much loved but viewed as an enigma. Why is she still there? Why does she never leave? When a young man, both beautiful and unpredictable, arrives from the city and leaves a gift for Val – performed in this premiere production by the well-known British soprano Lesley Garrett – it marks the start of a passionate and violent night.
The cast will also include Timothy Nelson, Steven Page and Nicholas Pritchard.
Pleasure will be conducted by Nicholas Kok, directed by Tim Albery and designed by Leslie Travers, with lighting by Malcolm Rippeth and the Orchestra Psappha.
Pleasure contains themes of an adult nature.
The world premiere of 4.48 Psychosis by Philip Venables, based on the play by Sarah Kane, will be performed on May 24, 26, 27 and 28 at 7.30pm.
This new opera by the British composer Philip Venables is an important adaptation of a radical and much-discussed 20th-century play by British playwright Sarah Kane, who took her own life in 1999 at the age of 28. Kane felt that 4.48 in the morning was a time of great clarity, when one’s mind could realise its darkest thoughts. This new work is the first time any of Kane’s work has been adapted. Partnered with Venables’ strong musical language and visceral sense of theatre, it is certain to generate intense interest.
The cast will include Gweneth-Ann Jeffers, Clare Presland, Lucy Schaufer, Jennifer Davies and Emily Edmonds.
4.48 Psychosis will be conducted by Richard Baker, directed by Ted Huffman and designed by Hannah Clark, with lighting by D.M. Wood, movement by Sarah Fahie and the Orchestra CHROMA ensemble.
4.48 Psychosis contains themes of an adult nature.
Sean Holmes said: “We are delighted to announce our 2016 Spring Season – a provocative and playful programme of reimagined texts. The return of Filter’s crazed Dream; a disrespectful revival of Herons – Simon Stephens’s searing examination of pained youth – and the premiere of two radical new operas Philip Venables’ adaptation of Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis as well as Mark Simpson’s Pleasure.”
Laura Wade’s new adaptation of Sarah Waters’ bestselling novel Tipping The Velvet continues at the Lyric Hammersmith until October 24. It will be followed – from November 21, 2015 to January 3, 2016 – by the Lyric’s panto Cinderella. Meanwhile, the Lyric’s Children’s Theatre includes Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas (November 20 to December 24).