Hanna, Play That Goes Wrong, Strangers On A Train, So Many Reasons

Hanna – tour starts 3 January

The world première of Sam Potter’s Hanna opens at London's Arcola Theatre before heading off on a national tour.

Potter wrote Hanna as part of her playwriting residency with Papatango who present the play, which has been published by Nick Hern Books.

She was one of five writers invited to take part in the Tricycle Theatre's inaugural new writers programme, NW6, participated on the 2015 Channel 4 Playwrights’ Scheme with Papatango and is currently the writer-in-residence at the North Wall Arts Centre in Oxford.

The plays looks at parenting, racial identity and the lottery of birth through the story of a mix-up in an over-stretched maternity ward.

Starring Sophie Khan Levy, the play is directed by Papatango artistic director George Turvey.

Hanna visits Arcola Theatre London, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, North Wall Oxford, Marlowe Studio Canterbury, Quarry Theatre Bedford, The Hat Factory Luton, The Bike Shed Exeter, Theatr Clwyd Mold, Hope Street Theatre Liverpool, Greenwich Theatre London and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Cardiff.

The Play That Goes Wrong – tour starts 4 January

Olivier Award-winning hit comedy The Play That Goes Wrong is back after a sell-out tour during the year.

The cast for the 2018 tour is Jake Curran, Catherine Dryden, Bobby Hirston, Benjamin McMahon, Gabriel Paul, Steven Rostance, Kazeem Tosin Amore, Elena Valentine with David Kristopher-Brown, Laura White, Liam Horrigan and Louisa Sexton.

The highly physical comedy—which is now Broadway’s longest running play—is co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields; it is directed by Mark Bell.

The Play That Goes Wrong visits Northampton Royal & Derngate, Chichester Festival Theatre, Cheltenham Everyman, Oxford Playhouse, Chester Storyhouse, Aylesbury Waterside, Bath Theatre Royal, Glasgow King’s Theatre, Darlington Hippodrome, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Coventry Belgrade Theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome, Derby Theatre, Mold Theatr Clwyd, Truro Hall for Cornwall, Milton Keynes Theatre, Cardiff New Theatre, York Grand Opera House, Hull New Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Colchester Mercury Theatre, Swindon Wyvern Theatre, Bradford Alhambra, Manchester Opera House, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Liverpool Empire Theatre, Bristol Hippodrome, Sheffield Theatres, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Torquay Princess, Brighton Theatre Royal, Llandudno Venue Cymru, Billingham Forum Theatre and Portsmouth King’s Theatre.

Strangers On A Train – tour starts 5 January

A new production of Strangers on a Train is to travel across the nation.

Written by Craig Warner, the story is based on the psychological drama by Patricia Highsmith (writer of The Talented Mr Ripley, amongst others), which was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock.

The cast is led by Emmerdale's John Middleton. He is joined by Coronation Street’s Christopher Harper, Jack Ashton and Hannah Tointon. The play is directed by Anthony Banks.

Strangers On A Train visits Theatre Royal Brighton, Lyceum Theatre Sheffield, Theatre Royal Glasgow, Birmingham New Alexandra, Opera House Manchester, New Victoria Theatre Woking, Richmond Theatre, Arts Theatre Cambridge, Grand Opera House York, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre and New Theatre Cardiff.

So Many Reasons – tour starts 16 January

Fuel Theatre presents So Many Reasons, which headlines the Calm Down Dear festival of feminist theatre at Camden People’s Theatre prior to touring.

The plays looks at generational divides over female sexuality through the prism of three mothers and their daughters.

It is written and performed by British Ghanaian Racheal Ofori and directed by Zoe Rafferty.

Ofori is the second recipient of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation funded Home Run commission, established by Camden People's Theatre.

So Many Reasons visits Camden People’s Theatre London, Theatre Royal Bath, Albany Theatre London, Arena Theatre University of Wolverhampton and Ovalhouse London, with further tour dates to be announced.