The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds has announced its September to
February season, featuring both in-house and visiting productions:
30 August to 6 September
A Tale of Two Cities
Northern Ballet Theatre
Choreographed by Cathy Marston, previously an Associate Artist of
the Royal Opera House, A Tale of Two Cities features a new score by
Dave Maric, played live by the Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra.
Quarry Theatre
3 to 13 September
Ladies Down Under
By Amanda Whittington
Hull Truck
The sequel to Ladies Day
Courtyard Theatre
15 September to 11 October
Privates on Parade
By Peter Nichols
WYP and Birningham Rep
Directed by Ian Brown
Based on playwright Nichols’ own experiences entertaining the
troops with Kenneth Williams and Stanley Baxter during his national
service
Quarry Theatre
16 September to 20 September
Waves
Devised by Katie Mitchell and the Company from the text of Virginia
Woolf's novel, The Waves. Originally produced at the National
Theatre
The fragmented and dream-like narrative of Virginia Woolf’s novel
is evoked using live film, sound and musicians.
Courtyard Theatre
27 September to 18 October
Don't You Leave Me Here
By Clare Brown
Directed by Sarah Punshon
WYP production
1906. In the back room of a brothel in Storyville, New Orleans, Ferd
“Jelly Roll” Morton and Tony Jackson earn what little money
they can playing for Gypsy Schaeffer and her girls, whilst desperately
dreaming of a better life.
Courtyard Theatre
18 October to 8 November
Animal Farm
By George Orwell, adapted by Peter Hall with lyrics by Adrian Mitchell
and music by Richard Peaslee
Directed by Nikolai Foster
WYP production
Quarry Theatre
28 October to 1 November
The Doubtful Guest
By Edward Gorey
Hoipolloi
When a curious creature scuttles into the Bishop family’s house,
they have no idea how to get rid of it. Eating plates, trapping them
in their own drawing room for weeks and throwing their favourite possessions
into a pond, it holds them prisoners in their own home.
Courtyard Theatre
5 November to 15 November
Spyski!
By Steven Canny and John Nicholson
Directed by David Farr
Peepolykus and the Lyric Hammermsith in association with Warwick Arts
Centre and WYP
Legal Theatrical Disclaimer – Peepolykus (“people-like-us”)absolutely
deny all allegations that they might be about to unleash a completely
fictitious, untrue comedy about the poisoning of a Russian dissident
in London. There is no way they are working on a fast-paced thriller
of international espionage and global politics that contains any shocking
revelations about events which are absolutely not true.
18 November 2008 to 22 November
Mine
Written and directed by Polly Teale
Shared Experience
They have a beautiful home and a glamorous life. In fact,everything
they could wish for. Except for the one thing they want most of all.
A baby. When they finally adopt, all they can think about is how much
they have longed for a child. That is until the baby’s troubled
biological mother begins to haunt their every move and they slowly
find their lives become entangled in a way no one could have ever
imagined.
Courtyard Theatre
22 November 2008 to 31 January 2009
Peter Pan
Based on JM Barrie's original play with music by George Stiles, lyrics
by Anthony Drewe and book by Willis Hall
Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh
WYP and Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company
A brand new musical version
Quarry Theatre
5 December 2008 to 10 January 2009
The Snow Queen
By Hans Christian Andersen, adapted by Mike Kenny
Directed by Gail McIntyre
Courtyard Theatre
22 to 24 January 2009
Company Along the Mile
By Tom Dalton Bidwell
Milan Govedarica in association with WYP
Stella and George are no ordinary couple. For starters they’re
not a couple, they just meet in a hotel room in Blackpool every Wednesday
when Stella, a transvestite, likes to eat sandwiches cut into triangles.
A quiet afternoon in bed looking over the obituaries is interrupted
by a mysterious phone call and a volley of stones at the window. Is
this a Stella wind up or is George right when he suspects someone
is out to get them?
A cross between a Joe Orton and an Alan Bennett, Company Along
The Mile is the debut play of Tom Dalton Bidwell.
Courtyard Theatre
31 January to 21 February 2009
The Hounding of David Oluwale
By Kester Aspden, adapted for the stage by Oladipo Agboluaje
WYP, the New Wolsey Theatre and Birmingham Rep as part of the Eclipse
Theatre Initiative
4 May 1969, the body of David Oluwale is pulled from the River Aire
in Leeds. Eighteen months later, the investigation into his death
ripped apart the police force, exposing the dark side of the shiny,
new city in which he died. As police broke ranks to expose the two
officers eventually prosecuted for involvement in Oluwale’s death,
the horrific details emerged; of how an optimistic, ambitious Nigerian
had arrived in the UK, only to become the destitute victim of police
brutality.
Courtyard Theatre
