Nottingham Playhouse and Headlong’s co-production of 1984 along with a new commission exploring a Nottinghamshire scandal of undercover policing will be the main works in the theatre’s autumn 2015 Conspiracy season.
After two sell-out runs and a UK tour, 1984 is to return to Nottingham. Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan adapted and directed the production which was nominated for the 2014 Olivier Award for best new play.
Robert Icke said, “the creative team and I are completely thrilled that 1984 will be returning to Nottingham Playhouse, its spiritual home, almost two years exactly since we premièred the show there.”
It will run from Thursday 10 September until Saturday 26 September.
Artistic director Giles Croft said, “it’s very exciting for us to be bringing 1984 back following its great success on tour and in the West End. It provides the perfect start to our Conspiracy season which explores our society using the theme of tension between the individual and the state.”
Nottingham Playhouse has announced a new commission for 2016, Any Means Necessary by Kefi Chadwick.
In 2011 it came to light that an undercover policeman had been living among Nottingham activists for years. Inspired by interviews with many of those involved, Any Means Necessary is a fictionalised account of what happened, the emotional costs and the drive to find out the truth.
Chadwick said, “this case shows an incredible abuse of human rights and civil liberties and is one of the biggest police scandals of all time. To be able to bring the events to life on the stage at Nottingham is a great privilege.”
Giles Croft will direct Any Means Necessary which will run from Friday 5 February until Saturday 20 February 2016.
Zoe Waterman will return to the theatre to direct James Phillips's The Rubenstein Kiss. In an age of rampant paranoia about the enemy within, the shadow of suspicion falls on two radicals from a religious minority.
The play is inspired by Jewish couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg who were sent to the electric chair in 1953 for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. It runs from Friday 2 October until Saturday 17 October.
Nottingham Playhouse associate director Fiona Buffini will direct John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, one of the most celebrated pieces of work of the Jacobean era, from Friday 30 October until Saturday 14 November.
Giles Croft added, “to be working on such a range of extraordinary stories, all of which speak to one of the overriding concerns of the day, will make for a thought-provoking programme of work through the autumn and into 2016.”