Nottingham-based touring company New Perspectives will take stories from rural Nigeria, modern Mumbai and the 1960s English countryside to audiences in village halls and mid-scale theatres across the UK in 2018.
One of the highlights of the season will be Nigerian writer Gbolahan Obisesan’s adaptation of The Fishermen, the Booker Prize-nominated novel by Chigozie Obioma. New Perspectives artistic director Jack McNamara will direct.
The mythic story combines Greek tragedy with African folklore to tell of four brothers who hear a terrifying prophecy as they fish in a forbidden river, and the chain of tragic events that follow. Produced in association with HOME, the production will première in Manchester in July 2018 ahead of a run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and a UK tour.
A Fortunate Man, inspired by the book by art critic, poet, painter and Booker Prize-winning author John Berger who died in January 2017, is to be turned into a new piece of theatre with his family’s blessing.
Nottingham based theatre-maker Michael Pinchbeck’s devised piece will contrast the day-to-day experiences of a stoic country doctor in the mid-1960s with interviews and research carried out with doctors today. The show will tour in June and July to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the NHS.
New Perspectives will also revive its two Edinburgh hits Finding Nana, a one-woman, autobiographical show from Jane Upton about grief and loss, which tours in February and March, and The Giant Jam Sandwich, adapted by Jack McNamara with original songs by James Atherton. It tours from Easter until June.
McNamara said, “over the next 18 months we’re creating a global programme of new work and, crucially, touring it to every type of space and audience.
“It’s a huge honour to work with the imaginations of so many great artists from John Berger and Chigozie Obiama to Nottingham playwright Jane Upton. We hope our next season is further evidence that daring, exciting new work is happening in some of the most unexpected places across the country.”
In 2018, New Perspectives will continue to run Emerging Perspectives, a programme offering professional development for artists across the East Midlands. Other activity for 2018 includes a collaboration with Alan Lyddiard working with communities in Boston, South Lincolnshire and a continued relationship with the Belgian-based disabled artist Thibault Delferiere.
In spring 2019, New Perspectives will tour the first stage adaptation of Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, one of 2014’s highest-grossing foreign films.