Giles Croft, artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse, has unveiled plans for the building’s 50th anniversary.
The Playhouse was opened by Lord Snowdon on 11 December, 1963 under the leadership of John Neville, Frank Dunlop and Peter Ustinov.
Croft said, “I’m delighted to introduce a season of work in our 50th anniversary year which exemplifies all that Nottingham Playhouse is and has been about: a classic book adaptation new to Europe; an international festival visit and a national tour for two works we’ve produced in Nottingham; a world première by a distinguished regionally-based writer; the revival of works not seen anywhere since our early years; and the 30th pantomime by Kenneth Alan Taylor, one of the country’s legendary dames.
“All these are in the best traditions of the Playhouse, since the days John Neville proclaimed it would be a ‘theatre that belongs to everybody’.
“In this climate of funding reductions and the overall pressure on spending, we’re proud of our ability to present this robust, engaging and diverse range of work.”
Kicking it off is the world première of a new adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s I Was A Rat! in a co-production with Birmingham REP, the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, and Teatro Kismet (Bari, Italy) which runs in Nottingham from 26 March until 13 April.
It’s followed by the Nottingham Playhouse and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse’s co-production of the European premiere of Matthew Spangler’s stage adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s international best-seller The Kite Runner.
Directed by Giles Croft, it opens on 26 April and runs until 18 May. It’s also been picked to feature in the Brighton Festival in May and then goes to Liverpool in June.
Children’s show Grandpa in My Pocket - Teamwork! runs from 23 to 31 May before going on an 18-week nationwide tour.
This summer, a Nottingham Playhouse production will be part of the Spoleto Festival at Charleston in the USA. Actor / director Steven Berkoff’s adaptation of Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy Oedipus runs from 4 until 8 June.
Michael Pinchbeck’s The Ashes—the tale of Nottinghamshire fast bowler Harold Larwood and the infamous “bodyline” tour to Australia in 1932—makes a return to the Playhouse from 27 June until 6 July to coincide with the Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.
Autumn begins with George Orwell’s dark vision of the future, Nineteen Eighty-Four—a co-production with Headlong in a new adaptation by Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan. It runs from 13 until 28 September.
October brings the world première of a new play by Nottingham writer Michael Eaton. Charlie Peace: His Amazing Life and Astounding Legend tells the story of the greatest celebrity villain of the Victorian age.
Peace’s tale is told in a modern musical melodrama directed by Giles Croft and designed by Barney George. This co-production with Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre runs from 4 until 19 October.
Shakespeare’s Richard III will be a co-production with York Theatre Royal. Playing the role of the last Plantagenet king will be Ian Bartholomew. It runs in Nottingham from 25 October until 16 November before transferring to York Theatre Royal.
Nottingham Playhouse’s panto this year will be Jack and The Beanstalk and will be written and directed by the theatre’s former artistic director Kenneth Alan Taylor.
He will play the dame for the very last time from 29 November until 18 January.
Details of a gala on 11 December, 50 years to the day that the theatre opened, will be announced at a later date.
The Playhouse is running a number of special 50th anniversary initiatives to tie in with the building’s history.
The Neville Prize, named in memory of Nottingham Playhouse’s former artistic director John Neville who died in 2011, is an open competition for budding playwrights.
The winner will have his or her short play produced as part of the Playhouse’s special Lost Plays Revue event, taking place in the renamed Neville Studio from 16 until 18 May.