A new play, Ladies That Bus, is based on real life interviews with bus travellers between Lancaster and Keswick and is set to bus around the North of England in spring 2020.
A tale of journeys taken and not taken, of regrets and celebrations, of isolation and what it means to be free, Ladies That Bus is peppered with humour, songs and original music. The play shows a day-in-the life of the Route 555 bus travelling from Lancaster to Keswick and the kaleidoscope of different characters that travel on it—all with their very own tales to tell.
Ladies That Bus is the creation of actor and composer Helen Longworth (currently playing Hannah Riley in Radio 4’s The Archers), director Kirstie Davis, writer and actor Joyce Branagh, theatre-maker and actor Eve Robertson and Nicola Jayne Ingram.
The play has been created in association with The Dukes, Lancaster, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal and supported with funding from Arts Council England.
It will tour to The Dukes, (February 6–9), Brewery (February 11–12), York Theatre Royal (February 13), Theatre by the Lake, Keswick (February 14–15), Cast in Doncaster (February 18), Spurn Point Community Centre (February 19), Hull Truck (February 20), Harrogate Theatre (February 21-22), Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield (February 24), Oldham Coliseum Theatre (February 26), Carriageworks, Leeds (February 27) and Todmorden Hippodrome (February 29).