Four world premières including Roy Williams’s play about the life and death of Marvin Gaye form the basis of the spring and summer 2016 programme at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate.
Introducing the season, artistic director James Dacre, who is in his third year at the theatre, said, “Northampton has long been known for its exports and we’re thrilled that seven Royal and Derngate productions will tour to more than 40 theatres across Britain next year in what is perhaps our most ambitious season yet.
“Spring begins with a festival of four productions to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
“We then produce four world premières before welcoming family audiences next Christmas with the magical tale of Peter and the Starcatcher.
“It’s worth adding that, in the past 24 months, 24 new plays have been commissioned by Royal and Derngate—a wonderful tribute to Northampton’s unique artistic community.”
The first show in the Shakespeare season, in February, will be The Herbal Bed, Peter Whelan’s imagining of the life of William Shakespeare’s daughter. It will be directed by Dacre in its first major revival since its Royal Shakespeare Company première in 1994. The production is a collaboration with English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston.
In April, Michael Pennington will take the lead role in King Lear which will be directed by Philip Franks. The production will run for three weeks in the Royal, including on 23 April—the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death—before touring the UK.
In May, Tim Crouch will direct Spymonkey as the company performs all 75 Shakespeare’s onstage deaths, from the suicides in Julius Caesar and the carnage at the end of Hamlet to snakes in a basket in Antony and Cleopatra. The Complete Deaths will preview in Northampton before going to Brighton Festival and on an international tour.
The celebration of Shakespeare will conclude in June with a co-production with the National Youth Theatre of The Tempest—a new music-theatre version by Oscar-winning writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
Theatre company Peepolykus will turn to Madame Bovary in May in a “unique” comic production described as a “loving derailment” of Flaubert’s novel. The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary! will be directed by Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse artistic director Gemma Bodinet.
Soul, Roy Williams’s new play about the life and death of Marvin Gaye, will open at the end of May and will reveal what really happened during Gaye’s haunting final days.
James Dacre’s production of Charles Dickens’s A Tale Of Two Cities, adapted by Mike Poulton, will be revived in September ahead of a national tour.
Peter and the Starcatcher will receive its European première on the Royal stage at Christmas 2016. Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, this swashbuckling musical prequel to the stories of Peter Pan will feature a dozen actors playing more than 100 characters.
Further details are available at the Royal and Derngate web site.