The ever-popular Playhouse Studio will play host to two productions this spring as the intimate space in the Playhouse rafters continues to provide big stories on a small scale. Former Everyman and Playhouse director-in-residence Matthew Xia is back with a production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead from the 10th to the 14th June, while Mogadishu writer Vivienne Franzmann’s Pests comes directly to the Studio following its première at Manchester Royal Exchange at 28th to 31st May.
Sizwe Banzi is Dead exposes the struggle for freedom and identity in apartheid-era South Africa, unravelling the brutal absurdities of everyday life under oppression. Set in 1972 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Sizwe Banzi’s passbook gives him just three days to find work. With no work and he’ll be deported and that was four days ago. When Sizwe stumbles across a dead body with a passbook, he asks himself – does his identity card really define who he is? Could he give up his family and his name in order to survive?
The play, co-produced by Eclipse Theatre Company and the Young Vic, is directed by Matthew Xia who helmed Scrappers in the Playhouse’s space ‘upstairs’ last year. He said: “Athol Fugard and his collaborators have created a brutally honest portrayal of the everyday struggle faced by millions of South Africans under the apartheid regime. Despite the collapse of apartheid in the early 90s the wider themes of immigration, identity and survival resonate all too loudly today.”
Commissioned by theatre company Clean Break, Pests is the searing new play from Vivienne Franzmann whose play, Mogadishu, toured to the Playhouse in 2012. This latest play by Franzmann centres on sisters Pink and Rolly. Pink loves Rolly. Rolly loves Pink and Pink loves getting bombed off her face. Trapped in a tiny rotting world, they are cuffed to a past that refuses to release them.
Vivienne developed Pests during her time as Resident Playwright with Clean Break, which included a number of residencies in women’s prisons, secure mental health and community settings when researching the production. Vivienne’s other plays include work includes The Witness (Royal Court Theatre). Other awards include the George Devine Awards 2010 and the Pearson Playwright Bursary for the Royal Court 2012.
The Playhouse Studio reopened in 2011 as part of theatre’s centenary celebrations and has already brought hits such as The Match Box and The Swallowing Dark to the stage. Tickets for Sizwe Banzi is Dead and Pests are on public sale from Monday 3rd February.
Tickets for both shows are available from the Liverpool Playhouse Box office on Williamson Square, Liverpool, by telephone on 0151 7094776 or online at www.everymanplayhouse.com.