Kneehigh and the Everyman and Playhouse join creative forces this summer with a radical re-working of Jon Gay’s political and musical play, The Beggar’s Opera. Called Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs), the brand new show will open at the newly rebuilt Everyman theatre from Saturday 21st June to Saturday 12th July before Kneehigh return to Cornwall with the production in The Lost Gardens of Heligan from 30th August.
This new show from writer Carl Grose features a brilliant company of Kneehigh actor musicians including Giles King, Patrycja Kuwaska, Ian Ross and Audrey Brisson.
Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs) is scripted by Carl Grose who has written for many Kneehigh productions, most recently Tristan & Yseult, Hansel and Gretel – which toured to the old Everyman for two weeks in 2010 – and The Wild Bride. He’s also written for Told By An Idiot, National Theatre of Wales and is currently writing for Bristol Old Vic, the National and the R.S.C.
As with all of Kneehigh’s work, music is integral, and in this production it takes centre stage, with internationally renowned composer and conductor Charles Hazlewood writing the score. Hazlewood has enjoyed a global and pioneering career conducting some of the world’s greatest orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, the Gothenburg Symphony and the Philharmonia in London. For the stage he has conducted, amongst others, Puccini’s Il Trittico (Director, Simon Callow) and The Beggar’s Opera (Director, Jonathan Miller).
Kneehigh founder and Joint Artistic Director Mike Shepherd is tasked with putting the words and music on the stage. He said,“The script is fast, furious, farcical, funny, desperate, distinctive and rather beautiful. I’m excited and can’t wait to get going!” He’s assisted by Etta Murfitt (Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures), who is also choreographing the piece.
Several Kneehigh ‘old hands’ join the cast, including Giles King, Patrycja Kujawska and Ian Ross who have performed in several recent Kneehigh shows including The Red Shoes and Tristan & Yseult. They join Audrey Brisson (Midnight’s Pumpkin, The Wild Bride), Andrew Durand (The Wild Bride) and Carly Bawden (Tristan & Yseult), Dom Marsh (Umbrellas of Cherbourg), Rina Fatania (Wah! Wah! Girls), and James Gow (Brief Encounter U.S. tour 2014).
The ensemble is completed by puppeteer Sarah Wright (A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings and puppets for Brief Encounter and The Wild Bride), Justin Radford, a Cornish-born multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and writer, and Martin Hyder, who has recently worked with Paul Hunter and Told by an Idiot, and has worked extensively for B.B.C. Radio 4.
Don’t miss your chance to see this extraordinary ensemble company shoot hoot and shimmy their way through a twisted morality tale for our times. The dog, as they say, is out of the suitcase.