Just when it was possible to believe that nothing could top the likes of Educating Rita, the fantastic one-man show by Lewis Bray’ Cartoonopolis, Birdsong or the compelling The Hudsucker Proxy having been played out to audiences at both the Everyman and Playhouse Theatres in the last six months, the revealing of the autumn/winter season for both theatres by the creative team is enough to leave the crowds who make their way to both Hope Street and Williamson Square chomping at the bit for September to come in earnest.
With the idea of creative collaborations very much at the fore, the new season ahead begins with arguably Britain’s finest modern contemporary poet working together with Director Nick Bagnall in what promises to be a stirring version of The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead. Written by Simon Armitage, the play reunites long-time collaborators Simon Armitage (Oxford Professor of Poetry, Fellow of Royal Society for Literature) and Nick Bagnall following in the footsteps of The Last Days of Troy, their interpretation of Homer’s epic poem The Iliad. Mr. Armitage plunges Odysseus from the political 21st Century in to the world of the Cyclops, Sirens, witches and whirlpools who he must overcome in the struggle for survival and the long voyage back to the present day. Following the run at the Everyman from 25th September to 17th October the production tours with English Touring Theatre, including two weeks at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
Following the international and West End success of Ghost Stories, the horror genre makes a return to the Playhouse with The Haunting of Hill House. The production is a collaboration with Sonia Friedman Productions and HAMMER to create the first major U.K. stage adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel, which became the legendary horror movie The Haunting in 1963. This stage version is adapted by Anthony Neilson (The Wonderful World of Dissocia, National Theatre Scotland; Realism, Edinburgh International Festival) and will be directed by Olivier and Tony Award nominee Melly Still (Coram Boy, Nation; National Theatre). An alternative theatre experience over the festive period, the 150-year-old Playhouse is the perfect setting for this terrifying psychological thriller.
Liverpool’s own poet/musician/playwright of immense repute returns to the Playhouse as Lizzie Nunnery’s Narvick will be premiered in the Studio before a U.K. tour. Also returning to the Everyman in November will be the hugely successful Kneehigh co-production of Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs) which will be touring the country before coming back home.
The best of the country’s touring theatre will also be coming to Liverpool. Out of Joint return to the Everyman with Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern by Rebecca Lenkiewicz which tells the story of the last witch trial to take place in Britain, Little Bulb Theatre and Battersea Arts Centre transport Orpheus to a 1930s Paris jazz bar in a re-imagining of the Greek myth and Pilot Theatre present Outsiders, a play inspired by Albert Camus’s novel L’Etranger, in the Playhouse Studio.
The Original Theatre Company, the producers behind Birdsong, return to the Playhouse with a production of Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path and long time Liverpool favourites Northern Broadsides present their take on William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, directed by Conrad Nelson. There’s comedy from Nina Conti who brings her show In Your Face and entertainment from The Movie Doctors, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo. The Playhouse will also be welcoming family audiences to enjoy a stage version of Jacqueline Wilson’s Hetty Feather in November, while in February it will host Regent’s Park Theatre’s production of Lord of the Flies.
With the first co-production between the Playhouse/Everyman theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Headlong since the late and much missed Pete Postlethwaite’s rapturous performance as King Lear in 2008, Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie which will be directed by one of the U.K.’s brightest talents, Ellen McDougal, and will come to the Liverpool stage in October, this second half of 2015 is just as exciting a prospect for all as the sensational beginning.
For all times, dates and a full list of performances at the Everyman and Playhouse theatres, go to https://www.everymanplayhouse.com