Actors Touring Company Artistic Director Ramin Gray and Executive Director Andrew Smaje have announced the company's largest ever programme of work for autumn/spring 2016/17, signalling its commitment to nationwide collaboration and international drama.
The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus is the world's second oldest play. Never seen on the British stage, ATC present a new version by
David Greig, directed by Ramin Gray and co-produced with the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh.
Winter Solstice by prolific German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig is another English language premiere presented at the Orange Tree Theatre in a specially commissioned translation by David Tushingham.
Living with the Lights On, written and performed by
Mark Lockyer, returns after a successful UK tour in spring 2016. Now co-produced with the Young Vic, it plays in the Maria in December 2016.
Running from September 30th to October 15, 2016 at The Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh and followed by dates at Belfast International Festival and Northern Stage, The Suppliant Women reunites the world-class creative team behind the hugely acclaimed The Events - writer
David Greig, director Ramin Gray and composer
John Browne. With local participation at its heart, the work revives the tradition of ancient Greek theatre by recruiting performers from the local community to form a chorus who drive the narrative forward and create an extraordinary theatrical event. With choral odes composed by
John Browne and accompanied on the aulos (the rarely heard original Greek double pipe), the local participants represent 50 young women who flee forced marriage in Egypt to seek asylum in Greece. This is a story about the plight of refugees, moral and human rights, civil war, democracy and ultimately the triumph of love - a tale that echoes down the ages to find striking and poignant resonance today.
Winter Solstice is co-produced with the Orange Tree Theatre, followed by a national tour. Set on Christmas Eve, a tense family Christmas is interrupted by a stranger with familiar but disturbing politics. Family, betrayal and the resurgence of the far right reverberate through the UK premiere of this razor-sharp and timely comedy. Schimmelpfennig is one of Germany's most performed playwrights with productions of his work in over 40 countries. Previous plays include The Golden Dragon and Arabian Night, both presented by Actors Touring Company.
Living With The Lights On had an acclaimed national tour earlier this year in both theatrical and medical settings. It now returns for an extended run in the Maria at the Young Vic from December 7 to 23. The work is a revelatory personal memoir of Mark's descent into and recovery from mental illness.
Ramin Gray Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company, directs all 3 productions. He says: "With two plays that interrogate migration and politics from opposite ends of the playwriting spectrum, I'm proud to lead a small company that is taking on the large, burning issues of our time. And by simultaneously zooming in on the intimate, private life of an actor, I'm pleased to foreground the human figure that is at the core of all dramatic enquiry. This is ATC's biggest ever programme of work, a testament to the hard work of our tiny team".
Andrew Smaje Executive Director of ATC, who joined the company in March, says: "What a thrilling time to join ATC. Two new collaborations with brilliant venues both large and small, revisiting one of the company's key partners at the Young Vic, and above all making work which is outward-facing, rooted in community and about what's happening in the world, right now."
Actors Touring Company (ATC) makes international, contemporary theatre that travels. We create shows that activate and entertain the audience whilst asking questions of the world around us. We seek out new ideas, artists and perspectives and question what theatre is and can be through openness, invention and curiosity. We have toured the UK and internationally since we were founded in 1980, reaching audiences far and wide. Under artistic director Ramin Gray, the company's work has included the international hit The Events (Fringe First, Guardian Best Play 2013), Marius Von Mayenburg's Martyr, Ivan Viripaev's Illusions and Roland Schimmelpfennig's The Golden Dragon.
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