Menagerie Theatre and Theatre 503 to Present HOTBED FESTIVAL DOUBLE BILL, Oct 15-Nov 9

Menagerie Theatre Company in association with Theatre503 will present highlights from this years' HotbEd Cambridge Festival of New Writing with a season entitled HOTBED FESTIVAL DOUBLE BILL. Headlining will be Steve Waters' (Bush Theatre, Donmar) new one-act play WHY CAN'T WE LIVE TOGETHER? - exploring the lives of an ordinary couple sketched against the backdrop of the extraordinary world events from 2000-2013. The production will run at Theatre503, above the Latchmere in Battersea, from 15 October to 9 November 2013.

Presented alongside WHY CAN'T WE LIVE TOGETHER? are two short plays written in collaboration with 'thought leaders' and presented as a double-bill: SOMNILOQUY by Craig Baxter (STAGE prize winner 2011) and HOW TO BEGIN by Man Booker Prize nominee Hisham Matar.

WHY CAN'T WE LIVE TOGETHER? is set against the low hum of the War on Terror, and is a kaleidoscopic vision of our times through the lives of one man and one woman. Short, sharp and brilliantly observed, life flickers in front of us at break-neck speed.

Steve Waters' plays include 'World Music' (Sheffield/Donmar 2003/4), 'The Contingency Plan' (The Bush 2009), 'Little Platoons' (The Bush 2011), 'Ignorance/Jahiliyyah' (Hampstead 2012). He is the author of 'The Secret Life of Plays' (2010) and is a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at UEA.

SOMNILOQUY by Craig Baxter, in collaboration with Professor Richard Horner from the University of Toronto, is an investigation into sleep and its disorders. In 2010 Craig won the USA STAGE Award for the new play about Science and Technology for his play THE ALTRUISTS.

HOW TO BEGIN by Hisham Matar, in collaboration with Dr Devorah Baum from the University of Southampton, is an exploration of how memory and circumstance never allow us to start any story with a clean slate. Hisham's debut 2006 novel IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN was nominated for the Man Booker Prize and in 2011 he released his second novel ANATOMY OF A DISAPPEARENCE.

All three Hotbed plays will star Jasmine Hyde and Mark Oosterveen and are directed by Paul Bourne and Patrick Morris, with design by Nicky Bunch.

Since 2002, Hotbed, The Cambridge New Writing Festival has been commissioning and presenting extraordinary new work from both new and established writers.

Menagerie in association with Theatre503 present HOTBED FESTIVAL DOUBLE BILL, 15 October - 9 November. Press Night: Wednesday 16 October at 7.45pm. Times: Tuesday to Saturday 7.45pm, Sundays at 5pm. PRESS NIGHT: Wednesday 16 October at 7.45pm. Tickets: £15 (£10 Concessions), pay what you can on Sundays. Box Office: 020 7978 7040. Website: www.theatre503.com.

Venue: Theatre503, 503 Battersea Park Road, SW11 3BW. Tube: Sloane Square then bus 319, South Kensington then bus 49 or 345, Vauxhall then bus 344. Train: 15 minutes walk from Clapham Junction (5 mins from Victoria or 7 mins from Waterloo) or take Grant Road exit, then bus 49, 319, 344 or 345. Bus: 44, 49, 319, 344, 345 all stop outside the Latchmere.

Theatre503 is a 60-seat venue, above the Latchmere Pub, and is the smallest venue in the UK to receive an Olivier Award. Led by Artistic Director Paul Robinson, Theatre503 has a strong reputation for staging plays by first time writers, having previously launched the careers of playwrights such as Dennis Kelly and Katori Hall.

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