Nuffield Southampton Theatres Announces 2017 Spring Season

With rehearsals underway for the brand new adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox, Director Sam Hodges today announces the Spring 2017 season for the newly re-branded NST, Nuffield Southampton Theatres. The name change recognises the addition of a brand-new venue in the heart of Southampton which opens in autumn 2017.

Headlining the Spring season is a new production of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Grapes of Wrath, adapted by Frank Galati and directed by NST Associate Director Abbey Wright. The co-production with Nottingham Playhouse, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and West Yorkshire Playhouse runs in Southampton from 6 - 25 March.

This is followed by Sam Pritchard's production of Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion which comes to NST from 25 April, in a co-production with Headlong and West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Alongside the in-house productions are two NST Youth Theatre shows - Consensual by Evan Placey and The Monstrum by KEllie Smith, both directed by Max Lindsay, and a wide range of touring theatre including Greyscale Theatre and Northern Stage's Dr Frankenstein, The Woman in Black, and two David Wood family show adaptations, Roald Dahl's The Twits presented by Curve and Rose Theatre Kingston and Babe, The Sheep Pig produced by Tom O'Connell Productions and Polka Theatre. For a full list of productions visit www.nstheatres.co.uk

Along with its three co-producers on The Grapes of Wrath, Nottingham Playhouse, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and West Yorkshire Playhouse, NST today also announces a series of initiatives in support of refugees, asylum seekers and migrant communities in each city. These include a combination of free ticket schemes, workshops to overcome language barriers, and performance opportunities. At NST, Now-here will be a series of performances from the unheard voices of Southampton.

Sam Hodges said today, "The world we live in has never felt so volatile and uncertain. At home, recent events have left a country divided and with no coherent sense of self. Abroad, people are being displaced from their home on an unprecedented scale.

This is a season which goes to the heart of community and seeks a voice within a world which doesn't listen. It is a season about the voices of Southampton.

John Steinbeck's epic drama The Grapes of Wrath, adapted by Frank Galati, is the story of a migrant family, looking first to the state and then to each other, for solace and strength and hope. Our Associate Director Abbey Wright will direct a bold new production, infused with live music and featuring an ensemble made up of Southampton residents.

Bernard Shaw's searing comedy Pygmalion is the hilarious and poignant tale of two opposites, Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, trying to find a common language. Supported with dramaturgy by NST Associate Dramaturg Adam Brace, director Sam Pritchard teams up with radical Sound Designers The Ringham Brothers to put Southampton's diverse range of voices at the heart of the production.

And Now-here is the start of an important dialogue with our city's often invisible and ignored voices.

ABOUT NST, NUFFIELD SOUTHAMPTON THEATRES

NST, Nuffield Southampton Theatres is one of the UK's leading professional theatre companies. The Company is led by Samuel Hodges, supported by a team of associates: directors Blanche McIntyre, Natalie Abrahami, Michael Longhurst and Abbey Wright, designer Tom Scutt and playwright Adam Brace, and develops and produces work with some of the UK's most exciting and dynamic regional theatres. NST won 'Regional Theatre of the Year' at The Stage Awards 2015 & Best Design UK Theatre 2015 (The Hudsucker Proxy).

In Autumn 2017, NST will open a second venue, with a major new production, in Southampton's new £25M city centre arts venue. This new venue will include a flexible 447 seat main house theatre, a 135 seat studio, screening facilities, rehearsal and workshop spaces. It will transform NST's ability to show high quality professional work from local, national and International Artists and allow the programme to include dance, film and music. NST will run the new city centre venue alongside its existing theatre on the University of Southampton's Highfield Campus.

Laboratory is the creative development programme for new work and new talent; through which NST collaborate with artists at all stages in their careers to experiment with new ideas. All of NST's produced work is developed alongside Laboratory, which also provides a programme of talent development opportunities such as creative residencies, scratch nights, networking opportunities and skills development workshops.

NST Connect aims to enrich the experience of NST and its work for all, through a vibrant programme of engagement. NST Connect reaches over 17,000 people through a programme of creative activities, Youth Theatre and Drama Club, and adult workshops and outreach projects, including RSC Open Stages.

NST is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and a registered charity, receiving additional core funding from the University of Southampton, Southampton City Council and Hampshire County Council.

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