The Factory Theatre Opens The Takeover Festival At York Theatre Royal September 22-26

The Factory Theatre opensthe highly innovative Takeover Festival at York Theatre Royalwith two of their most exciting productions to date - Hamlet and The Seagull. The Factory's Hamlet was a huge success in London during 2007 and 2008.

The production, which first played to 15 audience members, soon became a hit through Facebook and word ofmouth alone. Playing in any space the company could lay their hands on - alleyways andtheatres, courtrooms and music festivals, office blocks and bars, the production ended up at Shakespeare's Globe with a sell out midnight matinee to 1500 peoplea year to the day after it was first performed in public.During this time the Factory had a number of guest cameos from some of their high profile supporters including, Kathryn Hunter, Ewan McGregor, Rufus Sewell,Will Keen, AngusWright, James McAvoy and Josh Hartnett.

Indeed the production has caused such a stir that a transfer to New York is set down for January 2010 with some of the biggest names in U.S theatre wanting to present it.The production is unique in that every character in the play can be performed from a selectionof different actors each night, as each performer has learnt numerous parts. You may for example, see an actor playing Hamlet one night, and Guildensternthe next.

The cast will not know which character they will be playing until just before the showbegins, when the audiencedecide. There is no set. What the actors perform on dependsentirely on where The Factory has decided to play, in the case of the main house at York Theatre Royal there may be a few surprises as to how the space is used!There are no designated props. Any object that is seen on stage or used by an actorwill come from the audience. It may be a shoe, a phone, an inflatable dingy...ANYTHING!

All audience members are encouraged to bring as weird and bold a prop as they can think of.The Seagull is the Factory's most recent production. Described by the Guardian as ‘unforgettableand moving', the Seagull has been taking the idea of live and immediate theatre even further. Still no set, costumes or props but, unlike Hamlet........ no script.

The Seagull will feature not only a different cast, but a different version of the play each time it is performed. Everything the actor speaks on stage is unprepared and spoken for the first time,based on a huge amount of work and study towards all adaptations of Chekov's classic play. Both projects are the brain child of director Tim Carroll. Tim began his career with the English ShakespeareCompany and has worked all over the world, most recently with theRSC. From 1999 to 2005 he was Associate Director of Shakespeare's Globe. During this period Tim had many innovative and celebrated productions, not least, his production of Twelfth Night which won categories at The Evening Standard, Time Out, Critic's Circle andOlivier awards, and was recently voted in the top 10 productions of the decade.Liam Evans - Ford, Producer at the Factory, who is credited with bringing Hamlet to Yorkshire for the first time as guests of his northern based Production Company, Sprite Productions says: ‘For The Factory's most successful production, to play alongside our most recent production,at a theatre with the history and reputation of York Theatre Royal is a hugelyexciting prospect. We are viewed as the most innovativeand exciting young company in the country, so to be part of the Takeover festival is a perfect fit for all involved.What people need to realise is how brave and original York are being with their programmingby allowing under 26 year old's to take charge of the whole theatre for 3 weeks. This is not onlybrave, but producesa wonderful opportunity for the new generationof theatre practitioners to learn through experience. There is nowhere else in the country even attempting something asbrave as this and I believe our work, which we consider brave and exciting, embodies the essencebehind this festival'

The Factory's Hamlet by William Shakespeare will be performed on 22nd, 23rd, 25th and 26th September 2009 at 7.30pm and 24th September at 2pm. Main House, York Theatre Royal.The Seagull by Anton Chekov and The Factory will be performed on 24th September at 7.30pm and 26th Septemberat 2pm. Main House, York Theatre Royal.Websites: www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk www.seehamlet.co.uk www.factorymember.com www.facebook.com/thefactory www.takeoverfestival.co.uk

 

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