Actors Touring Company and Orange Tree Theatre Present The English Language Premiere of WINTER SOLSTICE

To coincide with the inauguration of President Donald J Trump, Actors Touring Company present the English language premiere of Roland Schimmelpfennig's new play.

Bettina and her husband Albert aren't happy. Bettina's mother is staying for the holidays. Which is awkward. Not least because Bettina's mother met a man on the train. A charismatic, mesmerising man. Whose words carry echoes of a sinister past ...

As a new - or maybe old? - kind of politics rises up around the world, this razor sharp comedy exposes the betrayals at the heart of family and society.

Winter Solstice is the English language premiere of a new play by Roland Schimmelpfennig, the most performed playwright in Germany and one of the country's most original voices, with productions of his work worldwide in over 40 countries. Winter Solstice (Wintersonnenwende) was premiered produced to great acclaim at the Dramaten, Stockholm in 2015. Previous plays include The Golden Dragon and Arabian Night, both presented by Actors Touring Company. Other plays performed in the UK include The Woman Before and Push Up at the Royal Court.

Ramin Gray directs this co-production between Actors Touring Company and Orange Tree Theatre Richmond.

Ramin has been Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company since 2012 where his productions have included the new version of Aeschylus' The Suppliant Women adapted by David Greig (The Royal Lyceum and tour), The Events by David Greig (Traverse and Young Vic and UK and international tours 2013-6); The Golden Dragon by Roland Schimmelpfennig (Traverse & UK tour); and Martyr by Marius von Mayenburg (co-production with Unicorn Theatre and UK touring). He was previously Associate Director at The Royal Court Theatre where he directed Vassily Sigarev's Ladybird, Presnyakov Brothers' Terrorism, Marius von Mayenburg's The Ugly One and The Stone, Simon Stephens' Motortown, and Mark Ravenhill's Over There. For the RSC he directed David Greig's The American Pilot. Ramin's extensive work abroad includes the Salzburg Festival, Schaubuehne Berlin, Praktika Moscow, Husets Copenhagen and many more. Ramin recently directed Gerald Barry's much acclaimed opera of The Importance of Being Earnest for the Royal Opera at the Barbican/Lincoln Center.

Actors Touring Company (ATC) makes international, Contemporary Theatre that travels. We create shows with a global perspective: activating and entertaining the audience whilst asking questions of the world around us. Placing the actor at the heart of our work, and employing a lean aesthetic which promotes environmental sustainability, the company have toured the UK and internationally since we were founded in 1980, reaching audiences far and wide.

Current projects include Living with the Lights On written and performed by Mark Lockyer, returning to the Young Vic for an extended run in December 2016, following two national tours; and The Suppliant Women, which will tour in the UK and internationally throughout 2017 and 2018.

The Orange Tree Theatre aims to delight, challenge, move and amaze with a bold and continually evolving mix of new and rediscovered plays in their unique in-the-round space. Over its forty-five-year history it has had an exceptional track record in discovering writers and promoting their early work, as well as rediscovering artists from the past whose work had either been disregarded or forgotten. Since Paul Miller became Artistic Director in 2014, the OT has been recognised for its work with a number of major industry awards, including 5 Offies (Off West End Awards), 3 UK Theatre Awards including London's Most Welcoming Theatre, the Alfred Fagon Audience Award and the Peter Brook Empty Space Award.

During autumn 2016, Orange Tree productions will have been seen in 21 other towns and cities across the country. With Caryl Churchill's Blue Heart at Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bristol, Terence Rattigan's French without Tears on a national tour in a co-production with English Touring Theatre, and Zoe Cooper's new play Jess and Joe Forever in a co-production with Farnham Maltings.

www.orangetree.co.uk
www.atctheatre.com

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