Headlong will take their hit production of The House Party on a UK tour in Spring 2025. The House Party is a co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre, where it premiered in May 2024, produced in association with Frantic Assembly. Presented by Leeds Playhouse and Rose Theatre, Kingston with Bristol Old Vic, the production will play at Leeds Playhouse 21 Feb – 1 Mar, Rose Theatre, Kingston 4 – 22 Mar and Bristol Old Vic 23 Apr – 3 May.
Written by Laura Lomas (Metamorphoses, The Blue Woman, Chaos), The House Partyis a reimagining of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie for today’s generation directed by Headlong’s Artistic Director Holly Race Roughan (The New Real, A View from the Bridge, Henry V).
A wild party. A friendship. A cherished pet. And a night that changes everything. It’s Julie’s 18th birthday, and she’s throwing a party in her father’s extravagant townhouse. Her boyfriend has just dumped her and her long-suffering Best Friend Christine is trying to pick up the pieces. As the revellers pile into the booze, down in the kitchen Christine and her boyfriend Jon – son of Julie’s cleaner – clear up and dare to dream of the future. But as the volume goes up and the shots go down, Julie concocts a twisted cocktail of privilege, desire and destruction.
Director Holly Race Roughan said: “Headlong is committed to touring quality drama nationally and we’re thrilled to be bringing The House Party back. Collaborating with powerhouses Chichester Festival Theatre and Frantic Assembly, Laura Lomas’s sizzling contemporary reimagining of Miss Julie allows audiences to experience Strindberg’s classic afresh. We’re thrilled to be returning to our Associate Partners at Leeds Playhouse and friends at Rose Theatre Kingston and Bristol Old Vic.”
The transfer of The House Party from Chichester Festival Theatre follows on from a season of work marking 50 years of Headlong in 2024 including the hit production of A Raisin in the Sun which played nationwide in a Headlong, Leeds Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse production, also visiting Oxford Playhouse – a newly announced Associate Partner for Headlong. Artistic Director Holly Race Roughan also directed the Royal Shakespeare Company’s world premiere of acclaimed playwright David Edgar’s (Nicholas Nickleby, Pentecost, Maydays) major new political play The New Real produced in association with Headlong at the RSC’s The Other Place. Headlong’s highly acclaimed co-production with The National Theatre, People, Places & Things also returned to the West End in 2024 starring Denise Gough.
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