Paines Plough Announces Casting For Roundabout 2018

Artistic Directors of Paines Plough James Grieve and George Perrin today announced casting and creative team for Roundabout, Paines Plough's award-winning portable in-the-round auditorium. Roundabout will showcase three world premieres across the country, with full dates to be announced in May.

This year all three productions will be directed by former Paines Plough Associate Director, and nabokov Artistic Director, Stef O'Driscoll. For Paines Plough Stef has directed WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK by Sabrina Mahfouz, HOPELESSLY DEVOTED by Kate Tempest, and BLISTER by Laura Lomas. Balisha Karra will assist Stef. Balisha joins Paines Plough as Trainee Director from Birmingham Repertory Theatre's REP Foundry artist development programme.

The 2018 programme, which includes World Premieres from Simon Longman, Vinay Patel and Georgia Christou, will be performed in rep by Charlotte O'Leary (UNDER MILK WOOD, The Watermill; HUSH, Paines Plough; THREE DAYS IN THE COUNTRY, Richard Burton Theatre Company) Katherine Pearce (THE LAST BALLAD OF LILLIAN BILLOCCA, Hull Truck; LOW LEVEL PANIC, Orange Tree Theatre; HUSBANDS AND SONS, PORT, National Theatre) and Jack Wilkinson (TWELFTH NIGHT, Shakespeare's Globe; KING LEAR, Northern Broadsides/UK Tour; CLOSE THE COALHOUSE DOOR, Northern Stage/UK tour).

James Grieve and George Perrin said: "We're thrilled to announce that ROUNDABOUT will tour the UK for the fifth year running. Once again we're producing three world premieres in rep; ISLAND TOWN is a bittersweet story about friendship, hope and dreams of an escape from George Devine Award Winner Simon Longman. STICKS AND STONES is an incisive satire on the modern condition from BAFTA nominated Vinay Patel. Georgia Christou's HOW TO SPOT AN ALIEN is a rip-roaring space odyssey for adventurous young people and older stargazers. Georgia, Simon and Vinay are amongst the most distinctive, observant and entertaining new voices in British theatre and we are thrilled to showcase their work across the UK in our beautiful pop-up ROUNDABOUT.

We can't wait to see what Stef does with the plays. Since she joined us as Assistant Director on Kate Tempest's WASTED in 2011 she has directed two shows for Paines Plough including WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK which was recently broadcast on BBC Radio 1xtra. Her work on Monsay Whitney's BOX CLEVER for nabokov which played ROUNDABOUT in Edinburgh last year was extraordinary.

We'll be running our Trainee Director scheme for the third year welcoming Balisha Karra from Birmingham Rep's REP Foundry artist development programme.

All three ROUNDABOUT plays will be performed by an ensemble of superb, shapeshifting actors Charlotte O'Leary, Katherine Pearce and Jack Wilkinson.

And we're delighted to be teaming up with Theatr Clwyd again to produce the season which begins in Mold in June."

Stef O'Driscoll said: "It's an incredible honour to direct the ROUNDABOUT season this year and be a part of taking the best of the best in new writing around the UK to areas that new plays wouldn't normally be able to reach. To develop and engage new audiences we need to take stories to people in their communities on their doorsteps.

I am hyped to be working with such an incredible team including some of the nation's greatest playwrights. The plays are joyous, funny and heart breaking. I can't wait to share these beautiful stories and see how audiences around the UK vibe with them."

Roundabout 2018 will open at Theatr Clwyd and tour to The Lowry (Salford), Brewery Arts Centre (Kendal), Lighthouse (Poole), Margate, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, Appetite (Stoke-on-Trent) and Luton Culture. Roundabout will also host a programme of visiting companies, comedy, music and local community events. All performances on the tour will have Closed Captioning available. Plans for Roundabout this summer will be announced on 17 May.

Paines Plough will reunite the creative team from Roundabout 2017 with Lighting Design by Peter Small, Sound Design by Dominic Kennedy and Movement Direction by Jennifer Jackson, this year joined by Movement Associate Simon Jones.

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A Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd production
ISLAND TOWN
by Simon Longman

Kate, Sam and Pete are stuck. The town they live in doesn't have much going on. But they don't really care about that when they've got cheap cider and their whole lives ahead of them.

And they're going to break away anyway. Someone's about to get a car. And all roads go somewhere else. Right?

ISLAND TOWN is bittersweet story about friendship, hope and dreams of an escape.

Simon is a writer from the West Midlands whose play GUNDOG recently premiered at The Royal Court Theatre. Last year, his play WHITE SKY premiered at the Royal Welsh College before transferring to The Gate Theatre. Simon is currently under commission to the Bush Theatre and Paines Plough. He was a member of the Royal Court Young Writer's Group in 2014 he won the Channel 4 Playwrights' Scheme.

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A Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd production
STICKS AND STONES
by Vinay Patel

"So we're clear
You know, right?
You know I'm not that kind of person."

Sometimes we can't find the right words. Sometimes the wrong word just slips out. Sometimes the right words become the wrong words. Sometimes that ruins everything.

When a misfiring joke turns their life upside down, B sets off on a surreal journey looking for answers. In an age when technology multiplies every mistake, can we find a way to understand each other?

A razor sharp satire about the search for a sure footing in an uncertain world from BAFTA nominated Vinay Patel.

Vinay's debut play TRUE BRITS premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe 2014 and transferred to the Bush's RADAR Festival and VAULT Festival. His second, FREE FALL, opened at the Pleasance Islington and was nominated for three Off West End awards. His latest play AN ADVENTURE will premiere at The Bush Theatre in September 2018 and will be directed by Bush Artistic Director, Madani Younis. Vinay's television debut MURDERED BY MY FATHER was commissioned for BBC3 and won 2 Royal Television Society awards including Best Single Drama as well as being nominated for three BAFTAs including Best Single Drama and the Breakthrough Talent Award for Vinay.

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A Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd production
HOW TO SPOT AN ALIEN
by Georgia Christou

What do you do if you think your aunt is an alien? 12 year old Jelly and her brother JonjJo have their suspicions.

She won't let them leave the house. Or ask questions. And she definitely won't let them in the attic.

Join Jelly and JonJo on their quest to discover the truth in a rip-roaring adventure through space full of friendship, fun and flying saucers.

Contains: one confused alien, two brave kids and a busted spaceship.

For space cadets age 5 and up.

Georgia is a previous member of the Royal Court Young Writers' Group. YOUS TWO is her first full-length play which was originally shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award in 2015. She has also been selected as part of Channel 4's 4Stories scheme and is writing an original single drama which will shoot in 2018. YOUS TWO is currently playing at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs until 24th February 2018.

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