STRATEGIC LOVE PLAY Will Embark on UK Tour This Autumn

Miriam Battye’s Strategic Love Play, a co-production with Soho Theatre and Belgrade Theatre in association with Landmark Theatres, will tour the UK this Autumn from 6 September - 21 October following a full run at the Edinburgh Fringe as part of the Roundabout @ Summerhall season.

Directed by co-Artistic Director Katie Posner, Miriam Battye’s Strategic Love Play takes place on an awkward first date, speaking uncomfortable truths about modern dating and romance with acid wit. Letty Thomas and Archie Backhouse star in the production, which has a press night on 7 August at Roundabout @ Summerhall, and 7 September at Soho Theatre. 

So they’ve both swiped right. Now they’re meeting for the first time. Facing each other. As if that’s a normal thing to do. But she’s being uncomfortable, and he’s a total bore. The vibe is horrific and the banter is even worse. But something is keeping them in their seats. Something is making them stay. Welcome to your hot date.
 

Writer Miriam Battye said: "A first date is a fascinating place for a play. There’s simultaneously massive stakes and no stakes at all, depending on how you will it. It’s brutal and it’s trivial in equal measure. There’s a lot of theory and analysis and assistance swirling around the project of coupledom. But at the end of the day, it starts, or it ends, with two people sitting across from each other with no guidance. We’re all alone out here. We always have to do that bit. I wanted to write about that bit.”

Co-Artistic Director at Paines Plough Katie Posner said: “Miriam writes with a razorblade, with so much wit and brutality. We have been huge fans of her work since the Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2020, where she made the finalist list, and we’re so pleased to have this opportunity now to take her new play Strategic Love Play and share it around the country. The play is a sharp, funny takedown of modern dating culture and what it means to be single in 2023. I can’t wait to get started with this fantastic team, and I can’t wait for you to see it. Grab a couple of pints and bring a date. It’s going to be a wild ride.”

Strategic Love Play will preview at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, before a full run at Roundabout @ Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before touring the UK including London, Newcastle, Peterborough, Colchester and Canterbury.

The production will feature Set and Costume Design by Rhys Jarman, Lighting Design by Rajiv Pattani, Sound Design by Beth Duke, Intimacy Direction by Robbie Taylor Hunt, Movement Direction by Gabrielle Nimo, Dramaturgy by Gillian Greer and the Casting Director is Jacob Sparrow. The Production Manager will be Josephine Tremelling and the Company Stage Manager will be Simon Perkins. 

Miriam Battye is a writer from Manchester. Plays include Scenes with girls (Royal Court), Find A Partner (National Theatre Connections) and Trip The Light Fantastic (Bristol Old Vic/Radio 4). She is the recipient of the Harold Pinter Commission 2020. Television includes: Dead Ringers (Amazon) and Succession (HBO).

Katie Posner (she/her) joined Paines Plough as Joint Artistic Director with Charlotte Bennett in August 2019. Katie has most recently directed – You Bury Me (UK Tour), Hungry for Soho Theatre/Roundabout Edinburgh, Really Big and Really Loud and Black Love (Co-Director for Roundabout). Katie is an experienced and award-winning director. She has worked across a wide variety of productions both overseas and on national tours, including multiple productions with York Theatre Royal and Pilot Theatre with whom she was Associate Director from 2009 until 2017. Her work encompasses both intimate pieces of new writing and larger-scale community pieces. In 2019 Katie received a UK Theatre Award nomination as Best Director with her production of My Mother Said I Never Should at Theatre By The Lake. 

Archie Backhouse trained at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. His theatre includes: Farm Hall (Theatre Royal Bath/Jermyn Street), The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Stratford East), Telethon (TalkShow Theatre), Hunger (Arcola Theatre), The Listening Room (Crowded Room/UK Tour), There is a Field (Synergy Theatre/Theatre 503), The Outsider (Print Room at the Coronet), The Gap in the Light (New Diorama Theatre). Screen credits include: The Sandman (Netflix), Save Me (World Productions/Sky Atlantic). Archie is an actor and deviser, he worked with theatre maker Christopher Green on his show No Show (The Yard) and is an associate artist with Complicité.

Letty Thomas’ theatre includes: Scenes with girls; That is Not Who I Am; Collect, Cumin, Coriander, Chardonnay and Cashews; Maryland; Living Newspaper (Royal Court), How to Build A Wax Figure (The Pleasance/November Theatre), Connect; The Divide (The Old Vic), Square Rounds (Finborough Theatre), Mary Stuart (Almeida), Men (Arcola). Television includes: Damage, The Crown S4, Bridgerton (Netflix), Soulmates (AMC), Doc Martin (ITV). Film includes: Emma.

For more information go to painesplough.com/productions/strategic-love-play/

Tour Dates

27-29 Jul
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
www.belgrade.co.uk/events/strategic-love-play

ON SALE

2-27 Aug
Roundabout @ Summerhall, Edinburgh

Press access: from 7 August
festival23.summerhall.co.uk/events/strategic-love-play/
ON SALE

6-23 Sep
Soho Theatre, London

Press performance: 7 September
sohotheatre.com

ON SALE SOON

25-27 Sep
Northern Stage, Newcastle
northernstage.co.uk/whats-on/strategic-love-play/

ON SALE 

29-30 Sep

Mercury Theatre, Colchester

www.mercurytheatre.co.uk 

ON SALE 30 JUNE 

11-14 Oct
Key Theatre, Peterborough
keytheatre-peterborough.com

ON SALE SOON

18-21 Oct

The Marlowe, Canterbury
marlowetheatre.com
ON SALE ON 7 AUGUST