Sir Jonathan Miller to Direct RUTHERFORD & SON for Northern Broadsides

Opera and theatre director Sir Jonathan Miller will return to the British theatre stage next year for the first time in five years to helm the Northern Broadsides production of Githa Sowerby's Rutherford & Son. The production will open at the Viaduct Theatre, Halifax from Friday 8^th February 2013 and then tour the UK. 

Set in early 1890s industrial Yorkshire, Rutherford & Son tells the story of "iron-fisted John Rutherford as he battles the scheming rebellion of his younger son and his daughter’s scandalous love-affair, while fighting to prevent the legacy of the family glassworks from shattering. Tackling timeless issues of family dynamics both at home and in business, this remarkable drama is as relevant today as it was when it was first performed."

Since launching his early career with Beyond the Fringe, alongside Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett, Sir Jonathan Miller has become one of the world’s leading opera and theatre directors, with myriad credits at English National Opera and Glyndebourne as well as internationally. His theatre productions include: The Merchant Of Venicewith Sir Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright, The Taming Of The Shrew (RSC), The Seagull(Chichester Festival Theatre), A Long Day's Journey Into Night (Haymarket Theatre and on Broadway), and King Lear(the Lincoln Center, New York, with Christopher Plummer). Sir Jonathan’s most recent theatre works were The Cherry Orchard (Sheffield Crucible) in 2007 andHamlet (Tobacco Factory, Bristol), a year later.

Sir Jonathan Miller said about the production, “I am absolutely thrilled and excited to be asked to direct Rutherford & Son for Northern Broadsides next year. It is also a huge delight to be once again working with Barrie Rutter, who I last worked together with at the RSC in the late eighties. Earlier this year Barrie invited me up to Halifax to visit Northern Broadsides’ home at the Viaduct Theatre in Halifax and I was totally overcome with the venue’s wonderful intimate performance space which is such an exciting challenge and delight for both a director and actor.”

Northern Broadsides’ founder and artistic director Barrie Rutter, who will play the role of John Rutherford in the production, added “Jonathan’s delight in the play and our home venue at Dean Clough, a former mill, is very fitting for the robust domestic and industrial battle that is at the heart of Rutherford & Son. He will be the company’s first guest director – a welcome and exhilarating influence.”

Barrie Rutter and Sir Jonathan Miller have worked together on several occasions, the last being the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production ofThe Taming of the Shrew in 1987.

The production will be designed by Isabella Bywater, who has worked regulary with Sir Jonathan, as well as designing productions for Nicholas Hytner, Deborah Warner and Lucy Bailey. 

In autumn 2012 Northern Broadsides, who are celebrating their 20^th anniversary this year, will be staging A Government Inspector, Deborah McAndrew’s new adaptation of Gogol’s fantastical satire which relocates the play to a small town in Yorkshire and promises a uniquely Broadsides blend of muck and brass.

Details of the cast and tour dates for Rutherford & Son will be announced in the coming months.

For more info visit www.northern-broadsides.co.uk.

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