Southampton's Nuffield Theatre Announces New Autumn Season

Nuffield, Southampton's leading professional producing company, today announced their new 2016 Autumn season which boasts two world premieres; a major new musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox and a brand new play, dramatising Shakespeare's mysterious relationship with his patron, the 3rd Earl of Southampton.

Sam Hodges, Nuffield Director said:

"Creating brand new work is integral to the national identity of Nuffield and this season reinforces our well-established commitment to telling Southampton's story.

Having produced Sam Holcroft's first play at HighTide, it's been wonderful watching her develop into one of the country's most exciting playwrights. I'm delighted to welcome her to the Nuffield with this fresh, witty adaptation of a much-loved family classic Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. With direction by Maria Aberg and design by Tom Scutt, this production continues our mission to bring the very best directors and designers to work in Southampton.'

Having grown up in Southampton, Bafta Award winner Nick Dear has become a playwright of national stature. His compelling new drama unpicks the mystery around Southampton's role in the life of our greatest writer. It's a thrill to get to tell a story which has never been staged before. This play, coupled with Spymonkey's anarchic The Complete Deaths and an evening of sonnet readings in the Beaulieu Abbey Domus., is our contribution to the nationwide celebration around Shakespeare400.

Co-produced with Curve, Nuffield's commission of Roald Dahl's much-loved book Fantastic Mr Fox opens in Southampton for Christmas, running from 7 November to 8 January, before travelling to Leicester Curve and embarking on a major national tour in Spring 2017. Roald Dahl's hugely popular tale of horrid farmers and a cunning family of foxes is brought to vivid, hilarious life, full of wit and music, for the whole family.

Fantastic Mr Fox, launching during the Roald Dahl 100 celebrations for the author's centenary year, has a stellar creative team; director Maria Aberg (The White Devil, As You Like It, King John, The Gods Weep, Days of Significance all Royal Shakespeare Company, Hotel National Theatre and Much Ado About Nothing Royal Exchange), playwright Sam Holcroft (Rules for Living National Theatre, The Wardrobe National Theatre Connections; Edgar and Annabel part of Double Feature 1 for the National Theatre); and designer Nuffield Associate Tom Scutt (King Charles III Almeida/West End/Broadway, Wozzeck English National Opera, Constellations Royal Court/West End/Broadway). The songs are composed by Darren Clark (Our Friends the Enemy Off Broadway, National UK Tour, The Scarecrows Wedding UK Tour and the sell-out, critically acclaimed These Trees Are Made of Blood Off West End, Southwark Playhouse). with lyrics co-written by Darren Clark, Sam Holcroft and Ali Muriel (Reality RSC, Pages, Promised Land Mokita Grit Productions)

The Autumn opens with a world premiere by award-winning playwright Nick Dear (Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch National Theatre; The Art of Success RSC, Olivier Nomination): a brand new dramatisation of Shakespeare's mysterious relationship with his patron the 3rd Earl of Southampton. Centuries of conjecture have surrounded their association from the tender poems and financial dependency, to the plot to use Shakespeare to incite revolution and the Earl's gaol term for treason. This new play, 9 September - 8 October, is a local story of national significance set in the powder keg of sex, politics and power in Elizabethan England. This play will be directed by Nuffield's Artistic Director, Sam Hodges, following his critically-acclaimed production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie in 2015.

Nuffield's celebrations for Shakespeare400 will also include Spymonkey's Complete Deaths, 11 - 15 October, staging all 75 deaths in the works of Shakespeare in one evening of carnage and hilarity. Nuffield are also working with Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, a direct descendant of the 3rd Earl of Southampton, to curate an evening of sonnet readings in the Beaulieu Abbey Domus. Other highlights in the Autumn season include physical theatre company Gecko's latest production Institute, 2 - 5 November, which is a visually captivating, emotionally driven and funny performance asking its audiences what it means to care for one another in a busy world of high-pressure targets and expectations.

Nuffield are also excited to announce plans for this year's Hampshire County Youth Theatre, the annual summer theatre project for aspiring young people from Hampshire and Southampton wanting to get better at making theatre. This year Nuffield begins a partnership with the Hampshire Cultural Trust, creating the opportunity to run HCYT at four different locations around the county; Aldershot, Fareham, New Milton and Southampton - enabling the Youth Theatre to genuinely reach a county-wide presence.

Tickets for the new season are available online at nuffieldtheatre.co.uk or call 023 8067 1771.

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