THE SWEARING JAR Will Embark on UK Tour

The UK premiere of a multi-award winning Canadian play, recently made into a film, The Swearing Jar is a comedy about love, heartbreak, living with the past and accepting the future. Told by a cast of four and featuring original songs, it follows seemingly perfect couple Carey and Simon. When Carey produces a swearing jar, it's her way of breaking the news that she's pregnant, giving them nine months to break the swearing habit before the baby is born. Little did she realise this blew Simon's chance of sharing his own news. As Carey takes us into her past with songs that express what she finds difficult to say, Simon's secret emerges and we see how one unsaid moment changes their future.

New Perspectives Artistic Director Angharad Jones directs The Swearing Jar, which was originally written by Kate Hewlett. It won the Best of the Fringe at Toronto Fringe Festival for its premiere in Canada in 2008, then Outstanding New Play at New York International Fringe Festival in 2010 and Governor General's Literary Award for Drama in 2013. The movie adaptation of the play was released in 2022 starring Adelaide Clemens, Patrick J. Adams, Douglas Smith and Kathleen Turner.

Angharad is collaborating with musical director Joe Danks to bring the show's music to life. Joe is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose credits include Seaspeak, an album produced after a year-long residency at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. She is also working with designer Gemma Caseley-Kirk, lighting designer Alexandra Stafford and choreographer Tina Carter.

The tour starts at Squire Performing Arts Centre in New Perspectives home city of Nottingham, then tours to arts venues including Key Theatre in Peterborough and Northern Stage, and to Midlands and South East community spaces as part of the Live and Local, Northants Touring Arts and the Artsreach rural touring schemes.

The cast for The Swearing Jar includes Paige Round (Tartuffe, Birmingham REP; The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, UK tour), Joe Wiltshire Smith (Ghost About The House, King's Head Theatre; Kneebone Cadillac, Theatre Royal Plymouth), Stanton Wright (Twelfth Night, Royal Shakespeare Company; The Kite Runner, UK tour) and Tanya Myers (rehearsed reading of Maryland, New Perspectives; Emmerdale, ITV).

Director Angharad Jones said, "There's something a little bit magic about The Swearing Jar, and I'm enormously proud to be directing the first UK outing for this award-winning play. We've slightly re-worked it to read for a British audience and have a brilliant cast and creative team bringing it to life. After a few rough years for many people, The Swearing Jar is a real tonic and I hope it feels to the audience something akin to a warm embrace. It also allows me, with unashamed abandon, to fully embrace my love and respect for rom-coms and tear jerkers!"

New Perspectives is an East Midlands based company with nearly 50 years' experience of touring high-quality productions to venues of all sizes across the UK, from mid-scale theatres to village halls.  With a strong rural core, they create productions to fit spaces of any size in order to bring new work that is unexpected and thought-provoking to a wide range of audiences. In 2021, Angharad Jones was appointed as their Artistic Director/CEO; assistant director of the company's award-winning production of The Fishermen. Within the last year at New Perspectives, she has directed The Great Almighty Gill (Edinburgh Festival & UK Tour 2022) and a script-in-hand reading of Lucy Kirkwood's Maryland. In addition, she returned to co-direct the UK revival of LAVA, including a 4-week run at Soho Theatre, for Fifth Word - the company she co-founded and ran with Laura Ford for fifteen years.

Tour Dates

24 - 25 Feb Squire Performing Arts Centre, Nottingham

Arboretum Street, Nottingham NG1 4JB

7.30pm | £12

www.squirepac.co.uk

1 March Stamford Arts Centre, Lincolnshire

27 Saint Mary's Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 2DL

7.30pm | £12 (£10 concs)

www.stamfordartscentre.com | 01780 763203

2 March Rolleston Village Hall, Nottinghamshire

Greenaway, Rolleston, Newark, NG23 5SG

7.30pm | £12 (£10 U16)

www.liveandlocal.org.uk | 01636 831165

3 March The Old School, Nottinghamshire

Fern Road Cropwell Bishop NG12 3BU

7.30pm | £13.50

www.liveandlocal.org.uk/whats-on

4 March Great Carlton Village Hall, Lincolnshire

Main Rd, Great Carlton, Lincolnshire LN11 8JU

7.30pm | £12 (£10 members)

www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/lincs/great-carlton-village-hall

10 March Sydling St Nicholas Village Hall, Dorset

Dorchester DT2 9NX

7.30pm | £10 (£5 U18s)

www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/dorset/sydling-st-nicholas-village-hall/

11 March Sturminster Marshall Memorial Hall, Dorset

Churchill Cl, Sturminster Marshal, Wimborne, BH21 4BQ

7.30pm | £10 (£5 U18s)

www.ticketsource.co.uk/artsreach/t-lndqjgm

12 March Gretton Village Hall, Northamptonshire

61 Kirby Road, Gretton, Corby, NN17 3DB

7.30pm | £12

www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/northamptonshire/gretton-village-hall/

17 March Sutton Cum Lound Village Hall, Nottinghamshire

38 Town Street, Sutton cum Lound, Retford DN22 8PT

7.30pm | £13.50

01777 854392 | www.liveandlocal.org.uk/whats-on/

18 March Tideswell Community Hall, Derbyshire

Church Lane, Tideswell, Derbyshire SK17 8PD

7.30pm| £13 (£12 concs)

www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/tideswell/tideswell-community-hall

21 - 25 March Key Theatre, Peterborough

Embankment Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE1 1EF

7.30pm, Sat Mat 2.30pm | £20.50 (£18.50 concs)

www.keytheatre-peterborough.com | 01733 207 239

28 - 29 March Northern Stage, Newcastle

Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 7RH

7pm | £18 - £10

www.northernstage.co.uk | 0191 230 5151

31 March Manton Village Hall, Leicestershire LE15 8SU

Priory Road, Manton, Oakham LE15 8SU

7.30pm | £12

01572 737503 | www.liveandlocal.org.uk/whats-on

1 April Malvern Cube Community Centre

Worcestershire WR14 2YR

7.30pm | £12 (£8 U18s)

www.ticketsource.co.uk/cubebookings