The Bunker Announces Summer 2018 Season and Breaking Out Winners

The Bunker's Summer 2018 season celebrates exciting work from both emerging and established companies. A highlight of this season is Breaking Out - a new initiative introduced by Artistic Director Joshua McTaggart - which champions the most ambitious and innovative theatre companies who are embarking on their theatrical journey.

The season opens with On The Buttons' Don't Panic! It's Challenge Anneka. Inspired by real life stories, this rollercoaster one-woman show presents a frank, funny and open exploration of a topic that too often remains taboo: the challenge of overcoming anxiety.

Following Don't Panic! is the much-anticipated Breaking Out. Chosen from over 45 entries, the selected shows are: Poke in the Eye's Libby's Eyes - an experimental production about a young woman navigating a world she can't see; Sleepless' Nine Foot Nine - a fully accessible show that explores a world in which every self-identifying women suddenly grows to nine foot nine inches; This Noise's No One is Coming to Save You which uses the nineties classic children's movie Matilda as a lens into a tragic event of a young woman; Paper Creatures explore the life of a young man who is sectioned in Section 2; Second Circle Theatre will create an interactive date night with a difference in their production Kiss Chase, and leoe&hyde bring an electronic musical exploring the intricacies of Grindr and gay dating in Manchester.

Following Breaking Out, The Bunker plays host to both the National Youth Theatre's Playing Up project and Drama Studio London's end of year showcase.

The season concludes with Athenaeum Productions' Breathe - the latest play by George Jaques. Directed by Hannah Hauer-King (from The Bunker's resident company Damsel Productions), Breathe is a bold production exploring six young people impacted by teenage suicide. It is presented in partnership with ChildLine.

Director Joshua McTaggart comments, I am thrilled that The Bunker's Summer Season champions and celebrates 'The Company'. From established ensembles to emerging artists, summer at The Bunker will see an incredible range of performances, styles, and ideas all presented by groups who collaborate and create their work together. At the centre of this programming are the six winners of our Breaking Out project, chosen from an incredible application pool of 45 companies. These six companies are just at the beginning of their journeys, but the work they are planning to create is sharp, contemporary, and ambitious, and I know our audiences are going to be fascinated by the stories these young artists have to tell.

The Bunker's Summer Season 2018 is as follows:

Don't Panic! It's Challenge Anneka (On The Button Theatre)
Tuesday 29th May - Saturday 9th June, 7pm (Saturday and Sunday, 3pm matinees)

Bum-bag? Check. Luminescent shell suit? Check. Positive attitude in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges? Hell yeah! Inspired by real life stories, award-winning company on the button presents a frank, funny and open exploration of a topic that too often remains taboo: the challenge of overcoming anxiety. Starring Sophie Winter, this roller-coaster of a one-woman show channels the spirit of someone for whom no challenge is too big: Don't Panic! It's Challenge Anneka.

Breaking Out - Monday 11th June - Saturday 7th July

Libby's Eyes (Poke in the Eye)
Every Monday and Thursday - 7pm

Libby is blind. But she works. And she's a generally functioning adult. Inspirational. For being a functioning adult. And blind. Her life suddenly changes when she is forced to rely on Cortana - a government-issued robot. Cortana is constructed by a well-meaning engineer to describe things without bias and effectively be Libby's eyes but when Libby starts to suspect that Cortana is defective, she has an internal and external battle. Does she try and fix the defect to fit a society that is trying to 'fix' her? Written by disabled playwright Amy Bethan Evans and starring award-nominated comedian and actor Georgie Morrell, Libby's Eyes examines what it is to be disabled in today's society and the problems of viewing it through the non-disabled gaze.

Nine Foot Nine (Sleepless)
Every Monday and Thursday - 8:30pm

Cara and Nate are a hard-working young couple looking to start a family. Together they're bumbling through the daunting world of pregnancy tests, maternity clothes and flat pack cot building. That is, until suddenly a vast proportion of all the women in the world start to grow - centimetre by centimetre, foot by foot, with science powerless to stop them. The awareness that women are now physically more powerful than men sends shockwaves through society, fracturing age-old assumptions and prejudices. How do political regimes react? What will happen to industry, media, families, sex? And, more importantly, what comes next? Brought to life by Sleepless Theatre Company, this innovative new play examines the changing labels of 'masculine' and 'feminine' and a world where the gender balance is forever altered.

No One is Coming to Save You (This Noise)
Every Tuesday and Friday - 7pm

Two voices, two stories: an insomniac is watching TV in a language he doesn't understand and a woman is stood in a garden stretching her arms to the sky. The whole world is asleep and something terrible is just around the corner. Lyrical, eerie and hypnotic, No One is Coming to Save You is the story of the wait for dawn in a suburban garden - a slow-build gasp from two lives lived in social, political and economic fear. Supported by Arts Council England, This Noise makes theatre about the politics of the here and now, by, with and for young people.

Section 2 (Paper Creatures)
Every Tuesday and Friday - 8:30pm

Following their highly successful debut show Flood, Paper Creatures Theatre return with this hard-hitting drama by emerging playwright Peter Imms. Directed by Georgie Staight (Into The Numbers, Finborough Theatre) and with an original score composed by Benjamin Winter, this part verbatim drama is drawn from Imms' personal experiences and hones in on an aspect of mental health that is rarely addressed in theatre - sectioning. This bold new play shines a light on the desperate and determined measures taken to reconnect with someone on the road to recovery.

Kiss Chase (Second Circle Theatre)
Every Wednesday and Saturday - 7pm

Inspired by interviews with lovers across the UK, Second Circle Theatre's Kiss Chase holds tales of first love, broken hearts, no sex before marriage, the walk of shame, holding hands and standing alone when the lights go up. Expect whispered secrets, dad dancing and relentless foreplay. Set far in the depths of the digital generation, this thrilling production follows Second Circle Theatre's debut show Meeting at 33 which had a highly successful sell-out run at The Pleasance.

GUY: A New Musical (leoe&hyde)
Every Wednesday and Saturday - 8:30pm

From the creators of multi-award-winning The Marriage of Kim K, leoe&hyde return with an uplifting new musical about modern masculinity, body image, and the hook-ups and downs of dating in the 21st century. Sometimes sexy and always real, GUY is a game-changing gay rom-com for the 2010s. With nakedly honest characters, this is a thought-provoking glimpse behind the veil of modern masculinity, male beauty standards, and unspoken prejudices within marginal communities. Tied together with a pioneering and infectiously catchy electronic score, GUY channels floor-filling EDM anthems, indie electronica, queer hip-hop, and PC Music with the lyrical charm of Sondheim, and the earworm melodies of Schwartz.

Breathe
Tuesday 31st July - Saturday 5th August - 7:30pm

'Just breathe'. Often this is the best advice we have to offer anyone when the pressures of life get too much. But what about when these two words just aren't enough? In our relentless pursuit for perfection - to look perfect, to act perfect, to be perfect - the overwhelming pressure cannot always be remedied by these two worn out words. Breathe, the latest play by George Jaques, explores the anxieties of everyday life and how that manifests into three adolescent couples who are radically different but ultimately united by their shared burden. Directed by Hannah Hauer-King, this powerful production is presented in partnership with ChildLine.