Spooks director presents Shakespeare at The Lowry
Spooks director presents Shakespeare at The Lowry
Propeller in association with The Touring Partnership present:
Richard III and The Comedy of Errors
Tues 8 – Sat 12 March 2011
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Edward Hall
Press Nights
Tues 8 March, 7.30pm - The Comedy of Errors
Wed 9 March, 7.30pm - Richard III
Following sell-out shows and rave reviews, the internationally acclaimed all-male company Propeller return to The Lowry with two new productions.
Fresh from directing two episodes of the most recent series of BBC TV’s Spooks, Artistic Director Ed Hall directs a bloody, macabre and darkly funny Richard III alongside Shakespeare’s smartest and funniest play, The Comedy of Errors.
Renowned for combining a rigorous approach to the text with an exciting, physical aesthetic to engage its audiences’ imaginations and bring fresh understanding to classic plays, this is Shakespeare rediscovered and reinvigorated.
Propeller’s production of Richard III promises to create a ‘diabolical adventure’, taking Hammer Horror and Grand Guignol as its inspirations. Macabre beauty and bloody sensuality will be the order of the day as the devilish House of York, led by the machiavellian Richard, takes on the purer-than-pure House of Lancaster in an England driven by civil war. This production will be the sixth and final chapter in Hall’s staging of Shakespeare’s complete Wars of the Roses cycle.
The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s neatest comedies. Following the example of Roman theatre, it is a model of comic plotting and finely balanced construction. Two pairs of twins, each separated from their sibling at birth, leave a perfectly symmetrical trail of confusion behind them when a shipwreck unites them on the same island. Full of music, Propeller’s production will emphasise the light and the laughter in this intricately comic masterpiece.
Edward Hall is the founder and Artistic Director of Propeller, for which he has directed Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, amongst others. In 2002, Hall directed Rose Rage, a two-part adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy. He was appointed Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre in January 2010. He is also an Associate at the National Theatre, and an Associate Director at the Old Vic, and The Watermill Theatre, Newbury.
On Shakespeare, Edward Hall, says “He challenges every preconceived notion about people, about morality, about what it is to be human. Each time you think you know something is definitely right or wrong, he shows that the opposite truth exists. It’s a deeply civilised lesson you learn from that. It encourages you not to be judgemental, to try to look beyond what seems to be on the surface of events and situations. Our culture and society, mainly led by the media, demands that we make instant judgements about everything. Shakespeare reminds you not to get caught up in that vortex.”
Michael Pavelka, the designer has also designed many productions for Manchester’s Library theatre and won the TMA’s Best Set Design 2009 for Propellor’s The Merchant of Venice. He comments, “Working within this very particular, all-male ensemble brings with it a common bond and a constantly negotiated, but shared, vision. Knowing many of the performers, having returned from previous Propeller productions, gives me a head start.”
Post show talks
Wed 9 March Richard III
Free to ticket holders. Lyric Theatre
Thu 10 March The Comedy of Errors
Free to ticket holders. Lyric Theatre
Artistic credits for both shows
Company: Propeller
Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Edward Hall
Designer: Michael Pavelka
Lighting Design: Ben Ormerod
Sound: David Gregory
Executive Producer: Caro MacKay
Listing Information
Propellor: Tues 8 – Sat 12 March 2011
The Lowry, Salford
Box office: www.thelowry.com or 0843 208 6005
The Comedy of Errors:
Tue, Thu & Fri eves 7.30pm, Sat mat 2pm
Richard III:
Wed & Sat eves 7.30pm, Thu mat 2pm
Tickets £12.50 - £20.50
Post show talks free to ticket holders
Wed 9 March Richard III
Thu 10 March The Comedy of Errors
Media Enquiries
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact Michelle Bowey, Head of Media Relations on 0161 876 2037 or email michelle@thelowry.com
Pictures
Pictures of theatre events and exhibitions in Adobe RGB format are available to download from our image library. Visit www.thelowryimages.com & click on theatre, followed by Propellor for production images of Richard III and The Comedy of Errors.
New users need to register by clicking on ‘register’ on the left hand side of the page, fill in the required information (which includes creating your own password) and click ‘create account’. You will then receive an email from images@thelowry.com stating that a request has been sent for approval. After approval has been granted, you will receive another email confirming activation of your account. You will then have access to images via the log-in page.
Notes to Editors
- Propeller is an all-male Shakespeare company which seeks to find a more engaging way of expressing Shakespeare and to more completely explore the relationship between text and performance. Mixing a rigorous approach to the text with a modern physical aesthetic, they have been influenced by mask work, animation and classic and modern film and music from all ages. Productions are directed by Edward Hall and designed by Michael Pavelka.
Propeller has toured internationally to Australia, China, Spain, Mexico, The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Cyprus, Ireland, Tokyo, Gdansk, Germany, Italy, Malta, Hong Kong and the U.S.A.
Propeller’s 2010/2011 UK tour promises to be its most ambitious to date thanks to a collaboration with the Touring Partnership (a consortium of nine of the UK’s leading independent regional theatres) and support from Arts Council England.
www.propeller.org.uk
Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Festival City Theatres, Edinburgh
Theatre Royal, Newcastle
Theatre Royal, Norwich
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
The Lowry, Salford
Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
Over a decade ago, the managers of some of the country’s leading promoting theatres joined force in a remarkable new venture to produce for themselves the sort of touring drama they wished to see on their stages.
Their groundbreaking move, supported by the Arts Council of England resulted in a tour of The Provoked Wife with John Nettles directed by Stuart Burge and produced by the Theatre Royal Plymouth. Since 1994, The Touring Partnership have gone on to tour Peace in Our Time by Noel Coward, the Royal National Theatre’s production of Broken Glass (West End and tour). Make Way for Lucia starring Angela Thorne; Blue Murder, a new play by Peter Nichols, produced at the Theatre Royal Plymouth starring Anton Rodgers, Nicola McAuliffe and Barry Foster; Mrs Warren’s Profession starring Penelope Keith, The Country Wife, another Plymouth production, directed by Laurence Boswell, Sheffield Theatres’ production of Brassed Off which featured a local brass band at every venue; the National Theatre and Sheffield Theatres’ production of The Heiress starring Alan Howard; a further NT production, Sparkshank, a Philip Ridley play for young people directed by Terry Johnson; Clywd Theatr Cymru’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard; George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man and See How They Run by Philip King and again produced by the Theatre Royal Plymouth (West End and UK tour).
Glossary of Key References
Grand Guignol :
Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol (pronounced ‘Ginyol’) was a theatre in Paris which specialized in naturalistic horror shows. Its name is often used as a general term for graphic horror entertainment, a genre popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre (for instance Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Webster's The White Devil) and today's splatter films.
Hammer Horror :
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer films had low budgets, but nonetheless appeared lavish, making use of quality British actors and cleverly designed sets. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution. It is famous for often over-the-top depictions of horror and gore.
Posted on Tuesday, 15 February 2011 under News Press Theatre Press