Artistic director Rachel Edwards has announced the Boulevard Theatre’s 2020 season. The new venue opens on 24 October 2019 with Dave Malloy’s Ghost Quartet, directed by Bill Buckhurst with a late night and Sunday programme running alongside.
Highlights of the 2020 season include:
- Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited, directed by Terry Johnson
- Anthony Neilson directs the first London revival of Lucy Prebble’s The Effect
- Yaël Farber will direct Hello and Goodbye by Athol Fugard
- Kathy Burke will direct The Cavalcaders by Billy Roche
- Playwright Abbie Spallen is announced as the first Boulevard commission
Artistic director of the Boulevard Theatre, Rachel Edwards said: “In the 2020 season, there is a wonderful mixture of plays that are notably different from one another. The same can be said of the exceptional directors that we are welcoming through our doors for the first time: Bill Buckhurst, Terry Johnson, Anthony Neilson, Yaël Farber and Kathy Burke. It is a chance to explore, to experiment, and to understand the potential of this extraordinary new space.
“It’s an honour to be at the helm of one of the many theatres opening in London at the moment. I hope that the Boulevard can play its small part in creating an environment where all those things are possible.”
The Boulevard Theatre is located in the heart of Soho in Walker’s Court. The venue is situated in the exact location where owner Fawn James’ grandfather Paul Raymond opened the original Boulevard which became home to the Comic Strip.
Architects SODA studio, in collaboration with theatre specialists Charcoalblue, have designed an innovative new flexible space which features Europe’s most advanced revolving theatre and a two-floor glass bridge leading to a restaurant and bar area.
The New Season
Ghost Quartet
24 October 2019 to 4 January 2020 (Press night is 31 October)
The premiere season of the Boulevard Theatre opens with Ghost Quartet by Dave Malloy (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Octet and Preludes). Bill Buckhurst directs and reunites the creative team behind his sell-out production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. The cast includes Carly Bawden, Niccolò Curradi, Maimuna Memon and Zubin Varla.
The Sunset Limited
16 January to 7 March 2020 (Press night is 21 January)
The 2020 season begins with the London premiere of multi-award-winning writer Cormac McCarthy’s play about redemption, faith and free will. The Sunset Limited will be directed by Terry Johnson.
The Effect
19 March to 30 May 2020 (Press night is 25 March)
The first London revival of The Effect, by Lucy Prebble will be directed by Anthony Neilson. The Effect won the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play when it opened at the National Theatre in 2012.
Hello and Goodbye
4 June to 25 July 2020 (Press night is 12 June)
Athol Fugard offers a searing exploration of the claustrophobic hold the past can have on the present, directed by Yaël Farber.
The Cavalcaders
16 September 2020 – 21 November 2020 (Press night is 24 September)
Kathy Burke directs this bittersweet story of music, memories and moving on by acclaimed writer Billy Roche.
