Theatre Royal Stratford East has announced Nadia Fall’s second season as artistic director to run from autumn 2019 to summer 2020.
Highlights include:
- Opening the season, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Theatre Royal Stratford East present a transfer of James Dacre’s acclaimed production of Our Lady of Kibeho, which premiered at Royal & Derngate earlier this year. Playwright Katori Hall presents a haunting insight into true events in Rwanda that captured the world’s attention.
- Paines Plough brings its acclaimed pop-up theatre Roundabout to Theatre Square in front of Theatre Royal Stratford East. Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd present three new plays that will perform in rep.
- Ballet Black returns to Theatre Royal Stratford East for a fourth consecutive year with a dynamic triple bill.
- The annual Christmas pantomime will be Dick Whittington.
- Eclipse Theatre Company visits Stratford East for the first time, with the London premiere of The Gift by Janice Okoh, directed by Dawn Walton.
- Nadia Fall will direct her new play Welcome to Iran, a Theatre Royal Stratford East and National Theatre co-production. Based on real-life testimonials, Welcome to Iran offers a tender and witty snapshot of people in Iran today.
- The season concludes with a Theatre Royal Stratford East production of Roy Williams’ award-winning play Sucker Punch directed by Roy Alexander Weise, marking 10 years since its premiere at The Royal Court.
Fall’s first season at the helm of Theatre Royal Stratford East has generated record audience attendance figures for drama at the theatre. Her production of The Village which launched the season was the best attended drama in the theatre’s history and has been subsequently exceeded by Equus.
Ned Bennett’s revival of Peter Shaffer’s Equus (a co-production with English Touring Theatre) will transfer to the West End this summer, playing at London’s Trafalgar Studios between 6 July and 7 September.
Speaking about her second season at Theatre Royal Stratford East, artistic director Nadia Fall said:
“After an exhilarating first season here at Stratford East, I’m thrilled to announce the programme for our year ahead, which kick starts in September and takes us right up to summer 2020.”
Production Information
Our Lady Of Kibeho
25 September to 2 November 2019 (Press night is 2 October)
Katori Hall’s Our Lady Of Kibeho presents us with a haunting insight into true events in Rwanda that captured the world’s attention. It features stirring original music and reunites Royal & Derngate’s artistic director James Dacre with Katori Hall, following their collaboration on The Mountaintop which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2010.
Roundabout
10 October to 26 October 2019
Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd present three world premieres from Daf James, Nathan Bryon and Charley Miles within the pop-up Roundabout theatre. All three productions will be performed in rep by Charlotte Bate, Charlotte O’Leary and Toyin Omari-Kinch, directed by former Paines Plough associate director and nabokov artistic director Stef O’Driscoll.
- Daughterhood by Charley Miles (10-26 October)
- On The Other Hand We’re Happy by Daf James (11-26 October)
- Dexter and Winter’s Detective Agency by Nathan Bryon (12-26 October)
Ballet Black: Triple Bill
6 November to 9 November 2019
Including new works Ingoma, CLICK! and Pendulum, choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November, Sophie Laplane and Martin Lawrance.
Dick Whittington
23 November 2019 to 11 January 2020 (Press night is 30 November)
Book and lyrics are by David Watson, with music and lyrics by Robert Hyman. The production is directed by John Haidar.
The Gift
29 January to 15 February 2020 (Press night is 29 January)
Eclipse Theatre and Belgrade Theatre Coventry present an outrageous comedy drama about imperialism, cross-racial adoption, cultural appropriation and drinking tea, written by Janice Okoh and directed by Dawn Walton. Eclipse is the foremost Black-led national touring company in the UK and The Gift marks its first production at Stratford East.
Welcome to Iran
18 April to 16 May 2020 (Press night is 24 April 2020)
Based on real-life testimonials, this new play by Nadia Fall offers a tender and witty snapshot of modern life in Iran. Following its Stratford run, Welcome to Iran will transfer to the National Theatre for a limited run.
Sucker Punch
19 June to 25 July 2020 (Press night is 25 June)
Roy Williams’ bruising play, here directed by Roy Alexander Weise, examines what it was like to be a young black man in 1980s Britain and asks, how can you fight a system that’s desperate to see you fail?
