The New Vic Theatre will stage work focused around empowerment in spring 2018, as it produces a season of plays to mark the anniversary of the centenary of women’s suffrage.
April De Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures (Fri 2 – Sat 24 February) is the first play in the season. Directed by Zoë Waterman (Remarkable Invisible, Theatre by The Lake, Keswick; The Rubenstein Kiss, Nottingham Playhouse) this vivacious drama takes audiences backstage in a Restoration playhouse when women were celebrating being permitted to act on stage for the first time.
New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins will adapt and direct Elizabeth Robins’ suffragist Votes For Women at the theatre-in-the-round from Tuesday 6 – Saturday 24 March, coinciding with International Women’s Day. A gripping drama about the suffragist campaign for the vote, Elizabeth Robins’ play first opened on stage in 1907, 11 years before women first gained the right to vote, and the play itself is a deft exploration of how the political world intersects with the personal.
The New Vic then teams up with The Dukes, Lancaster for the first time to stage the classic comedy about self-discovery, Educating Rita (Wed 18 April – Sat 5 May), directed by Sarah Punshon.
The spring season will also see the New Vic join forces with internationally-renowned NoFit State Circus as part of their previously announced programme, Circus Past, Present and Future, which begins in earnest in April 2018 as part of the national Circus250 anniversary celebrations. The programme of events will include NoFit State’s brand new production, LEXICON (Wed 28 March – Sat 21 April), which will have its world-premiere in Newcastle-under-Lyme and CIRCUS!, an exhibition held in the town centre in association with The Victoria and Albert Museum that will showcase the V&A’s archive collection of circus material.
The New Vic completes its season with the return of touring theatre companies, The John Godber Company with their world premiere of The Scary Bikers (Tue 27 – Sat 31 March), and Northern Broadsides with their brand new adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic Hard Times (Wed 4 – Sat 14 April).
One night events this spring will include electrifying jazz from The Pasadena Roof Orchestra, the sounds of rock ‘n’ roll from The Bluejays, a visit from R ‘n’ B legend Ruby Turner and more.