Phil Bartlett, the Artistic Director of The Hope Theatre, today announces details of the theatre’s summer 2022 season, including five main productions running from June to September, the continuation of the theatre’s Sunday and Monday two-night programme, and a selection of shows encompassing new writing, drama, comedy and performance art as part of the CAMDEN FRINGE during August.
The season kicks off with the world-premiere of HEN, a surreal comedy about two flatmates who must keep a chicken alive for a year in order to inherit a vast fortune. Hen is written by Josh Husselbee and has been shortlisted for the New Diorama & Underbelly Untapped Award 2022.
Also premiering at the Hope this summer, HAND OF GOD is raucous garage-music gig-theatre about men’s mental health and the worst five-a-side football team in Birmingham. The debut production from TECTUM Theatre, Hand of God was originally programmed for this year’s cancelled Vault Festival.
OH! SUBURBIA! is a one-man avant-garde theatrical revue from award-winning performer, musician and raconteur Bob Karper. Packed full of songs, stories and film, this unique interrogation of suburban life features an audio cast of UK seniors and is equal parts tongue-in-cheek and profound.
2022 marks 35 years since Princess Diana opened the first HIV/AIDS unit in the United Kingdom, and Bren Gosling’s play MOMENT OF GRACE tells the story of her visit to the unit and how it affected some of the people she met that day. The production, which is supported by the National HIV Story Trust, will see the return of matinee performances to the Hope Theatre, and the run overlaps with this year’s London Pride celebrations in July.
Closing the summer season is ANGEL, Torch Theatre’s internationally-acclaimed production of Henry Naylor’s play about a Kurdish woman who defended her town against Isis fighters, allegedly killing hundreds, and subsequently became an internet sensation.
The theatre also continues its popular Sunday-Monday programme of two-night runs, including ROAD TO NOWHERE, a dazzling comedy about a queer film-making collective on a misjudged road-trip, which comes to the Hope following sold-out performances at the Bread and Roses. Also in the Sunday-Monday programme are LETTERS TO MY DEAD MOTHER
and PERIOD DRAMAS.
Phil Bartlett said: ‘I’m delighted by the range and ambition of the productions in our summer season, which is a testament to the boldness and brilliance of the many theatre-makers involved. The Hope remains the little theatre with big ideas, and I can’t wait to experience these productions with audiences over the coming months.’
Tickets are now on-sale via the Hope Theatre website.
