Artistic Directors of Paines Plough James Grieve and George Perrin today announced the company’s full Programme 2018.
James Grieve and George Perrin said: “We are honoured and excited to present some of the UK’s most exciting new playwrights around the country, on the airwaves and online in Paines Plough’s Programme 2018.
ROUNDABOUT will again tour the UK with three world premieres in partnership with Theatr Clwyd. Simon Longman’s Island Town is a play about friendship, cheap cider,
and feeling stuck in your hometown. Sticks And Stones is a hilarious, incisive satire on the modern condition from BAFTA nominated Vinay Patel. Georgia Christou’s How To Spot An Alien is a rip-roaring space odyssey for adventurous young people and older stargazers. We think Georgia, Simon and Vinay are amongst the most distinctive, observant and entertaining new voices in British theatre and we are thrilled to showcase their work across the UK in our beautiful pop-up Roundabout.
Pop Music is a new play from Bruntwood Prize winning writer of Yen, Anna Jordan, co-commissioned with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Turbo charged by non-stop pop hits from the past 20 years of chart toppers, POP MUSIC is a euphoric, nostalgic, poptastic theatre party for anyone who’s ever been a dick on the dancefloor.
Thanks to a Channel Four Playwright Bursary, London Laureate and former Roundhouse Poetry Slam Champion Zia Ahmed spent the last year on attachment to Paines Plough, during which time he wrote one of the most exciting debut plays we’ve come across in several years. We could not be more excited to be partnering with Tamasha to present the tender and lyrical love story I WANNA BE YOURS which will embark on a ‘Create’ Tour with Rural Arts in April.
We are again partnering with Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and The Gate Theatre to showcase new talent with the world premiere of Isley Lynn’s Albatross, directed by Anna Himali Howard who was Paines Plough Trainee Director in 2016. Both Isley and Anna are major new talents and we are delighted to forge their partnership on a show which will be performed by the graduating actors at RWCMD.
It is our mission to take the best new theatre everywhere, live and digital. Our Come To Where I’m From smartphone app will relaunch on the Apple store and Google Play with a 160-strong audio play library from writers across the country – a vivid patchwork quilt of accents, experiences and impressions in your pocket. Wherever you are in the world you can hear writers like Alice Birch, Mike Bartlett, James Graham, Roy Williams, April De Angelis and Lizzie Nunnery telling tales of their home towns.
Whether you’re in a theatre or on a smartphone there is something for everyone, everywhere in Programme 2018.”
