Artistic Directors Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner have announced Paines Plough’s Roundabout programme for 2022.
The award-winning pop-up venue will be premiering three new plays in rep at Summerhall as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the first time since 2019. As well as work from three trailblazing playwrights Dipo Baruwa-Etti, Sami Ibrahim and Laura Lindow, Summerhall will also see the return of Chris Bush’s critically acclaimed play HUNGRY which premiered at Roundabout last year.
This year’s premieres will preview at Rose Theatre, Kingston from 11-24 July, with HUNGRY playing a limited run at Soho Theatre from 12-30 July, before all four shows open in Edinburgh on 3 August. The portable, in-the-round auditorium will then tour across the UK to cities including Burton-upon-Trent, Doncaster, North Devon, Ramsgate and Salford.
Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner said: “We cannot wait to share these three extraordinary new plays with audiences across England and Scotland. We commissioned these plays because they speak urgently to the present moment, and give a voice to individuals and stories that have so often gone unheard in our society. We are so excited to be platforming these incredible writers at Roundabout, and also to be working with 3 exceptional freelance directors to bring these stories to life in exciting new partnerships with Rose Theatre and the Gate Theatre. We are also delighted to be reviving HUNGRY by Chris Bush after its success in 2021, working with our trusted collaborators 45North and Soho Theatre. To be bringing these 4 plays to Summerhall after a two year break is beyond thrilling and feels long overdue!”
The three world premieres will be directed by three pioneering women in theatre. The programme includes a new play about Black British history in the school curriculum by Dipo Baruwa-Etti (An unfinished man) – HALF-EMPTY GLASSES, directed by Kaleya Baxe. This will play in rep with award-winning playwright Sami Ibrahim’s (two Palestinians go dogging) new poetic fable about the immigration system A SUDDEN VIOLENT BURST OF RAIN, directed by Yasmin Hafesji (The Maladies) and Roundabout’s new family show is by Laura Lindow, THE ULTIMATE PICKLE about the importance of stories and imagination, and how young people deal with grief, and will be directed by Eva Sampson.
The three new works will be joined for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe run by the critically acclaimed play HUNGRY by Chris Bush (Steel, The Changing Room), which premiered as part of Roundabout 2021’s programme. HUNGRY is a play about class, queerness, cultural appropriation and the cost of gentrification. In association with 45North, the play will also have a limited run at Soho Theatre from 12th July – 30th July. Press night is on the 13th July at Soho Theatre.
Roundabout is Paines Plough’s award-winning portable in-the-round auditorium and 2022 will see it return for its eighth consecutive year. Roundabout will also host a programme of visiting companies, comedy, music and local community events. The full listings of events for the Edinburgh run can be found here.
