Park Theatre has unveiled an eclectic line up of theatre and comedy in its Summer and Autumn seasons, including shows set in Ireland, Japan and Italy, Edinburgh Festival Fringe hits, shows exploring the lives of artists and opera composers, and comedians performing their final previews in July before hitting the Fringe in August.
Ahead of the season, Park Theatre has announced, for one night only, An Audience with Jonathan Pryce (30 Mar). Exploring moments that have shaped the illustrious career of the knighted, award-winning actor of stage and screen, the evening will raise funds towards Park Theatre’s invaluable work in their local community, which includes three different programmes for those living with dementia and their carers, and sessions with young people aged 12 – 16 and 18 – 28.
Opening the Summer season, Conversations After Sex (30 April – 17 May) is a sharp and unflinchingly honest, Irish Times Award winning play by Mark O’Halloran about unexpected encounters with anonymous strangers in hotel rooms. When a woman in possession of her own sexuality meets a carousel of different men, she finds herself uncovering more than she expected. Grief. Loneliness. Promiscuity. Connection.
Next in Park90, Outpatient (21 May – 7 June) is an explosive autobiographical comedy exploring the world of Olive, a self-obsessed entertainment journalist who sets out to make her name interviewing people who are receiving palliative care, only to discover that she is living with an incurable and mysterious disease of her own. Determined to live what little time she has left to the fullest, she plans to sever all ties with her partner, throw herself into her work, and audition for a reality singing competition. Coming to Park Theatre following its Edinburgh Festival Fringe run, Outpatient explores the fantasies of human minds and the fragility of human bodies.
In Park200, Our Cosmic Dust (2 Jun – 5 July) is an English-language debut of a three-time award-winning production created by Tokyo writer and director Michinari Ozawa. Meet Shotaro, a curious schoolboy who sets out on an adventure to find his late father among the stars. Behind him follows his mother, sick with worry and determined to bring him home. Along their journeys, they encounter a kaleidoscope of characters each with their own stories of love, loss, and the absurdities of life. Blending intricate puppetry, hand-drawn illustrations, and inventive video design, Our Cosmic Dust is a heartfelt and imaginative tale that explores how we find guidance in others and solace in the cosmos – all seen through the wide-eyed perspective of a child.
Another Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit, Jimmy (23 June – 12 July) is a theatre show from Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner Adam Riches. In 1974, Jimmy Connors was the greatest tennis player on Earth. In 1991, he’s getting annihilated at the US Open by his arch-nemesis’ little brother. What happened next was one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history, when Jimmy, fuelled by ghosts of his turbulent past, winds back the clock to remind the world what happens when you rattle the cage of a geriatric tiger, one last time.
Taking the main stage in July, That Bastard, Puccini! (10 July – 9 Aug) stages the 20th century race between composers Giacomo Puccini and Ruggero Leoncavallo to claim the enchanting love story of La Boheme. Giacomo Puccini needs to write an opera that will cement his reputation as the next great composer, but fellow composer Ruggero Leoncavallo has thought of La Boheme too. And worse still, he’s claiming Puccini stole his idea. A funny, chaotic and captivating new play by James Inverne, That Bastard, Puccini! brings to life an explosive professional rivalry, a plagiarism scandal that rocked Europe, and a friendship tested to the limit. Witness the story behind one of the world’s most famous masterpieces… and as a result, one of the least famous.
Also in July, Park Laughs will be presenting comedians, starting with Chris Grace: Sardines (20 July) in Park200, then a series of Avalon Edinburgh Previews (21 – 26 Jul) with double bills of comedians in the intimate Park90 just ahead of their Scottish runs: Matt Forde and Joe Kent-Walters, Glenn Moore and Johnny White Really-Really, Chloe Petts and Pierre Novellie, Sophie Duker and Bella Hull, Rob Auton, Andrew Doherty, and two more to be announced.
Moving into the Autumn, The Gathered Leaves (13 Aug – 20 Sept) returns to Park200 a decade after its sold-out run, directed by former RSC Artistic Director Adrian Noble, who makes his UK play-directing comeback after nearly 10 years of working on international opera productions. The Pennington family have not been in the same room for 17 years, yet on the eve of William’s 75th birthday all three generations gather to put the past well and truly behind them. But William knows he is running out of time to accept his family on their own terms – even if they cannot overlook his own shortcomings in return. The Gathered Leaves is a moving, poignant and funny family drama that sees the weight of history, of reputation, and of expectation, all descend on one family over Easter weekend in 1997.
Bruntwood Prize shortlisted play (the) Woman (24 Sept – 25 Oct) follows M: a writer, a mother, a woman. The triumph of M’s hit play is hijacked by motherhood – M is burnt out, angry, lonely, craving intimacy but disengaged, and terrified of the future. She wants to tell her story, her way. But, everyone around her shares their opinions on who she is, who she should be and how she’s f*cking everything up. Fiercely funny and brutally honest, Jane Upton’s play shatters the glossy veneer of motherhood, exposing its raw, messy truth, and dares to question the definition of (her) Self.
Finally, in Park90 Lee (24 Sept – 18 Oct) stars Olivier Award nominated actress Issy van Randwyck as real-life artist and wife of Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner. A late summer afternoon, 1969, she is painting in her studio when local delivery boy and art student brings her a work of art to be authenticated. When Hank explains that Pollock gave the painting to his father many years ago to settle a debt, Lee accuses him of stealing the work from her home. What unfolds is a history of this particular painting that reveals a painful secret that could call into question the origin of her late husband’s ‘genius’.
Artistic Director Jez Bond said, “This season promises a broad array of shows for our audiences to enjoy – from the dark to the comic and the modern to the historic, with familiar names sitting alongside exciting new talent. All the while we’re thrilled to continue to present accessible stories in an intimate setting and to welcome new audiences.”
