udith: A Parting From The Body by internationally-renowned playwright Howard Barker returns to the stage for a UK tour this autumn, telling the apocryphal story that has fascinated artists for centuries. Barker, lauded by The Times as ‘England’s greatest living dramatist’, pulls back the dusty sheets of Holofernes’ tent in this radical re-telling revealing what really happened in this mystic tale.
Catherine Cusack (Coronation Street, ITV; The Crucible, Belfast Lyric; All That Fall, Broadway, Arts Theatre, Jermyn Street) leads the cast of this powerful reimagining. The cast also includes Liam Smith (Cuffs, BBC; The Winterling, Theatre by the Lake in Keswick; Through The Night, Finborough) playing Holofernes and Kristin Hutchinson (Beyond Caring, National Theatre; The Empress, RSC; The Waves, National Theatre) playing the Servant.
The city under siege, the night before the battle that will see this country fall. A beautiful widow, Judith, infiltrates the enemy camp with her Servant, with the intention of seducing and killing the blood-crazed army general, Holofernes, to save her country from invasion and destruction. Her land is at stake – but what of her heart and mind? In Robyn Winfield-Smith’s unsettling and emotionally charged production, we see a passionate double-seduction and a web of truth and lies between a man who has chosen murder and a woman who has chosen love.
Alongside this production of Judith, REND Productions will continue to organise university and sixth form workshops, directing masterclasses as well as additional educational and outreach events.
5th – 9th September Arcola Theatre, Studio 2, London (£17/£14 concessions)
13th – 15th September Omnibus Theatre, London (£15/£12 concessions)
28th September Lighthouse, Sherling Studio, Poole (£14/£12 + booking fee)
29th – 30th September Mercury Theatre, Studio, Colchester (£13.50/£9 concessions)
