Theatr Clwyd announces further programming for 2020

February 6, 2020 by

 

In addition to the previously announced world premières of Milky Peaks and For The Grace of You Go I, Tamara Harvey and Liam Evans-Ford, Artistic Director and Executive Director of Theatr Clwyd today announce further programming for their 2020 season, which will include a major revival of Steve Waters’ The Contingency Plan – in a co-production with the Donmar Warehouse, the world première of Project Hush, and Beauty and the Beast, the company’s twenty-third annual rock ‘n’ roll pantomime, which sees Harvey make her pantomime directorial debut.

Artistic Director Tamara Harvey today said “In 2009, Steve Waters’ plays felt prescient. Now they feel vital – and more than urgent. We’re delighted to be working in partnership with the Donmar Warehouse and opening The Contingency Plan at Clwyd before heading to London and, on a personal note, it’s wonderful to be working with Michael again after we directed the original production, this time as ‘grown up’ Artistic Directors supporting the brilliant team headed by Caroline Steinbeis and Chelsea Walker. In the autumn, we are proudly embarking on another epic production with our community, Project Hush, alongside Papertrail Theatre Company. An immersive promenade show about the secrets and lies that were kept and told by those who worked in Rhydymwyn during World War Two, this innovative story can still be felt in the bones of the crumbling factories of this former secret weapons site. Finally, we’ll end the year with Beauty and the Beast. It’s taken me four years at Clwyd to be brave enough to take on our panto – I do so now safe in the knowledge that directing it can’t be anywhere near as terrifying as donning a frock and being in it!”

The Contingency Plan, Steve Waters’ critically acclaimed double bill of plays about the climate crisis has been updated by Waters for a timely revival, and opens at Theatr Clwyd on 4 June, with previews from 19 May, and runs until 6 June, before a London run at the Donmar Warehouse. Following the hugely successful Mold Riots, Project Hush, by Matthew Bulgo with Manon Wyn Jones and Yasuro Ito, explores the impact of the atomic bomb on the local community of Rhydymwyn Valley during its development stages at the local munitions’ factory in a large-scale community production. The production opens on 24 September, with previews from 20 September and runs until 4 October.

THEATR EMLYN WILLIAMS
Theatr Clwyd and Donmar Warehouse present
THE CONTINGENCY PLAN
Written by Steve Waters

Directed by Caroline Steinbeis (Resilience) and Chelsea Walker (On The Beach)
Designer: Alex Lowde; Casting Director: Anna Cooper CDG

19 May – 6 June
Press Day: 4 June, 2.45pm (On The Beach) and 7.45pm (Resilience)

The country is threatened by a catastrophic flood. What can we do to stop it?

ON THE BEACH
Glaciologist Will Paxton returns from Antarctica to his parents’ home in Norfolk. He’s looking for reconciliation but he also has news: a flood is coming. This will be the Big One. Is it the one his father predicted all those years ago?

RESILIENCE
In the heart of Westminster, newly appointed political advisor Will Paxton finds himself in a world tired of experts. It’s an emergency and, with infighting Ministers demanding answers, he has to tell them the truth they won’t want to hear.

Steve Waters updates his critically acclaimed double-bill of plays about the climate crisis, in a timely co-production by Theatr Clwyd and the Donmar Warehouse.

The Contingency Plan comes in two parts – On the Beach and Resilience. Audiences can book the two over multiple evenings or see both plays in one day. For the full schedule, please see the website.

Steve Waters writes. His previous credits include Limehouse, Temple (Donmar Warehouse), World Music (Sheffield Theatres, Donmar Warehouse), Why Can’t We Live Together? (Menagerie Theatre Company/UK tour/Soho Theatre/Theatre 503), Europa (Birmingham Rep/ Dresden Staatspielhouse/ Teater Polski/ Zagreb Youth Theatre), Ignorance/Jahiliyyah, English Journeys, After the Gods (Hampstead Theatre), Capernaum in Sixty-Six Books, Little Platoons, In a Vulnerable Place (Bush Theatre), Amphibians (Bridewell Theatre), Out of Your Knowledge (Menagerie Theatre), Fast Labour (Hampstead Theatre/West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Habitats (Gate and Tron Theatre Glasgow). For radio, his credits include Scribblers, Bretton Woods (BBC Radio 3), and Deep Swimmer, The Air Gap, Little Platoons, Morning, The Parliament of Rooks, The Moderniser (BBC Radio 4). And for television, Safe House. Waters is the author of The Secret Life of Plays.

Caroline Steinbeis directs Resilience. Steinbeis is an associate of Sheffield Theatres, and was the recipient of the 2009 JMK Award. Her previous theatre credits include Rutherford and Son, Love and Information (Sheffield Theatres), Edward II (Arts Theatre, Cambridge), The Tempest (Royal and Derngate/ National Youth Theatre), The Crucible, Brilliant Adventures (Royal Exchange, Manchester), We Want You to Watch (National Theatre), The Broken Heart (Shakespeare’s Globe), Show 6 (Lyric Hammersmith, UK tour, Secret Theatre), Talk Show/Mint, Time to Reap (Royal Court), Earthquakes in London (Headlong, UK tour), Fatherland (Gate Theatre), Mad Forest (BAC) and Mile End (Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh). Steinbeis was previously on attachment at the National Theatre and in 2008 completed the Director’s Course at the NT Studio. In 2012 Steinbeis spent a year as the Royal Court’s International Associate, developing and directing workshops and plays from all over the world.

Chelsea Walker directs On the Beach. Her previous theatre credits include Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre), Cougar, Low Level Panic (Orange Tree Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (Theatr Clwyd, Nuffield Southampton Theatres, coproduction with ETT on tour), Shudder (Soho Theatre), Yous Two (Hampstead Theatre), P’Yongyang (Finborough Theatre), Klippies (Southwark Playhouse), Chicken Dust (Finborough Theatre, Curve Leicester), and Lean (Tristan Bates).

ENDS

SEASON AT A GLANCE
THEATR CLWYD

MILKY PEAKS
Emlyn Williams Theatre
20 March – 11 April
Press Night: 30 March

FOR THE GRACE OF YOU GO I
Emlyn Williams Theatre
27 April – 9 May
Press night: 30 April

THE CONTINGENCY PLAN
Emlyn Williams Theatre
19 May – 6 June
Press night: 4 June

PROJECT HUSH
20 September – 4 October
Press night: 24 September

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