Exclusive: Filter, panto and Tim Pigott-Smith feature in new Park Theatre season
The second season at The Park Theatre will feature visits from Filter Theatre and the Reduced Shakespeare Company, the venue’s first pantomime, and the world premiere of a new play starring Tim Pigott-Smith.
Since the launch of the Finsbury Park venue in May, it has hosted productions including The School for Scandal and Oliver Cotton‘s playwriting debut Daytona.
The new season in the main 200-seat space opens next month with Filter Theatre‘s acclaimed touring production of Twelfth Night (24 September-6 October).
It’s followed by the premiere of the Park’s writer in residence Sarah Rutherford’s new play Adult Supervision (8 October-3 November 2013), which Bond will direct.
Next up is the return of Snapdragon Productions – whose Thark opens at the Park this week – with the London premiere of The Dead Wait by Paul Herzberg (6 November-1 December), which centres on a white athlete in apartheid South Africa.
The award-winning Reduced Shakespeare Company will bring its perennially popular Complete Works of Shakespeare: Abridged to Park200 from 2-8 December. And the previously announced pantomime Sleeping Beauty runs from 11 December to 19 January and will feature Hazel, the theatre’s tweeting dog.
Rounding off the season is Stroke of Luck, a dark comedy by Larry Belling starring Tim Pigott-Smith as a wealthy invalid who wishes to marry a young nurse, which premieres from 31 January to 2 March 2014 (previews from 29 January).
‘Overwhelmed by support‘
The smaller studio space Park90 will host productions including: The world premiere of The Barrier (25 September-20 October), a contemporary story of religious and political divide in London; a revival of the French comedy Little Black Book (17 December-19 January) directed by Kate Fahy; and The Keepers of Infinite Space (22 January-16 February), a new piece about Palestine from the team behind the The Fear of Breathing.
In addition, Park90 and Park200 will host a festival of improvisation from major practitioners from across the world, running from the 20 to 26 January 2014.
Park Theatre artistic director Jez Bond said today: “Since our opening in May, we have been overwhelmed by the support for the new venue, both within the local community and across the capital.
“I’m thrilled to announce our new season today – a diverse mix of new work, innovative and exciting partnerships with new and established companies, and the cream of British theatrical talent across both our spaces.
“This season builds on the foundations of our work thus far, cementing our place in the London theatre scene, and I look forward to building on this as we secure the future for the theatre in Finsbury Park.”
For more information on the Park Theatre, visit parktheatre.co.uk
