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Hampstead’s Yellowman & Louis Launch UK Tours

Two plays recently seen at north London’s Hampstead Theatre –Yellowman, by American dramatist Dael Orlandersmith, and Simon Mendes da Costa’s comedy Losing Louis - will launch UK tours over the coming weeks.

First up, Yellowman will open on 26 January 2006 at Salisbury Playhouse before continuing, until 25 March, to Leeds, Ipswich, Liverpool, Warwick, Oxford, Greenwich and Manchester.

Set in 1960s South Carolina, Yellowman follows Eugene and Alma who, from childhood playmates to teenage sweethearts, have struggled for acceptance. Orlandersmith’s 2002 two-hander received its European premiere at Liverpool Everyman in April 2004 ahead of a transfer that May to Hampstead (See News, 24 May 2004).

The new touring production, performed by Andi Osho and Anthony Ekundayo Lennon, marks the first national tour for Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, which is presenting in association with Rachel Tackley. Liverpool artistic director Gemma Bodinetz directs, with design by Francis O’Connor and lighting by Chris Davey.

The UK tour of Losing Louis opens on 21 February 2006 at the Theatre Royal Windsor and then visits Oxford, Brighton, Richmond, Bath, Guildford, Malvern and Cambridge, where its schedule concludes on 13 May 2006.

The comedy, Mendes da Costa’s second play, received its world premiere at Hampstead in February 2005, after which it transferred directly to the West End’s Trafalgar Studios for a limited season (See News, 4 Feb 2005). In it, secrets that refuse to be buried erupt as family members are brought together to face it out in the bedroom where all the confusion began.

From the original cast, Alison Steadman and David Horovitch will reprise their performances on tour. The production is directed by Robin Lefevre and designed by Liz Ascroft, with lighting by Mick Hughes.

- by Terri Paddock

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