Nicolas Kent accepts his 2009 TMA Award
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Tricycle Examines Riots, The Bomb & Revives Stones

Nicolas Kent has announced his final season as artistic director of the Tricycle Theatre. Highlights include the premiere of a documentary piece about the recent riots, a new production of one of the venue’s biggest hits - multi-award winning comedy Stones in his Pockets - and a two-part political history of the Nuclear Bomb.

The season opens, from 22 November to 10 December (previews from 17 November) with The Riots. Written by Gillian Slovo from spoken evidence and directed by Kent, it continues the Tricycle's record of addressing current issues with documentary theatre.

Kent and Slovo were part of the team responsible for the acclaimed Guantanamo - Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, which transferred from the Tricycle to the West End and New York and was performed at the Houses of Parliament and in Washington’s Capitol Hill.

The Riots draws on everything from “tweets by taxi drivers, to moment-by-moment accounts by riot police” in an attempt to build a “real-time picture of the riots as they unfolded”. And then, from interviews with politicians, police, teachers, lawyers, community leaders, as well as victims and on-lookers, it will analyse “what happened, why it happened, and what we should do towards making a better future for ourselves and our city”.

Return of an old favourite

It’s followed, from 20 December to 4 February (previews from 15 December), by a return for Marie Jones’ popular two-hander Stones in his Pockets, in a new production directed by Indhu Rubasingham.

The play won awards for Best New Comedy at the 2001 Olivier Awards and the Evening Standard Awards. It transferred from the Tricycle to the West End, then Broadway, becoming an international hit. Now it returns to the venue where it had its original London premiere.

It sees two actors play 15 characters to evoke a rural community in County Kerry, Ireland, that is turned upside down by the arrival of an American film crew on location to capture ‘real’ Ireland for their latest Hollywood blockbuster. When locals Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn are employed as extras for the film, they, like the rest of the village, struggle to present the Americans’ romanticised Ireland.

Indhu Rubasingham last directed the critically acclaimed season Women, Power and Politics at the Tricycle Theatre. She also co-directed The Great Game: Afghanistan alongside Nicolas Kent. Further directing credits for the Tricycle Theatre include Detaining Justice as part of the 2009 Not Black And White season, Fabulation, Starstruck and Darfur: How Long is Never?.

A contemporary look at the Bomb

The season closes with The Bomb – A Partial History in Two Parts, which runs from 20 February to 1 April 2012 (previews from 9 February).

First Blast (1940-1992) features plays covering the period from the first year of the Second World War to the break-up of the Soviet Union and the unilateral disarmament of Ukraine. Second Blast (1992-2012) takes a contemporary look at the non-proliferation debate, the “axis of evil” speech and its aftermath and the current negotiations with Iran.

Commissioned by the Tricycle from playwrights Lee Blessing, Ryan Craig, John Donnelly, David Greig, Elena Gremina, Amit Gupta, Zinnie Harris, Ron Hutchinson, Diana Son and Colin Teevan, The Bomb – A Partial History is directed by Nicolas Kent, marking his final production at the Kilburn venue he’s run for 27 years.

- by Theo Bosanquet

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