Bolton Octagon stage Arthur Miller and Michael Frayn plays in new season

David Thacker celebrates his sixth year as Artistic Director with a season of eight home-produced productions, including the Arthur Miller classic A View From The Bridge.

David said: "We take pride in announcing our entire season for a whole year and next season will include a wide range of high quality plays that we truly believe in. We work hard to ensure our audiences have a rich selection of home-produced theatre that will take them on a journey."

The season opens with Journey’s End (4 September – 4 October) by RC Sherriff. Described as one of
the greatest war plays ever written, this play will commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First
World War.

Continuing with the Octagon’s commemoration of the anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War,
Early One Morning (9 October – 1 November) by Bolton playwright Les Smith, will return to the Octagon stage,
having been first produced by the Theatre in 1998. The play tells the true story of 26-year-old James Smith, a soldier from Bolton, who fought in some of the fiercest battles of the War, and was charged with desertion.

At Christmas, Octagon Associate Director Elizabeth Newman will direct the adventurous story of
Alice in Wonderland (14 November 2014 – 10 January 2015), a new adaptation based on the novel by Lewis Carroll. This will be the fifth festive production directed by Elizabeth at the Octagon, and once again she has teamed up with Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, who wrote the Octagon’s 2013 – 2014 adaptation of Robin Hood.

Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge is staged in the new year (15 January – 14 February 2015), in the centenary year of Miller’s birth (1915). The production will be the third Arthur Miller play directed for the Octagon by Thacker who had a close working relationship with the playwright. David explains: "A View from the Bridge is very special to me because it had such a huge impact on me when I first started directing. It left me stunned after I saw it for the first time and Arthur Miller rapidly became my favourite playwright after Shakespeare."

Hindle Wakes is next (19 February – 21 March 2015) by Stanley Houghton. As one of the first plays to have a working class female central character, it was considered to be hugely controversial when first performed, championing the role of women as they embarked on a new era of independence and freedom.

The season continues with Noel Coward’s popular comedy – Private Lives (26 March – 18 April 2015). The play follows the flirtations, frivolities, aggression and anger between sparring newlyweds whose pasts are quickly catching up with them. Private Lives will be directed by Elizabeth Newman, who commented: "This play is hilarious and I am thrilled to be directing such a masterpiece! It still has a lot to say today and I know our audiences will enjoy it."

The Ancient Secret of Youth and the Five Tibetans (30 April – 23 May 2015) is a new production
by well-known playwright, and Bolton’s own, Jim Cartwright. Three old friends who’ve know each other for 40
years discover an ancient book that offers up the secret of youth through a series of rituals that if followed,
promise to turn back the clock. The friends take the challenge. Jim Cartwright is an international award-winning
playwright and his work has been amongst the most performed in the Octagon’s history, including Road, Two,
and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.

The Octagon will close the season with the Olivier Award-winning comedy Noises Off (4 June – 4 July 2015)
by Michael Frayn. Revealing the backstage shenanigans of a theatre company in the throes of ‘putting on a
show’, this comedy follows the cast and crew as they tour their cheeky farce ‘Nothing On’.

This is David Thacker’s sixth season as Artistic Director at the Octagon Theatre, which recently smashed box office records with three hit shows over a period of just one year, with productions Of Mice and Men (2013), An Inspector Calls (2013) and Hobson’s Choice (2014).