Diana and Martin Bashir interview play, ”The Garden of Words”, Rufus Hound and Samuel West set for Park season

The Park Theatre in north London has announced its summer/autumn season of shows.

Original Theatre Company and the Park will team up to present The Interview, penned by Jonathan Maitland and directed by Michael Fentiman. Running from 27 October to 25 November, the show charts the backstory behind the famous, and now infamous, interview between Princess Diana and Martin Bashir.

Before this, famed comics Adrian Edmondson and Nigel Planer, responsible for The Young Ones, will present It’s Headed Straight Towards Us, a comedy about two actors stuck in a trailer on the side of a volcano in Iceland, with the thespians played by Samuel West and Rufus Hound.

Produced with Jonathan Church Theatre Production and directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, it runs from 13 September to 20 October.

A stage adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s much-loved film The Garden of Words will be performed at the venue from 10 August to 9 September. It is produced by Whole Hog Theatre in association with the Park, and directed by Alexandra Rutter.

The season kicks off in Park90 with Bones, a new writing, physical theatre production about rugby that tackles mental health. Presented by Redefine and LooseHeadz in association with Park Theatre, the show is penned by Lewis Aaron Wood and directed by Daniel Blake, with running dates from 5 to 22 July.

In the larger space Park200, Andrew Stein’s new play Disruption asks what happens if we let an app make our life choices. Produced by Jack DePalma and Max Needle, Todd and Nancy Allan, Rick Feldman and Joanne F Guerrerio and Park Theatre, it runs from 7 July to 5 August.

The anime-based drama follows Takao and Yukari as they seek solace in a Japanese garden.
Actor-comedians

The Park90 stage will host Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea, a darkly comic, absurdist, and political piece by Italian theatre-maker Emanuele Aldrovandi. Set in a claustrophobic shipping container, it follows three unnamed travellers as they place their lives at the mercy of a mysterious people-smuggler.

Finally, moving into the autumn season, The Interview by is about the interview between Princess Diana and Martin Bashir that shocked the world. It was watched by hundreds of millions worldwide. But now, it is said, the interview has no legitimacy. Is it right that the way it came about has overshadowed what it was meant to be? The Interview poses tough questions: What can we justify in the pursuit of truth? Can we trust our great institutions? And are we ever, really, in control of our own narrative…our legacy?

Artistic director Jez Bond said, “As our tenth Birthday approaches I’m delighted to announce our next season; six new extraordinary pieces of theatre. From the political to the purely comic, the array of shows look back, forward and directly at the present. With a mixture of new and familiar faces gracing the stage, we’re thrilled to open our doors to all.”