James Brining announces first season as artistic director of West Yorkshire Playhouse

Headlining the season will be Brining’s TMA award-winning production of Sweeney Todd, which was first staged in Dundee in 2010. The production marks the beginning of a creative partnership between West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Royal Exchange Theatre, and will run at WYP’s Quarry Theatre from 26 September – 26 October 2013, before transferring to the Royal Exchange from 1 November – 30 November 2013.

James Brining said: “We’re thrilled to be collaborating for the first time with the Royal Exchange. In what is an exciting time of change for both theatres this new partnership provides a whole range of opportunities for working together in the future. The chance to restage Sweeney Todd for such an iconic and exciting theatre space is one I’m particularly looking forward to.”

The Christmas show in the Quarry Theatre will be The Jungle Book, directed by Liam Steel. Adapted by Rosanna Lowe, the production will use dance, physical theatre, puppetry, song and theatrical-magic to tell Mowgli’s coming-of-age story. It runs from 30 November 2013 – 18 January 2014.

The world premiere of My Generation, a new play by award-winning television writer Alice Nutter will run from 5-28 October 2013. Set in Leeds, My Generation explores the lives of one family across four decades. Political tensions, family relationships and social responsibility are examined against a backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper, the miners’ strike, music festivals and radical feminism.

As well as producing new writing on the main stages, Brining introduces A Play, A Pie & A Pint to Leeds. Working with both established and new writers, short original plays will be produced in various spaces throughout the theatre. There will also be The Playground, a series of scratch nights performed in the Playhouse foyer. Individual artists, companies, writers, performers, directors, musicians are encouraged to try out their work in front of a Playhouse audience.

The theatre will also see a series of touring shows, including Northern Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Paines Plough’s Jumpers For Goal Posts and Theatre O’s The Secret Agent.