Jeremy Herrin announces first Headlong season

Jeremy Herrin has announced his first season as artistic director of touring company Headlong, which features new work from Anya Reiss, Jennifer Haley, Jack Thorne and Duncan Macmillan.

According to press material, it's a season "at once bold and intellectually thrilling", featuring "a vigorous programme of work across the country".

Central to the season is the commencement of a new three-year parntership with West Yorkshire Playhouse, starting with a production of Anya Reiss‘ new version of Wedekind's Spring Awakening in March 2014.

Spring Awakening, which will be directed by Ben Kidd, is also co-produced with the Nuffield, Southampton, and will tour to UK venues following its premiere in Leeds.

Next up, as announced by the Royal Court yesterday, is Jennifer Haley's The Nether, which runs at the Court's Theatre Downstairs from 17 July to 9 August, directed by Herrin.

Winner of the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the play centres on a young detective who "uncovers a disturbing brand of entertainment", triggering "an interrogation into the darkest corners of imagination".

Other plays announced by Headlong today are Jack Thorne's Junkyard, a co-production with the Bristol Old Vic billed as a "play about Bristol for Bristol", and People, Places and Things by Duncan MacMillan. Details of both these productions will be announced shortly.

"I am delighted to announce this season of shows, which are about what it is like to be alive now with all its contradictions and in all its glory," Herrin said.

"Headlong is about making exhilarating work and getting it out around the country and around the world, so it is brilliant to find new ways to engage with our regional partners by co-commissioning and co-producing plays with increasing ambition."