Theatre News

New season at Battersea Arts Centre announced

The line-up paves the way for the re-opening of the Grand Hall next year

Battersea Arts Centre
Battersea Arts Centre
© Morley Von Sternberg

The latest full programme of events at Battersea Arts Centre, following the fire at the venue in 2015, has been announced.

There are over 300 performances running between October and April at the venue, including Touretteshero's staging of Samuel Beckett's Not I. Performer Jess Thom has Tourette's and is taking on the piece to raise questions about who is allowed to perform what. The show runs between 28 February and 17 March 2018.

RashDash return over Christmas with Snow White & Rose Red, an alternative to the Brothers Grimm fairytale, which runs from 29 November to 30 December 2017 and is for everyone aged five-plus.

In 2018 Paper Cinema return to Battersea Arts Centre with Macbeth, the follow up to their critically acclaimed Odyssey. The company uses intricate shadow paper puppets to create a silent film as the audience watches.

Theatre-maker Victoria Melody will star in Ugly Chief between 31 October and 18 November and appears onstage alongside her celebrity antique dealer dad. The piece looks at what happens when Melody's dad was wrongly diagnosed with a terminal illness and she trained as a funeral director in order to give him the service of his dreams.

Making Routes Festival, the inclusive celebration which brings together disabled and non-disabled people runs on 29 Occtober, while Sponge, a show for babies, returns to the theatre between 28 November and 30 December.

Adam Riches appears with an hour of 'festive comedy' in December, while John Kearns performs his comedy show between 11 and 16 December. Also in the comedy line up is Sleeping Trees' revamp of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Dance theatre company Lost Dog follow up their production of Paradise Lost with Juliet and Romeo's Guide to Long Life and Happy Marriage. The piece looks at what might happen had Shakespeare's famous lovers had survived and lived through to middle age.

The Grand Hall at the back of the theatre was hit by a fire in 2015. Since then, the theatre has focused on recovering and renovating the space which will reopen in 2018.

Artistic director David Jubb said: "Last summer we completed the capital renovation to the front of the building and re-opened our artist bedrooms and creative residency spaces. So over the last year we have been supporting artists to scratch new ideas and take creative risks.

"Now we are looking forward to sharing the results of all this work with audiences. A running theme of the work is reclaiming classic texts and stories, turning them on their head and opening them up to be accessible for all."