Wood’s Talent heads up New Laundry Season

Prior to its opening in London, a new version of Victoria Wood‘s Talent tops the bill in the new season at the Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District from 27 August to 28 November 2008.

The Season offers 18 productions from theatre comedy to folk music and from silent movies to Shakespeare.  

Festival trustee Griff Rhys Jones says: “What a splendid star packed Season awaits. This is the theatre in the most beautiful location in Britain.  It’s an informal and cosy place with a wonderful repertoire of concert, film and solo performances”.

Griff’s talk, entitled ‘Unexpurgated, unedited, untitled – Griff Rhys Jones – adventures undertaken for publication’ on 28 November at 8pm will feature Griff rolling up to spend an evening of fond reminiscence as he looks back on scripts that he had forgotten about and talks about his mountaineering and river trips. The evening will be a charity and fundraising event for the Old Laundry Theatre and Griff will be signing copies of his new book on Britain’s rivers.

Talent, a play with music, depicting life at the very bottom end of the show business ladder, won Victoria Wood the Evening Standard Award for most promising playwright when it was first performed in 1978 and a Bafta nomination the following year. The play will run from 27 August to 12 September and is a co-production with London’s Menier Chocolate Factory.

Alan Ayckbourn’s classic marital farce, How The Other Half Loves, (28 September- 3 October at 8pm) is the first new production of the play by the author since its premiere 40 years ago.  

The popular London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) return to Bowness to present three plays, Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys, directed by Janet Suzman (22 October, 3pm & 8pm), A Russian in the Woods by Peter Whelan (23 October 3pm and 8pm) and A Time to Keep by Stephanie Dale and David Edgar (24 October 3pm & 8pm).

The season’s line-up also includes folk and classical music concerts and film.

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