SHAKESPEAREAN actress Imogen Stubbs will be starring in A Glass Menagerie as part of the Everyman and Playhouse’s early 2010 season.
A collaboration between League of Gentlemen writer Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, co-creator of illusionist Derren Brown’s TV and stage shows, will also feature in a four-month programme that promises to be one of the most experimental in the theatres’ recent history.
“There’s been a cultural change in our audience,” says artistic director Gemma Bodinetz. “Not only are there more and more young people, but some of the older audiences are getting younger in their tastes.
“It’s nice to be able to programme theatre that’s pushing boundaries and is more experimental.”
The season will be book-ended by two horror shows, starting with Dyson’s and Nyman’s Ghost Stories in February, and ending with long-running West End production The Woman in Black.
Few details are yet available for the season opener, but Bodinetz tips it as “a whole new experience for the theatre” and those with heart conditions or a nervous disposition are being advised to think again before purchasing tickets.
Dyson and Nyman say: “As die-hard horror fans, we’ve dreamt of doing a show like this since we first met each other at the age of 15.
“We are incredibly excited at the prospect of enthralling, thrilling and scaring people in the theatre.”
Local talent will also play a strong role in the bill, with physical theatre company Tmesis collaborating with playwright Chris Fittock in The Dreadful Hours, a work that traces a couple’s relationship from its romantic beginnings to uncomfortable silence.
Liverpool-born Coronation Street and Gimme Gimme Gimme writer Jonathan Harvey returns to the Playhouse, where he was given a young writers award 22 years ago, to present the world premiere of Canary.
Described as an unflinching story about love and homosexuality against a backdrop of modern Britain from the 1960s to present day, it is already being compared to Tony Kushner’s groundbreaking play/film, Angels of America.
Everyman and Playhouse regulars Northern Broadsides will bring two shows to Liverpool in early 2010 – Medea, a retelling of Eurpides’s classic, and The Canterbury Tales.
Dance is also well represented in the programme with a double-bill from National Dance Company Wales, and Liverpool’s 20 Stories High fusing dubstep, ska, puppetry, hip-hop, street art and dance in Ghost Boy.
Also featuring is multi award-winning British choreographer Wayne McGregor’s 60-minute piece Entity – a trip through a soundscape created by Coldplay and Massive Attack collaborator Jon Hopkins and The Divine Comedy’s Joby Talbot.
Other shows include Morecambe, a one-man portrayal of comedian Eric Morecambe, a three-week run of Hansel and Gretel and Northern Stage’s production of O What a Lovely War.
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