PRESS RELEASE For more information, images, quotes and MICHAEL MORPURGO AND TO interview requests please contact: PERFORM IN ’S RE:CREATING EUROPE

Kate Hassell “Can the peoples of Europe rise to the heights of the soul and of the instinct and spirit of Senior Publicist man?” - Winston Churchill +44 (0) 7921 264 564 [email protected] m Michael Morpurgo, acclaimed author of War Horse, will join award-winning actress Juliet Stevenson for a performance of Re:Creating Europe as part of Manchester International Maisie Lawrence Festival. Senior Publicist +44 (0) 7786 075979 [email protected] The production, which is an exploration of Europe through the literature and political m speeches that has defined its history, will open with Michael Morpurgo reading Phoenix of Peace a new text by the author which has been specially commissioned for the Manchester The Corner Shop performance. 36 Great Queen Street London In a year when a deeply divided Britain is set to leave the European Union, this production WC2B 5AA uses video footage and the words of artists, thinkers and political leaders– from Shakespeare to Victor Hugo, Kamel Daoud to Theresa May, Boris Johnson to Winston T: 020 7831 7657 Churchill – to evoke the very notion of Europe, challenging audiences to think about what F: 020 7831 3596 Europe is and what its future could be.

Directed by prolific theatre director Ivo van Hove and in partnership with De Balie, a leading Page 1 of 4 venue for cutting-edge debates and art projects in the Netherlands, Re:Creating Europe will be performed at Manchester International Festival by Juliet Stevenson, Michael Morpurgo, members of van Hove’s Internationaal Theater Amsterdam ensemble with further guest performers to be announced. Re:Creating Europe plays for one night only during a run of van Hove’s acclaimed adaptation of Ayn Rand’s controversial novel The Fountainhead.

Michael Morpurgo said: “I have lived my life in the shadow and aftermath of great European wars, and in the hope and expectation of a new Europe that was rising out of the ashes of war and suffering. I belong to a family of nations learning to work together, trade together, to be together, a family determined to turn swords into ploughshares, suspicion and hate into understanding and goodwill. To come to Manchester International Festival and be part of Creating Europe means a great deal to me, as a Belgian, as an Englishman, as a European.”

Juliet Stevenson, said: “I am so thrilled to be involved in Re:Creating Europe. I am a

massive fan of Ivo van Hove’s work so am very excited to be working with him on this. And as we all continue to grapple in different ways with our relationship to Europe & with our identity as Europeans, this reflective piece exploring our historical roots and connections to the Continent seems apt, timely and needed.”

Re:Creating Europe is produced by Manchester International Festival, De Balie and Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. MIF19 runs from 4–21 July 2019 and features artists from across the globe premiering a variety of new work in spaces throughout the city. For more details about this year’s programme, please visit mif.co.uk.

Images can be downloaded from press.mif.co.uk/mif19

Listings

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For more information, Re:Creating Europe images, quotes and The Lowry, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ interview requests Friday 12 July please contact: BSL, CAP Tickets: £18 - £35; £13-£30 concessions Kate Hassell £10 Greater Manchester residents on a lower wage Senior Publicist mif.co.uk / +44 (0) 333 320 2890 +44 (0) 7921 264 564 [email protected] ENDS m

Maisie Lawrence NOTES TO EDITORS Senior Publicist +44 (0) 7786 075979 About Manchester International Festival [email protected] Manchester International Festival (MIF) is the world’s first festival of original, new work and m special events, staged every two years in Manchester, UK. MIF launched in 2007 as an artist-led festival presenting new works from across the spectrum of performing arts, visual The Corner Shop arts and popular culture. The next Festival takes place from 4 – 21 July 2019. 36 Great Queen Street London WC2B 5AA MIF has commissioned, produced and presented world premieres by artists including Marina Abramović, Damon Albarn, Björk, Boris Charmatz, Jeremy Deller, Elbow, T: 020 7831 7657 Wayne McGregor, Steve McQueen, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Thomas Ostermeier, F: 020 7831 3596 Maxine Peake, Punchdrunk, The xx, Robert Wilson and Zaha Hadid Architects.

These and other world-renowned artists from different art forms and backgrounds create dynamic, innovative and forward-thinking new work, staged in venues across Greater Page 2 of 4 Manchester – from theatres, galleries and concert halls to railway depots, churches and car parks. MIF works closely with venues, festivals and other cultural organisations globally,

whose financial and creative input helps to make many of these projects possible and ensures that work made at MIF goes on to be seen around the world.

MIF supports a year-round Creative Engagement programme, bringing opportunities for people from all backgrounds, ages and from all corners of the city to get involved during the Festival and year-round, as volunteers, as participants in shows, through skills development workshops and a host of creative activities, such as Festival in My House.

MIF will also be the operator for The Factory, the new world-class cultural space being

developed in the heart of Manchester, designed by internationally-renowned architects Rem Koolhaas’ OMA. Due to open in 2021, The Factory will commission, present and produce a year-round programme, featuring new work from the world’s greatest artists and offering a space to make, explore and experiment. Attracting up to 850,000 visitors, The Factory will add £1.1 billion to the economy and create 1,500 jobs. Its pioneering programme of skills, training and engagement will benefit local people and the next generation of creative talent from across the city, whilst apprenticeships and trainee schemes are already underway during the construction phase.

MIF’s Artistic Director and Chief Executive is John McGrath.

MIF is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee. mif.co.uk

IVO VAN HOVE has been director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam since 2001. From 1998 to 2004, he was Artistic Director the Holland Festival, presenting a varied selection of international theatre, music, opera and dance.

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For more information, Ivo’s theatre credits include the current theatrical adaptation of All About Eve (Noël Coward images, quotes and Theatre); Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life (Internationaal Theater Amsterdam); Network interview requests (The Cort Theatre, Broadway); starring Bryan Cranston; Network and Hedda Gabler please contact: (National Theatre); A View from the Bridge (Young Vic/Wyndham Theatre/Lyceum Theatre, Broadway); (Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway); Lazarus (King’s Cross Kate Hassell Theatre/New York Theatre Workshop, Broadway); and Visconti’s The Damned (La Senior Publicist Comédie-Française, Paris/The Park Avenue Armory, New York). +44 (0) 7921 264 564 [email protected] Ivo has been awarded two Olivier Awards and two Tony Awards for A View from the Bridge; m two Obie Awards for More Stately Mansions and Hedda Gabler. In addition, Ivo is also Maisie Lawrence Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and King Filip of Belgium awarded Senior Publicist him Commander of the Order of the Crown. +44 (0) 7786 075979 [email protected] Additional directing credits include Angels in America, Roman Tragedies, Kings of War, m Opening Night, Taming of the Shrew, Scenes from a Marriage, Othello, The Miser, Mourning Becomes Electra, Long Day’s Journey into Night and The Fountainhead (all The Corner Shop Internationaal Theater Amsterdam). 36 Great Queen Street London WC2B 5AA JULIET STEVENSON Juliet Stevenson is one of Britain’s leading actors. She has worked extensively for the T: 020 7831 7657 Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Royal Court, winning an Olivier F: 020 7831 3596 award for her performance as Paulina in Death and The Maiden in 1991. Most recent theatre credits include starring roles in Wings at the Young Vic, Robert Icke’s and (both of which transferred to the West End) and of course Beckett’s Happy Days, also at The Young Vic. Page 3 of 4 Her films include Truly, Madly, Deeply; Bend it Like Beckham; When Did You Last See

Your Father?; Being Julia; Pierrepoint; Mona Lisa Smile; Diana and Departure. Recent releases include feature film Let Me Go. Recent television work includes starring roles in Williams brothers’ thriller One of Us for BBC1 and Sky Living’s supernatural thriller The Enfield Haunting as well as playing series regulars on two series of Atlantis and The Village. Other television work includes Place of Execution, The Accused, The Hour, and White Heat. She has recently wrapped production on Sky Atlantic’s Riviera, starring opposite Julia Stiles and Will Arnett.

She was awarded the CBE in 1999. In addition to her Olivier award, Juliet has been

nominated a further four times and is five times BAFTA nominated for her film and television work.

MICHAEL MORPURGO Michael Morpurgo, began writing stories in the early '70's, in response to the children in his class at the primary school where he taught in Kent. One of the UK’s best-loved authors and storytellers, Michael was appointed Children’s Laureate in 2003, a post he helped to set up with Ted Hughes in 1999. He was awarded an OBE in 2007 and a Knighthood in the New Year’s Honours in 2018 for services to literature and charity. He has written over 130

books, including The Butterfly Lion, Kensuke’s Kingdom, Why the Whales Came, The Mozart Question, Shadow, and War Horse, which was adapted for a hugely successful stage production by the National Theatre and then, in 2011, for a film directed by Steven Spielberg. His book, Private Peaceful was adapted for the stage by Simon Reade and a film, directed by Pat O'Connor. He has won numerous awards including those voted for by children themselves, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Children’s Book Award. His latest books are Muck and Magic illustrated by Olivia Lomenech-Gill about the sculptor Elizabeth

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Frink, Flamingo Boy, a novel set in the Camargue region of France and In the Mouth of the For more information, Wolf, the true story of the lives of Michael Morpurgo’s uncles. images, quotes and interview requests With his wife Clare, he set up the charity Farms for City Children, which offers children and please contact: teachers from inner-city primary schools the chance to live and work in the countryside for a week on one of the charity’s three farms in Devon, Gloucestershire and Wales. Over Kate Hassell 100,000 children have visited the three farms run by the charity since it began in 1976. Senior Publicist Teachers frequently comment that a child can learn more in a week on the farm than a year +44 (0) 7921 264 564 in the classroom. HRH The Princess Royal is Patron of the charity. The couple were [email protected] awarded joint MBE's for their work in education. m www.farmsforcitychildren.org Maisie Lawrence www.michaelmorpurgo.com Senior Publicist +44 (0) 7786 075979 Internationaal Theater Amsterdam [email protected] Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg and Toneelgroep Amsterdam merged on 1 January 2018, m and from the 2018-19 season onwards we will operate under the name Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA). Our new organization will act as a beacon for contemporary The Corner Shop theatre and cater to audiences from Amsterdam and around the world, leading the way at 36 Great Queen Street the national and international levels. We will produce a high-quality programme with 600 London WC2B 5AA pluriform national and international theatre and dance performances every year, and social programmes that will appeal to a wide range of audiences, bringing them new ways of T: 020 7831 7657 understanding and seeing the world. This season, ITA-ensemble surtitles 15 plays in F: 020 7831 3596 English in Amsterdam.

De Balie, based in Amsterdam, produces programmes about art, culture and politics. Over the span of 35 years, De Balie has become a leading venue for cutting-edge debates, films Page 4 of 4 and art projects in Europe. De Balie works with a permanent team of professional programme makers who aim to stimulate public debate and to offer a platform to

international progressive thinkers and new ideas. In 2016 and 2018 De Balie initiated and organized the biennial festival Forum on European Culture (FOEC) with artists and thinkers from across the world. Re:Creating Europe was the opening performance in 2016, featuring leading European actors like Jude Law, and is now travelling abroad.

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