Television, Radio & Theatre September 2019 Congratulations to… Kieran Hurley for winning the Carol Tambor ‘Best of Edinburgh’ Award for MOUTHPIECE Javaad Alipoor whose RICH KIDS: A HISTORY OF SHOPPING MALLS IN TEHRAN won a Scotsman Fringe First Award during week one. And Lynette Linton for her Stage Debut nomination for Best Creative West End Debut, shared with designer Frankie Bradshaw for SWEAT and Jade Lewis who is nominated for Best Director for SUPERHOE. Writer-directors Claire Tailyour and Chloë Wicks whose short films BELITTLED and CUBICLE will be screening in the BAFTA recognised Underwire Festival (september 13th-22nd). Chloë is nominated in the Best Director category and Claire in the Best Screenplay category Underwire Festival Film HOPE GAP: Toronto Film Festival, 2019 HOPEGAP premiers at the Toronto Film Festival on Friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th of September. Directed and written by Oscar-nominated William Nicholson, the ‘razor-sharp’ drama about long-term love features brilliant performances from Bill Nighy and four-time Oscar nominee Anette Benning. HOPEGAP London Film Festival- Now Booking KRABI, 2562: London Film Festival – 3rd and 13th October: Booking opens this week Selected for the Experimenta Special Presentation, this collaboration between award-winning directors Anocha Suwichakornpong and Ben Rivers is a multidimensional exploration of the outskirts of Krabi in Thailand. The film extends freely to the local communities, inviting them to join in the crafting of a story that slithers mischievously between the appearance and disappearance of a stranger, before and after, fiction and reality, documentary and camp, mass tourism and the birth of the Holocene. KRABIE, 2562 PERFECT 10: London Film Festival – 3rd and 5th October Writer-director Eva Riley delivers an assured and spirited coming-of-age story that explores with heartfelt sensitivity a sibling relationship in her feature debut. A keen visual style and lively soundtrack complete this portrait of wilful yet sensitive teenagehood. PERFECT 10 Also booking in the London Calling shorts section of the London Film Festival: SOMETHING IN THE CLOSET by Nosa Eke and MARTHA by Christopher Haydon Television SANDITON continues on ITV1 Written by Andrew Davies and inspired by Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, SANDITON is a compelling depiction of a developing Regency seaside town at the forefront of the great social and economic changes of the age. Episodes 4,5 and 6 directed by Lisa Clarke. ★★★★★ The Daily Mail SANDITON DEEP WATER: continues on ITV, streaming on ITV Hub Starring Anna Friel and adapted from the Windermere series of novels by critically- acclaimed author, Paula Daly. Anna Symon’s six-part series follows the lives of three complex and vibrant women, each struggling to keep their heads above very deep water. DEEP WATER BRASSIC: Sky One – continues on Monday at 10pm A gang of inseparable mates, thieve, bribe and joyride their way through life but their criminal antics are about to catch up with them. A Sky original with Joe Gilgun and Michelle Keegan, and Daniel O’Hara lead directing the series with episodes 1, 2 and 3. Written by Danny Brocklehurst. “One of the year’s best new comedies” The Observer BRASSIC THE MASH REPORT SEASON 3 – BBC Two from 5 September The satirical and surreal THE MASH REPORT returns to the BBC throughout December with writing from Tim Telling. THE MASH REPORT Radio STILLICIDE: BBC Radio 4 – Continues Weekly every Sunday, 7.45pm From Cynan Jones, a collection of twelve short stories commissioned by Radio 4, aired weekly over 12 weeks: Water is commodified. The Water Train that serves the city increasingly at risk of sabotage. As news breaks that construction of a gigantic Ice Dock will displace more people, protestors take to the streets and the lives of several individuals begin to interlock. A boy who follows a stray dog out of the city. A woman who lies dying. And her husband, a marksman: a man forged by his past and fearful of the future. Stillicide is a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive, and a powerful glimpse of the tangible future. Starring Anne-Marie Duff, Alex Jennings, Stephen Campbell Moore, Lydia Wilson & Richard Goulding. Stillicide London Theatre BITTER WHEAT: Garrick Theatre, London – until 21st September Hollywood is a hell hole. Everything in Hollywood is for sale except the awards, which are for rent. Bitter Wheat is a play about a depraved Hollywood mogul. It rips the pashmina off the suppurating wound which is show business, and leaves us better human beings, and fitter to once more confront the horror of life. Our hero, Barney Fein, is a bloated monster – a studio head, who like his predecessor, the minotaur, devours the young he has lured into his cave. His fall from power to shame is a mythic journey which has been compared to The Odyssey by people who claim to have read that book. A new play starring John Malkovich in his return to the stage after 33 years, written and directed by David Mamet in a good mood. ★★★★★ The Daily Mail, ★★★★ The Sunday Times BITTER WHEAT MOTHER OF HIM – Park Theatre, 18 September – 26 October Pursued by the media and tormented by guilt, Brenda tries to to hold her family together as the world is set to tear them apart. Inspired by true events, Evan Placey’s powerful and provocative drama questions what it takes for for a mother to stop loving her son. Starring Tracy-Ann Oberman. MOTHER OF HIM BLOOD WEDDING – The Young Vic – Previews Begin 19th September From the extraordinary creative vision of acclaimed director Yaël Farber (Les Blancs, Mies Julie, The Crucible) comes this evocative and mythic production of Federico García Lorca’s most famous tragedy, in a new adaptation by the multi award-winning Irish playwright Marina Carr. Sound composition by Isobel Waller-Bridge. Young Vic CHIAROSCURO – The Bush – Performances throughout September Aisha, Yomi, Beth and Opal couldn’t be more different, but when Aisha hosts a dinner party, the friends soon discover that they’re all looking for an answer to the same question. Does it lie in Aisha’s childhood? Or in Beth and Opal’s new romance? Who will tell them who they really are? What starts out as a friendly conversation between women, soon turns heated when Yomi reveals what she really thinks about Beth and Opal’s relationship. Live music and spoken word collide in an explosive gig-theatre event that breathes new life into Scottish National Poet Jackie Kay’s 1986 masterpiece. Directed by Lynette Linton, as part of her first season as Artistic Director at The Bush. Sound Design by Richard Hammarton. Bush Theatre THE SON – Duke of York’s Theatre – until 2nd November Hot on the heels of the run at the Kiln Theatre and following the sold out Olivier Award-winning THE FATHER and the critically-acclaimed THE MOTHER by Florian Zeller, THE SON transfers to the West End for a limited time only. Composition and Sound Design by Isobel Waller- Bridge. THE SON HANSARD – National Theatre – until 25th November It’s a summer’s morning in 1988 and Tory politician Robin Hesketh has returned home to the idyllic Cotswold house he shares with his wife of 30 years, Diana. A witty and devastating new play. Composition by Michael Bruce. HANSARD AMSTERDAM – Orange Tree Theatre – 6th September – 12th October The UK premiere of a strikingly original, audacious thriller. Directed by Matthew Xia, his first production as Artistic Director of ATC. AMSTERDAM VALUED FRIENDS – Rose Theatre Kingston – 20th September – 12th October A compelling comedy drama set to the soundtrack of 1980s London and against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain. Sound Design by Richard Hammarton. VALUED FRIENDS THE SEVEN AGES OF PATIENCE – Kiln Theatre – 25th September – 28th September An epic, contemporary myth that spans eight decades of one woman’s life, as she experiences pivotal moments which have defined modern Brent, and British society. Written by Chinonyerem Odimba. Composition and sound design by Ben and Max Ringham. THE SEVEN AGES OF PATIENCE THE WATSONS – Menier Chocolate Factory – 20th September – 16th November Based on her incomplete novel, this sparklingly witty play looks under the bonnet of Jane Austen and asks: what can characters do when their author abandons them? Composition by Isobel Waller-Bridge. THE WATSONS A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG – Trafalgar Studios – 21st September – 30th November A funny and moving masterpiece. Sound Design by Ed Lewis. A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG NOISES OFF – Garrick Theatre – 27th September 2019 – 4th January 2020 Michael Frayn’s iconic backstage comedy transfers to the West End, following a triumphant sell-out season at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. Sound Design by Ella Wahlström. NOISES OFF THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT – Wyndham’s Theatre – 26th September 2019 – 11th January 2020 this fast-paced comedy tells the story of Sidney Stratton (Stephen Mangan) who invents a fabric that never gets dirty and never wears out! Composition and Sound Design by Ben and Max Ringham. THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT THE FISHERMEN: Trafalgar Studios, London – Begins performances Tuesday 3rd September In a small Nigerian town Ben, Obembe and their two older brothers slip away to fish at a forbidden river. Unnoticed and carefree they continue until the prophecy of a madman changes the course of their lives forever. Based on the Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel by one of Africa's major new voices, New Perspectives’ critically acclaimed award- winning production of Chigozie Obioma’s powerful allegory of brotherhood, vengeance and fate adapted by Gbolahan Obisesan arrives in the West End for the first time. ★★★★ “Supreme theatre” The Stage, ★★★★ “Spellbinding” Daily Mail, ★★★★ “Something very special” The Guardian The Fishermen GROAN UPS: Vaudeville Theatre, West End – Performances from 20th September From the parents of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG comes a brand- new comedy all about growing up.