PRESS RELEASE
Press night: Monday 31 March 7.00pm
SHEFFIELD THEATRES PRESENTS A BRAND NEW
DANCE-THEATRE ADAPTATION OF KES AT THE CRUCIBLE THIS MONTH
A brand new dance-theatre adaptation of Barry Hines’ classic novel A Kestrel For A
Knave has its world premiere at the Crucible Theatre from Thursday 27 March to
Saturday 5 April, and is one of the first events in Yorkshire Festival 2014.
Based on one of Yorkshire's most celebrated stories, Kes follows the life of Billy Casper, isolated at home and school, who is shaped by two contrasting worlds; an industrial, working class Barnsley and the natural landscape that surrounds his Yorkshire town.
When he finds and befriends a wild kestrel hawk, his whole life soars to new heights as his relationship with the bird unleashes his imagination, inspiring him to reach for the sky.
A fantastic company of professional and young performers have been brought together for this brand new production. The cast features Laura Caldow (Mother), Laura Careless (Girl), Dom Czapski (Mr Farthing), Chester Hayes (Billy), Tom Jackson-Greaves (Jud),
Barnaby Meredith (Guy), Anton Skrzypiciel (Mr Gryce) and Phil Snowden (Mr Sugden), and a youth ensemble of 18 local performers complete the company.
Adapted for the stage by Barnsley-born director and choreographer Jonathan Watkins
(a former soloist of the Royal Ballet Company, who recently worked as Movement
Director on People at The National Theatre), Kes is a mix of dance, physical theatre and puppetry and features original music by Alex Baranowski (Betrayal, Othello, The Village
Bike) alongside a stunning set designed by Barnsley-born Ben Stones.
Speaking about the production, Jonathan Watkins said: ‘Being from Barnsley, Kes is a story I grew up with and I’ve been thinking about how to reimagine it through dance for a very long time. Putting together the movement and the music has been a really amazing experience, and I can’t wait to share this production with audiences’
Sheffield Theatres’ Artistic Director Daniel Evans says: ‘Kes is a show we’ve been excited about for a very long time - this dance-theatre adaptation is a first for the
Crucible stage and we’re delighted to be working with Jonathan Watkins to realise the production in a brand new way. We’re thrilled to be contributing to the celebration of the arts in Yorkshire as well, with Kes featuring as one of the first events in the Yorkshire
Festival 2014.’
Kes is one of the first events in this year’s Yorkshire Festival 2014, the first ever 100-day festival to precede the Grand Depart in its 111 year history, which takes place from 27 March to 6 July 2014. Nearly 50 events have been selected to be officially part of the
Yorkshire Festival 2014 which will also include hundreds of fringe events.
Kes comes to the Crucible Stage from Thursday 27 March – Saturday 5 April. Tickets are priced £10.00 - £21.00 (a transaction fee of £1.50 (£1.00 online) applies to all bookings made at the Box Office excl. cash) and can be purchased from Sheffield
Theatres’ Box Office on 0114 249 6000, in person and online at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk. For more details about the production, visit www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.
For more information about the 100 day festival, visit www.yorkshirefestival.co.uk,
Yorkshire Festival on Facebook or follow Yorkshire Festival 2014 in Twitter –
Yfest2014
- ENDS -
For further information please contact Lucy Smith / Lisa Hawkins, Communications
Officer (Media) – Maternity Cover at Sheffield Theatres: 0114 201 3828 / [email protected] or [email protected]
Notes to Editors
Cast biographies:
Laura Caldow Mother
Laura trained at the Central School of Ballet and the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York.
Theatre credits include The School For Scandal (Barbican Bite); Messiah (Opera De Lyon); Death in
Venice (ENO/Dutch National Opera); Carmen (Salzburg Festival); Goldberg (The Royal Opera
House); The Most Incredible Thing (Sadlers Wells); The Bacchae (The Royal Exchange, Manchester);
The Fairy Queen (Opera Comique, Paris/BAM, New York); Cinderella (Hermes, Paris); The Language of Walls (Oldenburg Staatstheater); Faeries, The Thief of Baghdad and Pleasure’s Progress (Royal
Opera House/Tour); Elizabeth (The Royal Ballet); Lulu – A Murder Ballad (The Tiger Lillies). Laura was a guest artist at the Monterey Dance Festival. Laura is a recipient of the Deutsche Bank
Pyramid Award for Dance and has been commissioned to choreograph new works for Ballet
Central in the UK and the Cunningham Studio Theatre in the USA. Choreography and performance credits in film include And Then We Parted. She has taught widely in schools and companies in the UK and USA.
Laura Careless
Girl
Laura Careless is a graduate of The Royal Ballet School; the École-Atélier Rudra Béjart and The
Juilliard School Dance Division, from which she graduated with the John Erskine Prize for
Academic and Artistic Excellence. She is a founding member and principle performer of the New
York-based Company XIV. She has served as guest speaker of faculty at The Juilliard School,
Broadway Dance Center, Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech, Circus Juventas and the Sitka Fine Arts Institute.
Credits as Associate Choreographer include The Machine (Park Avenue Armory/Manchester
International Festival/Donmar Warehouse) and the Baroque masque Ignorance and Folly (Jericho
House at Wilton’s Hall).
Dom Czapski
Mr Farthing Dom trained in dance in Paris and London. He has since performed in the UK and abroad. He has most recently worked with, amongst others, Phelim McDermott / Improbable, Joe Moran, Janusz
Orlik, Handspring, Dam Van Huynh, Ben Wright / bgroup, Mervyn Millar, Ben Duke, English
National Opera & Teatro Real. Dom works as a choreographer in London and Paris. He is a founding member and creator of London Topophobia and Paris Topophobia.
Chester Hayes
Billy
Chester trained at Bird College, and graduated with a BA Hons Degree in Professional Dance and
Musical Theatre in July 2013. Since graduating Chester has done a diverse range of performance work. He choreographed a duet which he performed with Vida Guitar Quartet (Assembly Rooms,
Bath/King’s Place, London/The Sage, Gateshead). Other dance credits include Tales of the Woo
(Worcester Guildhall) and Boys Noize (FabricLive72). In September he choreographed and performed on Bestival’s Port Stage, and most recently he has worked on research and development with DV8 Physical Theatre Company.
Tom Jackson Greaves
Jud
Born in Cornwall, Tom trained at Trinity Laban and London Contemporary Dance School. Tom’s professional performance credits include Cinderella, Nutcracker!, Early Adventures and Sleeping
Beauty (Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures). Tom has also danced for the Royal Opera House,
Future Cinema, CScape Dance Company, Drew McOnie, Cameron McMillan and James Cousins.
Tom was a Young Spark for Dance Umbrella 2011, winner of best performance at London
Contemporary Dance Competition 2009 and has taught for New Adventures, Re:Bourne, Arts
Educational Chiswick and Kingston University. Tom is an up and coming choreographer and in
2012 was awarded runner-up in the New Adventures Choreographer Award. His choreographic credits include Vanity Fowl (Sadlers Wells); Shadowthief (Barnsley Civic); LIFT - The Musical (Soho Theatre); The Seventh Muse (Barbican Plymouth); Kerry Ellis at the Palladium (London Palladium) and music videos for Boy George and Clare Maguire.
Barnaby Meredith
Guy
Barnaby was born in Bradford, where he began his dance training locally before joining the Royal
Ballet School at age 11. Upon graduation he trained at the Royal Ballet School and upon graduation Barnaby joined the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, where he performed works by many choreographers including Forsythe, Robbins, Ashton and Balanchine. His theatre credits include ‘Older Billy’ in Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace Theatre); Great Expectations (Leeds Grand
Theatre) and Gypsy (West Yorkshire Playhouse).
Anton Skrzypiciel
Mr Gryce
Anton Skrzypiciel trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and at Trinity Laban.
Recent credits include Coelancanth - nominated as Best Performance of 2013 (Norwegian
National Ballet); Matthew Bourne’s The Nutcracker (UK Tour); The Metamorphosis - The South
Bank Award Best Dance Piece (Royal Ballet); Object Constant, Local Geographic, The solo – nominated for Society of Portuguese Authors Award 2011 (New York). Acting credits include The
Fashion (Deutsche Opera am Rhine Dusseldorf) and The Outcast (Mannheim Opera). Film credits include Equador.
Phil Snowden
Mr Sugden
Phil trained at Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts. His West End Credits include Crazy For
You (Regents Park And Novello); Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace); 42nd Street, My Fair Lady, Miss
Saigon, Anything Goes (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Les Misérables (Palace Theatre); Me and My Girl (Adelphi Theatre); Radio Times (Queens Theatre); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Strand
Theatre); Royal Variety (London Palladium); Children’s Royal Variety (Dominion Theatre) and
Classical Brits (Royal Albert Hall). Other theatre credits include The Winter’s Tale (RSC); Don
Giovanni, Falstaff and Eugene Onegin (English National Opera, London Coliseum) and Releevo
(MAP). His film and TV credits include Les Misérables, Random Acts - Sofa, Big Dance Shorts - The
Try Out, Curry’s Advert, After You’ve Gone, The Complete Guide To Parenting and Beautiful South
– Manchester. His arena credits include Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Misérables 25th Anniversary
Concert and My Fair Lady. Cast recordings include Radio Times, Billy Elliot, Les Misérables 25th
Anniversary Concert and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Creative Team Biographies:
Jonathan Watkins
Director and Choreographer
Born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire Jonathan trained locally before attending The Royal Ballet
School. He graduated earning a place with The Royal Ballet Company in 2003 where he danced and created many roles. He had early choreographic success at The Royal Ballet School when he won the Kenneth MacMillian Choreography Award at the age of 16 with Suppressed Expressions.
Credits as Choreographer include Coriolanus – Movement (Donmar Warehouse); Silent Vision,
Stop Me When I’m Stuck (Royal Ballet Clore Studio/The Linbury Studio Theatre); As One (The
Royal Opera House); Diana and Actaeon for the production Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 - nominated for New Dance Production South Bank Award (The Royal Opera House/BBC Imagine film); Beyond Prejudice And Free Falling (The Curve Foundation, Edinburgh Fringe Festival); NOW
(New York City Ballet); Anger Fix (Sadler’s Wells); From Within, As One, Diana and Acteon (The
Royal Ballet School); Inala (Ladysmith Black Mambazo); Together Alone (Ballet Black) and Eventual
Progress (Ekaterinburg Ballet Theatre, Russia). Jonathan worked as Movement Director with
Director Sir Nicholas Hytner on People (The National Theatre) and as Choreographer on The
Machine (The Manchester International Festival/Donmar Warehouse/New York Park Avenue Armory). On screen credits include Route 67 for The Slice Project, Sofa, which he also directed and Bunker for Chanel 4’s Random Acts.
Alex Baranowski
Composer
Alex Baranowski is a graduate of Paul McCartney’s LIPA. His previous collaborations with Jonathan
Watkins have included Together Alone performed by Ballet Black at the Royal Opera House and
Sofa, a short film commissioned by Channel 4. Previously at Sheffield Crucible he was composer & sound designer for Othello, Betrayal, The Village Bike and Hobson’s Choice. Alex’s collaboration with Mercury winning band The xx has been performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA
Philharmonic Orchestra and previously with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in the UK for a live broadcast on BBC Radio 1. Other music collaborations have been with Peter Hook (Joy Division) and virtuoso violinist Daniel Hope on Deutsche Grammophon album Spheres, which reached number 1 in the UK Classical and number 3 in the US Billboard Classical charts. Music for theatre includes The Cripple of Inishmaan (Broadway/West End Michael Grandage Company); The Last
Days of Troy (Manchester Royal Exchange); Fathers and Sons (Donmar); The EL Train (Hoxton
Hall); Macbeth (Jamie Lloyd Productions, West End); Henry VI Parts I, II & III (Shakespeare’s
Globe); The Masque of Anarchy (Manchester International Festival); Earthquakes in London
(National Theatre / Headlong); Frankenstein - as Music Associate (Underworld); Hamlet (National
Theatre); Salt, Root & Roe, The Dance of Death (Donmar Trafalgar); The Merchant of Venice (with
Adam Cork-RSC); Cornelius (Finborough / 59E59 New York); Sea Plays (Old Vic Tunnels) and DNA
(UK Tour). Music for dance has also included In The Dust (2Faced Dance/World Tour) and The
Rock (Moko / Dance East). Music for film includes the twice BAFTA nominated McCullin released in cinemas by Artificial Eye and shown on BBC 1’s Imagine series. Other films include Shelter,
Future Inc, Making a Killing, Myron & Hester and Made in England. Music for commercials include the orchestral score for the Cannes Lion Award-winning film Weave Your Magic for Wieden + Kennedy, for which Alex was also nominated for a Music + Sound Award for Best Original
Composition.
Ben Stones
Designer
Ben trained in Stage Design at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, after which he went on to win a Linbury prize commission to design Paradise Lost for Rupert Goold. Designs include Hannah (Unicorn Theatre); Creditors (also Harvey Theatre BAM New York), Kiss Of The
Spider Woman (Donmar); My Generation (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Groove On Down The Road
(Southbank Centre); Belong, Ingredient X (Royal Court); An Enemy of the People (Crucible Theatre,
Sheffield); Paradise Lost (Headlong Theatre); Arabian Nights, The Epic Adventure of Nhamo the
Manyika Warrior and his Sexy Wife Chipo (Tricycle); The Painter (Arcola); Hannah (Unicorn);
Speaking in Tongues (Duke of York’s); Crocodile (Frank McGuinness premiere for Sky Arts); The
Lady in the Van (National Tour); Romeo and Juliet (Globe); Encourage the Others (Almeida);
Doctor Faustus - Best Design 2011 MEN Award, Edward II, A Taste of Honey, Salt – Nominated
Best Design 2011 MEN Award (Royal Exchange Manchester); Some Like It Hip Hop (Sadler’s
Wells); The Kitchen Sink (Bush); Good With People (Traverse, 59E59 NYC). Future Designs include
ZooNation Commission (Royal Opera House); Hobson’s Choice and Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park
Open Air Theatre).
Rachael Canning
Puppetry Design & Direction
Rachael trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and since then has worked as a
Set, Costume and Puppet Designer. Rachael is the co-artistic director of The Wrong Crowd.
Credits as Set and Costume Designer include Hag, The Girl with the Iron Claws (The Wrong
Crowd, UK tour); Magical Night (Royal Opera House); Porn the Musical (Theatre503); Mad Forest
(BAC); Hansel and Gretel, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauties, The Snow Tiger (Sherman Cymru); The Tailor’s Daughter (Welsh National Opera); Peter Grimes – Costume (Grand Theatre
Geneva); and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park). Puppet Design and
Direction credits include Jungle book, Of Mice and Men (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Hag, The Girl with the Iron Claws (The Wrong Crowd); The City Madam (RSC); The Firebird (Dundee Rep); The
Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain (ETT/Traverse, Belgrade); Into the Woods (Open Air
Theatre, Regent’s Park /Public Theater, New York); The Red Balloon (Royal Opera House); Sleeping
Beauty (Birmingham Rep);
Mark Henderson
Lighting Designer
Mark is an Associate at the National Theatre. Was the recipient of the 1992, 1995, 2000, 2002 and
2010 Laurence Olivier Awards for Lighting Design, was awarded a Tony in 2006 and has also received a Welsh BAFTA. Has lit extensively for all the major theatre, opera and dance companies in the UK and has lit over 50 West End productions notably Chitty Bang Bang Chitty, The Iceman
Cometh, The Judas Kiss, Copenhagen, Democracy, Hamlet, The Real Thing (all also on Broadway ),
The Sound of Music, Our House, Up for Grabs, Grease (also UK tours), West Side Story (also UK tours), Spend Spend Spend,
Neville’s Island, Follies, Passion, Enron,All My Sons,The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Sweeney
Todd, The Bodyguard, Passion Play, The Duck House. Productions for the Royal National Theatre include Racing Demon, Les Parent Terribles, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (all also on Broadway), All My
Sons, Mourning Becomes Electra, The History Boys, The Habit of Art, Emperor and Galilean, One
Man Two Guvnors and NT50. Work in opera includes productions for ENO, The Royal Opera,
WNO, Opera North, Glyndebourne, Royal Danish Opera. Dance productions include work for
LCDT, Rambert Dance Company, The Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Northern Ballet, SWRB.
Nick Greenhill
Sound Designer Nick’s sound design credits for Sheffield Theatres include Wonderful Tennessee, This Is My Family,
World Music, The Modernists, Bird Calls, A Chorus Line, Piaf, Fen, Far Away; Cloud Nine, Ain’t
Misbehavin’, Blue/Orange (also National Tour); A Number (also Minerva Theatre, Chichester); Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, The Comedy of Errors, Gladiator Games, Promises Promises, Assassins,
Fiddler on the Roof and seven pantomimes at the Lyceum Theatre. Sound designs for Derby
Playhouse include Bouncers, Perfect Pitch, Speaking in Tongues (also Hampstead Theatre); God and Stephen Hawking (National Tour); Passing Places (also Greenwich Theatre); Lady Day at
Emmerson’s Bar and Grill (National Tour); The Blue Room, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The School for
Scandal (Northampton Theatre Royal); Great Expectations (also Walnut St Theatre); Philadelphia;
Misconceptions (Salisbury Playhouse); The Browning Version, Way Upstream; Catwalk (Nitro
Theatre Company); Goblins Don’t Scare Us, The House That Nat Built (The New End Theatre,
Hampstead) and When Five Years Pass (Arcola Theatre).
Ruth Little
Dramaturg
Ruth Little is a dramaturg, teacher, writer and former academic. She has been literary manager at
Out of Joint, Soho Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre, and artistic associate at the Young Vic.
Ruth is dramaturg for Akram Khan Company and associate director of Cape Farewell, London.
The Yorkshire Festival 2014
Yorkshire Festival 2014 is the first ever cultural festival to precede the Tour de France, the world’s biggest annual sporting event.
Yorkshire Festival 2014 will run from 27 March to 6 July 2014.
Yorkshire Festival 2014 is backed by Welcome To Yorkshire, Yorkshire Water and the Arts
Council England as well as local authorities across the country.
Sheffield Theatres Listings:
Crucible Lyceum Studio 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA Box Office 0114 249 6000 - Mon - Sat 10.00am to 8.00pm On non-performance days the Box Office closes at 6.00pm. A transaction fee of £1.50 (£1.00 online) applies to all bookings made at the Box Office (excluding cash). sheffieldtheatres.co.uk Twitter: @crucibletheatre @SheffieldLyceum
Barry Hines’ Kes A dance-theatre adaptation by Jonathan Watkins With original music by Alex Baranowski Crucible Theatre Thu 27 March - Sat 5 April Press night - Monday 31 March 7.00pm Tickets £10.00 - £21.00 Family tickets, concessions, school and group discounts available