Bridge Theatre PRESS RELEASE

30 May 2019

CHRISTMAS 2019 AT THE BRIDGE T H E L I O N, T H E W I T C H A N D T H E W A R D R O B E FOR 12 WEEKS ONLY

The London Theatre Company by special arrangement with Elliott & Harper Productions and Catherine Schreiber, presents the much-celebrated Leeds Playhouse production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for 12 weeks over the 2019/20 festive season at the Bridge. Based on the novel by C. S. Lewis and directed by Sally Cookson, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will have its first performance on 9 November 2019 with opening night on 18 November and will run until 2 February 2020. Tickets will go on sale at 10am today for priority members with public booking opening on 5 June 2019 at 10am. Full details of the performance schedule, including Sundays, are available on the Bridge website. Casting will be announced at a later date.

Step through the wardrobe this Winter into the magical kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and say hello to a talking Faun, an unforgettable Lion and the coldest, cruellest White Witch.

This critically acclaimed production reunites director Sally Cookson with designer Rae Smith, writer in the room Adam Peck, movement director Dan Canham, lighting designer Bruno Poet, sound designer Ian Dickinson and music by Benji Bower all of whom originally brought the show to life in 2017 breaking box office records at Leeds Playhouse.

Written by C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the first book published in The Chronicles of Narnia in 1950 and went on to become one of the most popular children’s books of all time, still regularly topping reader votes on the best books for children nearly 70 years later. The Chronicles of Narnia - The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle - are classics of children’s literature, having enchanted generations of young readers, with over 100 million copies sold worldwide in over 70 countries and 59 different languages. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Chronicles of Narnia are published by HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Sally Cookson’s most recent production was the Olivier award-winning A Monster Calls at the Old Vic. She is an Associate Artist at Bristol Old Vic where her productions include Jane Eyre and Peter Pan which were also seen at the National Theatre and on tour, Sleeping Beauty, Treasure Island, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Strange Case, Pericles, Pains of Youth and The Visit. Her work in the West End includes La Strada, Hetty Feather and Bearhunt. Her numerous collaborations with Travelling Light Theatre include Strictly Balti by Saikat Ahammed, The Ugly Duckling based on Hans Christian Andersen, Shadowplay, Cloudland based on the book by John Burningham, Lenny by Francis Monty, Bob the Man on the Moon based on the book by Simon Bartram.

Rae Smith received multiple design awards including the Olivier and Tony Awards for War Horse at the National Theatre and on tour internationally. Her theatre credits include the forthcoming The Night of the Iguana at the Noël Coward Theatre as well as Rosmersholm at the Duke of York’s Theatre, Girl From the North Country at the Old Vic, the Public Theater in New York and on Broadway, Translations at the National Theatre and Barbershop Chronicles at the National Theatre, the Roundhouse, Brooklyn

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Academy of Music and on UK tour, The Goat at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, This House at the Garrick Theatre and on UK tour, Nightfall at the Bridge Theatre and Rusalka at Glyndebourne. Other theatre credits include Wonder.Land and The Light Princess for the National Theatre and The Tempest and Prince of the Pagodas for Birmingham Royal Ballet. Smith is the recipient of The Rootstein Hopkins Fellowship which extends boundaries between the live performing arts and drawing.

Director Marianne Elliott and Producer Chris Harper founded Elliott & Harper Productions in 2016. Their multi award-winning production of Company recently completed its run at the Gielgud Theatre and their current co-production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is playing to great critical acclaim and sell-out houses at the Young Vic Theatre.

Catherine Schreiber is a two-time Tony and Olivier Award-winning international Producer and Broadway Global Producer of the Year 2017. Current Broadway productions include Network, Pretty Woman and The Play That Goes Wrong. In 2014 Schreiber brought the award-winning musical The Scottsboro Boys to London, winning the Critics Circle Award and Evening Standard Award for Best Musical.

Leeds Playhouse was established almost 50 years ago. It’s a cultural hub, a place where people gather to tell and share stories and to engage in world class theatre. Currently undergoing a £15.8 million capital redevelopment, Leeds Playhouse is due to reopen in October 2019, with a new city- facing entrance, improved access into and around the building and a new studio theatre.

IMAGES

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0xtqkk1493air3k/AADdPM5MYJtmV_Yshwm_SnBma?dl=0

London Theatre Company https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y36ak785xfsx4sd/AAB3ynyigZTxdJQfvVa-RzdJa?dl=0

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Address: Bridge Theatre, 3 Potters Fields Park, London, SE1 2SG Box Office: 0333 320 0051 or [email protected] Access: 0333 320 0051 or [email protected] Website: www.bridgetheatre.co.uk Twitter: @_bridgetheatre Instagram: _bridgetheatre Facebook: facebook.com/bridgetheatrelondon

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For further press information Janine Shalom, Premier, [email protected] or [email protected] 0207 292 8330