RELEASE: IMMEDIATE - 18.09.15 SHERMAN CYMRU BECOMES WALES’ FIRST PRODUCING HOUSE TO TRANSFER TO LONDON’S NATIONAL THEATRE GARY OWEN’S IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT PROGRAMMED AS PART OF NATIONAL THEATRE’S SPRING SEASON NEWS COMES DAY AFTER ANNOUNCEMENT OF NOMINATION FOR BEST NEW PLAY AT UK THEATRE AWARDS SUCCESS OF RACHEL O’RIORDAN’S PRODUCTION FURTHER CEMENTS SHERMAN CYMRU’S COMMITMENT TO PROFILING NEW WELSH WRITING Sherman Cymru has broken new ground for Welsh theatre this week with the announcement that its acclaimed production of Iphigenia In Splott will feature as part of the National Theatre’s Spring ‘16 programme, announced yesterday by Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre. This is the first time a Welsh producing house will transfer work to the National Theatre; and marks a significant triumph for Sherman Cymru under the reinvigorated artistic leadership of Rachel O’Riordan. The news comes the day after the announcement of Iphigenia In Splott’s nomination for Best New Play at the UK Theatre Awards.
Rachel O’Riordan, Artistic Director said: “We’re delighted to be part of the National Theatre’s new season. The vision that Rufus Norris has outlined is vibrant and inclusive; Sherman Cymru is proud to be part of it and to be the first Welsh theatre to transfer their work to this wonderful venue”
O’Riordan’s acclaimed production of Welsh playwright Gary Owen’s powerful one-woman show and searing indictment on life under austerity has captured the imagination of UK audiences. Since premiering in Cardiff at the Sherman in May 2015 - a day after the general election result - the production has gone on to achieve huge success at Edinburgh as part of the British Council Showcase, claimed by many to be a stand-out production of the festival. The performance secured Welsh actor and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama graduate Sophie Melville ‘The Stage Award for Acting Excellence’, before returning home to Wales for a repeat run in Cardiff due to overwhelming public demand.
Fusing coarse poetry with references and language dedicated to Splott, Gary Owen’s Iphigenia In Splott is an ode to one of Cardiff’s most infamous and longstanding deprived communities, while sharing a universal message and relevance that has secured its transfer from Cardiff to one of Europe’s most revered theatrical programmes.
The National Theatre’s Director, Rufus Norris said: “We’re delighted to be bringing Sherman Cymru's production of Iphigenia In Splott to the National's Temporary Theatre following its success in Cardiff and Edinburgh. London audiences need the chance to see this vivid, intense and devastating piece. It's exactly the type of programming the Temporary Theatre was created for and a powerful reminder of the essential new writing being produced by theatres across the country.”
The production will run in the National Theatre’s 225 seat Temporary Theatre from 27 January – 20 February 2016, as part of a programme of work that the National Theatre presents as original, ambitious and unexpected.
This unprecedented achievement by a Welsh producing house is an important milestone for Sherman Cymru under Rachel O’Riordan’s Artistic Directorship and further cements its drive and combined commitment to the development of new writing in Wales, alongside a programme of classic text.
Nick Capaldi, Chief Executive, Arts Council of Wales said, “This is an extraordinary piece of theatre which received truly remarkable praise at the recent Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It’s a leading example of so much innovative work being created in Wales at the moment and creative people and organisations from across the UK are looking at Wales with interest.”
O’Riordan’s next main house production for Sherman Cymru is a bold new production of Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece, A Doll’s House, playing at Sherman Theatre, Cardiff from 9 – 24 October 2015.
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For more information, images or to organise interviews, please contact: Tabitha Milne, Marketing Manager (interim), Sherman Cymru on 029 2064 6967 or email [email protected] OR Julia Barry, Head of Marketing and Customer Relations on 029 2064 6961 or email [email protected]
EDITORS NOTES
RACHEL O’RIORDAN - DIRECTOR
Rachel is the Artistic Director of the Sherman Theatre, for whom she has directed Iphigenia In Splott, Romeo & Juliet, Arabian Nights and Sherman Cymru’s co-production with Òran Mór A Play, A Pie and A Pint: Leviathan. Before joining the Sherman, she was Artistic Director at Perth Theatre where work included: Macbeth (Perth/Tron); The Seafarer (Perth/Lyric); The Odd Couple (Female Version); Moonlight and Magnolias; Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me and Twelfth Night.
Other work includes: Unfaithful (Traverse Theatre); The Absence of Women (Tricycle); Hurricane (West End/59E59 Off-Broadway); Everything Is Illuminated (Hampstead Theatre); Miss Julie and Animal Farm (Peter Hall Company, Theatre Royal); Absolution (Guna Nua/First Irish NY); Much Ado About Nothing, The Glass Menagerie and Merry Christmas Betty Ford (Lyric, Belfast); A Christmas Carol, Gates of Gold and Grimm Tales (Library Theatre, Manchester); Over the Bridge (Green Shoot/Waterfront Hall, Belfast); Elizabeth - Almost By Chance a Woman (Kabosh/Project, Dublin); Protestants (Soho Theatre); Arguments for Terrorism and Cold Turkey at Nana’s (Òran Mór). Opera includes NI5 for Northern Ireland Opera at the MAC, Belfast.
Rachel founded and was Artistic Director of Ransom, Belfast, for whom she commissioned, developed and directed Hurricane, Transparency, The Gentleman’s Tea-Drinking Society, This Piece of Earth, The Early Bird, The Half and The Winners, National Anthem. Ransom’s work toured extensively across the UK and Ireland.
Awards and nominations include winning the Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland Best Director and Best Ensemble The Seafarer 2013, Best Director for Absolution (First Irish Theatre Festival Awards, New York, 2010); nominated in the 2010 Irish Times Theatre Awards as Best Director for Over the Bridge; and as Best Director in the TMA Awards for The Seafarer (Perth/Lyric) and for Much Ado about Nothing and The Absence of Women for the Lyric, Belfast.
GARY OWEN: WRITER Gary Owen is the winner of the George Devine, Meyer Whitworth and Pearson Best Play Awards.
His other plays include Amgen:Broken, A Christmas Carol (Sherman Cymru); Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco (Sgript Cymru); The Shadow of a Boy (National Theatre); The Drowned World (Paines Plough); Mrs Reynolds and the Ruffian (Watford Palace Theatre); Love Steals Us From Loneliness (National Theatre Wales & Sherman Cymru).
With Helen Raynor he was writer and creator of the BBC Wales TV series Baker Boys.
His most recent theatre work includes Perfect Match for Watford Palace Theatre, where he is a creative associate, and Ring Ring, a new version of La Ronde for Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In June 2015 he made his Royal Court debut with Violence and Son, directed by Hamish Pirie.
ABOUT SHERMAN CYMRU
Sherman Cymru makes excellent work with eclectic appeal, champions Welsh artists, and promotes new Welsh work nationally and internationally.
We make and curate exciting theatre for audiences. We develop and nurture the work of Welsh and Wales based artists. We generate opportunities for the citizens of Cardiff to connect with theatre through relevant, inspiring and visionary engagement.
Sherman Cymru is one of three key producing houses in Wales, working in both English and Welsh with a particular remit for the development and presentation of new writing. We also run a significant outreach and participation programme.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL THEATRE
The National Theatre is dedicated to making the very best theatre and sharing it with as many people as possible. We produce up to 30 productions at our South Bank home each year, ranging from re-imagined classics – such as Greek tragedy and Shakespeare – to modern masterpieces and new work by contemporary writers and theatre- makers. The work we make strives to be as open, as diverse, as collaborative and as national as possible. We want to inspire artists and audiences to think in new ways, to constantly re-imagine the act of making theatre. Much of that new work is researched and developed at the NT Studio; we are committed to nurturing innovative work from new writers, directors, creative artists and performers.
The National’s work is also seen on tour throughout the UK and internationally, and in collaborations and co- productions with regional theatres. Popular shows transfer to the West End and occasionally to Broadway; and through the National Theatre Live we broadcast live performances to 2000 cinemas in 50 countries around the world. National Theatre: On Demand In Schools now offers three acclaimed curriculum-linked productions free to stream on demand in every secondary school in the country. Our extensive Learning programme offers talks, events and workshops for people of all ages in the new Clore Learning Centre, and reaches nationwide through programmes such as Connections, our annual festival of new plays for schools and youth theatres. Online, the NT offers a rich variety of innovative digital content on every aspect of theatre. We do all we can to keep ticket prices affordable and to reach a wide audience, and use our public funding to maintain artistic risk-taking, accessibility and diversity.