Jane Wenham: the Witch of Walkern
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CLIÓNA ROBERTS arts press & public relations 187 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QD / T: 020 7704 6224 / M: 07754 75 65 04 / [email protected] / crpr.co.uk / @cliocrpr FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR REBECCA LENKIEWICZ’S NEW PLAY, JANE WENHAM: THE WITCH OF WALKERN AN OUT OF JOINT, WATFORD PALACE THEATRE AND ARCOLA THEATRE PRODUCTION, IN ASSOCIATION WITH EASTERN ANGLES JANE WENHAM: THE WITCH OF WALKERN BY REBECCA LENKIEWICZ Directed by Ria Parry Designed by James Button with lighting by Richard Howell Original music and sound design by Max Pappenheim Puppetry by Matt Hutchinson Wednesday 23 September - Saturday 3 October 2015, Watford Palace Theatre PRESS NIGHT: MONDAY 28 SEPTEMBER, 7PM October - November 2015, National Tour Tuesday 5 January - Saturday 30 January 2016, Arcola Theatre PRESS NIGHT: THURSDAY 7 JANUARY, 7.30PM Ria Parry will direct Patti Love in the title role of Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern. The world premiere production, from Out of Joint, Watford Palace Theatre and Arcola Theatre in association with Eastern Angles, will tour the UK from September 2015 to January 2016. Patti will be joined in the cast by David Acton (Hutchinson), Judith Coke (Priddy), Tim Delap (Crane), Hannah Hutch (Ann), Andrew Macklin (Fergal/Pricker), Rachel Sanders (Widow) and Cat Simmons (Kemi). The production will open to press at Watford Palace Theatre before two weeks of rural touring in association with Eastern Angles. It will then travel to Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol and Salisbury before playing at London’s Arcola Theatre. Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern is inspired one of the last major witch trials in England. The charges brought against Jane Wenham, the cunning woman of a small Hertfordshire village in 1712, provoked a nationwide pamphlet war. Rebecca Lenkiewicz dramatises Wenham’s extraordinary story for our times. Alive with the mysteries of sex, nature and the supernatural, this gripping new play blasts For press information and society’s hunger to find – and create – witches. reviewing tickets contact: Clióna Roberts Director Ria Parry said ‘Part of what draws me to Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern is T: 020 7704 6224 that it resonates with issues we are still facing today. In many areas of the world, women M: 07754 756504 are still horribly oppressed, and even closer to home there is a tendency to ‘witch-hunt’ [email protected] not just women, but anyone we fear or don’t understand – to persecute or demonize a particular group in order to protect yourself or your own. It’s an us and them mentality – a war on the weak, an inability to cope with or accept ‘difference.’ There is an intimate look at the power and hypocrisy of religion in the play, which brilliantly interweaves with the community’s treatment of women. Jane Wenham is set in 1712, but it is disturbingly relevant to now. We have a stunning cast and an excellent creative team. It’s a real pleasure to be working with Rebecca on the premiere of her superb play. Rebecca Lenkiewicz won a BAFTA for co-writing Ida with Pawel Pawlikowski, which also won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. She won a Fringe First for her play Soho: A Tale of Table Dancers, and her plays The Night Season and Her Naked Skin both premiered at the National Theatre. Rebecca is the first living female playwright to have her worked produced on the Olivier Stage at the NT. Her play The Invisible is currently playing at the Bush Theatre. Ria Parry is Co-Artistic Director of Iron Shoes, for whom her productions include Mad About The Boy (Edinburgh Fringe & National Tour – Fringe First Winner 2009), Caryl Churchill’s Fen at the Finborough Theatre, and Crush (Fringe First winner 2011). Other work includes Albion (Bush Theatre), On Golden Pond (Salisbury Playhouse) and The Winter’s Tale Re-imagined (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.) Ria was awarded the Leverhulme Bursary for Emerging Directors in 2010/11, becoming Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio. Patti Love has extensive stage and screen credits which include for film Women in Gold, Mrs Henderson Presents, An Awfully Big Adventure and A Long Good Friday. Stage credits include Something Never Happened (Assembly Rooms), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (Old Vic/Vaudeville), The Glass Menagerie (Exeter Northcott) and Henry IV parts I and II (RSC). NOTES TO EDITORS The play began life as a research workshop supported by the University of Hertfordshire (an Out of Joint Associate University) and the National Theatre Studio. COMPANY BIOGS Inquisitive, epic, authentic: Out of Joint this year celebrates 21 years of developing and touring socially and politically engaged theatre of the highest quality. Under the direction of its founder Max Stafford-Clark, Out of Joint has premiered plays from leading writers including April De Angelis, Sebastian Barry, Richard Bean, Alistair Beaton, Caryl Churchill, David Hare, Robin Soans and Timberlake Wertenbaker, as well as launching the careers of writers such as Mark Ravenhill and Stella Feehily. Out of Joint co-produces with the country’s most exciting theatres and its work has been seen in six continents. Arcola Theatre is one of London’s leading off-West End theatres. Locally engaged and internationally minded, Arcola stages a diverse programme of plays, operas and musicals. World-class productions from major artists appear alongside cutting- edge work from the most exciting emerging companies. Arcola delivers one of London’s most extensive community engagement programmes, creating over 5000 opportunities every year. By providing research and development space to diverse artists, Arcola champions theatre that’s more engaging and representative. Its pioneering environmental initiatives are internationally renowned, and aim to make Arcola the world’s first carbon-neutral theatre. For press information and Watford Palace Theatre is a 21st century producing theatre, making new work reviewing tickets contact: Clióna Roberts across the art forms of theatre, dance, outdoor arts and digital, and developing T: 020 7704 6224 audiences, artists and communities through exciting opportunities to participate. M: 07754 756504 Watford Palace Theatre commissions and produces plays from a range of new and [email protected] established writers. Recent premieres include, Jefferson’s Garden by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Love Me Do by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran; An Intervention by Mike Bartlett (in co-production with Paines Plough); Shiver by Daniel Kanaber; the Ideal World season of three new plays - Perfect Match by Gary Owen, Virgin by E.V.Crowe (in co-production with nabakov), Override by Stacey Gregg; Jumpers for Goalposts by Tom Wells (in co-production with Paines Plough and Hull Truck Theatre); Our Brother David by Anthony Clark; Our Father by Charlotte Keatley; and Family Business by Julian Mitchell. Creative Associates are central to Watford Palace Theatre’s vision – these include Resident Companies Rifco Arts and Tiata Fahodzi; nabokov; Mahogany Opera Group: Scamp Theatre; Kate Flatt; Shona Morris; Charlotte Keatley; Gary Owen; Stacey Gregg and Alice Birch. Eastern Angles is the regional touring theatre company for East Anglia. It has a national reputation for producing high-quality, new writing usually with a regional flavour. Based at the Sir John Mills Theatre in Ipswich, the company has been touring professional theatre productions into the towns and villages of East Anglia since 1982. Eastern Angles have also staged productions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at London’s Bush Theatre, Soho Theatre and The Pleasance. LISTING & TOUR DATES For press information and reviewing tickets contact: Wednesday 23 September – Saturday 3 October 2015 Clióna Roberts WATFORD PALACE THEATRE T: 020 7704 6224 Press night: Mon 28 September 2015, 7pm M: 07754 756504 [email protected] Tuesday 6 to Saturday 17 October 2015 – rural touring as below Tue 6 October: The Cut, Halesworth, Suffolk Wed 7 October: Community Centre, Bradfield, Essex Thu 8 October: Lakeside Theatre, Uni of Essex, Wivenhoe Fri 9 October: Garboldisham Village Hall, Norfolk Sat 10 October: Brandestone Village hall, Suffolk Tue 13 October: Ipswich High School for Girls Wed 14 October: Public Hall, Witham, Essex Thu 15 October: Felsted School, Dunmow, Essex Fri 16 October: The Curve, Sudbury Ormiston Academy, Suffolk Sat 17 October: Woodbridge Community Hall, Suffolk Wednesday 21 – Saturday 24 October 2015 WEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSE, LEEDS Tuesday 27 – Saturday 31 October 2015 LIVERPOOL EVERYMAN THEATRE Tuesday 3 – Saturday 7 November 2015 TOBACCO FACTORY THEATRES, BRISTOL Tuesday 10 – Saturday 14 November 2015 SALISBURY PLAYHOUSE Tuesday 5 – Saturday 30 January 2016 ARCOLA THEATRE, LONDON Press night: Thu 7 January 2016, 7.30pm A full tour list and links to all on-sale venues will be available at www.outofjoint.co.uk.