YORK Theatre Royal is to re-open after its £4.1 million redevelopment next spring with world premieres of new adaptations of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and E M Forster’s The Machine Stops.
Co-producers English Touring Theatre and York Theatre Royal will produce an "elegant, evocative and vivid re-imagining" of Waugh's 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories Of Captain Charles Ryder, which will play the newly configured main house before undertaking a British tour.
Adapted by Wakefield playwright Bryony Lavery and directed by Theatre Royal artistic director Damian Cruden, Waugh's story blurs the past and present – from 1923 to 1943/44 – when Charles Ryder recalls his heady days at Brideshead Castle with Julia and Lord Sebastian Flyte as their relationships become intertwined.
This will be a third Yorkshire re-visiting of Brideshead Revisited, in the wake of Charles Sturridge and Michael Lindsay-Hoggs's 1981 television series and Julian Jarrold's 2008 film, both shot at Castle Howard, near Helmsley.
Anthony Andrews as Lord Sebastian Flyte, left, and Jeremy Irons as Charles Ryder in 1981's Brideshead Revisited, filmed at Castle Howard
"To have Brideshead in our opening season is a perfect fit," said Damian Cruden. "It’s a story with enduring appeal and has such strong associations with Yorkshire after both the TV series and the later film used Castle Howard as the location for the Marchmains' home.
"Our building is undergoing a huge remodelling and the facilities in the new theatre space will provide us with creative opportunities to stage Brideshead in a way we wouldn’t have been able to in our old auditorium.
"Audiences will feel closer to the action with the new seating configuration and this will be the first opportunity we have to really show off the space with one of our own productions."
The second world premiere will be a co-production of The Machine Stops with the Theatre Royal's company-in-residence, Pilot Theatre, in The Studio. Adapted for the stage by Neil Duffield and directed by Theatre Royal associate director Juliet Forster (no relation), Forster's science-fiction short story was first published in 1909.
It predicts a futuristic society where humanity has isolated itself beneath the ground and relies on electronic communication. This chilling exploration of the increased dependency and relationship with technology is told by a mother and son, who live separated from each other in a world where almost all have lost the ability to live on the Earth’s surface.
York Theatre Royal chief executive Liz Wilson. Picture: Anthony Robling
Looking ahead to the re-opening season, Theatre Royal chief executive Liz Wilson said: "We're incredibly pleased with the interest generated in the theatre’s redevelopment and re-opening by this week's BBC On Stage documentary. We've chosen to make the announcement now about our world premiere co-productions to show the ambition of the theatre and the quality of work that can be expected when our doors open to the public again in April 2016.
"It's a pleasure to be working with two such well-respected companies, English Touring Theatre and Pilot Theatre, continuing York Theatre Royal’s legacy of creating outstanding drama for the past 270 years."
The dates for these two productions are yet to be confirmed. Full details of the re-opening season, including all dates and events, will be released in December.
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