HEDGEPIG Theatre have taken hold of JM Synge’s Playboy Of The Western World, torn it apart and rebuilt it from the ground up to their own twisted specification.
Adapted by the York company’s co-founder Andy Curry, the play will re-emerge next month as Playboy Of The Wide World, in which there’s “nowt twixt a hero’s tale and an evil deed” when a sleepy rural community is shaken by the arrival of a mysterious and dangerous young man.
On the run for killing his evil father, he is hailed as a hero. The women want him and men want to be him. The village and all its dubious riches are his for the taking, but then his father turns up, very much alive.
“Bold as brass, big and brash, Playboy Of The Wide World will be a dark, wildly comic tale of rural folk and rural ways, heroes and villains, patricide and love. And goats,” says Andy.
“The new script has been developed alongside the cast’s own improvisations and experiences, which will give each performance a truly unpredictable flavour.”
Those performances will be staged at the Seven Arts Theatre, Leeds, on July 17 and 18 at 7.30pm and Friargate Theatre, York, from July 19 to 21 at 7.30pm plus a 2pm Saturday matinee.
Playboy Of The Wide World is directed by Andy Curry, who has enlisted a production company of assistant director Anna Rose James; producer Gemma Sharp; costume designer Julia Smith; filmmaker Mike Ritchie. The lighting design will be by Kelli Zezulka; music by Alexander King; stage management and props by Hannah Wallace; fight direction, Neil Tattersall; and graphic designer Jim Stafford. Roxanna Klimaszewska and Anna Rose James, from Six Lips Theatre, will play Peggy and Phil/Nelly respectively; Hedgepig regulars Bill Laughey and Andy Love will be Marlon and Michael the landlord; Jamie McKellar, Chris; Berly Nairn, The Widow Quinn; Stu Freestone, Sean; and Jon Adams, Jim/Susan.
“This is going to be Hedgepig Theatre’s biggest full-scale production to date, following on from Miss Julie, Double Barrel 1 & 2 and Playhouse Creatures,” promises Andy.
Leeds tickets can be booked on 0113 262 6777 or at sevenleeds.co.uk; York, 01904 613000 or at ridinglights.org
Please note: this production contains language not suitable for younger children.
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