Big name Scottish stars Brian Cox and Bill Paterson are to help the Royal Lyceum celebrate its 50th Anniversary as they play together in Beckett’s classic Waiting for Godot at the start of the 2015/16 season. This will be followed by a mix of new writing, contemporary and modern classics, literary adaptations, four world premieres and two new co-producers.
Lyceum Artistic Director Mark Thomson comments, “It’s a pleasure to celebrate 50 years of The Lyceum Company with a programme of work that combines a powerful mix of four world premieres with great theatre voices such as Samuel Beckett and Arthur Miller. … It’s particularly exciting to launch with original company member Brian Cox alongside Bill Paterson in Waiting for Godot. … “
Playwright Laura Wade brings Sarah Waters’ audacious bestselling novel Tipping The Velvet to the stage for the first time in a new adaptation, directed by Lyndsey Turner. This is The Lyceum’s first co-production with The Lyric, Hammersmith where the play will have a 5 week run before heading up to Edinburgh.
Later in October, Lyceum Youth Theatre invites audiences to a unique site specific experience in the darkest, unseen corners of the Lyceum building. As their contribution to The Lyceum’s 50th year, they will guide audiences where no backstage tour goes, where hidden places meet the hidden voices of youth. This will be a unique theatrical adventure full of surprise and no little terror with live music and lively encounters inspired by The Lyceum’s secret spaces. Devised by members of the Lyceum Youth Theatre and Mark Thomson, Christie O’Carroll and John Glancy this is a special one off production as part of The Lyceum’s anniversary celebrations.
This year’s Christmas show is another literary classic and a firm family favourite The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe written by C.S. Lewis and dramatised by Theresa Heskins and 2016 will be kicked off with some ghost stories to warm up those cold January nights with The Weir by Conor McPherson.
Director Amanda Gaughan says, "…‘The Weir’… has been hailed as a modern-day classic and I am delighted to be directing this for our 50th anniversary year. Set in a rural Irish pub; the men meet for their usual pint together but this night is different when a stranger, Valerie comes amongst them and then, the real stories begin…”
Lyceum Associate artist John Dove returns to direct one of Arthur Miller’s best loved works The Crucible. This powerful tale of the witch hunts in Salem in 1693 was written during McCarthy’s anti –communist trials in America and the play remains as relevant today as a comment on the temptation and the dangers of the politics of fear.
The fifth play of the season will be produced with the National Theatre of Scotland and famously playful theatre-makers Told by an Idiot on the world premiere of I Am Thomas - A brutal comedy with songs. The play takes us back in time to Edinburgh 1696 where in this University town, seat of the Scottish Parliament, we meet Thomas Aitkenhead, a student whose irreverent views about God are about to become deadly serious. Using the Told by an Idiot trademark anarchic physicality and inventive storytelling, this glimpse into Edinburgh’s dark past brings black humour to this true story.
The penultimate play of the season directed by Lyceum Artistic Director Mark Thomson is a world premiere of the classical Greek epic The Iliad in a new version by writer Chris Hannan who says, “On the simplest level The Iliad is an action-packed love story set during the Trojan War, in a world crying out for forgiveness.…“
Scots Makar Liz Lochhead returns to the Lyceum with a brand new original play that ends this historic season, with comedy and world premiere of Thon Man Molière (or Whit got him intae aw that bother…). Among her body of work, Lochhead has written Scots versions of Molière's great trio of masterpieces and this latest play tells the outrageous story of the life and times of Molière, his scandalous marriage, his scurrilous plays and the creation of his infamous and celebrated satire Tartuffe.
Looks like a sparkling season for a golden anniversary!
Show dates and sale dates:
Season tickets go on sale from 1 May
All tickets go on sale from 1 June
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Dates: 18 September– 10 October 2014
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Dates: 28 October – 14 November 2014
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
Dates: 28 November 2014 – 2 January 2015
The Weir by Conor McPherson
Dates: 15 January – 6 February 2015
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Dates: 18 February – 19 March 2016
I Am Thomas -A co-production with Told by an Idiot and National Theatre of Scotland
Dates: 23 March – 09 April 2016
The Iliad by Chris Hannan
Dates: 20 April – 14 May 2016
Thon Man Molière (or Whit got him intae aw that bother…) by Liz Lochhead
Dates: 20 May- 11 June 2016