Circa Theatre 2015 Season

05 December 2014
MEDIA RELEASE
Embargoed until 7 December

CIRCA THEATRE 2015 SEASON:
JAM-PACKED WITH THEATRE FOR ALL AUDIENCES!

Circa Theatre has outdone itself with the 2015 programme – with 30 productions throughout the year, it’s our biggest season ever! Of the 21 New Zealand plays and 9 International, there are 6 World Premieres and 5 New Zealand Premieres. As in previous years, the official launch of the annual programme is at the Thorndon Fair on Sunday, 7 December.

Circa is excited to celebrate the continuation of several longstanding partnerships and the introduction of a few new ones with the 2015 programme. For NZ Fringe 2015 we will host Wake Up Tomorrow by Everybody Cool Lives Here. They collaborated with Active, a service for intellectually disabled youth, to create this compelling, surreal and funny work. In March, we welcome the Capital E National Arts Festival to Circa by hosting two productions – Caterpillars and Beards! Beards! Beards! We are also thrilled to present a return season of the 2014 solo comic hit The Pianist, presented by Show Pony Productions. Once again, long-time Circa partners The Improvisors will offer a trio of improv shows throughout the year for audiences of all ages. We are delighted to announce a new partnership with Wellington theatre company A Slightly Isolated Dog, who will present a sexy, fierce and raucous devised adaptation of Moliere’s classic play Don Juan.

We are so happy to welcome back Tawata Productions for the Matariki Development Festival, and to present the new play by Hone Kouka, the beautiful ones, in Circa One. Trick of the Light Theatre will be back to present The Bookbinder, the hit of the NZ and Sydney Fringe Festivals in 2014.

Finally, Taki Rua Productions will present the new play by Witi Ihimaera, All Our Sons, in Circa One in November.

There is an exciting selection of New Zealand plays in our 2015 programme. We open the year with the return of our traditional family favourite – the pantomime. Red Riding Hood is a magical treat that entertains young and old. After debuting to a sell-out season at the Greytown Festival in 2012, we are happy to present The Kitchen at the End of the World, the story of marionettes who know they are limited by the extent of their strings but crave what lies beyond. Kerryn Palmer will direct Seed by Elisabeth Easther, which won the 2014 Adam New Zealand Play Award. Renowned playwright/screenwriter/author Duncan Sarkies will perform The Demolition of the Century, from his novel of the same name. Powerhouse Jane Keller returns to Circa a little older, a little wiser and a lot sassier with her new show, Yep, Still Got It! Circa is excited to present a season of the 2014 Young and Hungry sensation Second Afterlife, written by playwright Ralph McCubbin Howell, winner of the 2014 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. In September, we are thrilled to present the New Zealand Premiere of the Robert Lord play The Travelling Squirrel, directed by Susan Wilson.

Finally making its way to Wellington after touring arts festivals around the country is Gifted, a play about Frank Sargeson and Janet Frame. Lyndee-Jane Rutherford will direct Ache by Pip Hall, a comedy about fate, chance and rooftop romance. We’ll finish off the year the way we started it – with a pantomime: Roger Hall’s Robin Hood is fabulous fun for all ages.

As always, our International plays are truly remarkable. A non-stop ride of mystery, murder and musical delight, The Mystery of Edwin Drood lets the audience decide who the Dickens did the deed, at every performance! Two Mortals is a delicate, poetic and humourous exploration of life, death and the moment in between. Circa veteran Ross Jolly will direct the Lee Hall adaptation of the classic Italian comedy A Servant to Two Masters. Circa is thrilled to welcome back Broadway star Angelica Page to perform two solo shows on alternate nights: Edge, about poet Sylvia Plath, and Turning Page, about Angelica’s mother, Academy Award-winner Geraldine Page. Director Giles Burton will make his Circa debut with The Ugly One, a scalpel-sharp comic fantasy about beauty.

Fans of Sherlock Holmes will delight in the Clive Francis adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Jan Preston will bring her new show, Adventures in Pianoland, to Circa Two in October. Finally, Ray Henwood will help us to celebrate the holiday season with Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales (and other memories of childhood).

Circa’s 2015 programme presents a year of exciting and provocative theatre for all audiences.

For more information on each of Circa’s 2015 productions, please refer to the attached PDF of the 2015 brochure.

Since 1976, Circa Theatre has built a reputation as one of New Zealand’s liveliest and most innovative theatres. Champions of quality playwriting and performance for more than 38 years, Circa is home and host to New Zealand’s most influential theatre-makers. Circa Theatre’s purposebuilt theatre is located on Wellington’s waterfront – right next door to Te Papa. It not only has two performance spaces, but also has an on-site restaurant, Encore Restaurant and Bar, which offers fusion-style contemporary cuisine with a harbour view.

Christmas gift ideas: the Circa Six Pack, a voucher pack of 6 tickets (for the price of 5) that can be redeemed a number of ways! Gift Vouchers are also available in any ticket denomination. Available from the Circa Box office (801-7992).

With $25 tickets for under 25s, a bargain ‘Friend of Circa’ membership that gives members $33 tickets for the first two weeks of each show, plus a range of other ticket prices and fantastic preshow dinner options – Circa’s got your ticket for a great night out!

Circa Theatre – 1 Taranaki St, Wellington Waterfront.

Bookings: phone 04 801 7992, email circa@circa.co.nz or visit www.circa.co.nz

Release ends.

circa2015web.pdf

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