HighTide Festival 2011
at the New Cut Halesworth
We are pleased to announce the full programme of the 5th HighTide Festival, taking place between 28 April and 8 May 2011 in Halesworth, Suffolk.
The Festival opens on 28 April with the European premiere of Dusk Rings A Bell. Written by Stephen Belber, this is an engaging new American play about reigniting a teenage romance 20 years on and reconciling one’s dreams to the crushing realities of life.
Andrew Motion, the former poet laureate, will make his debut as a playwright with a controversial work about the war in Afghanistan. Incoming tells the story of Danny, a soldier killed in Afghanistan, his grieving widow Steph and their young son Jack. It will premiere at the Festival in co-production with The Poetry Trust and is a powerful examination of the disturbing issues surrounding war and how hard it can be for those left behind.
The Festival will also premiere Nicked, musical theatre for the 21st Century, written by performance poet Richard Marsh, with an original, urban soundtrack by Natalia Sheppard, aka Rogue Nouveau and directed by the award winning young British director Pia Furtado. Nicked is the story of today’s government – how it came to power and the tribulations of the first year, with Nick Clegg as the central character and a supporting cast of David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Vince Cable, the Millibands, Sam Cam, Miriam Clegg and lady Britannia herself. It is a brazen, political, intelligent and infectious show which offers politics you can dance to.
The final play of the season is Midnight Your Time a new play by Adam Brace, which makes its debut and reunites the entire creative team behind HighTide’s Stovepipe. It will star Diana Quick, the iconic star of ITV’s Brideshead Revisited.
During the weekends of April 30/May 1 and May 7/8, there will be a full day-long ancillary programme of panel debates, Q&A’s with our creative teams, one-off performances, workshops for young people, the Genesis Studio for emerging artists (supported by the Genesis Foundation), films for free and two late-night parties.
To launch our fifth birthday, we are delighted to welcome directors Richard Eyre, Nicholas Hytner, Stephen Daldry and Sam Mendes and actress Juliet Stevenson as new patrons.
‘With remarkable speed, HighTide has had a significant, positive effect on theatre that will resonate for years to come’ Sam Mendes, HighTide Patron.
Full details of the weekend programme can be found here:
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