PRESS RELEASE
Cast announced for the first major revival of the late David Storey’s The March on Russia directed by Alice Hamilton
7 SEPTEMBER – 7 OCTOBER
PRESS NIGHT: MON 11 SEPTEMBER 7.00pm
An Orange Tree Theatre production in association with Up in Arms
The March on Russia
BY DAVID STOREY
DirectorAlice HamiltonDesignerJames PerkinsLighting DesignerNicholas Holdridge
Sound Designer & Composer Harry BlakeCostume DesignerSophia SimenskyCasting ConsultantSophie Parrott CDG
Alice Hamilton(Visitors and Eventide, Bush Theatre) returns to the Orange Tree following Robert Holman’s German Skerries to direct Sarah Belcher (Medea, Almeida; Twelfth Night, Filter/RSC), Ian Gelder (The Treatment, Almeida; Kevan Lannister in four series of Game of Thrones), Colin Tierney (The Father, Theatre Royal Bath/Tricycle), Connie Walker(Death of a Salesman, Northampton/tour) and Sue Wallace (Husbands and Sons, Emil and the Detectives, National Theatre).
Major post-war playwright David Storey died in March 2017. Born in Wakefield, he was the son of a Yorkshire miner and became a distinctive voice of working class Britain, especially through productions at the Royal Court Theatre in the 1960s and 70s.
This is the first major production of his play The March on Russia since premiering at the National Theatre in 1989.
A good wife. Home. Children. I don’t know what else it’s all about.
The memory of a family. The memory of a country. The memory of a moment when people hopedfor more.
As the Pasmores prepare to mark their sixtieth wedding anniversary, their three children surprise them by returning home to celebrate.
A moving evocation of a family and a way of life retreating into old age, retirement bungalows and modern middle class life. Storey’s play is written with profound affection for a family struggling with change but bound together by love.
Orange Tree Artistic Director Paul Miller: “I have long admired David Storey’s unique dramatic voice: that distinctive mix of strength and sensitivity as he charts post-war Britain’s uneasy social transitions. So I’m proud we’re working with Up in Arms to present one of his tenderest, most well-observed plays. Their aim, to make work that is "honest, human, affecting, revealing”, makes Alice Hamilton, Up in Arms’ joint Artistic Director, the ideal person to direct this revival. We had long planned this collaboration prior to Storey’s recent death and we hope now it will stand as a fitting tribute to an extraordinary talent.”
David Storey‘s (1933 – 2017) plays include In Celebration, Home, The Contractor and The Changing Room. He is also well known as a novelist. His first novel This Sporting Life became a 1963 film directed by Lindsay Anderson with Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts. Subsequent novels include Radcliffe, Pasmore, A Temporary Life, Edward, A Serious Man and the Booker Prizewinning Saville. Born in Wakefield, he was the son of a Yorkshire miner and became a distinctive voice of working class Britain.
Alice Hamilton and Up in Arms return to the Orange Tree following their critically acclaimed production of Robert Holman’s German Skerries with a play that typifies the warmth and human detail of Up In Arms’ work. Her work for Up in Arms as Co-Artistic Director with Barney Norris includes his plays Visitors (Arcola, Bush and tour), Eventide (Arcola and tour), While We’re Here (Bush and tour) and Echo’s End (Salisbury Playhouse). Other theatre includes Orca and Orson’s Shadow (Southwark Playhouse). She has twice been nominated for the Offie for Best Director (Visitors and Eventide).
Sarah Belcher’s theatre includes Medea (Almeida); Twelfth Night (Filter/RSC); The Accrington Pals (Royal Exchange); The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night (RSC); Beachy Head (Analogue); Six Characters in Search of An Author (Headlong); The Elephant Man (Sheffield Theatres). TV includes Holby City, Kiss of Death, Obsession, The Musketeers, Tales from the Old Bailey, Lead Balloon, Twelve Dancing Princesses and Talk to Me.
Ian Gelder returns to the Orange Tree following Martin Crimp’sDefinitely the Bahamas. Other theatre includes Racing Demon (Theatre Royal Bath); The Treatment (Almeida); Human Animals, The Low Road, Mouth to Mouth, Fireface (Royal Court); Gods and Monsters (Southwark Playhouse); Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe); Roots (Donmar Warehouse); King Lear (Almeida); The Power of Yes, Henry IV Parts I and II, His Dark Materials, Stuff Happens (National Theatre); The Sound of Music (West End). TV includes Snatch, Riviera, Ripper Street, Game of Thrones (4 series), Mr Selfridge, Endeavour, Psychoville, The Fades, Silent Witness, Robin Hood, Torchwood and Fallen Angel.
Colin Tierney’s theatre includes All Our Children (Jermyn Street); The Odyssey, The Misanthrope (Liverpool Everyman/English Touring Theatre); The Father (Theatre Royal Bath/Tricycle); Britannia Waves the Rules (Royal Exchange); The Last Days of Troy (Royal Exchange/Shakespeare’s Globe); Betrayal, Hamlet (Sheffield Crucible); Tartuffe (English Touring Theatre); Hedda Gabler (Theatre Royal Bath/tour). TV includes Vera, Silent Witness, Holby City, DCI Banks, New Tricks, Waterloo Road, The Walk, Island at War, Serious and Organised and Foyle’s War. Films include Nowhere Boy.
Connie Walker’s theatre includes Death of a Salesman (Northampton Royal/tour); A Month of Sundays (Queen’s, Hornchurch); Sister Winnie (Birmingham Rep/tour); Seeing the Lights, Kes, Top Girls (New Vic, Stoke); To Kill A Mockingbird (Open Air Regent’s Park/tour/Barbican); As You Like It, Hay Fever (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Separate Tables (Chichester). TV includes Holby City, Coronation Street, Vera, Scott and Bailey, Silent Witness, Casualty, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, New Tricks, Blackpool, MIT and The Vice.
Sue Wallace’s theatre includes Husbands and Sons, Emil and the Detectives (National Theatre); Billy Liar, Pygmalion, Everybody Loves a Winner (Royal Exchange); Untold Stories (National Theatre/West End); Hedda Gabler (Northampton Theatres); Hobson’s Choice (Crucible, Sheffield); Season’s Greetings (Theatre Royal Windsor); Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare’s Globe/UK and US tour); East Is East (Birmingham Rep); Hay Fever (Chichester). TV includes DCI Banks, In the Club, Quick Cuts, Shameless, In the Flesh, Trollied, The Royal, Housewife 49, New Street Law, Samuel Johnson, Coronation Street, In the Blood, A&E, Dinnerladies and Common as Muck. Films include I Give It a Year.
PRESS CONTACT Ben Clare 020 8940 0141
NOTES TO EDITORS
ABOUT THE ORANGE TREE THEATRE
At its home in Richmond, South West London, the Orange Tree Theatre aims to entertain, challenge, move and amaze with a bold and continually evolving mix of new and rediscovered plays in our unique in-the-round space. We want to change lives by telling remarkable stories from a wide variety of times and places, filtered through the singular imagination of our writers and the remarkable close-up presence of our actors.
Over its forty-five-year history the Orange Tree has had an exceptional track record in discovering writers and promoting their early work, as well as rediscovering artists from the past whose work had either been disregarded or forgotten.
In the last three years, the OT has been recognised for its work with sixteen major industry awards, including ten Offies (Off West End Awards), three UK Theatre Awards (including Most Welcoming London Theatre 2016), the Alfred Fagon Audience Award and the Peter Brook Empty Space Award. Every show so far in 2017 has been nominated for multiple Offie Awards.
By the end of 2017, the Orange Tree’s work will have been seen in 33 other towns and cities across the country since the start of 2016.
Artistic Director Paul Miller
Executive Director Sarah Nicholson
The Orange Tree is a registered charity (no. 266128) and is generously supported by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
Websiteorangetreetheatre.co.uk | Email
Twitter@OrangeTreeThtr | Facebook/InstagramOrangeTreeTheatre
ABOUT UP IN ARMS
Honest, human, affecting, revealing: we make plays about people and the places they’re from. Up In Arms is a multi-award-winning touring theatre company from the south west of England produced by Farnham Maltings. They are an associate company of Watford Palace Theatre and The North Wall.
Artistic Directors Alice HamiltonBarney Norris
Company Stage Manager Charlie Young
Website Twitter@upinarmstheatre
Listings information
Thu 7 September – Sat 7 October 2017
Mon – Sat eves 7.30pm (except 11 Sep 7.00pm)
Thu & Sat matinees 2.30pm (not 7 & 9 Sep)
Post-show talks Wed 13 Sep 7.30pmThu 21 Sep 2.30pm
Audio-described performances Wed20 Sep 7.30pm & Sat 23 Sep 2.30pm
Captioned performanceWed 4 Oct 7.30pm
Ticket Prices (NO BOOKING FEES)
Preview £15 (7, 8 & 9 Sep) | Mon – Thu evenings & matinees £22.50 | Fri & Sat evenings £25
Standing £10 (when all seats have been sold)
Concessions
A limited number of tickets at £18 are available for all performances for over 65s, students, recipients of state benefitand members of theatre unions andguilds on presentation of proof.
Under 30s £12
A limited number of under 30s £12 tickets are available for all performances. Proof of agesmust be shown when collecting tickets.
Access
£15 ticketsavailable for disabledpatrons plus one escort at the samerate on all performances.
£12 tickets available for blind or partially sighted patrons and an escort at the same price for audio described performances.
£12 tickets for deaf or partially hearing patrons at Captioned performances.