The Touring Consortium Theatre Company and Royal & Derngate Northampton present the World Premiere of Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD
17 July 2015
by Visit Blackpool
The Grand Theatre is excited to announce that the world premiere new staging of Aldous Huxley’s futuristic classic, Brave New World travels to Blackpool from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 November later in the year.
Brave New World, widely considered to be one of the finest and most prophetic dystopian novels of the twentieth century, bursts into life on stage in an adaptation by award-winning playwright Dawn King, directed by James Dacre and designed by Naomi Dawson, with original new music by the ground breaking British band These New Puritans.
Acclaimed British actress Sophie Ward (Land Girls, Heartbeat, Holby City) will star as Margaret Mond – the Regional World Controller for Western Europe. In Huxley’s novel, Mond is a male character, but playwright Dawn King said,
“I took this decision primarily because as a feminist, I wanted to increase the gender equality of the show. I also felt that having a female world controller of Western Europe is more representative of our world today, and of a world of the future. In the novel the character is called ‘Mustapha Mond’, but in my adaptation I chose the name Margaret, for its obvious allusions. I think Sophie Ward is a great choice to play the role because ‘Mond’ is a person who has had to make hard decisions, has a strong sense of her own personal morality, and has real steely authority – qualities I think Sophie will accentuate.”
Brave New World was first published in 1932, and is widely seen to be one of the most important novels of the twentieth century, anticipating developments in reproductive technology, psychological manipulation and behavioural conditioning.
Set 600 years in the future, human life has been almost entirely industrialised, and humans are created and conditioned in a lab, in a World State whose motto is ‘Community, Identity, Stability’. Monogamy, the family unit and the natural process of giving birth, are considered horrific and unnatural, and material comfort and physical pleasure – provided by the drug soma and recreational sex — represent society’s highest good.
Dawn King also said,
“Huxley’s novel is over eighty years old, but his vision of the future is shockingly familiar. In many ways, we already live in Brave New World: a glittering dystopia built on inequality, where people keep themselves distracted with empty pleasures, chemical stimulants and consumer goods. Adapting this huge work for the stage has been as tough and stimulating as anything I’ve ever done and a huge pleasure.”
Director James Dacre said,
“Asking whether it is better to be free and unhappy or to live in forced happiness, incapable of accepting freedom, our version of Brave New World will explore the ways that we currently live our lives, imagining how tomorrow’s world might look as a consequence of today’s choices.”
Jack Barnett from These New Puritans said,
“We’re really pleased to be involved with Brave New World. I don’t think we could have picked something more suitable if we’d had a million options. Re-reading it, I could imagine our sounds and the contrasts in our sounds mapping onto it well. It should be a blast, having a chance to produce some of the sounds which are only described. It’s probably the most prophetic of twentieth century dystopias, and especially powerful given the undercurrent of scientism around at the moment. Ultimately it deals with more fundamental questions, like what is happiness, and at what cost? And that’s got to be the only game in town.”
Brave New World is brought to The Grand by the Touring Consortium Theatre Company, who toured the highly acclaimed dramatic productions Regeneration and Brassed Off in 2014. This announcement comes as part of The Grand’s new season of drama for autumn and winter 2015.
Marketing Manager Andrew Howard said,
“We are thrilled that the world premiere of Brave New World is coming to Blackpool’s Grand Theatre this year. Anyone who saw their productions of Brassed Off and Regeneration last year will know that the Touring Consortium Theater Company guarantee a top-quality, highly modern drama, with plenty of guts. Brave New World was one of the most influential novels of the last century, and is more relevant than ever. This is a real treat for book, drama and sci-fi lovers.”
Brave New World
Grand Theatre Blackpool
Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 November 2015
Evenings 7:30pm
Thursday and Saturday Matinees 2pm
Tickets £19 to £24
Matinees £19
Opening Night Offer: 2 for 1 tickets
Concessions, Group & School Group discounts available
Our booking fee is included in all stated ticket prices. Booking fees are not payable on group or school bookings of 10 or more.
Call Box Office on 01253 74 33 39 or visit blackpoolgrand.co.uk
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