A Seasonal Sharing of ‘Crossings’

A SEASONAL SHARING OF
CROSSINGS
By Deirdre Kinahan
14-16 December

Watch the Crossings Live Capture via:

www.pentabus.co.uk and www.newperspectives.co.uk

The powerful and subversive drama Crossings will be broadcast online and available to audiences from 14-16 December to mark the first collaborative tour produced by leading touring theatre companies Pentabus Theatre and New Perspectives.

Kinahan’s play, which explores the unexpected stories of war past and present, has captivated audiences on its premiere 25 date rural tour across 12 counties (Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Herefordshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire). The online broadcast is designed to celebrate the rural tour, offering even more audiences the chance to get a taste of the intimacy of a village hall performance by broadcasting a performance of Crossings filmed in Lustleigh Village Hall in Devon. The show will be broadcast complete with captions.

Written by award-winning Dublin-based playwright Deirdre Kinahan (Spinning, These Halcyon Days, Bogboy), Crossings marked the first joint commission from these West and East Midlands based rural companies.

The cast features: Victoria Brazier whose recent works include The Secret Garden (York Theatre Royal and Theatre by the Lake) Hard Times (Northern Broadsides) and Three Mothers (Waterloo East) and Will O’Connell whose recent theatre includes Class (Traverse Theatre, Galway Arts Festival, Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival), Swansong (Kilkenny Arts Festival) and Luck Just Kissed You Hello (HotForTheatre/GIAF/Dublin Theatre Festival). Victoria will play Margaret and Mirjana, and Will plays Grace and Sean. Artistic Director of Pentabus Theatre Company Sophie Motley said: ‘We try to live stream or live capture all of our plays directly from village halls to your computers. It gives you the real sense of the pure joy felt watching rural theatre in a village hall. Deirdre Kinahan’s play is a beautiful, intimate piece of theatre, and we’re thrilled that audiences will be able to watch it again or for the first time from the wonderful Lustleigh Village Hall in Devon!’

Sally Anne Tye, New Perspectives’ Executive Director added: ‘As rural touring champions, making the production available to see online presents an opportunity for audiences who have enjoyed a live performance to view it again and share their experience more widely with friends and family and to offer new audiences the chance to experience a village hall performance wherever they live.’

The live capture will be available from 4pm on Fri 14 December till midnight on Sun 16 December 2018 via www.pentabus.co.uk or www.newperspectives.co.uk

Running Time 75 minutes | Recommended for ages 12 +

Creative Team
Writer Deirdre Kinahan
Director Sophie Motley
Set and Lighting Designer Sarah Jane Shiels
Sound Designer Helen Skiera
Costume and Props Carl Davies
Movement Director Kitty Winter
Voice and Accent Coach Emma Stevens-Johnson
Associate Sound Designer Joe Dines
ENDS/

Notes for Editors

About Pentabus

Pentabus is the nation’s rural theatre company. We are the only professional theatre company in the UK whose vision is singularly rural. We tour new plays about the contemporary rural world to new audiences in village halls, fields, festivals and theatres, telling stories with local relevance and national impact. We believe that every person living in an isolated rural community has a right to exceptional theatre. We are based on a farm in Shropshire, and to date all of our work has been made here. It then tours village halls and theatres locally and nationally. Over four and a half decades we’ve produced 170 new plays, reached over 550,000 audience members, won a prestigious South Bank Show award for our show about racism, a Fringe First for our play about climate change and were the first to live stream from a village hall. We have hosted a writer in residence since 2014 and they have gone on to be commissioned by the Royal Court, Birmingham Rep, Royal Welsh College and the Bush.

We are a champion for rural young people aged 16 to 25 and we’ll be launching Pentabus Young Company in Spring 2019, a new initiative offering workshops, masterclasses, work experience and mentorships, as well as the opportunity to join our Young Writers’ Group, which has been running for five years. Previous participants of the Young Writers’ Group have had their work presented at Ludlow Fringe, Latitude Festival and Hereford Courtyard. It is a springboard into further study and the arts industry, with over 50% of our Young Writers going on to be published and professional writers.

About New Perspectives

New Perspectives is a national touring theatre company based in the East Midlands’ Through an annual programme of original adaptations, rare revivals and new writing, we aim to bring a diverse range of live theatre and performance that is vital, affordable and accessible into the heart of wide-ranging communities, as well as to regional, national and international venues. We believe in:

• Creating a diverse brand of live theatre that is nationally and internationally recognised as challenging, original and unafraid to take bold creative risks
• Empowering artists and theatre makers across the region with knowledge, skills and increasing networks through the development of small-scale and rural touring theatre
• Engaging regional audiences by widening access to high quality live performance regardless of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, disability or geographic location.

Our work tours nationally and internationally, from small rural village halls to 700 seat theatres. Our mixed economy touring models enable us to tour and programme live performances in the heart of communities, affording opportunities for those with little or no access to other cultural outlets the opportunities to see high quality performances right on their doorstep. Removing barriers of location, age, culture or socio-economic status fuels our ambition to bring audiences into close contact with the highest quality new work.

We maintain the highest levels of artistry and production values in all our work, and deliver a programme of wide cultural significance and are therefore able to advance the arts through regular critical analysis of the work we create. Our productions are testament to the fact that rural theatre is as relevant, challenging and dynamic as theatre made for any other environment.

• Twitter: @pentabustheatre | @NPtheatre #Crossings
• Facebook: PentabusTheatre | @NewPerspectivesTheatreCompany
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/pentabustheatre | newperspectivesTV
• Instagram: Pentabustheatrecompany | @nptheatre
• Further Information can be found at www.newperspectives.co.uk and www.pentabus.co.uk