Acclaimed director Max Stafford-Clark will team up with some of the UK’s most celebrated playwrights for an evening of political satire: A VIEW FROM ISLINGTON NORTH, opening at the Arts Theatre in London on 18 May until 2 July, with a press night on 24 May.
In THE ACCIDENTAL LEADER and HOW TO GET AHEAD IN POLITICS, Alistair Beaton (Feelgood, Not the Nine O’Clock News, A Very Social Secretary) and Stella Feehily (This May Hurt A Bit, Bang Bang Bang, Duck) make merry with the machinations behind the closed doors of our major political parties.
David Hare (The Moderate Soprano, Stuff Happens, The Judas Kiss ) takes us inside George Osborne’s mind in AYN RAND TAKES A STAND
In The MOTHER, Mark Ravenhill (Shopping and Fucking, Mother Clapp’s Molly House, Candide) eyes the cost of our military adventures, as a soldier’s mother does all she can to avoid hearing the news she dreads.
And in TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE, Caryl Churchill (Love and Information, Escaped Alone, Top Girls) imagines a world where even language is sponsored…
Max Stafford-Clark said, “From Beyond The Fringe to Spitting Image to The Thick of It, political satire has never really gone out of fashion, and continues to act as a pungent corrective to political pomposity and ambition. Over a few years Out of Joint has accumulated a number of short plays, originally written for other purposes; Caryl Churchill’s play Tickets Are Now On Sale formed part of a Theatre Uncut season, and Stella Feehily’s How to Get Ahead in Politics was written for a one-off occasion on the eve of the General Election. And I’ve always wanted to revisit Mark Ravenhill’s searing play The Mother, since it was first performed at the Royal Court in 2008. It occurred to me then that we had the beginnings of a pertinent and provocative evening! Alistair Beaton and David Hare happily responded to an invitation to write new plays, Billy Bragg agreed to compose a new song, and there we had A View from Islington North.
Of course Islington North has long been estate-agent speak for Holloway – not only is it the political seat of the Leader of the Opposition but also, even more importantly, it has been Out of Joint’s home for over 20 years.”
Arts Theatre, 18 May – 2 July 2016
Photo: Sarah Lee
