Theatre Local to return to Peckham this summer

PRESS RELEASE

ROYAL COURT’S ‘THEATRE LOCAL’ RETURNS TO PECKHAM

Plays by Bola Agbaje and Hayley Squires will transfer from the Royal Court Theatre to the CLF Arts Café at the Bussey Building in Peckham from 31 May – 28 July, as part of the Royal Court’s third Theatre Local season.

Bola Agbaje’s Belong , a co-production with Tiata Fahodzi runs in Peckham from 31 May – 23 June directly after its run in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. Set in London and Nigeria, the play questions our notions of home and where we belong.

Vera Vera Vera by Hayley Squires, currently running in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs will move to Peckham from 4 July – 28 July. Described in Variety as the play ‘to…launch Squires’ career’ and in the Telegraph as ‘a fine and moving debut play’, Vera is a blackly comic play about what we are willing to fight for.

Sponsored by Bloomberg, the Royal Court’s Theatre Local aims to take plays to alternative spaces. It was launched in 2010 at Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre in an empty shop unit, before transferring to the Bussey Building, Peckham in 2011 where the project will continue this summer.

A former arms manufacturing works and cricket bat factory, The Bussey Building was saved from demolition by community group Peckham Vision and the CLF Art Café, fronted by Mickey Smith, is now at the centre of a growing cultural hub in Rye Lane, Peckham.

Building on the success of 2011, both plays will run for over three weeks each and will be accompanied by a series of workshops and events to be announced. Tickets will continue this year to be sold on a ‘Pay-what- you- like’ basis when purchased at the venue.

Jemma Read from Bloomberg said:
“From dance on the streets and theatre in squares, to pavilions in parks and installations on billboards, Bloomberg is committed to reaching new audiences and we are delighted that our continued collaboration with the Royal Court Theatre on Theatre Local will inspire artists and audiences to engage in new ways and in new spaces. This represents an exciting new dimension to Bloomberg’s ongoing commitment to provide opportunities to those who might not otherwise have access to the arts. We are delighted to be part of such a unique and extraordinary project.”

Theatre Local is at the CLF Art Café at the Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST from 31 May until 28 July. Advance tickets will go on sale in April 2012 and tickets will be pay-what-you-like on the door. www.royalcourttheatre.com for more details

ends
(05/04/12)

For further information, images or interviews, please contact Anna Evans on 020 7565 5063 annaevans@royalcourttheatre.com

Notes to Editors:

Theatre Local is supported by Bloomberg

Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength-delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately-is at the core of the Bloomberg Professional service, which provides real time financial information to more than 300,000 subscribers globally.

Through our philanthropy programme, we help charities and non-profit organisations around the world with education and literacy programmes, health and medical research, social work, arts and culture, public parks and the environment.

During 2012 Bloomberg are also supporting the South London Gallery and Bold Tendencies.

The Bussey Building
In the 1870s, Geo.G.Bussey & Co, a well-known small arms manufacturer, moved to Peckham. They built a factory, and a firing range, alongside the newly built railway line opposite Peckham Rye Station. They branched out and became well known for sports goods, so successfully that around twenty years later the factory was replaced with an imposing large brick-clad, reinforced concrete industrial structure. The factory made cricket bats from its own willow farm in Suffolk. The side facing the railway tracks has its decorative features, and was used for advertising. The Geo.G.Bussey name, on the side, can still be seen from the trains to Nunhead.

CLF Art Café

The CLF Art Cafe and Warehouse Lounge is a Multi-level Warehouse space, curated by Mickey Smith, dedicated to pushing the boundaries of creativity in music, film, animation, art, theatre and dance, championing progression, experimentation and improvisation.

Peckham Vision

Peckham Vision was born in 2006 in a campaign to save the seven acre site in the middle of Peckham from demolition and closure to town centre use. This saved the historic Bussey building, one of the last large Victorian / Edwardian industrial buildings in Peckham. Since then Peckham Vision has shown how that central part of Rye Lane, around Peckham Rye station, can flower as a home for the burgeoning cultural and artistic enterprises in Peckham. Peckham Vision looks forward to working with the Royal Court in Peckham.

For further information: Eileen Conn info@peckhamvision.org http://www.peckhamvision.org
@PeckhamVision

Listings information

Tickets to go on sale in April 2012. For more information, check www.royalcourttheatre.com

Belong by Bola Agbaje, directed by Indhu Rubasingham
Ben Stones Designer
Malcolm Rippeth Lighting Designer
David McSeveney Sound Designer

CLF Art Café at the Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST

31 May – 23 June
Mondays – Saturdays 7.45pm
Wed and Sat matinees 3.30pm

Belong will run at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs 26 April – 26 May

Vera Vera Vera by Hayley Squires, directed by Jo McInnes
Tom Piper Designer
Stephen Andrews Lighting Designer
David McSeveney Sound Designer

CLF Art Café at the Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST

4 July – 28 July
Mondays – Saturdays 7.45pm
Wed and Sat matinees 3.30pm

Vera Vera Vera will run at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs 22 March – 14 April.

Theatre Local Tickets (on sale in April)
£10 in advance (£8 concs)* or pay-what-you-like on the door
Box Office 020 7565 5000 or www.royalcourttheatre.com or in person at The Bussey Building, Peckham * ID required. All discounts are subject to availability