Will Adamsdale's The Victorian in the Wall at the Royal Court

PRESS RELEASE

A Fuel and Royal Court Theatre co-production
The Victorian in the Wall
By Will Adamsdale
Saturday 11 May – Saturday 8 June 2013

The Perrier-award winning performer, writer and comedian Will Adamsdale will open his new show The Victorian in the Wall at the Royal Court Theatre in a co-production with Fuel from Saturday 11 May – Saturday 8 June 2013 (press night Thursday 16 May), following a UK tour.

The Victorian in the Wall is a surreal and fantastical story about a work-shy writer, who discovers a Victorian man living in the wall of his flat. With songs about knock-throughs and recycling , the production is co-directed by Will Adamsdale and Lyndsey Turner, and will be devised with cast members Jason Barnett, Chris Branch, Matthew Steer and Melanie Wilson.

Latte-land.
Power-prams, Grand Design knock-throughs, organic everything. A family are rushed to hospital with festival fatigue.
A work-shy writer discovers a Victorian man living in the wall of his flat. Everyone’s pretty surprised. Adjustments need to be made.
Can the strange visitor unlock his hopeless career? His flagging relationship? A story buried in these walls for over a century? (Doubt it. Maybe. Yes.)
Contains jokes, songs, banging on recycling boxes, a talking fridge….
Will Adamsdale was the shock winner of the Perrier Award for Comedy in 2004 for Jackson’s Way after arriving in Edinburgh to workshop the show for a week. Jackson’s Way played at the Royal Court in 2011, as part of The London Jacksathon – a marathon tour of 26 London venues. He also won a Scotsman Fringe First and Total Theatre Award for The Receipt with Chris Branch. In Spring 2012, The Summer House, a collaboration with Matthew Steer, Neil Haigh and John Wright, ran at the Gate Theatre.
ends
(14/12/12)

Notes to Editors:

Listing information:

A Fuel and Royal Court Theatre co-production
The Victorian in the Wall
By Will Adamsdale
With additional material from Jason Barnett, Chris Branch, Matthew Steer and Melanie Wilson
Co-directed by Will Adamsdale and Lyndsey Turner
Sat 11 May – Sat 8 June 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.45pm
Saturday Matinees 3.30pm (from 18 May)
Thursday Matinees 3.30pm (from 30 May)
No performance Monday 27 May
Press Night Thursday 16 May, 7pm
Post Show Talk Tuesday 28 May
Captioned Performance Wednesday 5 June
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £20 Mondays all seats £10
Concessions £15* (available in advance until Saturday 18 May incl, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
School and HE Groups of 8+ £10 (avail. Tue-Fri and mats)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability.
Box Office 0207 565 5000 www.royalcourttheatre.com

For more information:

Royal Court Theatre: Anna Evans on 0207 565 5063 annaevans@royalcourttheatre.com

UK Tour: Dan Pursey at Mobius 020 7269 9929 or 07974 018 905 dan@mobiusindustries.com

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

Will Adamsdale was the shock winner of the Perrier Award for Comedy in 2004 for Jackson’s Way after arriving in Edinburgh to workshop the show for a week. Jackson’s Way played at the Royal Court in 2011, as part of The London Jacksathon – a marathon tour of 26 London venues. He has also won a Scotsman Fringe First and Total Theatre Award for theatre piece The Receipt with Chris Branch. In Spring 2012, The Summer House, a collaboration with Matthew Steer, Neil Haigh and John Wright, ran at the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill. Film credits include Four Lions, The Boat That Rocked and Skeletons. He has recently appeared as a (very bad) magician with The London Snorkelling Team and also is a regular on Channel 4’s Campus.

Lyndsey Turner directed Laura Wade’s play Posh in the West End and at the Royal Court. Her other work at the Royal Court includes Our Private Life, A Miracle and Contractions. Her other credits include Philadelphia! Here I Come at the Donmar Warehouse, Edgar And Annabel and There Is A War at the National Theatre, Joseph K and Nocturnal at the Gate, My Romantic History at the Traverse, Bush, Sheffield Theatres and The Lesson at Arcola. She is associate director at Sheffield Theatres where her work includes Alice and The Way of the World.

Jason Barnett’s credits at the Royal Court include The Girlfriend Experience. Other recent credits include Mad About The Boy at the Young Vic, Mogadishu at the Lyric Hammersmith. He was also part of the original cast of the award winning War Horse at the National Theatre

Chris Branch’s theatre credits include composing and sound designing Julius Caesar and A New Way to Please You for the RSC, Caucasian Chalk Circle for the National Theatre/Filter, Three Sisters and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Lyric Hammersmith/Filter. Other theatre credits include the award winning show The Receipt and Tom Basden’s Joseph K. at the Gate. Chris is one half of Brains and Hunch with his long-term collaborator Tom Haines, writing music for Universal and Warner Brothers and is a founder member of The London Snorkelling Team.

Matthew Steer’s theatre credits include co-writing and performing in The Summer House with Will Adamsdale & Neil Haigh at the Gate Theatre and on tour. On television, his credits includes regular characters in EastEnders and Silent Witness. Matthew also co-writes and performs in various comedy projects, which have included the Comedy Central series Britain’s Best Mates, and has also collaborated with The London Snorkelling Team.

Melanie Wilson is a London-based performer, writer and sound artist making performances, installations and sound walks centring on the use of sound as a distinct, immersive agency powerfully evocative of place and state of mind. Her credits include Autobiographer and Iris Brunette, which both toured nationally and internationally, every minute, always at Edinburgh Fringe, Self Portrait with Frida and The View From Here at the One on One Festival, and Simple Girl at Edinburgh Festival and on tour. As a devising performer Melanie has collaborated with artists and companies including Rotozaza, Clod Ensemble, Coney, Shunt, Chris Goode, Subject to_change, Will Adamsdale and Becky Beasley.

The Victorian in the Wall is co-produced by Fuel. Founded in 2004 by Louise Blackwell and Kate McGrath, Fuel is a producing organisation that works in partnership with contemporary theatre artists to develop, create and present new work for all.

Other Fuel projects include Sound&Fury’s Kursk (Young Vic, Tour, Sydney Opera House) and Going Dark (Young Vic, Tour), Clod Ensemble’s An Anatomie in Four Quarters (Sadler’s Wells), Inua Ellams’ The 14th Tale and Black T-shirt Collection (National Theatre, Tour), Requardt & Rosenberg’s Electric Hotel (Sadler’s Wells, Latitude Festival, tour) and Belarus Free Theatre’s Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker (Young Vic, Edinburgh Fringe, tour).

All the artists Fuel works with produce shows, performances or experiences which have very direct and playful relationships with their audiences. These artists see the world in a different way; they respond to challenges and events with ingenuity and ideas; they create unexpected moments which articulate fresh perspectives to their audiences. For more information visit www.fueltheatre.com.

The Victorian in the Wall is Fuel’s fifth collaboration with Will Adamsdale, previously having produced Jackson’s Way, The Receipt, The Human Computer and The Summer House.

Coutts is the Principal Sponsor of the Royal Court Theatre

Coutts is the UK private banking arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Coutts has a long history of supporting the arts going back 200 years, having looked after the financial affairs of many famous clients connected with the arts such as Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens and Chopin. In 1816, Thomas Coutts married Harriot Mellon, a popular actress of her day, and together they became partners of a number of London Theatres, including the Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House. Coutts has even featured in a number of artistic works including The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In the new millennium, this tradition has continued not only through managing the finances of many of today’s top writers, actors and musicians, but also through our arts sponsorship programme and we are delighted to support The Royal Court and its diverse range of ground-breaking performances.

Tour Schedule

Bristol Old Vic
21-23 Mar, 8pm. Tickets: £12/£8
www.bristololdvic.org.uk

Malvern Theatres
26 Mar, 7.45pm. Tickets: £11/£8
www.malvern-theatres.co.uk

Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
28 Mar, 8pm. Tickets: £10
www.breweryarts.co.uk

Brighton Dome Studio Theatre
2-3 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets: £12/£10
www.brightondome.org

Unity Theatre, Liverpool
5-6 Apr, 8pm. Tickets: £12/£10
www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk

Northern Stage, Newcastle
9-10 Apr, 8pm Tickets: £14.50 / Concessions £12 / Students & under 21s £9
www.northernstage.co.uk

Royal Exchange Studio, Manchester
12-13 Apr
Fri 7:30pm, Sat 3:30pm & 8pm Tickets: £12/£10
www.royalexchange.co.uk

Corn Exchange, Newbury
16-17 Apr, 7.45pm. Tickets:£14/£12
www.cornexchangenew.com

Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham
19 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets: £12/ £10 /£5
www.parabolaartscentre.co.uk

Lakeside Theatre, Colchester
24 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets: £12/£8/£5
www.lakesidetheatre.org.uk

Lighthouse, Poole
26-27 Apr 8pm Tickets: £12/Schools £7
www.lighthousepoole.co.uk