Leeds Playhouse reveals its Spring/Summer 2022 Season
Photo credit: Alex Styles
Leeds Playhouse today announces a dazzling and diverse Spring/Summer 2022 Season, focusing on diversity, collaboration and reconnection.
From thoughtful small-scale pieces to bold major productions, the season will showcase a combination of classic plays, powerful musicals, bold new voices and reimagined favourites designed to bring a sense of rejuvenation as we head into a new year together.
Artistic Director James Brining said: "This season is a thrilling culmination of all the work we do, both on stage and off. We have worked hard to present a season that reflects, inspires and entertains the communities we serve. We take great pride in producing and presenting a diverse range of shows across a variety of scales in our brilliant theatre spaces as well as out in the community. This deeply rooted ethos is part of what makes us who we are – and is a key element of our new season.
“From small-scale pieces that share emotive stories to large-scale spectacles that deliver excitement and entertainment for all the family in a safe and welcoming environment, we remain passionately committed to providing an inclusive and accessible spectrum of inspirational, challenging, captivating and engaging shows throughout our Spring/Summer 2022 Season.”
Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy Macbeth (26 February – 19 March) will be staged in the Quarry Theatre, directed by Leeds Playhouse Associate Director Amy Leach and starring Tachia Newall as Macbeth.
With laugh-out-loud comedy and fantastically catchy songs, Tess Seddon’s new musical Say Yes to Tess (24 March – 2 April) will play in the Bramall Rock Void ahead of a national tour. It is a true story of activism, Yorkshire grit and learning to vote for yourself.
April will see the Playhouse’s Courtyard theatre taken over by the rock musical Hedwig & The Angry Inch (2 – 23 April), directed by Jamie Fletcher and featuring Yorkshire’s own divine drag queen Divina De Campo in her first leading role as Hedwig, a genderqueer performer pushing back against binary norms.
After being brought to an untimely close by the pandemic in 2020, Leeds audiences are now being given an opportunity to see the new play Maggie May (7 – 21 May) by award-winning writer Frances Poet. This extraordinary play directed by Jemima Levick, is about an ordinary Leeds family balancing the challenges of daily life while living with dementia.
Directed by Leeds Playhouse Associate Director Sameena Hussain and designed by the Playhouse’s Resident Designer Warda Abbasi, I Wanna Be Yours is a tender, funny and vibrant play by award-winning slam poet Zia Ahmed, exploring the knotty intricacies of sustaining a relationship across contemporary cultural divides through intimate fleeting moments, awkwardly comedic family encounters and achingly familiar arguments. The production will run in the Bramall Rock Void this spring with tickets on sale in January.
This May, the Playhouse will stage the UK and European premiere of Claudia Rankine's The White Card (24 May – 4 June). Directed by Northern Stage’s new Artistic Director Natalie Ibu, the play, which was written in 2019 prior to the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, poses the question: can society progress when whiteness remains invisible?
Leeds Playhouse Artistic Director James Brining will revive A Little Night Music (1 – 16 July) after wowing audiences and critics alike in 2021. This heartfelt, witty and romantic production features music and lyrics by the late great Stephen Sondheim at the height of his powers and book by Hugh Wheeler. The production features members of the Opera North Orchestra and Chorus as well as featured artists including the legendary Dame Josephine Barstow.
Each of the Playhouse’s three auditoriums will also host visiting companies for Spring/Summer 2022, highlighting the breath and scale of the world class theatre being made across the country.
For more information and to book tickets, please click here.
