Paines Plough announce Roundabout 2022 programme and Edinburgh Festival Fringe run
Artistic Directors Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner have announced the 2022 programme for Paines Plough’s Roundabout. Buckle in, Besties: for big plans are afoot!
The award-winning pop up venue will debut three new plays in rep, directed by pioneering women in theatre at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the first time since 2019. The new plays are Half Empty Glasses, A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain, and The Ultimate Pickle.
Half Empty Glasses is by Channel 4 Bursary Winner Dipo Baruwa- Etti, exploring Black British history within the school curriculum. Talented musician Toye is awaiting his piano exam to gain entry to a prestigious music school. He’s excited by the opportunity, the connections, to share his love of art. Noticing the lack of Black British history on the curriculum, Toye sets out to inspire change, and quickly discovers that desire for that history to be celebrated maybe doesn’t come from all quarters…
Directed by Kaleya Baxe, Half Empty Glasses is about the pressures of being young, gifted and ready to change the world, produced in partnership with Rose Theatre.
Award-winning playwright Sami Ibrahim returns with A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain, a poetic fable about an impenetrable immigration system that mirrors our own, directed by The Gate Theatre’s Yasmin Hafesji.
Directed by Eva Samson, the family show for the programme is Laura Lindow’s The Ultimate Pickle, a piece about the importance of stories, the imagination, and how little ones deal with grief. When a little ball of fluff falls from Grandad’s book, everything in Dill’s life changes forever… could that be a wolf?
These three new works will also be joined by the return of Chris Bush’s acclaimed play HUNGRY following its success last year. This year's premieres will preview at Rose Theatre, Kingston from 11-24 July, with HUNGRY playing a limited run at Soho Theatre from 12-30 July, before all four shows open in Edinburgh on 3 August.
The portable, in-the-round auditorium will then tour across the UK to cities including Burton-upon-Trent, Doncaster, North Devon, Ramsgate and Salford.
Bennett and Posner said: “We cannot wait to share these three extraordinary new plays with audiences across England and Scotland. We commissioned these plays because they speak urgently to the present moment and give a voice to individuals and stories that have so often gone unheard in our society. We are so excited to be platforming these incredible writers at Roundabout, and also to be working with 3 exceptional freelance directors to bring these stories to life in exciting new partnerships with Rose Theatre and the Gate Theatre. We are also delighted to be reviving HUNGRY by Chris Bush after its success in 2021, working with our trusted collaborators 45North and Soho Theatre. To be bringing these 4 plays to Summerhall after a two year break is beyond thrilling and feels long overdue!”
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