A staged reading of a D H Lawrence text being performed in public for the first time and a three-act devised performance inspired by Shakespeare’s plays are among this week’s highlights of the Nottingham European Arts and Theatre Festival 2016 (neat16).
In Lawrence and Williams: By Day and Night, Martin Berry directs staged readings of two overlooked plays.
The Fight for Barbara is a semi-autobiographical play in which D H Lawrence depicts his tempestuous relationship with his wife Frieda. The play features Frieda’s family travelling to Italy to do all they can to persuade their daughter that she is crazy to have eloped with the son of a Nottingham collier.
The Fight for Barbara is a “fascinating example of Lawrence still learning the art of playwrighting—whilst also using the process to make sense of his own remarkably turbulent love life”.
The Night of the Zeppelin is a short, unfinished play by Tennessee Williams which was discovered in a dusty folder in Texas in 2014. Williams was a huge fan of Lawrence’s work and his play features the Nottinghamshire author and his wife along with Katherine Mansfield and John Murry Middleton. This will be the first time this short piece of writing has been performed in public.
The pair will be read on the main stage of Nottingham Playhouse on Tuesday 31 May and Wednesday 1 June.
Another Nottinghamshire playwright, Michael Pinchbeck, has penned The Trilogy which “asks why we perform, when we began and how we will know when to stop”.
The Beginning is an interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Middle is a deconstruction of Hamlet. The End is triggered by a stage direction from The Winter’s Tale.
It will be performed on the main stage of Nottingham Playhouse on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 June.
The Playhouse will also host Cloudcuckoolanders by LaPelle’s Factory in association with Littlemighty on Sunday 5 June. It is a “startling and hilarious” show with a “cocktail of fiery mania, razor-wire wit and dangerously seductive smiles”.
Other venues will be staging events, including Nottingham shop Rough Trade which hosts Joan, a collaboration between Derby Theatre and Milk Presents. Written and directed by Lucy J Skilbeck, the play is a re-telling of the story of Joan of Arc and will be performed by Drag Idol Champion Lucy Jane Parkinson on Thursday 2 June.
Dance events include international company Aracaladanza with its new production for families, Vuelos (Flights). Choreographer Enrique Cabrera “has captured the creativity and innovation of Leonardo da Vinci’s exceptional inventiveness while retaining Aracaladanza’s trademark playfulness and style”. It will be performed in the Djanogly Theatre at Lakeside Arts on Saturday 4 June.
The full programme of events is available at the neat16 web site.