ACCLAIMED Yorkshire theatre company Northern Broadsides returns to Oldham this autumn with a daringly theatrical and heartbreakingly human new staging of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.
Featuring Northern Broadsides’ Resident Director Conrad Nelson and created in partnership with Harrogate Theatre, this is the first time in the company’s 23-year history they have staged tale of reconciliation, love and forgiveness.
The play opens on New Year’s Eve in 1999; the Millennium bells ring out with hope for a new century.
But a lower, ominous note underscores the festivities and the characters are quickly plunged into darkness.
Seized by sudden, irrational jealousy, King Leontes falsely accuses his pregnant Queen of infidelity with his closest friend, who flees without answering the accusation.
Leontes then proclaims his newborn daughter a bastard and condemns the innocent to death. But the child, Perdita, survives.
What follows is a beautiful and beguiling love story where the cold hand of winter gives way to the brightness and vibrancy of spring.
Northern Broadsides is a unique theatre company with a true northern voice. Their work is characterized by theatrical inventiveness and large ensemble casts of multi-talented and charismatic northern actors who perform in their natural accents.
Director Conrad Nelson takes the role of Leontes, in his first stage role for Northern Broadsides since his acclaimed performance as Iago opposite Lenny Henry in Othello in 2009.
The cast also features some Coliseum favourites: Jack Lord (The Mist in the Mirror, 2015 and Accidental death of an Anarchist, 2014); Lauryn Redding (Dreamers, 2015); Russell Richardson (Hindle Wakes, 2015; An August Bank Holiday Lark, 2014 Northern Broadsides and Deathtrapp, 2011), Adam Barlow (Our Day Out: The Musical, 2014; Chicago, 2013; Star Cross’d, 2012; Kes, 2010 and The Road to Nab End, 2010 ).
They will joined by Hannah Barrie (Macbeth, Chester Performs); Ruth Alexander-Rubin (Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Northern Broadsides); Vanessa Schofield (The Borrowers, New Vic Theatre); Jordon Kemp ; Michael Hugo (Around the World in 80 Days, New Vic Theatre); Andy Cryer (King Lear, Northern Broadsides); Andrew Whitehead (She Stoops to Conquer, Northern Broadsides) and Jessica Dyas (I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire, New Vic Theatre).
Northern Broadsides’ last visit to the Coliseum saw them win the Manchester Theatre Award for Best New Play 2014 for An August Bank Holiday Lark.
The Winter’s Tale runs at Oldham Coliseum Theatre from Tuesday 29 September – Saturday 3 October.
Tickets can be booked by calling the box office on 0161 624 2829 or online at www.coliseum.org.uk
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