THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF SMACK AND CRACK by Ed Edwards

A co-production between Most Wanted and Offstage Theatre in association with W14 Productions and Alastair Michael, co-commissioned by Soho Theatre.

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THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF SMACK AND CRACK IS TOURING THE UK 2020:
Please go to the individual theatres' websites for tickets:

Bristol Old Vic, 21st – 25th January

HOME Manchester, 27th - 28th January

Birmingham Rep, 29th January – 1st February

Sheffield Crucible, 5th February

Marlowe Canterbury, 6th – 8th February

Live Newcastle, 11th – 12th February

CAST Doncaster, 13th February

TRON Glasgow, 20th - 22nd February

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“The history of England jumps off its axis. 2am, 8th July, 1981, 20 cities across England burn."

The night of the Manchester uprising. That night changed everything. That night two kids locked eyes. Mandy and Neil. Years later they meet again, but revolution is not in the air. All that was crushed by Thatcher. Or by a heroin epidemic. This is an epic love song to a lost generation.

Drawing from his own personal experience, Ed Edwards' script crackles with anger, humour and authenticity about the road to recovery

In November, The Political History of Smack and Crack will transfer to a homeless refuge in Manchester. The city will be playing host to the inaugural International Arts and Homelessness Summit and Festival (curated by With One Voice), bringing together policy makers, artistic leaders and homeless delegates from around the world. As part of the Festival, this authentic and urgent play will open at the Mustard Tree in conjunction with outreach workshops, a local refuge for people trapped by homelessness, dependency and poverty.

CREATIVE TEAM

Director: Cressida Brown

Lighting Designer: Richard Williamson

Sound Designer: Richard Hammarton

Movement Director: Kate Sagovsky

Design Consultant: TBA


Cast to be announced

MOST WANTED I : https://www.mostwantedshows.com/ I

W14 PRODUCTIONS: I https://w14productions.squarespace.com/shows/#/jonathan-miller/ I

Thank you to our funders:

The Fidelio Charitable Trust

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Offstage Theatre with Paul Jellis and The Yard Theatre presents…

RE:HOME - It’s home isn’t it? It’s where it started.

9 Feb - 5 Mar 2016

Cast: Full casting will be announced shortly.

Credits:
Created by Offstage Theatre
Director Cressida Brown
Producer Paul Jellis
Designer Georgia Lowe

★ Tickets and times: I Get tickets here I

Acclaim for RE:HOME

Re:Home nominated for two Offies: Best Production, Best Ensemble

I Excellent review from British Theatre Guide I
I ★★★★★ LondonTheatre1 I
I Dr Catherine Brown's brilliant review! I
I Exeunt Magazine I

'Winner of the Kevin Spacey Foundation Award'
I www.kevinspaceyfoundation.org I

RE:HOME

Please click link below to see Channel 4 News footage:

I Channel 4 News I

RE:Home’s kickstarter campaign has been generously supported with free donations from Oberon, Bloomsbury, Duncan Macmillan, Sir Patrick Stewart, Caryl Churchill, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Nick Payne, Jancis Robinson and Ruth Roger’s River Café.

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Birmingham Repertory Theatre presents

Accidental Brummie

By Cressida Brown and REP Foundry artists

Promenade - Meet at the REP's Box Office

26 - 27 September 2015 - Get tickets: I www.birmingham-rep.co.uk I

Inspired by real-life encounters and experiences from around the backstreets of Birmingham, Cressida Brown and our Foundry artists create a promenade performance around the entire theatre where you’ll bump into the scenes and characters that inhabit our city.

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Offstage and Underbelly Productions in association with Theatre Uncut

Offstage are delighted to announce that a reincarnation of Walking the Tightrope will be playing at the Underbelly this Summer 2015 for entirety of the Edinburgh Festival.

Eight explosive short plays by Caryl Churchill, Ryan Craig, Omar El-Khairy, Tim Fountain, Neil LaBute, Gbolahan Obisesan, Mark Ravenhill, and Timberlake Wertenbaker about Freedom of Expression in the UK today.

Dates: 5th - 29th August,
Time: 15.35
Venue: Topside, Underbelly

The show will last an hour, which includes a 30 minutes discussion after the plays.

Panelists and Chairs to be announced.

Directed by Cressida Brown
Lighting Designer: Richard Williamson
Sound Designer: Daniel Balfour

With special thanks to Jokers Masquerade for costume support

To buy tickets and location click here: http://www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk

I ★★★★ The Scotsman I

I ★★★★★ British Theatre Guide I

I ★★★★★ edfringe review I

I ★★★★ Time Out I

I ★★★★ http://www.theatrebubble.com I

I ★★★★★ http://www.themetropolist.com I
"Superb"
"An explosive surgery of freedom of expression"
"Walking The Tightrope is an incredibly important production.
As crocodiles gather below and landmines wait ahead, the tightrope between arts and politics is becoming increasingly dangerous
– it bellies the need for artists to become philosophers. Thankfully Offstage Theatre has risen to the challenge."

I ★★★★ http://femalearts.com I
"Brave storytelling", "Remarkable", "Intrepid."
"A great project and the director-curator, Cressida Brown, should be delighted with what she’s achieved."
“You become part of a much larger and greater discourse by simply being in the audience."

I ★★★★ EverythingTheatre I
"The twelve works are incredibly varied in their subject matter, interpretation and comment on the issue.
Often light hearted and illuminating, sometimes cryptic and incisive, the writers infuse their own take on the commission,
bouncing the audience through the unrelated scenes, charging the production with provocative energy."

I ReviewsGate - Carole Woddis I
"Brown’s Walking the Tightrope is clearly a labour not just of love but passion,
created on a shoestring, by a stirling, hard-working and very versatile cast of seven.
Amazingly, Brown herself directed the majority of the plays supplemented by colleague Kirsty Housley.
Housed in a make-shift space on a plain wooden stage, in the old Guardian building in London’s Clerkenwell/Farringdon area,
the context only added to the strange frisson of an event of artistic worth and intense moral questioning."

I ★★★★ http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk I
"Bravo to producer Cressida Brown, her group Offstage Theatre and collaborates Theatre Uncut for bringing Walking The Tightrope to the stage.
It truly entertains while challenging, and that is no mean feat!"

I http://www.independent.co.uk I
"It felt tricky, dangerous, stimulating,  discomfiting – what serious theatre is for, in other words"

I Independent feature I

I The Guardian I

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VOLTA International Festival