TV star all set for Playhouse

The season will be opening with Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth, a co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Sleuth is an expertly written satire of the classic crime genre in which two characters fight mercilessly for power over one another through carefully calculated game play. First staged in 1970, Sleuth has won numerous awards for its bewitching cunning, twists and turns.

John Harvey’s adaptation of his own novel, Darkness, Darkness, shows the past cannot be buried or forgotten. John Harvey is one of the UK’s most well-known crime writers with an internationally acclaimed reputation. His most recognisable collection of work is his series of Resnick novels, based in the city of Nottingham.

In this world premiere stage production, a co-production with New Perspectives, Resnick is on the verge of retirement when DI Catherine Njoroge convinces him to take on one more case following the discovery of the body of a young woman who disappeared during the Miners’ Strike 30 years earlier.

Despite the justice of the cause, revenge takes its toll on the revenger in Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean play The Revenger’s Tragedy. The last play in Nottingham Playhouse’s Sweet Vengeance season, Middleton’s black comedy explores the inevitable consequences of taking the law into your own hands.

Nottingham Playhouse is also delighted to announce that it first main stage show of spring 2017 is Touched, starring BAFTA award-winning Vicky McClure (This is England, Line of Duty and Broadchurch).

Stephen Lowe’s play is a powerful and poignant World War II drama set during the 100 days between VE and VJ Day, and centred on the lives of a family of working class Nottingham women.

Touched is a modern classic, celebrating the 40th anniversary of its premiere at Nottingham Playhouse.

For more details of the forthcoming plays, go to www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk or call 0115 9419419.

Giles Croft, artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse, said: “I’m delighted that we’re able to announce the World premiere of a new play by John Harvey as part of our Sweet Vengeance season at the same time as we are announcing the 40th anniversary production of Stephen Lowe’s Touched starring the brilliant Vicky McClure. Darkness Darkness provides the heart of a season of revenge dramas that will thrill, entertain and surprise.”