NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND In partnership with THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS present
ENQUIRER
A new site-specific theatre production
Based on interviews with leading figures in the newspaper industry in the UK
in Glasgow from 26 April to 12 May 2012 at 8pm at The Hub at Pacific Quay, Digital Media Quarter with an opening performance on Saturday 28 April at 8pm and in London, in association with the Barbican from 3 October to 20 October 2012 at a venue in East London, to be announced with a press performance on Friday 5 October
Edited and directed by Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany
Co-edited by Andrew O’Hagan
Based on interviews by Paul Flynn, Deborah Orr and Ruth Wishart.
“We are not facing a momentous crisis in journalism. We are already in a crisis that is putting the central public service aspect of our role in jeopardy.” Roy Greenslade, September 2009
THE National Theatre of Scotland’s ENQUIRER project is a theatrical investigation into the current crisis in newspaper journalism in the UK and is a collaboration between National Theatre of Scotland directors, John Tiffany and Vicky Featherstone, Andrew O’Hagan, novelist, playwright, journalist and contributing editor on the London Review of Books and three leading UK journalists, Paul Flynn, Deborah Orr and Ruth Wishart.
The creative team includes: Davey Anderson as associate director, Lizzie Powell as lighting designer, Janice Borgos as costume designer and Lisa Bertellotti as design associate.
The cast includes Maureen Beattie, John Bett, Billy Boyd, James Anthony Pearson and Gabriel Quigley
Three leading journalists, covering the spectrum of writing for broadsheets and tabloids, are interviewing approximately 50 people working in the newspaper industry, including other journalists, reporters, columnists, editors, photographers, printers, web designers, newspaper carriers, retailers and readers.
The project has been put together as rapid response to the unfolding events of recent months in the newspaper industry. The project will be updated throughout the rehearsal and performance period to reflect the current state of play. Leading journalists, past and present, from the following newspapers have given interviews to date: Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Record, Daily Star, The Guardian, The Herald, The Independent, Mail on Sunday, The Observer, Scottish Daily Express, The Scottish Sun, The Scotsman, The Sun, Sunday Mirror, The Sunday Times, The Times and The Telegraph.
These interviews will be transcribed, edited and structured into a piece of site-specific theatre to be performed in an empty floor of a media office block in Glasgow. The promenade production will explore the recent past, present and future of newspaper journalism in the UK and beyond and will be woven through with fact, anecdote, strong opinion, passion and theatricality.
Vicky Featherstone is artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland. Recent productions for the Company include; An Appointment with The Wicker Man, 27, The Wheel (winner of a Fringe First and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award) and Long Gone Lonesome.
John Tiffany is associate director with the National Theatre of Scotland. Recent productions for the company include The Missing, Peter Pan, The House of Bernarda Alba and Black Watch (winner of 23 major awards). John’s production of Once is about to open on Broadway.
Andrew O’Hagan is an award-winning novelist and journalist. He recently adapted his first book, The Missing, for a National Theatre of Scotland production. His first novel, Our Fathers, was published by Faber in 1999 and won the Winifred Holtby Prize for Fiction.
His second novel, Personality, was published in 2003 and won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His third novel, Be Near Me, was published by Faber in August 2006. It won the Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction and was adapted for the stage by Ian McDiarmid and produced by the National Theatre of Scotland in 2009.
His collection of essays, The Atlantic Ocean, was published in June 2008. Andrew’s fourth novel, The Life and Opinions of Mag the Dog and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe, for which he won the Glenfiddich Writer of the Year, was published in 2010. Andrew has also been awarded the E M Forster Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, one of the highest distinctions a British author can receive in the United States.
Ruth Wishart is a journalist and broadcaster who has worked extensively for the print and electronic media. She has been a columnist/women’s editor on the Daily Record, columnist and assistant editor on the Sunday Mail, columnist and assistant editor of the Sunday Standard, Scottish columnist of The Observer, columnist and senior assistant Editor of The Scotsman, sports columnist for the Sunday Herald, and currently writes a column for The Herald. She has won 15 press awards across these titles.
Deborah Orr is a British journalist and broadcaster who currently works for The Guardian newspaper. She was born and raised in Motherwell, Scotland, and started her career at the independent magazine publisher, IDEAs, in Edinburgh. She has worked as deputy editor for City Limits magazine and as a contributor to New Statesman. She was previously a columnist for The Independent and editor of the Guardian Weekend magazine. She won the What The Papers Say columnist of the year award in 1999.
Paul Flynn is a writer on fashion, music and contemporary culture. In 15 years as a journalist he has written for leading British style titles (iD, Love, Pop, Dazed and Confused) and several international titles (Fantastic Man, The Gentlewoman, V, Out, Paper). He currently holds positions as senior contributing editor at the Conde Nast title Love, the independent style ‘bible’, iD, and gay monthly, Attitude. He contributes to The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Observer, Sunday Express and The Financial Times newspapers. he has written profile interviews with major stars including: Kate Moss, Beyonce, Elton John, Mariah Carey, David and Victoria Beckham, Amy Winehouse, Kylie Minogue, Jay Z and Kanye West and fashion game-changers Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Miuccia Prada, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Calvin Klein. He writes weekly TV columns for market-leading women’s glossy Grazia and The Sunday Express newspaper, a monthly column for Attitude and is just completing a role as feature’s director on his first issue of the biannual men’s fashion magazine, GQ Style.
LISTINGS INFORMATION FOR GLASGOW PERFORMANCES
Dates and Times: 26 April to 12 May 2012 at 8pm. Performances run Tuesdays to Sundays
Press Performance Glasgow: Saturday 28 April at 8pm
Venue Glasgow: The Hub at Pacific Quay, Digital Media Quarter, 70 Pacific Quay, Glasgow G51 1EA
Box Office @ the Citizens Theatre: 0141 429 0022 or in person or at www.citz.co.uk
Ticket Prices: £10 (previews on 26 and 27 April), £15 full price, £12 concessions/£5 concs unwaged
Access and audience info: the venue is fully wheelchair accessible. The production is promenade, but provision will be made for those with mobility issues.
Travel info: To pay for parking available.
Location info: http://www.thehub-pacificquay.com/
Further information: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
Full details for the London run will be announced at later date.
Tickets will be on sale for London performances on 26 June 2012
(Barbican Red Members on Tuesday 19 June and Orange Members on Friday 22 June)
Press Performance London: Friday 5 October 2012
For further information contact
Emma Schad, press manager
Tel: +44 (0)141 227 9016 / +44 (0)7930 308018 E: emma.schad@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Andrew Neilson, press officer
Tel: +44 (0)141 227 9497 / +44 (0)7912 540139 E: andrew.neilson@nationaltheatrescotland.com
You can follow the National Theatre of Scotland’s press office on Twitter @NTS_press
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The National Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government. Since its launch in February 2006, the National Theatre of Scotland has been involved in creating over 137 productions in 125 different locations. With no building of its own, the Company takes theatre all over Scotland and beyond, working with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. It takes place in the great buildings of Scotland, but also in site-specific locations, airports and tower blocks, community halls and drill halls, ferries and forests. The company has performed to almost 600,000 people, across three continents.
2. The London Review of Books is Europe’s best-selling literary periodical (ABC: 56,817). “It has maintained,” according to contributor, Alan Bennett, “a consistently radical stance on politics and social affairs.” The paper is independent, and, since its inception in 1979, has followed developments (and counter-developments) in the British press. In 2004, it supported a concert by Daniel Barenboim’s East-West Divan Orchestra at the Barbican, and for several years has been a supporter of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
MEDIA RELEASE posted by the National Theatre of Scotland. You too can post a media release (aka press release) on allmediascotland.com. For more information, email here.
