THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART
THE NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND’S AWARD-WINNING SHOW
TOURING INTERNATIONALLY UNTIL 2013
SPANNING THREE CONTINENTS
TOURING TO THE AMERICAS, EUROPE AND AUSTRALASIA
THE COMPANY IS TOURING TO BRAZIL FOR THE FIRST TIME
Supported by the Scottish Government International Touring Fund
AND
BLACK WATCH
THE INTERNATIONAL SMASH HIT RETURNS TO USA BY POPULAR DEMAND
THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART
FROM GOVAN TO RIO
THE National Theatre of Scotland is delighted to announce a number of dates for the international tour of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, following on from its phenomenal success and critical acclaim, both on tour and at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The production is touring Scotland, England and internationally in 2012 and 2013.
Created by David Greig (writer) and Wils Wilson (director) with designer Georgia McGuinness, and composer Alasdair Macrae.
From 20 June the production is visiting US festivals and venues in Connecticut, North Carolina, Chicago, Massachusetts, Ohio, Purdue, Washington DC, Michigan, Texas and California.
The production will also be visiting Vancouver, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and for the first time the National Theatre of Scotland will be visiting Brazil.
In keeping with the site-specific origins of the show, the production is being staged in a tavern, a brewery, and community spaces and studios with bars built in.
The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart is undertaking a likely 18-city worldwide tour.
This is the longest international tour for the company to date, spanning three continents.
The tour has been made possible in part by the support of the Scottish Government’s International Touring Fund.
PUTTING THE DRAM INTO DRAMA
Some US dates are sponsored by Benromach Single Malt Whisky, with American audiences being offered the opportunity to share a dram of Benromach Whisky during the show.
This sponsorship will cover all US venues where state legislation allows, and will include audience members aged 21 years and above.
Exploring the arts and indeed venturing into international arts touring, the sponsorship is part of Benromach’s continued expansion of international sales of the brand.
One wintry morning, Prudencia Hart, an uptight academic, sets off to attend a conference in Kelso, in the Scottish Borders.
As the snow begins to fall, little does she know who or what awaits her there. Inspired by the Border Ballads – and delivered in a riotous romp of rhyming couplets, devilish encounters and wild karaoke – Prudencia’s dream-like journey of self-discovery unfolds among and around the audience.
The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart takes theatre into pubs and other unlikely venues, where stories are told, re-told, sung and passed on.
Audiences are invited to share a lock-in with the National Theatre of Scotland’s company of actors and musicians and to indulge in an evening of supernatural storytelling, music and theatre inspired by the Border Ballads, Robert Burns and the poems of Robert Service.
“The bare rolling stretch of country from the North Tyne and Cheviots to the Scottish southern uplands was for a long time the territory of men who spoke English but had the outlook of Afghan tribesmen; they prized a poem almost as much as plunder, and produced such an impressive assembly of local narrative songs that some people used to label all our greater folk poems as ‘Border Ballads’.” AL Lloyd, ‘Folk Song in England’
The National Theatre of Scotland sent writer David Greig, director Wils Wilson and composer Alasdair Macrae to an old pub in Kelso in the Scottish Borders for the weekend, to research the Border Ballads for a new piece of theatre.
It was the coldest winter for many years.
Maybe it was the unique atmosphere in the pub that night, or maybe it was the knee deep snow outside, but no one wanted the evening to end, so at midnight the Landlord closed the doors and they found themselves ‘locked in’.
Deep in the wee hours, one old man told a story about another group of people who’d come to look for songs a few years back and of how one of them, a woman, had never after been seen again.
It was a story, which he said was ‘110 per cent true’ a story of love, of music and of the Devil. This was the inspiration for The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart.
The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart originally toured Scotland in February 2011 subsequently playing at Latitude Festival, Òran Mór, Glasgow, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2011.
The production has won two awards, a Critics Award for Theatre for Best Music and Sound and a Herald Angel.
The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of
Black Watch by Gregory Burke, directed by John Tiffany
The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Black Watch returns in Autumn 2012. The production has received acclaim, awards and standing ovations from Glenrothes to New York.
The production will play at the Shakespeare Theatre, Washington D.C., the Broadway Armory, Chicago IL, and then continuing its US tour to include Seattle WA and San Francisco CA.
Hurtling from a pool room in Fife to an armoured wagon in Iraq, Black Watch is based on interviews conducted by Gregory Burke with former soldiers who served in Iraq.
Viewed through the eyes of those on the ground, Black Watch reveals what it means to be part of the legendary Scottish regiment, what it means to be part of the war on terror and what it means to make the journey home again.
John Tiffany’s production makes powerful and inventive use of movement, music and song to create a visceral, complex and urgent piece of theatre.
The production has now played to over 200,000 people across three continents and has garnered 22 awards.
Most recently, the production won four Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Director, Best Theatre Choreography, Best Play and Best Sound Design and the company won its first US award with the New York Drama Circle naming Black Watch Best Foreign Play.
Black Watch finished its 2011 world tour at St Ann’s Warehouse in New York, in May 2011, having previously played at venues and festivals in Washington, D.C., Chapel Hill, NC, Austin, TX and Chicago, IL.
Black Watch has also been showcased in festivals and venues in Australia, New Zealand, Glenrothes, Glasgow, London, Toronto, Virginia, Wales, Salford, Coventry and Dublin. In 2007 the production played to audiences in Los Angeles, New York, Pitlochry, Aberdeen, Dumfries, Dingwall, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The production premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2006 at the University of Edinburgh Drill Hall.
The production has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC TV Scotland and BBC 4, alongside the Scottish BAFTA award-winning documentary, Black Watch: A Soldier’s Story. and both the performance and the documentary have been released on DVD by John Williams Productions.
Creative team: Directed by John Tiffany, associate director movement – Steven Hoggett, associate director music – Davey Anderson, set designer – Laura Hopkins, costume designer – Jessica Brettle, lighting designer – Colin Grenfell, sound designer – Gareth Fry, video designers – Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer for Fifty Nine Productions Ltd
Cast to be confirmed.
BLACK WATCH INTERNATIONAL TOURING DATES 2012 to 2013
WASHINGTON: Shakespeare Theatre Company at the Sidney Harman Hall, Washington September 19 to October 7 2012
CHICAGO: Chicago Shakespeare at Broadway Armory in Edgewater, Chicago 10 to 21 October 2012
SEATTLE: Seattle Theater Group at the Paramount, Seattle 25 April to 5 May, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO: American Conservatory Theater at San Francisco’s historic Armory 9 May to 16 June 2013
THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES 2012 to 2013
CENA Brasil Internacional Festival, Brazil (6 to 20 June 2012)
www.cenabrasil.net
The Wicked Wolf Tavern, Festival of New Ideas, New Haven, Connecticut (20 June to 1 July 2012)
www.artidea.org Supported by Benromach Single Malt Whisky
The Crunkleton Bar and Club, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina (18 to 23 September 2012)
www.thecrunkleton.com
Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago (26 September to 14 October 2012)
www.chicagoshakes.com Supported by Benromach Single Malt Whisky
MoCa, Williams College, Willamstown, Massachusetts (24 to 28 October 2012)
www.williams.edu Supported by Benromach Single Malt Whisky
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio (31 October to 4 November 2012)
www.wexarts.org
Duncan Hall, West Lafayette, Purdue University, Indiana (7 to 11 November 2012)
www.purdue.edu Supported by Benromach Single Malt Whisky
Shakespeare Theatre, Washington DC (14 to 23 December 2012)
www.shakespeare.org Supported by Benromach Single Malt Whisky
University Musical Society, Comet Brewery, Ann Arbor, Michigan (8 to 13 January 2013)
www.cornerbrewery.com
Fusebox Festival, University of Texas, Austin, Texas (15 to 20 January 2013)
www.fuseboxfestival.com Supported by Benromach Single Malt Whisky
Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center, Davis, California (22 to 7 January 2013)
www.mondaviarts.org Supported by Benromach Single Malt Whisky
Push Festival, Wise Hall, Vancouver BC (29 January to 3 February 2013)
www.pushfestival.ca
Full Australasia tour details and additional international tour dates to be announced
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Press contacts:
Emma Schad – press manager – emma.schad@nationaltheatrescotland.com
T: 0141 227 9016 M: 07930 308018
Liz Smith – publicist, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart daisy.ben@live.co.uk
T: : 0141 423 4374 M: 07971 417210
Press Images:
There is a selection of images for current productions available for download from www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/press – please contact the press office for a password
You can follow the National Theatre of Scotland’s press office on Twitter @NTS_press
For twitter conversation about the production please follow #prudenciahart
Notes to Editors:
- 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 160 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 over 710,000 people, across three continents. www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
- Established in 1898, Benromach distillery changed hands many times and was virtually derelict when bought by Gordon & MacPhail in 1993. Drawing on generations of whisky expertise, the company carried out a painstaking refurbishment, and the distillery was officially re-opened by Prince Charles in 1998. Just two men hand-craft Benromach using the finest Scottish barely and the purest spring water from the nearby Romach Hills. They fill new spirit into the highest quality casks before being left to mature at the distillery for many years. The Benromach portfolio includes the award winning Benromach 10 Years Old and the first fully certified organic single malt – Benromach Organic.
3. The Scottish Government has allocated £140,000 from its International Touring Fund towards The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart
MEDIA RELEASE posted by the National Theatre of Scotland. You too can post media releases (aka press releases) on allmediascotland.com. For more information, email here.
Contact: Emma Schad
Phone: 0141 227 9016
Email: emma.schad@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Website: http://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
