Octagon Brochure Sept 09 - July 2010

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Principal Patron

Sue Hodgkiss, DL Principal Sponsor

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SEASON

SEPTEMBER 2009 – JULY 2010

Mixed Up North

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Production Sponsors

Sue Hodgkiss, DL

Principal Patron

Principal Sponsor

Bolton

octagon

“ q A s u h P e a i a g l a t i r h i t c s k y o n ” All My Sons

Ghosts Oliver Twist A Midsummer Night’s Dream And Did Those Feet Comedians Rafta Rafta The Hired Man

All information is accurate at the time of going to print. The Octagon Theatre reserves the right to make alterations if necessary.

Registered Charity number: 248833

Design by Anonymousdesign.net

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8 shows for just £88

4 shows for just £54

Benefits:

Save £85 £60 on full price tickets, plus bonus card worth £25

Save £37 £12 on full price tickets, plus bonus card worth £25

• Any performance, including Saturdays (8 Show Season Ticket only)

• Mixed Up North

• Choose any four shows (excluding Oliver Twist)

• All My Sons • Ghosts • A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Please note the 4 show Season Ticket does not include Saturdays

• And Did Those Feet (or Oliver Twist)

• 2 weeks priority booking

• Best available seats • Flexibility to change dates • Tickets transferable to friends and family + FREE Bonus Card: • Half price programmes • 10% off drinks at the Bar

• Comedians • Rafta Rafta • The Hired Man

Call: 01204 520661 Click: www.octagonbolton.co.uk

• 10% off pre-booked evening meals at the Café (one evening meal per Bonus Card, per visit) • 10% off a full price ticket for all other Octagon events

“Don’t miss any of these shows” Patrick Stewart Patrick Stewart as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot.

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Octagon Theatre Bolton and Out of Joint present

mixed uP th r o n

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10 – 26 SEPTEMBER 2009

Photography Joel Chester Fildes and William Chitham

Based on real events, Mixed Up North is a fiercely funny and moving new play about the difficulties of uniting divided racial communities in the Lancashire mill town of Burnley.

Trish leads a youth theatre group designed to bring Asian and White teenagers together. As the harassed director Bella struggles to share her artistic vision with a cast who think acting is “gay”, the compelling stories of the young stars and their dedicated community workers unfold.

It's the final dress rehearsal. Tensions rise and bonds fracture. Can Trish and Bella bring this utopian dream to a triumphant conclusion?

Performance Times Evenings: 7.30pm Matinees: Sat 12 Sept, Sat 19 Sept & Wed 23 Sept, 2pm

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Ticket Prices £9.00 - £18.50 Discounts available INCLUDING SEASON TICKETS, groups, schools and young person’s free tickets and £4 standby tickets

Auditorium seating plan

By Robin Soans Director: Max Stafford-Clark

“HHHHH – the latest superb piece of verbatim theatre from those masters of the form: the director Max Stafford-Clark and the writer Robin Soans…shot through with rueful humour and a sense of the quirkiness of fate- unmissable” The Independent on Out of Joint’s Talking to Terrorists

Special Diary Dates Bargain Nights: Thurs 10, Fri 11, Mon 14 Sept (tickets £9.50 & £12.50) Meet the director and cast: Tues 15 Sept (free, post show)

Audio Described: Wed 23 Sept, 7.30pm BSL: Thurs 24 Sept, 7.30pm

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/MixedUp.asp

Please note this play contains strong language throughout.

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1 – 24 October 2009 “The play is dynamite” Tennessee Williams

Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

“A remarkable evening at the theatre - lucid, bold, modern and emotionally wrenching.”

Time Out New York

By Arthur Miller

All My Sons brings to a climax the Octagon’s exploration of Arthur Miller’s most famous plays, following A View From the Bridge, Death of a Salesman and The Crucible.

Joe Keller is accused, then cleared, of having supplied World War II fighter planes with defective engines, leading to the deaths of innocent pilots - a crime for which his business partner, Steve, was convicted.

One of Keller's sons, himself a pilot, is missing in action and his mother is desperately clinging to the hope that he is alive.

Director: David Thacker

The Keller family is thrown into turmoil by the unexpected arrival of George, Steve’s son, whose revelations unleash a sequence of events that send the play hurtling towards its devastating conclusion.

Arthur Miller’s first major play is an unbearably moving and powerful family drama, about truth and denial, integrity and corruption, and personal responsibility during the extremes of war.

This production is directed by David Thacker, who has directed many of Arthur Miller’s plays and had a close working relationship with him.

The play is presented by special arrangement with Josef Weinberger Plays Limited, London and Spark Productions, New York.

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Performance Times Evenings: 7.30pm Matinees: Fri 2, Sat 3, Mon 5, Wed 7 Oct and Sat 17 Oct 2pm Schools matinee: Wed 14 Oct 1.30pm

Ticket Prices £9.00 - £18.50 Discounts available INCLUDING SEASON TICKETS, groups, schools and young person’s free tickets and £4 standby tickets

Auditorium seating plan

Special Diary Dates Bargain Nights: Thurs 1, Fri 2, Mon 5 Oct (tickets £9.50 & £12.50) Meet the director and cast: Thurs 15 Oct (free, post show)

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/AllMySons.asp

Audio Described: Thurs 15 Oct, 7.30pm BSL: Thurs 8 Oct, 7.30pm

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29 October – 21 November 2009

Photography Joel Chester Fildes and William Chitham

Written in 1881, Ghosts was deliberately sensational. Ibsen's contemporaries regarded it as shockingly indecent. An English critic described it as ‘a dirty deed done in public’.

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Oswald is a young artist who has come back home to be with his mother after a long period abroad. His mother is an educated, Victorian woman, whose radical views are in sharp contrast to the prevailing attitudes in this conservative, northern town.

Oswald’s return and the disturbing news he brings leads to a chain of events that reveals the underlying corruption of this apparently respectable society and leads to a shocking climax.

The power and depth of this play had a profound influence on Arthur Miller’s development as a playwright.

Ghosts is gripping, deeply moving and astonishingly modern.

“Skeletons are not so much rattled as violently forced out.”

The Independent

“What is shocking is its perpetual relevance to the present.”

The Guardian

This production is set in Lancashire in the late 19th Century.

Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

ghosts

By Henrik Ibsen Director: David Thacker

Performance Times Evenings: 7.30pm Matinee: Fri 30 & Sat 31 Oct, Mon 2 Nov, Wed 11 Nov and Sat 14 Nov. 2pm

Ticket Prices £9.00 - £18.50 Discounts available INCLUDING SEASON TICKETS, groups, schools and young person’s free tickets and £4 standby tickets

Auditorium seating plan

Special Diary Dates Bargain Nights: Thurs 29, Fri 30 Oct, and Mon 2 Nov (tickets £9.50 & £12.50) Meet the director and cast: Thurs 12 Nov (free, post show)

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/Ghosts.asp

Audio Described: Wed 18 Nov, 7.30pm BSL: Thurs 19 Nov, 7.30pm

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27 November 2009 – 23 January 2010 Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

OliVerTwisT

Hot on the heels of the recordbreaking, universally loved A Christmas Carol, we are delighted to present a spectacular, brand new version of Oliver Twist. Dickens’ masterpiece of storytelling takes us through suspense, heartaches, joys and fulfilment in Victorian London.

Photography Tim Sinclair

By Charles Dickens New Version by: Deborah McAndrew “Dickens’ novel is not page to stage proof, but unlike some other Christmas stories its innate theatricality means it is a winner in the theatre.” The Guardian

Come and meet some of the most memorable and enduring characters in all of fiction; Fagin, Bill Sikes, Nancy, Mr Bumble, the Artful Dodger, the boys of the workhouse and, of course, Oliver Twist himself.

“The Octagon has done it again: this could be the show to beat this Christmas.”

What’s on Stage about the Octagon’s A Christmas Carol Performance Times Mornings: 10.15am* Matinees: 2.15pm* Evenings: 7.15pm* *Performances vary daily; for details see performance diary on page 37

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As with A Christmas Carol, the production will feature original songs and music to enhance the narrative and atmosphere and will be complemented by a cast which includes local children.

Ticket Prices £8.50 - £15.95 Discounts available including Season Tickets, groups, schools and families Family tickets: £41 [peak] / £38 [off peak] up to £5 cheaper than last year!

Family saver: book by 31 July and save an extra £5 on your family ticket price

Auditorium seating plan

Special Diary Dates Audio Described: Mon 18 Jan. 7.15pm BSL: Sat 19 Dec. 7.15pm

You’ll need to book early to avoid disappointment. Suitable for ages 5 and over.

SEASON TICKET HOLDERS

SAVE 10% ON FULL PRICE TICKETS

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/OliverTwist.asp

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4 February – 6 March 2010

Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare Director: David Thacker

David Thacker is renowned for making Shakespeare accessible to new and existing audiences. He is the winner of two Olivier awards for his work on Shakespeare.

Theseus has conquered Hippolyta and plans a state wedding. In a magical wood outside Athens, inhabited by wild and malevolent spirits, local workmen rehearse a play for the wedding celebrations.

Meanwhile two pairs of lovers take flight to the wood, to escape the tyranny of Theseus’ regime.

This witty and imaginative production is set in Athens in 1968.

Photography Tim Sinclair

An evening of utter confusion follows. Under the influence of a love potion the lovers fall in and out of love with each other, and Titania the fairy queen falls in love with Bottom the weaver, one of Shakespeare’s greatest comic characters, who has been transformed into a passionate donkey!

Performance Times Evenings: 7.30pm Matinees: Fri 5, Sat 6, Mon 8, Wed 17 and Sat 27 Feb. 2pm School matinees: Wed 24 Feb and Tues 3 Mar. 1.30pm

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This ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ of lovers, workers, aristocracy and fairies is one of Shakespeare’s finest creations and best loved comedies.

Auditorium Ticket Prices £9.00 - £18.50 Discounts available INCLUDING SEASON seating plan TICKETS, groups, schools and young person’s free tickets and £4 standby tickets

Special Diary Dates Bargain Nights: Thurs 4, Fri 5, and Mon 8 Feb (tickets £9.50 & £12.50) Meet the director and cast: Thurs 25 Feb (free, post show)

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/MidsummerNights.asp

“A magic playground of lost innocence and hidden fears.

When Shakespeare’s people love they are all but consumed with passion.”

New York Times "I had a fantastic time working with David on Romeo and Juliet and Measure for Measure at The Young Vic – and I have a lot to thank him for as I’m still with my Juliet! Because of the clarity and spirit of his productions he makes Shakespeare amazingly relevant – this is Shakespeare for the people!" Clive Owen

Audio Described: Thurs 4 Mar, 7.30pm BSL: Thurs 25 Feb, 7.30pm

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iT’s bAck!

11 March – 10 April 2010

“And Did Those Feet was a real joy and it made me proud to be Boltonian.”

Manchester Evening News “This football drama winds the clock back to the Wanderer’s finest hour…

It remains the stuff of legend… This is a Bolton Wanderers play that even Blackburn Rovers fans might enjoy.” The Guardian

Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

And did Those FeeT

“I felt like running on. It was like really being there. Wembley stadium, 1923 and all that.” The Bolton News “Why do we love football? Bolton’s Octagon, spurning the convention that theatre people pooh pooh ‘footy’ offers answers with a funny, inventive and moving new play.” The Daily Mail

By: Les Smith and Martin Thomasson

Performance Times Evenings: 7.30pm Matinees: Fri 12, Sat 13, Sat 27, Wed 31 Mar and Sat 10 Apr. 2pm

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Ticket Prices £9.00 - £18.50 Discounts available INCLUDING SEASON TICKETS, groups, schools and young person’s free tickets and £4 standby tickets

“You can smell the chips and hear the clogs, in this breath-takingly clever world premiere. And don’t imagine for one second that you need to be a football supporter, or trotters fan, to appreciate it all” Lancashire Evening Post Auditorium seating plan

Special Diary Dates Bargain Nights: Thurs 11, Fri 12, and Mon 15 Mar (tickets £9.50 & £12.50) Meet the director and cast: Thurs 25 Mar (free, post show)

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/DidThoseFeet.asp

Audio Described: Wed 31 Mar, 7.30pm BSL: Thurs 18 Mar, 7.30pm

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15 April – 8 May 2010 It’s 1975 in a schoolroom near Manchester. Eddie Waters, a respected northern comedian, runs an evening class for would-be comedians.

Tonight is the last lesson before they present their acts in front of a traditional northern audience.

A London agent has arrived to assess their acts and open the door to fame and fortune for the lucky few. But at what price?

Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

Photography Tim Sinclair

Comedians

By Trevor Griffiths

“The play has been regarded as a forerunner of the contemporary alternative comedy scene” What’s On Stage “It is intelligent and daring” New York Times

Director: David Thacker

Performance Times Evenings: 7.30pm Matinees: Fri 16, Sat 17, Mon 19, Sat 24 Apr and Wed 28 April. 2pm

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What is a legitimate subject for comedy? What are the boundaries and when can you step over them? What should be the responsibilities of the comedian or the artist?

Trevor Griffiths is one of the UK’s major playwrights. In the context of the heated public debate about humour, censorship and the freedom of expression, this is an important revival of one of the greatest contemporary plays.

Ticket Prices £9.00 - £18.50 Discounts available INCLUDING SEASON TICKETS, groups, schools and young person’s free tickets and £4 standby tickets

Auditorium seating plan

Special Diary Dates Bargain Nights: Thurs 15, Fri 16, and Mon 19 Apr (tickets £9.50 & £12.50) Meet the director and cast: Thurs 29 Apr (free, post show)

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/Comedians.asp

Audio Described: Wed 28 Apr, 7.30pm BSL: Thurs 29 Apr, 7.30pm

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13 May – 5 June 2010

Photography Joel Chester Fildes and William Chitham

Following the Octagon’s huge success with East is East, we are delighted to present the regional theatre premiere of Ayub Khan-Din’s Rafta, Rafta, a hilarious and warm-hearted play, set in Bolton's close-knit Asian community.

The wedding feast is over and the young couple moves in with the groom’s parents. But how can they live happily ever after when the groom feels inhibited by the intrusive presence of his parents in the bedroom next door, his father’s constant disapproval and his brother’s childish pranks? His beautiful virgin bride remains just that.

How will the family live with the shame?

Rafta Rafta is based on Bill Naughton’s play All in Good Time, made into the film The Family Way, starring John Mills and Hayley Mills. This is our tribute to Bolton’s own great playwright in his centenary year. It follows Bill Naughton’s Spring and Port Wine, the Octagon’s most popular production ever.

“Khan-Din's success lies in integrating Naughton's plot into a vivid portrait of Indian family life”

By Ayub Khan-Din

The Guardian

Performance Times Evenings: 7.30pm Matinees: Fri 14, Sat 15, Sat 22 and Wed 26 May. 2pm

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raftarafta

Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

Ticket Prices £9.00 - £18.50 Discounts available INCLUDING SEASON TICKETS, groups, schools and young person’s free tickets and £4 standby tickets

Auditorium seating plan

Special Diary Dates Bargain Nights: Thurs 13, Fri 14, and Mon 17 May (tickets £9.50 & £12.50) Meet the director and cast: Thurs 27 May (free, post show)

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/RaftaRafta.asp

Audio Described: Wed 2 Jun, 7.30pm BSL: Thurs 20 May, 7.30pm

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10 June – 3 July 2010 This is the story of an emotional love triangle that takes us right to the heart of Cumbrian life during the cataclysmic events that took place at the turn of the last century.

Octagon Theatre Bolton presents

The Hired Man tells the timeless, moving story of a young married couple and their struggle to carve a living from the land, just as the gathering storm of war in Europe threatens to disrupt their lives.

the hired man

By Melvyn Bragg Music by Howard Goodall

The working-class rituals of hunting, drinking and hiring fayres are set to Goodall’s music sung by the actors and a community choir creating a haunting and arresting atmosphere.

Director: David acker

Performance Times Evenings: 7.30pm Matinees: Fri 11, Sat 12, Mon 14, Wed 23 and Sat 26 Jun. 2pm

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Ticket Prices £9.00 - £18.50 Discounts available INCLUDING SEASON TICKETS, groups, schools and young person’s free tickets and £4 standby tickets

Auditorium seating plan

Special Diary Dates Bargain Nights: Thurs 10, Fri 11, and Mon 14 Jun (tickets £9.50 & £12.50) Meet the director and cast: Thurs 24 Jun (free, post show)

www.octagonbolton.co.uk/HiredMan.asp

The Hired Man is acclaimed for its epic, nostalgic and beautiful score. Based on the novel by Melvyn Bragg, it became an award winning musical when he collaborated with Howard Goodall, a renowned composer of choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scores (Blackadder!). He is a Classic FM's Composer-inResidence for 2008-9.

“A lot of the magic comes from a brilliant musical score” The Independent “It is written in a choral style and the singing soars, reaching anthemic proportions” British Theatre Guide

Audio Described: Wed 23 Jun, 7.30pm BSL: Thurs 17 Jun, 7.30pm

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What does verbatim mean? It means, in this instance, that most of the words the actors at the Octagon will be speaking in Mixed Up North are words that have been spoken to us at some point during the research and rehearsal period.

Mixed Up North The most pervasive influence on theatre over the last 10 years has been journalism and it has led to a particular kind of theatre which has been called verbatim. To anyone familiar with the history of 20th century theatre, documentary theatre isn’t news. Erwin Piscator’s Living Newspaper; the instant theatre of the Theatre Workshop pioneers; Peter Cheeseman’s documentaries; Rolf Hochhuth’s historical excavations; Anna Deavere Smith’s one-person dramatisations; the work of Chris Honer at Chester in the 70s (Cheshire

Mixed Up North started from a chance remark made by David Edgar at a forum on racism at the Royal Society it was difficult to persuade members of a particular ethnicity to join an existing institution already dominated by members of another ethnicity; the answer seemed to be to create a new institution open to all. He cited the work of a youth theatre group called Breaking Barriers in Burnley that drew its membership from the white and Bangladeshi communities. A month or so later we found ourselves in Burnley talking to, not only the charismatic director and producer of this youth group, but also to the young people themselves and to social workers, taxi drivers, restaurateurs, and football club chairmen in Burnley. What we found out forms the substance of Mixed Up North.

David Hare comments perceptively that people are more willing to give their stories to a group of actors than they are to a journalist. Somehow they believe that the ambiguities, contradictions and eccentricities of their experiences will be more comprehensively expressed. For example, a newspaper reporter would only want to interview the Chinese man who stood in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square. We would want to talk to the tank driver as well, and the tank driver’s girlfriend. We aimed to be as wide-ranging as possible in discovering all the facets that govern the situation; and while being mindful that it is a difficult and complex time in the town’s history, to be equally prepared to embrace the courage and tenacity of those committed individuals on the ground who are determined to do something about it.

We owe a great debt to all the people we talked to both in Burnley and elsewhere. It is their stories you will be hearing.

Max Stafford-Clark and Robin Soans Max Stafford-Clark is the Artistic Director of Out of Joint and previously of the Royal Court Theatre, and a co-founder of Joint Stock. Robin Soans is an actor and writer, whose previous plays include Talking to Terrorists, A State Affair, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook and Life After Scandal.

All My Sons

Season Overview 24

Tales and Cheshire Voices) and David Thacker at Lancaster (The Rose Between Two Thorns) and at The Young Vic (The Enemies Within); contemporary documentary theatre has a rich heritage to draw on.

All My Sons was evidently a dangerous play. It was banned by the American military from occupied Europe as anti-capitalist, and banned in the Soviet Union as insufficiently anti-capitalist. An FBI agent secured a copy of the movie script and castigated it to his Washington superiors as anti-family. It could be said that they all rather missed the point. If it does reflect something of Miller’s 1930s belief that responsibility extends beyond the family (equally to be found in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath), Miller had more on his mind than that.

It is true that the crime at its heart is one in which an industrialist puts profit or, more accurately, personal commitments above human necessities but Miller, heavily influenced by Ibsen (in early drafts several of the characters are given Norwegian names), was concerned to press beyond the social world in an attempt to make sense of the ambivalent nature of men and women struggling to make sense of themselves and the world they inhabit.

All My Sons is a play in which no one is innocent.

The idealist, as in Ibsen, can be blind to human needs while even love can turn a blind eye to culpability. Starting on the quiet of a Sunday afternoon in a suburban garden, it edges step by step towards a darkness that is moral rather

than simply literal. Betrayal and denial – those twin Miller themes – are in evidence as all the characters can be seen to serve their own interests, even as they seek to justify themselves. Here, even the truth can seem pitiless.

This was Miller’s last throw of the dice as far as theatre was concerned. For six years after leaving university he failed to break into Broadway and when, finally, he did in 1944, it was with the unfortunately titled The Man Who Had all the Luck. It closed after four performances. He switched to the novel and scored a considerable success with Focus, a work about American anti-Semitism, published in the last year of the war. Then he decided to have one more try at the theatre. He took twoand-a-half years but the result was All My Sons.

It ran for 328 performances, won a Tony Award and launched one of the most distinguished careers in American theatrical history.

Christopher Bigsby

Christopher Bigsby and Arthur Miller Professor of American studies and Director of the Arthur Miller Centre at the University of East Anglia and author of the new biography of Arthur Miller

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Both deal with apparently respectful families which are covering up past wrong-doings. Mrs Alving and Kate Keller are in denial as their sons (Oswald and Chris) seek to confront the lies that fester at the heart of their homes.

Ibsen and Miller both knew what they were doing. ‘Ghosts will probably cause alarm in some circles but that cannot be helped. If it didn’t there would have been no necessity for me to write it.’ Reactionaries saw All My Sons as an attack on capitalism which partly led to Miller being summoned to the House Committee on un-American activities in 1956. Testifying, he said, ‘Great art, like science, attempts to see the present remorselessly and truthfully’.

The house voted 373-9 to cite Miller for contempt. He was convicted.

Ibsen’s plays, like Miller’s, reveal causes, actions and the consequences of actions. Miller wrote: ‘Ibsen’s profound source of strength is his insistence, his utter conviction, that he is going to say what he has to say and the audience,

by God, is going to listen.’ And

Arthur Miller in rehearsal with David Thacker (The Last Yankee at The Young Vic)

Arthur Miller

audiences have listened. They connect deeply with both plays which are gripping, deeply moving and profoundly shocking as they hurtle towards their climax.

Both plays provoked strikingly contrasting reactions when they first appeared. Of All My Sons, one contemporary screamed, ‘The play is one of the filthiest things ever written in Scandinavia’, whereas a stunned young actor wrote ‘this is the greatest play our age will see’. Jack Warner, head of Warner Brothers, testifying to the HUAC fumed, ‘The play disgusts me’ while the young Tennessee Williams wrote ‘The play is dynamite’.

In the context of the lies and coverups over Iraq, the international scandal of Aids and the consistent failure of public figures to face up to the consequences of their actions, the plays are as explosive now as when these two giants of theatre wrote them.

David Thacker Artistic Director, Octagon Theatre Bolton

Photographer: Inge Morath

Season Overview

Arthur Miller often told me how much he admired Ibsen. As Christopher Bigsby has pointed out in his biography, Arthur Miller, Ibsen had only been dead for 30 years when Miller wrote his first play. After The Man Who Had all the Luck he decided to attempt a realistic play, modelled on Ibsen’s work – All My Sons. It would be like peeling away the layers of an onion, finally revealing the ‘life lie’ at the rotten centre.

There was much in Ibsen that inspired the young playwright, most particularly his radical and fearful exposure of hypocrisy and corruption and his conviction that theatre should bring change. Ibsen believed that theatre was a public art form which should deal with public concerns. The young Arthur Miller was fascinated by the way in which Ibsen dramatised the ‘sins’ of the past leading inexorably to tragedy.

All My Sons and Ghosts are both plays in which, as Arthur put it, ‘The chickens come home to roost’.

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“Not I alone, but theatre itself owes much to David Thacker.”

‘Great art, like science, attempts to see the present remorselessly and truthfully.’

Ghosts & All My Sons 27

Season Overview

Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens’ second novel, Oliver Twist, was published in 1838, the year after Victoria came to the throne.

But it remains as fresh and relevant as ever, with many of its characters attaining folkloric status, like the demonic Fagin, corrupter of children, or the vicious Bill Sikes, with his equally nasty dog, Bull’s Eye; and then there are the more likable rascals, like the Artful Dodger. Oliver Twist also has some of the most memorable lines in literature, such as, ‘Please sir, I want some more’, the plaintive request of a poor underfed waif for a second helping of gruel (not a burger, not even fries!).

Oliver’s remark is all the more effective for being addressed to the corpulent Mr Bumble, who towers over him, overfed and dyspeptic. Mr Bumble, though, at least has the consolation-prize of later delivering that other famous line: ‘the law is a ass – a idiot’.

The book certainly exposes the idiocy – indeed the hypocrisy – that lies at the heart of Victorian society, where orphaned children were condemned to a life of poverty, and probably early graves, too. Of course, there was an alternative: if charity didn’t work, if the wealthy didn’t give of their own volition, then why shouldn’t the poor seize what they wanted? Oliver

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Twist brilliantly explores each of these options. Needless to say, honesty wins, but Dickens emphatically makes the point that it didn’t necessarily deserve to: what was needed was more compassion in the first place.

A Marvellous Convenient Place A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Lancashire

What makes Dickens’ novel continue to be so popular, though, is that it rings true 170 years later. We still live in a world of underfed children with empty bowls, whether victims of poverty, shifts in capital, ethnic and religious ‘cleansing’, or of natural disaster. Somehow, Oliver Twist opens up these dark issues while also giving us hope that innocence will ultimately triumph.

‘Good Peter Quince’ is right. The ‘green plot’ under ‘the Duke’s oak’ turns out ‘a marvellous convenient place’ for the actors to prepare the play they will later put on ‘before the Duke and the Duchess on his wedding day’. Not only can they rehearse it there, as Bottom says, ‘most obscenely and courageously’, before performing it in the city, but they can get carried away – ‘translated’ – by the magic of this ‘western valley’. And under ‘the mountain’s top’ yet beside ‘the beachèd margin of the sea’, with bog, bush and brier ‘at every turn’, the haunted hill, dale and forest of A Midsummer Night’s Dream are enough like Lancashire to suggest Shakespeare was thinking of his own experience at the time, when his acting company regularly tried out plays in the experimental theatre of their patron William Stanley Earl of Derby, at Knowsley in Liverpool, before they staged them in London.

David Rudd Professor at The University of Bolton

“This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn brake our tiring-house, and we will do it in action as we will before the Duke”.

Shakespeare’s comedy about a wedding was written, scholars believe, for a real royal wedding. Yet from the instant Duke Theseus orders his master of revels to ‘stir up’ the youth to a play, the stage actors are terrified of execution if their show seems too realistic.

They had reasons for nerves if, as many think, the Dream was played at the wedding of the Earl himself, on January 26 1595 in the palace at Greenwich. William’s older brother Ferdinando had just been poisoned to stop him succeeding his aunt, Queen Elizabeth – the jealous ‘old moon’ of the play. Now he was forced into a shotgun marriage with a granddaughter of the assassin, the chief minister Lord Burghley. No wonder there is a lot of blood in the Dream. But no wonder, either, that this blood is all safely in the play-withinthe-play, where actors can get away with mocking ‘Old Moonshine’ by explaining that ‘If we offend, it is with our good will’.

After the wedding the Earl was soon ‘busy penning comedies for the common players’. His wife told her grandfather running a theatre kept him out of politics. So it probably saved his life. None of William Stanley’s own plays survive. But A Midsummer Night’s Dream tells us what ‘our good Will’ took from this play-loving lord in that ‘marvellous convenient place’ in Lancashire. ‘The play’s the thing’, Shakespeare discovered there, ‘To ease the anguish of a torturing hour’.

Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson is Professor of English Literature at Cardiff University and the author of Secret Shakespeare, a book that discusses Shakespeare's Lancashire connections.

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We wanted to tell that story; not just the story of the football club and its players, but the story of our town and its people at a golden moment in their history. We wanted to tell a story that would reveal two classic secrets to the uninitiated – a story to explain to theatre-goers the passion of football and to football fans the passion of theatre.

And Did Those Feet The most familiar journey in our lives, we two writers, is the one along Manchester Road to Burnden Park.

We travelled that path throughout our childhood, towed along by our fathers, and the ghosts of grandfathers and great grandfathers who carried Bolton Wanderers in their blood and made sure to pass the infection along, generation to generation.

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We grew up with stories of the Wanderers. We learned early on about the first game at Wembley, about the huge crowd, the white horse and David Jack. We heard tales of the men of legend, the glories of the cup teams of the 1920s and 50s.

David Jack, Joe Smith, Nat Lofthouse.

Saturday was for the match. The rest of the week waiting for it.

Two places of passion, and we have had the privilege of inhabiting both.

And this is the play we wanted, more than any other, and this the theatre we hoped would produce it, and this the audience we wanted to see it.

We feel privileged at returning to the Octagon with this play and so happy at the chance to see Bolton Wanderers win the FA Cup six nights a week and a couple of matinees as well. It is 51 years since 1958 and Bolton Wanderers last winning the FA Cup. But we are still dreaming.

Les Smith and Martin Thomasson Senior Lecturers in Creative Writing at the University of Bolton

Comedians

Season Overview

It never leaves you – some of us carry that childishness around all of our lives. It’s a noisy burden, a joyful one, a despairing one, a triumphant one and a mind-numbingly tedious one – and sometimes all five in the same match.

1975: Harold Wilson is Prime Minister; Margaret Thatcher beats Edward Heath for the leadership of the Tory Party; the Americans suffer humiliating defeat by the Vietcong in Vietnam – and Manchester United win promotion from the old Second Division, leaving Bolton Wanderers stranded in mid-table. Meanwhile, in Manchester six students gather for the final session of an evening-class course in stand-up comedy run by a retired comedian, Eddie Waters, the ‘Lancashire Lad’ once famous as the hardest hitting act on the halls. All share the ambition to go professional and escape from their dead-end jobs.

As Sammy Samuels, the Jewish owner of a small club, says: ‘I want the tops, I want TV, I want the Palladium.’

But first they must satisfy the agency man, Bert Challenor, twenty years the ‘Cockney Character’, now up from London and staying in style at the Midland Hotel. His view of standup is simple: ‘We’re servants, that’s all. They demand, we supply . . .

We’re not missionaries, we’re suppliers of laughter.’ Whereas for Eddie Waters, ‘A real comedian – that’s a daring man. He dares to see what his listeners shy away from, fear to express.’

So which of the two will the aspiring comedians follow? We find out when the action shifts to a small club and the bingo is briefly suspended for each to perform. But it is we who are the audience, we who laugh at jokes that provoke our responses, p.c. or otherwise. And laugh we certainly do, even though as Trevor Griffiths says, ‘Why do I laugh until my frame shakes at something as ugly as this joke?’ Comedians is guaranteed to challenge the audience’s sense of humour but equally to divide it like no other play, as it has done since 1975 in Nottingham, London, Leeds, Milan, Shanghai, Chicago, New York, Hamburg and numerous other venues around the world.

Edward Braun

Edward Braun is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Bristol. He has published widely on Russian theatre and British television drama, particularly Trevor Griffiths. His best known work is The Director and the Stage, acknowledged as the standard work on European directors.

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Bill Naughton

I came across The Family Way (the film version of All in Good Time) one wet afternoon in Salford. It was a family tradition to sit and watch the Saturday 3.30 matinee on BBC 2. The images and emotions I felt on that first viewing have never left me and later, when I saw Spring and Port Wine I realised why both films were such popular viewing with my siblings. There was no getting away from the fact that there were so many aspects of the fathers that resembled our own.

Bill Naughton had perfectly captured that patriarchal tyrant of our family.

My Dad laughed along with the rest of us though I think the irony was lost on him.

It was not until many years later, having become an actor then a writer myself, that I came across the film again. I was a member of the BAFTA film committee and it was during an

After some research I discovered the film was based on Bill´s play All in Good Time and when I was approached to write something for the National Theatre I suggested an Asian version of the play.

As a writer you sometimes come across a piece of work that leaves such an indelible mark on your life that it makes you think "God, I wish I’d written that". Well luckily for me, in getting to adapt this great piece of work, it’s allowed me to have done so.

Ayub Khan–Din Author of Rafta Rafta

© Melvyn Bragg 2009 The Hired Man is published by Sceptre. Melvyn Bragg’s most recent novel is Remember Me

Photograph courtesy of ITV plc

Season Overview

Rafta Rafta

Ayub Khan–Din

event celebrating the work of Sir John Mills.

Amongst the clips there was The Family Way, the scene with the parents discussing their strategy.

Suddenly I was transported back to a terraced house on a wet afternoon in Salford. Though now in the plush surroundings of BAFTA´s Princess Anne theatre on Piccadilly the clip was producing exactly the same reaction; people laughed uproariously at the antics on screen.

The sign of great writing.

The Hired Man is based on the few facts I knew about the first half of my grandfather’s life. He was born about 1890. I got to know him well during the second war when my own father was away and I would go down to his house as often as I could. He meant a lot to me.

He had a family of nine children through two marriages - his first wife (my grandmother) died in her early thirties having given birth to four children and I became a sort of add-on which was tremendous for someone who was an only child as I was.

I saw him a few months before he died and could see that he was failing. This was the first time I had ever seen any change in him of any kind. Though slightly built and of modest height he was extraordinarily strong, active and vivid.

After that meeting I went on to write The Hired Man. Racing to get it done as if somehow to commemorate him although as happens elsewhere in my novels what began as biographically based soon swam out into fiction. Nevertheless the staging posts remain. He began life (from a family of 16 children) in menial work on a local farm – work which included Hardy-esque crow scaring.

After some years as a farm labourer he went down the mines. These were pits on the west coast of Cumbria which drove out under the sea in search of extremely rich seams of coal. With several of his brothers he went through World War I after which he returned to the mines and survived a pit disaster which injured him for life. About that time his first wife died and he went back to the land.

The Hired Man

That is more or less the trajectory of the novel and of the musical.

It was composer Howard Goodall who bounced me into the musical. His enthusiasm and insistence quelled my fears that 25 years of working class life might not be the stuff of musical glamour. But Howard was on a mission to extend the range of the musical and after listening to the music I gladly went along with him.

What we attempted to put together was a strong private family story which was played out within Great Scenes of the life most people in this country led at that time. A pageant if you like or a chronicle of the lives of the many who found great qualities and richness in poor pickings and often turned what seemed a grim existence into a courageous and intelligent response. It astonished me talking to people, how they made so much of so little and what they got out of and gave to a life which could so easily have defeated them. In my view Howard Goodall’s music which is English to the core gives to the piece the spirit and depth to those who deserve it.

Melvyn Bragg

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activ8

Get involved. Call 01204 556501 www.octagonbolton.co.uk/activ8.asp

octagon

café

bar

• • • • • •

With beautiful views over Le Mans Crescent, the William Hare Bar offers the perfect location for a pre-show, interval or post-show drink.

Family friendly Breakfast Daytime snacks Lunches Afternoon teas Halal sandwiches

From 6pm each performance evening.

From 1pm for matinees

Pre-theatre dining from just £6.95 – price frozen Pre-booking is essential

Group Bookings: Order a buffet or children’s buffet and we’ll reserve a private area for you.

Mondays to Saturdays 10am -3pm and from 6pm on performance evenings Tel: 01204 556500 Visit our website for current menus and more information. www.octagonbolton.co.uk/Spotlight.asp

Tel: 01204 556508

activ8

Schools Youth Theatre Community Discover Develop Use Celebrate Your Creative Potential Explore Express Engage with the world around you

We support Fairtrade

Under 26?

You could be eligible for free theatre tickets.

Call us now on 01204 520661

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© Company Pictures.

Maxine Peake in Faith, BBC, directed by David Thacker

"My first job was at the Octagon and it will always be close to my heart. It’s a wonderful theatre for actors and audiences and the new season looks amazing!" Maxine Peake

corporate sponsorship

octagon patrons

Many thanks to the continued support of our corporate members and sponsors.

Monica Ali Emma Atkins Stephen Beckett Lynda Bellingham Anna Brecon Mark Charnock Brigit Forsyth Nicholas Gleaves Shobna Gulati Mike Harding Jane Harrison Julie Hesmondhalgh Jeff Hordley Dr Brian Iddon MP Matthew Kelly Ruth Kelly MP Noreen Kershaw Ayub Khan-Din Wyllie Longmore Rita Markland John McArdle Maxine Peake Alan Plater Robert Powell Lesley Sharp Dave Spikey Peter Tonge Julie Walters Bernard Wrigley

Principal Patron

Sue Hodgkiss, DL

Principal Sponsor and Gold Sponsor

Sue Johnston

“The Octagon is a very special theatre – warm, friendly, intimate for both actors and audiences. I loved working there and can’t wait to see the new season – and hopefully returning one day soon.”

Sue Johnston

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Production Sponsors

Corporate Members: Barlow Andrews CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Thanks also to: Jane Harrison and Zonya Marsh

OliVer

TwisT

Monday 21 Dec Tuesday 22 Dec Wednesday 23 Dec Thursday 24 Dec Friday 25 Dec Saturday 26 Dec

2.15 7.15 2.15 7.15 2.15 7.15 2.15 7.15 No Show 2.15 7.15

Ticket prices:

2.15 7.15 2.15 7.15 2.15 7.15 2.15 7.15 No Show 2.15 7.15

Family Saver: Save £5 off family ticket prices, book by 31 July

7.15 7.15

Monday 28 Dec Tuesday 29 Dec Wednesday 30 Dec Thursday 31 Dec Friday 1 Jan Saturday 2 Jan

7.15 7.15

Monday 4 Jan Tuesday 5 Jan Wednesday 6 Jan Thursday 7 Jan Friday 8 Jan Saturday 9 Jan

2.15 10.15 2.15 10.15 2.15 10.15 2.15 10.15 2.15

7.15 7.15

Monday 11 Jan Tuesday 12 Jan Wednesday 13 Jan Thursday 14 Jan Friday 15 Jan Saturday 16 Jan

10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15

7.15 7.15

Monday 18 Jan Tuesday 19 Jan Wednesday 20 Jan Thursday 21 Jan Friday 22 Jan Saturday 23 Jan

FRI 27 NOV – SAT 23 JAN

diary dates Friday 27 Nov Saturday 28 Nov

2.15

Monday 30 Nov Tuesday 1 Dec Wednesday 2 Dec Thursday 3 Dec Friday 4 Dec Saturday 5 Dec

10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15

Monday 7 Dec Tuesday 8 Dec Wednesday 9 Dec Thursday 10 Dec Friday 11 Dec Saturday 12 Dec

10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15

Monday 14 Dec Tuesday 15 Dec Wednesday 16 Dec Thursday 17 Dec Friday 18 Dec Saturday 19 Dec

10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15 10.15

2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15

7.15 7.15

2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15

2.15

2.15

7.15 7.15 7.15 7.15 7.15 7.15 7.15 7.15

Family Tickets now cheaper than last year!

Cheapest Family Ticket now available for £33

Off-peak (27 Nov – 19 Dec / 4 Jan – 23 Jan) Adult Full Price £13.95 Adult Concession - £11.95 Child £8.75 Family Ticket* £38 Peak (21 Dec – 2 Jan) Adult Full Price Adult Concession Child Family Ticket* -

£15.95 £13.95 £9.75 £41

*Family ticket = 2 full price and 2 concessions

Schools & groups of 10 or more: Reserve now, pay later £9.50 adult / £8.50 child (1 adult free per 8 child tickets) Pay by 31st July and receive a 10% discount All reservations to be paid in full 60 days in advance of performance booked.

Coach travel discounts available directly with coach companies. Call Octagon ticket Office on 01204 520661 Children’s buffets, interval drinks and ices are all available and can be preordered. Sweets are also on sale pre-show and during the interval.

We request that patrons do not bring their own refreshments.

For Oliver Twist production information, please see page 12 and page 28

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T

access

ticket prices frozen since 2007

seating plans

tickets

The Octagon Theatre’s flexible auditorium can be used in different arrangements.

Family Tickets – Prices frozen since 2007

Schools – prices frozen since 2007

Ticket Office: 01204 520661

In-the-round

£45 (2 full price and 2 concessionary tickets)

Evenings: £9.50 (side stalls and gallery)

Performance days: 10am – 7.30pm (until 7pm on the phone)

Available Mon – Fri eves.

Non-school matinees: £8.50 (side stalls and gallery)

booking

find your theatre

1 free organiser ticket

n/a

10 – 20 people: n/a £12.50 per ticket all seats

10 or more : £8.50 per ticket all seats

End-stage

21 – 50 people: £11.50 per ticket all seats

•

Retired people over 60

•

Jobseekers

•

Disabled patrons and their companion (Essential carers for disabled patrons are entitled to a free ticket)

1 free adult ticket per 15 tickets.

Reserve now and pay later (all reservations to be paid in full 30 days in advance of performance booked)

24hr ticket bookings:

Catering options and discounted travel options are available. Please ask when booking

any occasion. Any value

For all ticket prices and special discounts for Oliver Twist, please see page 37

51 or more: £10.50 per ticket all seats Stalls – No seat is more than 9 rows from the stage Gallery –A 2-row balcony where you can see the play from an elevated level

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ATE

Groups of 10 or more

Full-time students

EET STR

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Remember, you could be eligible for free tickets. Ask us how.

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n/a

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n/a

Available all performances except Sat eves and Bargain Nights

EAT GR

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Thrust

£4 all seats (max 2 tickets.

Available 3 days in advance)

People under 16

Junction 5 M61

a.

A

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We accept cheques and major credit/debit cards. A £1 charge applies to bookings made by credit/debit cards.

Tickets are posted out to you.

ST NEW OR MR OD ST

b.

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£8 all seats

Schools matinees: £8.50 (all seats)

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n/a

n/a

Concessionary tickets are available to:

A676

S HOR CK BLA

Please discuss all requirements you have with Ticket Office when booking: 01204 520661

Young people (under 26)

£12.50 stalls £8.50 gallery

£11.50 full price £9 concs

Non-performance days (except Sunday) : 10am – 5.30pm

A575

Octagon Octagon Theatre Bolton

ST

BSL interpreted Please see show pages for details.

n/a

£9.50

£11.50 full price £9 concs

A6172

E EN

Audio Described

University of Bolton staff / students

£11.50 ful price £9.50 concs

£11.50

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NSG

DEA

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Hearing Aid Infrared System Receivers must be reserved when booking.

£13.50

£16.50 full price £13.50 concs

A673

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Guide dogs can stay with you in the auditorium or be looked after by a member of staff.

Please let us know when booking.

Gallery

£18.50

P

MOOR LA

The Octagon has a flat foyer entrance with lift access to the Main Auditorium and Bar. Please book wheelchair spaces in advance. An accessible toilet is situated in the foyer.

Stalls

Bargain Matinees Nights (First Thurs, Fri & Mon)

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wheelchair Disabled Access / Blue Badge Holders:

Sat Eves Mon - Fri eves

MARSDE

Information is available in large print and on audio CD

LEY ST

B6204

P

INITY ST

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A579

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INIT

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Leigh & Atherton

www.octagonbolton.co.uk (booking fee applies)

A: Octagon carpark C: Bus Station

Theatre Gift Vouchers:

The Octagon is situated in the heart of Bolton, within easy reach of all main train, bus and road routes and just 5 minutes walk from the bus and train station.

Data protection: the Octagon Theatre Bolton collects data in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

B: Octagon surface carpark D: Train Station

Car Parking – Next door to the Octagon APCOA secure multi-storey car park Great Moor Street, Bolton, BL1 1SW. Tel: 01204 361722 Octagon Theatre patrons may park with APCOA Octagon for a special discounted rate of £2 per evening, after 6pm. Just see the parking pal in the Bar. (Please note – the car park closes early on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, and is closed on Boxing Day)

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