The New Vic will produce a brand-new production of Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves this September.
The much-anticipated stage adaptation of the gothic horror will combine innovative theatrical storytelling with contemporary circus to bring the story to life.
Directed by New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins and Upswing Artistic Director Vicki Dela Amedume MBE – it will run from Friday 20 September until Saturday 12 October.
The Company of Wolves will combine spectacular aerial movement and circus disciplines including Chinese Pole, with an evocative soundscape, pushing the boundaries of the combined theatre-circus artform, to tell Angela Carter’s version of the Red Riding Hood story that’s filled with danger, desire and suspense.
A cast of talented actors and international circus performers will feature, including Danielle Bird (The Worst Witch, West End; Astley’s Astounding Adventures, New Vic) who will play Red.
Danielle will be alongside alongside Lorna Laidlaw, well known for her roles as Aggie in ITV’s Coronation Street and Mrs Tembe in BBC’s Doctors, as Granny.
Sebastian Charles (Life of Pi, West End; The Ocean at the End of the Lane, National Theatre) will play The Gentleman Werewolf; Tanya-Loretta Dee (Ladies Down Under, New Vic, Eastenders, BBC) will play Mother and Dan Parr (Much Ado About Nothing, Sheffield Theatres; The Kitchen Sink, New Vic) will play Hunter.
Written during the ‘Reclaim The Night’ movement in the 1970s, The Company of Wolves featured in Angela Carter’s ground-breaking second collection of work, The Bloody Chamber – featuring stories written in a Gothic style but with narratives suggested by traditional western European fairy tales.
Adapted in 1980 for radio, with a subsequent adaptation in 1984 for film, this is a rare chance to see this iconic work on stage.
New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins said: “Angela Carter’s story of werewolves is impossible to stage. And that’s why, Like Red Riding Hood, I thrill at the idea of this journey into the night, and the danger of what we might find there. How to transform a person into a werewolf and back, without CGI? How to create the creepy chill of a horror story, without special effects?”
Theresa added: “Carter was writing at the very beginning of the Reclaim the Night movement in the late 70s. Here we are nearly half a century later, and this story about the threat and promise of the path through the forest is as significant as it ever was.”
To book tickets, call the box office on 01782 717962 or visit the website here.
