The General Election, Shakespeare, sailors and a much-loved toy rabbit will all play a part in the Unicorn Theatre’s forthcoming spring/summer season.
Kicking off the season from 20 March to 12 April, Lewis Gibson’s mysterious and beguiling The Chair will take ages seven and older on a journey to Tiger Bay, a dangerous place full of strange sailors who have tales of ghosts, fortunes found and lost, myths, rumours and rum to tell.
The production reunites writer, director and composer Gibson with performer Gary Lagden following their recent success with The Pardoner’s Tale and A Thousand Slimy Things at the venue.
The Chair will be joined in the season by Fight Night, an immersive exploration of the intricacies and traps of voting systems and democracy in the media, which plays in the run-up to May’s General Election.
Running from 16 April to 3 May, the production marks the Unicorn Theatre return of subversive theatre company Ontroerend Goed, which previously entertained audiences with 2013’s Teenage Riot and All That Is Wrong.
Fight Night boasts five performers, five rounds, one vote and one survivor, and, due to its use of strong language and mild adult themes, is suitable only for older children aged 14 and older.
While The Chair and Fight Night will take to the Unicorn Theatre’s stage for the first time this spring, two of the venue’s most critically acclaimed productions of the past two years will return for a second run.
Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit, which won over audiences with its timeless tale about a toy rabbit who longs to be real in 2014, will be back in residence from 28 March to 26 April.
Suitable for ages four and older, the enchanting story of friendship, transformation and growing up follows the floppy-eared title character as he spends his days waiting patiently on the nursery floor, watching the boy play with the other toys and dreaming of the day he’ll be picked up again.
Also returning to the London Bridge venue for a second season is Ellen McDougall’s 2013 take on Shakespeare’s Henry The Fifth for ages eight and older, which will play from 17 to 31 May.
Ignace Cornelissen’s adaptation of the Bard’s history play, which is translated by the Unicorn Theatre’s Artistic Director Purni Morell, follows the eponymous monarch as he begins to run out of money but all he can think of is how much bigger his neighbour’s castle is to his own.
The spring/summer season is completed by two new shows for children aged three and younger. First up, from the makers of Sensacional, is Planeta Ka (17 May to 4 June), a show that invites the littlest of theatregoers to an unknown planet bursting with colours and textures.
It will be followed by M6 Theatre’s One Little Word (6 to 21 June), which sees two characters play together, explore new spaces and objects, and take turns before trouble arrives when one of them decides they won’t be the only captain on the ship.
All of the aforementioned shows will arrive at the Unicorn Theatre following the current run of Britain’s Best Recruiting Sergeant, a feisty, song-filled and touching journey through the life of music hall star Vesta Tilley, which you can read all about in our feature here.