23 February 2006
OBSESSIVE BEATLES FAN IS SUBJECT OF WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION

Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company presents
THE WHITE ALBUM
by Michael Pinchbeck
from an original concept by Giles Croft
Director: Giles Croft
Designer: Liam Doona, Lighting Designer: Richard G Jones, Sound Designer: Adam McCready,
Video Designer: Arnim Freiss, Orchestration: John Morton

Saturday 18 March to Saturday 8 April
Box Office: 0115 941 9419
www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company is set to explore the extraordinary power of popular music over our lives in the world premiere production of THE WHITE ALBUM. Commissioned by the Playhouse from Nottingham dramatist Michael Pinchbeck, THE WHITE ALBUM is directed by its Artistic Director Giles Croft, also the man behind the original concept for the show. The production runs at Nottingham Playhouse from Saturday 18 March to Saturday 8 April. Taking its cue from the innovative 1968 LP, THE WHITE ALBUM charts the faltering life and loves of an obsessive Beatles fan. Simultaneously, through his mind’s eye, it relives both the making of a seminal album and the horrific murders which it allegedly inspired.

Beatles fanatic Miles is driven to despair by the collapse of his relationship with Julia. Lying in his stark white room one fateful day in 1980, he replays the high and low points of their love. Even as his own life story unravels before us, Miles takes a trip back through the troubled genesis of the White Album, a page of musical history rich in lore and speculation. Notoriously, the album has been cited as a crucial factor in the brutal killing of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and several others, carried out at the orders of Charles Manson. In thirty scenes, each loosely corresponding to a song, the story of Miles and Julia is interwoven with those of the Manson Family murders and of the White Album itself. Jumping deftly back and forth in setting, the production deciphers the many levels of meaning – musical, personal and criminal – that this one revolutionary record has come to bear. For this is music to die for.

Michael Pinchbeck was born in Cambridge in 1976 but grew up in Nottingham. After studying Theatre and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, he co-founded METRO-BOULOT-DODO Theatre Company, writing, devising, directing and performing in ten productions for national and international touring. The company was voted Total Theatre’s Best Newcomer at the 1999 Edinburgh Festival. Since leaving the company in 2003, Michael has pursued a solo career in Live Art, producing performance, text, installation and film work. Among his current projects is a four-year “drive art” project, The Long and Winding Road.

Designed by Liam Doona, the innovative set for THE WHITE ALBUM evokes a landscape of the mind, accommodating the rapid shifts in time and space of the three interlocking storylines. White panelled walls pivot, retract and reveal doorways and openings, to conjure settings as diverse as a recording studio, a city park, a Californian villa and an Indian meditation camp. Integral to the set design are the inventive video projections by Arnim Freiss, stirring memories of the 1960s and 1970s time frame.

Director Giles Croft is Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse and a Vice President of the European Theatre Convention. Following posts as Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, London, Literary Manager at the National Theatre and Artistic Director of the Palace Theatre, Watford, he took up his present position at Nottingham Playhouse in 1999. Since then his productions have included Polygraph, Rat Pack Confidential and The Man Who, as well as the recent adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front. Last year his revival of Sir Arnold Wesker’s Chicken Soup with Barley enjoyed a successful transfer to London’s Tricycle Theatre. THE WHITE ALBUM is the second of three brand new plays to be directed by Giles Croft in Nottingham Playhouse’s current season; the third will be TO REACH THE CLOUDS, based on the book by wire walker Philippe Petit and adapted for the stage by Nick Drake.

The cast of THE WHITE ALBUM comprises: Mark Dempsey, Rachel Edwards, Paul McGreevy, Daniel Rigby (Miles), Dean Stobbart, Phoebe Thomas (Julia), and Andrew Turner. The Creative Team is as follows: Giles Croft (Director), Liam Doona (Designer), Richard G Jones (Lighting Designer), Adam McCready (Sound Designer), Arnim Freiss (Video Designer), and John Morton (Orchestration).

Listings information:
THE WHITE ALBUM
Saturday 18 March to Saturday 8 April
Box Office: 0115 941 9419 or book online: www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
Tickets: £7-£24
Matinees: Saturday 1 April (2.30pm), Thursday 6 April (1.30pm)
All other performances commence at 7.45pm
No performances: Sundays, Monday 27 March, Monday 3 April
Post-show discussion: Thursday 23 March
Audio-described performances: Tuesday 4 & Wednesday 5 April (7.45pm)
Sign language interpreted performance (Alan Haythornthwaite): Friday 31 March (7.45pm