Frantic Assembly’s Lovesong Media Release

Frantic Assembly’s touring production of ABI MORGAN’s new play LOVESONG comes to the Citizens Theatre this February. Renowned actress Siân Phillips will be joined by Sam Cox, who will play her husband, and Leanne Rowe and Edward Bennett, who will play the same couple as their younger selves.

LOVESONG sees acclaimed theatre company Frantic Assembly join forces with celebrated writer Abi Morgan for a new play about lifelong love. Lovesong intertwines a couple in their 20s with the same man and woman a lifetime later. Their past and present selves collide in this haunting and beautiful tale of togetherness.

LOVESONG is a collaboration between of some of the most exciting talents in British drama.

SIÂN PHILLIPS is one of Britain’s most respected actors. Her recent stage work includes the role of Juliet in Juliet and her Romeo (Bristol Old Vic), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Broadway) and Calendar Girls (West End/tour). Her screen work includes her BAFTA-winning role in I, Claudius (BBC TV), as well as such seminal works as Goodbye Mr Chips, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Dune. She has also performed live with musician Rufus Wainwright at the Old Vic.

EDWARD BENNETT recently came to prominence when he received rave reviews for taking over the lead role from David Tennant in the RSC’s Hamlet in 2009. His other stage credits include Plenty (Sheffield Crucible), As You Like It, The Tempest (Bridge Project, Old Vic), Hay Fever (Chichester Festival), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love Labour’s Lost (Both RSC) and Othello (Donmar). He also appears in the upcoming feature film adaptation of War Horse, directed by Steven Spielberg.

SAM COX’S recent stage work includes Anne Boleyn, All’s Well That Ends Well (both Shakespeare’s Globe), Inherit the Wind (Old Vic), Arcadia (West End), God in Ruins (RSC/Soho), Macbeth and King John (both RSC). His film and TV work includes Doctor Who (BBC TV), Prime Suspect (Granada) and Hippy Hippy Shake.

LEANNE ROWE’S theatre credits include Dirty Dancing (West End), Talent (Menier Chocolate Factory) and Mysterious Skin (Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh). Her film credits include Jane Eyre (dir. Franco Zeffirelli) and Oliver Twist (dir. Roman Polanski.

ABI MORGAN’S writing for the screen includes The Invisible Woman, the Margaret Thatcher film Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, the flagship BBC TV drama The Hour and the BAFTA award-winning drama Sex Traffic (Channel 4). She has recently collaborated with Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender on the upcoming feature film Shame. She previously worked with Frantic Assembly on the much praised Tiny Dynamite, and her other previous writing for the stage includes The Night Is Darkest Before The Dawn (part of the Tricycle Theatre’s Great Game season), Fugee (NT New Connections), Tender (Hampstead) and Splendour (Paines Plough).

FRANTIC ASSEMBLY’S celebrated physical style combines movement, design, music and text. Recent production highlights include Beautiful Burnout (co-production with National Theatre Scotland), Stockholm by Bryony Lavery, a radical reworking of Shakespeare’s Othello, pool (no water) by Mark Ravenhill, and Dirty Wonderland, a site specific show for Brighton Festival.

LOVESONG reunites Frantic Assembly with the Drum Theatre Plymouth following previous sell out runs with Peepshow, pool (no water) and Stockholm and with Othello which marked the company’s debut on the Theatre Royal stage.

Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England
Developed with the support of the RSC Studio.

ENDS

For further interviews, photographs or review tickets:
Cat McNaught, Marketing Manager
0141 418 6233 / cat@citz.co.uk

For further information, contact Ben Chamberlain or Stephen Pidcock at The Corner Shop PR: ben@thecornershoppr.com / stephen@thecornershoppr.com / 020 7494 3665

LISTINGS INFORMATION
LOVESONG by Abi Morgan
Direction and Choreography: Scott Graham & Steven Hoggett
Design: Merle Hensel
Lighting Design: Andy Purves
Sound Design: Carolyn Downing
Video Design: Ian William Galloway

Full cast: Siân Phillips, Edward Bennett, Sam Cox, Leanne Rowe
UK Tour 30 September 2011 – 11 February 2012

7-11 February, 7.30PM
Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Box office: 0141 429 0022 | citz.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Frantic Assembly is celebrated at home and abroad for creating thrilling, energetic and unforgettable theatre. The company attracts new and young audiences with work that reflects contemporary culture. Vivid and dynamic, Frantic Assembly’s unique physical style combines movement, design, music and text. Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett formed Frantic Assembly in 1994. Scott and Steven have since performed in or directed all of the company’s work. They seek to collaborate on original ideas with today’s most exciting artists.

Frantic Assembly has toured widely throughout the UK, building its reputation as one of the country’s most exciting companies. Internationally Frantic Assembly has performed, created and collaborated in 28 different countries. In addition to its productions Frantic Assembly operates an extensive Learn & Train programme introducing 5.000 participants a year to the company’s process of creating theatre, in a wide variety of settings. Frantic Assembly also delivers Ignition, an innovative vocational training project for young men, particularly targeting those with little previous experience of the arts.

2. Drum Theatre Plymouth produces and presents new plays. As part of the Theatre Royal Plymouth it has built a national reputation for the quality of its programme and innovative work, winning the Peter Brook Empty Space Award in 2007. In addition to its own commissioned productions, the Drum Theatre collaborates with other leading theatre companies including, most recently, Paines Plough, the Royal Court Theatre, Told by an Idiot and the Belgian company, Ontroerend Goed.

In 2009 the Drum Theatre had major success with a new ‘horror’ comedy, Grand Guignol by Carl Grose as well as producing a new experimental work, Under the Influence, with Ontroerend Goed for production in Plymouth and Ghent, before touring internationally. The Drum again collaborated with Ontroerend Goed in 2010 on Teenage Riot as well as co-producing Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice with ATC and DC Moore’s The Empire with the Royal Court. The Drum has recently collaborated with Told by an Idiot on And The Horse You Rode In On; with Paines Plough on Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett and with ATC on The Golden Dragon. Most recently it produced Chekhov in Hell by Dan Rebellato with runs in Plymouth and at the Soho Theatre, London.

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