Rupert Goold bringing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the Stage

A dazzling and dramatic retelling of C.S. Lewis’ classic The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe opens in the historic grounds of Kensington Gardens next summer.  In a unique collaboration this major new production is adapted by award-winning director Rupert Goold, staged by threesixty, who gained international acclaim for their first production, Peter Pan, and directed by Rupert Goold and Michael Fentiman.

Staged in the state of the art threesixty theatre tent this visually stunning live production will use threesixty’s ground-breaking surround video and enchanting puppetry to bring to life the magic of Narnia in one of the world’s best-loved stories.

Rupert Goold said:

“The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe left a huge impression on me as a child. Its combination of fairytale strangeness and mythic spirituality seemed fundamentally English in sensibility, and returning to it now as an adapter and in reading all the stories to my children I also find it strangely Shakespearean too.

What I hope to evoke is the power of faith and the danger of tyranny in a rougher more elemental telling of the story. I’m thrilled to be working again with artists who have been at the heart of my recent work at Headlong and the RSC and can’t wait to be working in the round again in the exciting possibilities the threesixty tent offers.”

Douglas Gresham said:
“I am really looking forward to working with Rupert Goold on this exciting production, the amazing combination of threesixty’s new techniques with his renowned talent and the classic delight of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe promise a magical and delightful show.”

Four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, discover the magical world of Narnia when they pass through a mysterious wardrobe door. Ruled by the White Witch who has cast a spell making it forever winter, the children together with new found friends battle to bring happiness to the land in this classic tale of good versus evil.

Threesixty’s inimitable productions offer audiences of all ages an all-encompassing theatrical experience delivering some of the greatest stories ever written as they have never been seen before. Peter Pan, threesixty’s launch production, rapidly became a phenomenon and played to over 150,000 people over 16 weeks in the summer of 2009 before moving to the O2 and on to a tour of the USA.  Currently in Boston Peter Pan continues to receive critical acclaim and has notched up many celebrity fans including Russell Crowe, Tim Burton, Barbara Windsor, Tamsin Greig and Ben Elton.

Rupert Goold is Artistic Director of Headlong Theatre and an Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Productions for Headlong include Earthquakes in London, ENRON (2009 Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director), King Lear, Six Characters in Search of an Author, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Rough Crossings, Faustus, Restoration and Paradise Lost.

His other work as a director includes The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet (RSC), Time and the Conways (National), Oliver! (West End), No Man’s Land (Gate Theatre, Dublin/West End – Irish Times Award Best Director), The Glass Menagerie with Jessica Lange (West End); the world premiere of Speaking Like Magpies, a new play by Frank McGuinness, for the RSC; and a national and international tour of Scaramouche Jones with Pete Postlethwaite. In August 2006 he directed The Tempest with Patrick Stewart as Prospero for the RSC. Rupert’s Macbeth, with Patrick Stewart, transferred from Chichester Festival Theatre to the West End in 2007, then to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and finally to Broadway, finishing in May 2008. He was awarded the 2007 Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle and Olivier Awards for Best Director and the film based on the production was broadcast on the BBC in December 2010.

Michael Fentiman is currently Artistic Director of Beggars And Kings Theatre Company.  His forthcoming productions include Titus Andronicus (RSC/Headlong) and The Light In The Piazza.  His previous credits for the RSC include Ahasverus and the Opening Ceremony, and as Associate Director As You Like It, Romeo And Juliet, Hamlet and A Tender Thing; Crackers (Belgrade/Coventry), Blue/Orange (Cockpit) and Spoonface Steinberg (Clwyd/Greenwich/Glasgow Citizens/tour).

Full creative team and casting to be announced

In due course there will be an exciting competition here at NarniaFans.com to get free VIP tickets and also details of US dates so stay tuned. If you have questions, post them on http://www.facebook.com/TheChroniclesofNarnia

PERFORMANCE DETAILS AND BOX OFFICE INFO

Kensington Gardens
8 May – 9 September 2012
Tickets from £25
Box office: 0844 871 7693

www.lionwitchtheshow.com
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