BRITS OFF BROADWAY FESTIVAL 2015
AT 59E59
APRIL 14 - JUNE 28
The critically acclaimed Brits Off Broadway festival, host to the UK's most innovative and provocative theater in New York City, returns for its 10th season of New York premieres of new British theater with shows from Inverness in the far North of Scotland to Plymouth in the Southwest of England, and Manchester in the Northwest to London in the Southeast.
Presented by 59E59 Theaters Brits Off Broadway launches on Tuesday, April 14 and runs through Sunday, June 28.
- Single ticket prices range from $25 - $70 ($17.50 - $49 for 59E59 Members).
- Tickets to Brits Off Broadway go on sale on Wednesday, March 11.
- Tickets are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at
For more information on Brits Off Broadway, visit
A strikingly personal piece for writer/performer Matthew Zajac, THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS chronicles his father's journey from Eastern Europe to Scotland.
IN MY FATHER'S WORDS is a celebration of language, with a man whose dementia allows him to remember his forgotten Gaelic language.
Dystopian author Anthony Burgess' lesser-known novel ONE HAND CLAPPING arrives in a daring stage adaptation.
CUDDLES, a story of two sisters, one of whom is a vampire, will make you question who the real monsters are.
BRITANNIA WAVES THE RULES is a heart-wrenching play about the brutal effects of war on a young man from the North.
Finally, two titans of the British stage grace our own: Simon Callow stars in TUESDAYS AT TESCO'S' and Edward Petherbridge in MY PERFECT MIND; both shows anchoring this year's festival in Theater A.
The full 2015 Brits Off Broadway lineup:
Tuesday, April 14 - Sunday, May 3
THE TAILOR OF INVERNESS,
- Written by Matthew Zajac
- Directed by Ben Harrison
- With Matthew Zajac and Aidan O'Rourke (musician)
- Produced by Dogstar Theatre
Tickets $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members)
This internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning play is a story of a son’s search for his father, a story of 20th century Europe, of how a boy who grew up on a farm in Galicia (Eastern Poland, now Western Ukraine) came to be a tailor in northern Scotland. A story of deception, identity and survival, The Tailor of Inverness has moved thousands across the world. This remarkable true story, lovingly recounted by his son, the acclaimed actor Matthew Zajac, and directed by Grid Iron's Ben Harrison, is "a resonant meditation on what can become of families when countries shift beneath their feet." (The Guardian)
Tuesday, April 28 - Sunday, May 31
BRITANNIA WAVES THE RULES
- Written by Gareth Farr
- Directed by Nick Bagnall
- With Roger Evans, Dan Parr, Michael Peavoy and Francesca Zoutewelle
Tickets: $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members)
Carl Jackson doesn’t fit in at home. When he joins the army, he sees it as a chance to escape the grim reality of life. But it doesn’t matter where he runs to, or how hard or how fast – there are too many battles for him to win them all. And when Carl comes home, it’s not as a hero but a changed man. Fast, furious and filled with rage, this play is a scream of protest at the state of the world.
Tuesday, May 5 - Sunday, May 31
Anthony Burgess' ONE HAND CLAPPING
- Adapted and directed by Lucia Cox
- With Eve Burley, Oliver Devoti and Adam Urey
- Produced by House of Orphans
Tickets: $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members)
Adapted from Anthony Burgess’s 1961 novel, this is the darkly comic story of Howard and Janet Shirley, who have a humdrum life in a Northern town in England. But Howard has a talent: a photographic memory, which he uses to win a TV quiz show. With his winnings, he and Janet travel the world. But upon their return, a morose Howard takes a decidedly sinister turn. What's On Stage called ONE HAND CLAPPING "daringly surreal and innovatively executed!"
Thursday, May 14 - Sunday, June 7
TUESDAYS AT TESCO'S
- Written by Emmanuel Darley
- Adapted and translated by Matthew Hurt and Sarah Vermande
- Directed by Simon Stokes
- With Simon Callow and Connor Mitchell
- Produced by Richard Darbourne Ltd in association with Assembly & Riverside Studios
Tickets: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)
One of Britain’s greatest actors, Simon Callow stars (in a performance Variety called "authoritative, humane and brave") as Pauline: Loving daughter, caregiver, cross-dresser.
Wednesday, June 3 - Sunday, June 28
CUDDLES
- Written by Joseph Wilde
- Directed by Rebecca Atkinson-Lord
- With Carla Langley and Rendah Heywood
- Produced by Oval House
Tickets: $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members)
Eve is a 13-year-old vampire. She has never left her room and everything she knows about the world comes from her sister Tabby and her storybook characters. Eve does everything a good little vampire girl should, including drinking her (human) sister’s blood. But one day, Tabby tires of opening her veins and, in a breath, Eve's whole world changes. "A smart and gruesome gothic tale!" Time Out London.
Thursday, June 4 - Saturday, June 27
IN MY FATHER'S WORDS
- Written by Justin Young
- With Gaelic by Iain Finlay MacLeod
- Directed by Philip Howard
- With Angus Peter Campbell, Garry Collins, and Muireann Kelly
- Produced by Dundee Rep
Tickets: $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members)
In an old wooden house by the shore of Lake Ontario in Canada, Louis battles with his elderly father, Don, whose decline into dementia is gradually robbing him of the ability to speak. Into their lives comes Flora, the caregiver that Louis employs to look after Don. Flora, who is of Scottish heritage, understands that the ‘nonsense’ that Don speaks is fragmented Gaelic, opening up an ocean of revelations and buried family history spanning the Atlantic. IN MY FATHER’S WORDS is a beautiful play about identity – national and personal – and language, and the utter indivisibility between the two.
Wednesday, June 10 - Sunday, June 28
MY PERFECT MIND
Created by Told By An Idiot
Written by Kathryn Hunter, Paul Hunter and Edward Petherbridge
Directed by Kathryn Hunter
With Paul Hunter and Edward Petherbridge
Produced by Told By An Idiot, Young Vic, and Theatre Royal Plymouth
Tickets: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)
Olivier Award-winning actor Edward Petherbridge was cast as King Lear, when on the second day of rehearsals he suffered a stroke that left him barely able to move. As he struggled to recover Edward made a discovery: the entire role of Lear still existed word for word in his mind. From being on the brink of playing one of Shakespeare’s most revered roles, to lying in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors, Edward never imagined what tragedies and comedies lay in store for him. MY PERFECT MIND celebrates the resilience of the human spirit through the prism of Shakespeare’s great tragedy. MY PERFECT MIND is, however, anything but a tragedy. Called "an exquisite piece of tomfoolery" by The Guardian, the play, "gurgles with merriment."
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