Days of Significance
05 December 2006
Commissioned as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) Complete Works Festival and written in response to Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Roy Williams’ new play, Days of Significance, is set in market-town England and the deserts of Iraq.
Two young soldiers join their friends to binge drink the night before they leave for active service. Their complex love lives and mortal fears directly impact on their tour of duty. Roy Williams looks at the affects of war on these young men, how it forces them to grow up and take stock of themselves and the world they are living in.
Roy is one of the UK’s most exciting young playwrights, whose recent work includes Fallout (Royal Court) and Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads (National Theatre). He was awarded the Evening Standard Award for most Promising Playwright in 2001 for his play Clubland. Commenting on what inspired him to write the play, he says:
“Like others, I am against the war [in Iraq], but I had no interest in writing about the people in power. I remember watching a news item on telly about young people binge drinking at the weekends in city centres across the country. I wanted to capture that image and put it on the stage…I chose Much Ado About Nothing [for inspiration] because the structure of the piece fitted very nicely with what I wanted to write about, young men returning from war, first love, old love etc.”
Days of Significance is the third play from an ensemble who are already performing Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and Pericles. The cast for Days of Significance is: Jason Barnett (Bouncer); Nigel Cooke (Lenny), Claire-Louise Cordwell (Hannah), Daniel Dalton (Tony/Sean), Amanda Daniels (Gail), Jamie Davis (Ben), Trystan Gravelle (Dan), Simon Harrison (Steve), Richard Katz (Vince), Robin Lawrence (Drunken Man), Pippa Nixon (Trish), Ashley Rolfe (Jamie), Michelle Terry (Clare), Mark Theodore (Brookes/Bouncer) and Ony Uhiara (Donna).
Days of Significance will be directed by Maria Aberg, who is Dominic Cooke’s Associate Director on the current RSC productions of The Winter's Tale and Pericles. Trained at the University of Lund in Sweden, and Mountview Theatre School in London, Aberg’s other directing credits include Assistant Director to Dominic Cooke on The Crucible (RSC/Gielgud), Shrieks of Laughter (Soho Theatre), Stallerhof (Southwark Playhouse), Love and Money (Young Vic Studio), Duff Luck (Arcola), My Best Friend (Central Station), A Handful of Dust (Institute of Choreography and Dance, Cork), The Maids (Judi Dench Theatre), and The Lover (Mountview Studio).
Joining Aberg on the creative team are: Lizzie Clachan (Set/Costume Design), David Holmes (Lighting) and Carolyn Downing (Sound)
The play will be performed between the 10 and 20 January 2007 at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. For tickets and further information visit; www.rsc.org.uk or call the RSC Ticket Hotline on 0870 609 1110.
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Further information
Days of Significance
An RSC commission by Roy Williams
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
12 performances only from 10 – 20 January 2007
Press Night Tuesday 16 January, 7.00pm.
RSC Ticket Hotline: 0870 609 1110, www.rsc.org.uk
A written Q&A with Roy Williams is available on request. For this and further information, photography and interviews contact:
Jo Hammond
01789 272351
joanna.hammond@rsc.org.uk
Nada Zakula
01789 412622
nada.zakula@rsc.org.uk
Dean Asker
01789 412660
dean.asker@rsc.org.uk (for regional enquires or press tickets)
Please note this production includes scenes of an adult nature and strong language which some people might find offensive.
