CityLife

Bolton Octagon: Summer season 2010

The Demolition Man

"Theatres need a very strong sense of identity; and theatre itself is only any good if you’re passionate about it, if you have a personal commitment and involvement, so it’s important– at this stage– that I put myself on the line,” asserts the Octagon Theatre’s artistic director David Thacker, as he introduces his second season in Bolton.

He will direct six of the eight productions, two of which will be world premieres, including a play based on legendary Boltonian Fred Dibnah’s life and David Lodge’s Secret Thoughts, based on his novel “Thinks....”.

Elizabeth Newman directs the Christmas show and the season closer, Sondheim’s brilliant musical thriller Sweeney Todd.

“The theme of the season is ‘love, sex, desire and passion’,” David laughs, “but what characterises it for me is an emphasis on quality, accessibility and impact. I think I’ve learned quite a lot from my first season here, mostly affirmative, and what it’s confirmed is that the Octagon audience, both our loyal regulars and those who’ve visited us less frequently, like to be grabbed by a strong narrative with which they can identify, they like to laugh, and they like to be deeply moved by the events taking place in the intimacy of this uniquely flexible theatre.

“There’s no point doing things people might quite like – you need to know what they are crying out for. I want the Octagon to be able to stand up against any theatre in the country.”

The season opens on September 16 with A Streetcar Named Desire until October 9, Love On The Dole, based on Walter Greenwood’s 1930s novel, runs from October 14 to November 6.

Last year’s Octagon Christmas show Oliver Twist broke all box office records and this year’s  promises to be another hit. David Copperfield, from November 19 to January 15, features live music, puppetry and local children performing alongside the professional cast.

Next February, David, who has enjoyed huge success with many of his previous Shakespeare productions for the RSC, directs a new production of Romeo and Juliet.

“The production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream this year was such a success, particularly with the younger people in the audience. They really identified with the young lovers, so I thought we’ve really got to do Romeo and Juliet, another play where young people are central, but they are suffering and dying because of the appalling world the adults have created, and that’s what’s happening now,” David says.

It runs from February 3 to March 5, followed from March 10 by The Price by Arthur Miller. Miller went to rehearsals for David’s Young Vic production. “Even though The Price is not one of his most famous plays, it is right up there with his greatest works. It was the first production where I had a really detailed relationship with Arthur Miller,” remembers David. “It was extraordinarily important to my development as a human being and as a director to share that time with him.

“He watched our first run-through. I had tried to direct the play as faithfully as I could, even down to his instruction about an interval – ‘an unbroken performance is preferable’. At the end, he turned and said ‘why have you done it without an interval?’ I pointed to the note in the script and he said ‘Yes, but I was younger then and had a better bladder.’”

The production runs until April 2 and features an interval.

From April 7 is a world premiere that is very much part of Bolton’s history. Written by Aelish Michael in collaboration with Fred Dibnah’s third wife Sheila and some of his closest friends, The Demolition Man chronicles the last years of Fred’s life, his determination to get his steam engine on the road and his relationship with Sheila.

Aelish raised enough money to put on a rehearsed reading of her script, after which, “We had a very frank and open discussion with the audience and it became very clear that there was a strong sense that we should do this play.”

David Thacker’s long-standing relationship with writer David Lodge has included lengthy attempts to get film versions of Therapy and Paradise News off the ground and the world premiere of Secret Thoughts, has also had a tortuous path – the original premiere was scheduled to take place in London. “We’re thrilled. It’s quite a coup,” Thacker says.

It runs from May 12 to June 4, 2010. Steven Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd rounds off the season from June 9 to July 2, 2010.

More information from 01204 520661 or at octagonbolton.co.uk.