Roundabout will once again be heading north and pitching up their auditorium in Eccles.
Following the pop-up theatre-in-the-round’s successful run in 2015 on the doorstep of The Lowry, Roundabout will now be positioning itself at the heart of the Love Eccles Festival.
The Lowry and Paines Plough are proud to present three outstanding plays throughout the four day festival by some of the nation’s finest writers, along with fantastic local companies, artists and musicians.
Award winning writer Katie Douglas will present ‘I Got Superpowers for My Birthday’. Audiences will be invited to join three heroes on an epic quest to save the planet. Ethan, William and Fiona are about as different as three almost-teens can be. The only thing they have in common is that tomorrow is their birthday and they’ve just discovered they have superpowers, which is lucky because someone needs to protect the world from The Darkness- an evil overlord with plans to turn everything to ice.
Rising star Luke Norris (So Here We Are, Royal Exchange: Goodbye To All That, Royal Court) will showcase ‘Growth’- a comedy about growing up and manning up. Tobes is young, free and having a ball. Off. He’s successfully ignored his lump for two years but it’s starting to get in the way- cramping his style and, worse, affecting his sex life. So now there are pants to be dropped, and decisions to be made… It’s a real ball ache.
Finally, from writer Alan Harris (BBC Radio 4, National Theatre Wales, Sherman Cymru) comes ‘Loves, Lies and Taxidermy’. This boy meets girl story follows the son of a Polish taxidermist who meets the daughter of a failing ice cream salesman at a medical research facility in Merthyr Tydfil. Following a first date in Tesco things are going well but, it’s difficult to fall in love when their respective parents need saving from themselves, weird hobbies and the threat of a prison sentence. An offbeat love story about Mr. Tutti Frutti, a stuffed owl and the struggle to fit in.
Julia Fawcett OBE, chief executive of The Lowry, said: “It’s a pleasure to be part of a project that takes theatre beyond the venue directly to the heart of the community, ultimately giving as many people as possible the opportunity to watch new original work that will entertain and inspire them.
It’s also great to be able to expand our current audiences and we’re hopeful that Roundabouts appearance at Love Eccles Festival will be the catalyst to encourage more people to engage with a range of performance regularly across the city.”
Love Eccles Festival is a community festival that brings Eccles Town Centre alive with street acts, live music, a teenage market, shopping, festival stalls, car boot sale and funfair.
Roundabout’s appearance at Love Eccles Festival is part of an ongoing five year partnership between The Lowry and Paines Plough that began in 2015. The project will see the pair host annual new writing festivals across Salford, inviting local people to take part in festivals of new work in their home towns.
Listings Information
Roundabout: Eccles
Thursday 8 – Sunday 11 September
Location: Love Eccles Festival
Various performance times
Tickets: £5
The Lowry Information & Box Office
0843 208 6005
