Feb 23, 2018
Mark Smith talks to Esther Richardson, Bryony Lavery and Hannah
Peel in a busy York Theatre Royal café about Pilot
Theatre’s new adaptation of Brighton Rock. They
discuss the appeal of Brighton Rock’s morally complex underworld,
getting younger people into regional theatres, creating a musical
and choreographic world for the play, and how the company set out
to look at Graham Greene’s classic story through a lens which is
both contemporary and of the time.
Director Esther Richardson has been the Artistic
Director of Pilot since February 2016. Her previous theatre work
has included productions at theatres throughout the UK, including
Soho Theatre, Cast in Doncaster, Tamasha Theatre, Royal and
Derngate, Nottingham Playhouse, Bolton Octagon, and many more.
Adapter Bryony Lavery is a renowned playwright
whose work is regularly performed internationally. She is a
prolific writer and adapter, whose plays include
Stockholm, Beautiful Burnout and The
Believers for Frantic Assembly, Queen Coal for
Sheffield Crucible and Treasure Island at the National
Theatre. She has also written numerous adaptations which have
premièred at York Theatre Royal, including most recently the
adaptation of Brideshead Revisited for the York Theatre
Royal and English Touring Theatre’s 2016 production.
Hannah Peel is a multi-instrumentalist
singer-songwriter, composer and arranger, who has recorded as a
solo artist as well as with band The Magnetic North and various
other high-profile collaborators. She has created scores and
co-composed for dance theatre performances at Sadler's Wells and
for television.
Brighton Rock runs at York Theatre Royal until 3 March 2018 and then tours to Brighton, Colchester, Hull, Cheltenham, Winchester, Watford, Birmingham, Newcastle, Mold, Derby and finally The Lowry Salford Quays.
(Photo of Esther Richardson, Bryony Lavery and Hannah Peel by John Saunders.)