York collaborates with top theatre company

Posted on Thursday 24 September 2015

Outsiders will be the first high-profile professional play made and performed in the Department, with students assisting and working on the project.

Inspired by Albert Camus’ novel L’Etranger, Outsiders looks back to the murder of an unnamed man in Algeria in the 1940’s and reimagines the surrounding events from the perspective of the gunman’s girlfriend and the dead man’s sister.

An intimate theatre experience, a cast of two women share their experiences, taking the audience on their individual journeys to ask whether they are able to reconcile deep rooted personal, cultural, social and political differences.

The play is commissioned as part of Pilot Theatre’s two year programme of work for the EU funded project Documents of Poverty and Hope. Connecting five countries (England, Italy, Portugal, Canada and Australia), six theatre companies will produce work which explores the impact of migration and immigration on their communities.

Dr Tom Cantrell, Head of Theatre at York’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television, said: "We are delighted to be collaborating with Pilot Theatre on Outsiders. A core aspect of our degree course in Theatre: Writing, Directing and Performance at the University of York is for our students to gain experience of the theatre industry.

“We have students working as Assistant Directors and Assistant Stage Managers on this project. This builds on our previous collaborations on Clocking In and Blood + Chocolate. Our students benefit hugely from working alongside professional theatre-makers."

Pilot Theatre is an Arts Council's National Portfolio Organisation with a particular focus on creating accessible and diverse work, based at the York Theatre Royal. It has a national reputation for delivering performance work for young people, previous work includes the critically acclaimed Blood + Chocolate and In Fog and Falling Snow.

Outsiders opens on Tuesday 29 September in the Black Box Studio, University of York, and runs until 3 October before going on a national tour. For further information and to book tickets, visit: www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk