My City & Reasons to Be Pretty - Almeida Theatre

The Almeida Theatre, an off West End venue in Angel, north London, has announced its Summer/Autumn Season, which includes the world premiere Stephen Poliakoff's new play My City, followed by the UK premiere of Neil LaBute's Reasons To Be Pretty. The Almeida will also play host to two international collaborations with the Belarus Free Theatre Company and Greyscale as well as the production of a new play by the Young Friends of the Almeida (LAB).

Public Booking opens 9 May 2011.

My City, written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, opens 15 Sep 2011, following previews from 8 Sep - running to 5 Nov 2011. Designed by Lez Brotherson , lighting by Oliver Fenwick, sound by Ben and Max Ringham. How would you feel if, 15 years after you last saw them, you bumped into the one person who had the biggest influence on your life? On a dusky evening, Richard Kenton finds his primary school headmistress lying on a park bench in the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral. As he becomes reacquainted with her and the other teachers that helped shape him, memories of their vivid and imaginative lessons come to life and their tales of London inspire him once more.

Reasons To Be Pretty, written and directed by Neil LaBute, opens 17 Nov 2011, following previews from 10 Nov - running to 14 Jan 2012. Designed by Soutra Gilmour, lighting by Mark Henderson, sound by Fergus O'Hare. Greg is overheard admitting that his girlfriend Steph is no beauty, but that he wouldn't change her for the world. She is devastated; he can't quite see what he's done wrong. Meanwhile, Greg's best friend Kent alternates between boasting about how gorgeous his wife Carly is, and chasing after a hot new colleague.

The Almeida Festival takes place in JUly 2011, and includes...

The Greyscale theatre company will take over the Almeida for two weeks and turn the building into a theatre brothel, from 6 to 16 July. Performed in manner of spaces in and around the Almeida, audiences are invited in to buy the experience they want or maybe need!

Belarus Free Theatre presents Eurepica Challenge, from 20 to 26 July. Recently described as the 'bravest theatre in the world' the innovative Belarus Free Theatre is a company operating under extreme conditions - each time they perform in their home of Minsk they and their audience face arrest. This underground Theatre Company, was founded in 2005 by Natalia Koylada and Nikolai Khalezin. Eurepica. Challenge. is a collection of 14 plays from 13 European countries. This is a genre defying theatrical experience that shines a light on the challenges to individual countries and the world at large.

The festival ends with a run of performances by the Young Friends of the Almeida (LAB). This company of young people, with their own creative Board, have responded to the creative work of the Almeida's 2010/11 season and devised their own play based on their experiences. Directed by Lu Kemp and performed by the young people, this is where the theatre celebrates the transition of its young audiences from explorers into performers. The company of 19, aged between 14 and 25, will play three performances on 29 July & 30 July 2011