New season at the Boulevard Theatre announced, featuring plays by Lucy Prebble and Athol Fugard

Ahead of the Boulevard Theatre's inaugural production of Ghost Quartet, the first season of work to be staged at the off-West End venue has been announced. The season will feature new plays by Cormac McCarthy, revivals of plays by Lucy Prebble and Athol Fugard and direction by Yael Farber and Kathy Burke.

Speaking about the new season, artistic director Rachel Edwards said: "In the 2020 season, there is a wonderful mixture of plays that are notably different from one another.  It is a chance to explore, to experiment, and to understand the potential of this extraordinary new space. At its heart, theatre creates community, conversation, understanding and ultimately empathy. I hope that the Boulevard can play its small part in creating an environment where all those things are possible."

In 2020, Terry Johnson will direct the London premiere of Cormac Mccarthy's The Sunset Limited. Following the lives of two men who meet on a subway platform, their chance encounter sparks deeper conversations concerning how humans behave and the meaning of life and death. The Sunset Limited will begin previews on 16^th January 2020, with an official opening night on 21^st January 2020 and will run to 7^th March 2020.

First staged at the National Theatre in 2012, Lucy Prebble's award-winning play The Effect will receive its first London revival at the Boulevard, directed by Anthony Neilson. As two individuals start taking an anti-depressant drug, they're hit with a wave of emotions. With the pair experiencing medical symptoms, The Effect examines the relationship between love and science. The Effect will begin previews on 19^th March 2020, ahead of an official opening night on 25^th March 2020 and will run to 30^th May 2020.

Athol Fugard's Hello and Goodbye will be directed by Yaël Farber as part of the Boulevard Theatre's inaugural season. Exploring the relationships that past actions can hold on the present, Fugard's play follows siblings Johnny and Hester Smit as they reunite, searching for a family legacy. Hello and Goodbye begins previews on 4^th June 2020 ahead of an official opening night on 12^th June 2020, running to 25^th July 2020.

Kathy Burke directs Billy Roche's The Cavalcaders as the final production in the first season at the Boulevard, in a show where an Irish community rallies together for support. As four colleagues transform into a barbershop quartet, relationships off-stage are not pitch-perfect, with lives overlapping as easy as the Cavalcaders' melodies. The Cavalcaders begins previews on 16^th September 2020, with an opening night on 24^th September 2020 and running to 21^st November 2020.  

The four new shows which have been announced follow the previous news of the London premiere of Ghost Quartet, with a first performance on 24^th October. Directed by Bill Buckhurst, Carly Bawden, Niccolò Curradi, Maimuna Memon and Zubin Varla star in Dave Malloy's song cycle that follows a young woman named Rose as she is betrayed by her lover, seeking revenge. Ghost Quartet is at the Boulevard Theatre to 4^th January 2020.

In addition to this season of theatre, the Boulevard will also be home to a 'Lates Programme', with a bill of comedians, new music and cabaret nights.

In an interview with Edwards and Boulevard Theatre founder Fawn James (pictured above), they revealed how the new venue will be a 'cosy, intimate, but boundary-pushing space.'

^{Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz}