Sam Wanamaker Playhouse: 2016-17 Winter Season

The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse has announced its 2016-17 Wonder Noir Season. This will be the inaugural season for Artistic Director Emma Rice and the productions will include Comus - A Masque In Honour of Chastity, The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales), All The Angels - Handel and the First Messiah, The White Devil and Othello.

Comus - A Masque In Honour of Chastity, by John Milton, directed by Lucy Bailey, opens the season from 26 October to 19 November 2016. "An unnamed heroine lost in the woods encounters Comus, God of Revelry. Trapped in his magical palace, she is forced to choose between pleasure and virtue." The play was first presented in 1634.

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales) will run over the Christmas period, from 24 November 2016 to 22 January 2017. The play has been adapted by Joel Horwood and Emma Rice and will be directed by Emma Rice. The show "offers a magical world for adults and brave children alike, brough to life with music, puppetry and candlelight."

Also playing over Christmas and beyond will be Nick Drake's All The Angels - Handel and the First Messiah, from 6 December 2016 to 12 February 2017. Directed by Jonathan Munby, the show "traces the story of the world's most popular choral work, Handel's Messiah, from its first rehearsal in a Chester pub to the world stage."

The first new prodcution of 2017 will be The White Devil, by John Webster, from 26 January to 16 April 2017. This will be directed by Annie Ryan. "Consumed by a violent passion for that which is forbidden, the Duke of Brachiano murders his wife in order to possess another woman, triggering a cycle of violence, deceit and madness."

The final production in the season will be William Shakespeare's Othello, directed by Ellen McDougall, from 23 February to 16 April 2017. "Tracks Othello's descent into jealousy and madness after the scheming Iago convinces him of his wife Desdemona's infidelity."

Tickets will be on sale to the general public from Monday 13 June at 10am.