Sam Wanamaker Playhouse Announces Second Season

After a highly successful inaugural season, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse has announced its second season, taking the venue into Winter 2014/15. The first season saw average audiences of 95% capacity and sold over 40,000 tickets, cementing the venue as a new addition to Shakespeare's Globe which is able to perform and celebrate the work of Shakespeare's contemporaries and the wider Renaissance canon.

The new season focuses on the theme of 'Extreme Love', highlighting the early theatre's taste for strong psychological dramas of high intensity. The season comprises a number of works by known writers, as well as a new play and revivals of highlights from the first season.

The opening production will be the first of two classic pieces by John Ford. 'Tis Pity She's a Whore will run at the Playhouse from 23 October - 7 December 2014. The play enters challenging moral territory as it examines a story of incestuous lust and obsessive revenge.

The Knight of the Burning Pestle will return to the venue for the Christmas period, running from 11 December 2014 - 11 January 2015. Adele Thomas' production of Francis Beaumont's comedy received positive notices earlier this year and will see Pauline McLynn return to the role of the wife. Known as one of the first madcap screwball comedies on the English stage, the narrative runs two plays-within-a-play simultaneously, creating an original and fast paced comedy.

Thomas Middleton & William Rowley's The Changeling completes the trio of Jacobean tragedies, running from 15 January - 1 March 2015. This bloodthirsty play follows Beatrice-Joanna as she instructs her servant to murder her fiancé, only for him to demand a sinister reward.

The opera L'Ormindo returns to the Playhouse, again in collaboration with the Royal Opera House, running from 3 February - 5 March 2015. Featuring music by Francesco Cavalli, libretto by Giovanni Faustini in an English translation by Christopher Cowell, the production offers a rare chance to see a Baroque opera in such unique surroundings. Directed by Kasper Holten, with musical direction by Christian Curnyn, this welcome revival is a confident addition to the season.

A new play by Claire van Kampen, Farinelli and the King will run from 11 February - 7 March 2015. Set in eighteen-century Spain and Italy, it tells the true story of Farinelli, the world's most famous castrato, and his decision to trade fame and fortune for a live of servitude at the court of King Philip V.

The second play in the season by John Ford, The Broken Heart will run from 12 March - 18 April 2015. First published in 1633, it is set in Classical Greece and recounts the story of Amyclas, King of Laconia, his daughter Calantha, and their court.

The final production in the season will be performed by The Globe Young Players, who are a company of specially selected talented 12 to 16-year-olds. After their debut in the first season with 'The Malcontent', they return to perform Christopher Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage from 9 - 18 April 2015.