National Theatre’s nationwide tour of Jekyll & Hyde to visit schools across Greater Manchester and The Lowry in Salford
- The nationwide schools tour will launch in Rochdale and be seen by 16 secondary schools across Greater Manchester
- For the first time, two public performances on 12 and 13 January will take place at The Lowry in Salford and are now on sale
The National Theatre’s nationwide schools tour of Evan Placey’s radical reimagining of Jekyll & Hyde will begin in Rochdale and will be watched by 16 schools from across Greater Manchester from 9 –13 January 2024.
For the first time the production will also visit The Lowry in Salford, with two public performances on 12 and 13 January, tickets are available from www.thelowry.com. There will also be two performances at The Lowry exclusively for local schools to attend. This will allow the tour to reach as wide an audience as possible and strengthen connections between schools and their local venues.
The production will be seen by students from the following schools across Greater Manchester from 9 – 13 January:
- Hollingworth Academy, Rochdale
- Fred Longworth High School, Tyldesley, Manchester
- Bedford High School, Leigh
- St John Fisher Catholic High School, Wigan
- Golborne High School, Wigan
- Pendleton College, Salford
- St Anne’s Church of England Academy, Rochdale
- Wardle Academy, Rochdale
- Salford City Academy, Salford
- Dean Trust Rose Bridge, Wigan
- Moorside High School, Salford
- Cardinal Langley Roman Catholic High School, Rochdale
- The Lowry Academy, Worsley, Manchester
- The Albion Academy, Salford
- Outwood Academy Hindley, Wigan
- Chorlton High School, Manchester
Directed by Kirsty Housley, the 9-week tour will be watched by over 10,000 students with the production visiting school halls nationwide from 8 January – 16 March.
In a reimagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, this production sees Victorian England merged with the modern day as it explores how the repression of female voices can be as prevalent today as it was in the 19th century. Confronting contemporary social issues such as identity, online personas, culpability and the right to protest, the production aims to bring education beyond the classroom and inspire students to engage with topical issues through the arts.
In partnership with local theatres, the production will also be seen by students in schools across Sunderland, Leicester, Stoke, Peterborough, Wakefield, Doncaster, Wolverhampton, Hornchurch and North Devon.
Speaking about previous National Theatre schools tours, Dave Moloney, a teacher from Fred Longworth High School in Manchester said “What we get from the National Theatre is just, in its purest sense, an experience. It’s a massive piece of theatre. The fact that we’re miles away from the National Theatre makes it all the more special. The scale of it, the production value, the quality, is astounding.”
Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre, said “Theatre plays an important role in sparking discussions and developing skills that go beyond the classroom. We are delighted to be bringing back the schools’ touring production of Jekyll & Hyde to even more schools across the country. By visiting young people in their school halls and in their local venues we hope they will be inspired to continue exploring theatre and what their brilliant local venues have to offer.”
The cast includes Sophie Atherton, Philip Bosworth, Wesley Bozonga, Ellie Gallimore, Dan Nash, Angela Jones, Andy Sellers and Lucy Elizabeth Thorburn.
Costume and set designed by Amanda Stoodley, with lighting designer Joshua Pharo, associate lighting designer Sarah Readman, and Benjamin Grant as sound designer.
The schools’ tour forms part of the NT’s Theatre Nation Partnerships network to grow and sustain new audiences for live theatre and create more opportunities to engage in the arts. Our partner theatres include Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Theatre Royal Wakefield, CAST in Doncaster, Sunderland Culture and Sunderland Empire, The Wolverhampton Grand, Curve in Leicester, Landmark Theatres in North Devon and Peterborough, Restoke, Regent Theatre & Victoria Hall in Stoke, Trowbridge Town Hall and The Lowry in Salford.
The National Theatre’s Learning department aims to inspire creativity and boost skills for the future workforce of the sector and build a more creative nation. With 85% of all UK state secondary schools now signed up to the National Theatre Collection, National Theatre Learning is present in every local authority in the UK through its in-person and digital programmes, making it easier for schools to place arts and creativity at the heart of education.