Blackbirds first and now hens
Knives in Hens and Carthage Must Be Destroyed are the latest Ustinov productions, following the record-breaking success of Breakfast With Mugabe which relaunched the new Ustinov earlier this year.
Made in Bath using the best national and regional talent, the Ustinov is now a leading producer of contemporary plays.
Knives in Hens is the extraordinary debut play from David Harrower, whose recent play Blackbird with Robert Daws and Dawn Steele wowed Theatre Royal audiences in the spring.
Knives in Hens is the play which saw Harrower hailed as a significant new voice in British drama. In a closed and superstitious rural community, an extraordinary love triangle develops between an uneducated young woman, her ploughman husband and the village outcast. Poetic language and raw eroticism combine in a gripping tale full of imagination and sensuality.
Appearing in Knives in Hens is Robert Gwilym best known as Max in Casualty. Siwan Morris stars in E4's Bristol-based hit series Skins. Also appearing is Rhys Meredith.
Knives in Hens is at the Ustinov from October 8-18.
A heady drama of bloody real-politick, double-dealing and sex, Carthage Must Be Destroyed is a compelling portrayal of the fickle nature of power and is set – appropriately for Bath – amid the sweat and steam of a Roman bath-house.
Carthage Must Be Destroyed won Best New Play at the Scottish Theatre Awards and is receiving its English Premiere in this new production at the Ustinov.
BAFTA-winner Paul Blair is one of the finest Scottish actors of his generation, with tile roles including Macbeth, Casanova and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He starred in BAFTA award-winning comedy Dear Green Place and alongside David Tennant in Takin' Over The Asylum.
Also appearing will be John Stahl and Clifford Samuel.
Carthage Must Be Destroyed plays at the Ustinov from November 27 to December 20.
Tickets from the Theatre Royal Bath box office on 01225 448844.
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