Hull Truck Theatre launch Grow Season 2023: A celebration of new and contemporary live theatre
01 Mar 2023 | General News
Hull Truck Theatre is excited to announce that their Grow Season is now on sale! Making a welcome live return, supporting artists and developing local talent with a packed programme of performances, sharing workshops and networking opportunities. The annual Grow Season offers a platform for artists of any age and at any point in their careers to share their work with local audiences. Featuring new and contemporary theatre, Grow Season will inspire audiences and artists in 2023 with an eclectic line up, including a world premiere of Modest, a collaboration between Hull-based Middle Child and artist-led Milk Presents, two award-winning companies, developed with the support of the National Theatre’s Generate programme. Grow Season will take place between April – July and the season includes heart-warming comedy, one person shows, actor-musicians, work-in-progress sharing’s and will be filled with humour, sass and hard-hitting truths. The season is multi-themed and includes inclusive work by racially diverse, working-class, and queer artists/ companies with the involvement of a broad age range of producingcompanies. Audiences will have the opportunity to give feedback to work in development, get involved in workshops and meet the artists across the course of the season. Audiences can buy a ticket for three or more Grow Season shows and pay just £10 per ticket*. Adam Pownall, Senior Producer at Hull Truck Theatre said: “We are very proud to be championing local people and companies from Hull: Particularly Middle Child who have a long history with the season and now will come back as headliners with the world premiere of Modest, created in partnership with Milk Presents. As we look forward to our next 50 years, we are excited to host new and emerging artists from Hull and East Yorkshire as part of our “Be our guest” residency which will support the creation of three new pieces of work as well as the showing of our Digital Shorts and short films created by local artists”. “At Hull Truck Theatre, our aim is to tell inspiring stories that reflect the diverse range of communities and creative voices that populate our city and nation. Grow season is part of our ambitious equality and diversity plans, continuing our commitment to opening access and inclusion to all aspects of the theatre”. Modest (Tuesday 23 – Saturday 27 May), written by Ellen Brammar with music by Rachel Barnes, is the latest show by award-winning Hull company, Middle Child. Headlining our Grow Season, this drag king-cabaret inspired play about Victorian superstar artist Elizabeth Thompson will have its world premiere at Hull Truck Theatre in May. Directed by Luke Skilbeck and Paul Smith. In collaboration with Milk Presents, a company who celebrate queer bodies, uplift queer stories and centre creativity, resilience, action and joy. Elizabeth Thompson fell two votes short of becoming the first woman elected to the Royal Academy in 1879, after stunning the public with her painting “Roll Call” five years earlier. Modest uses music, comedy and drag to tell Elizabeth’s story of being a pioneering artist who shouldered the hopes and dreams of women across the country. Paul Smith, Middle Child artistic director, said: “Everyone at Middle Child is incredibly excited to be kicking off our tour of Modest in our home city at Hull Truck Theatre, alongside our brilliant pals at Milk Presents. If you like your art political, playful and completely outrageous then this is the show for you. We can’t wait to show you what it means to be Modest, combining drag, cabaret and live music to tear down the Victorian art world one patriarchal paintbrush at a time.” Grow Launch Event (Wednesday 26 April) will open the season with a FREE evening of opportunities The season will begin by taking you back to Yorkshire in 1687: presenting a raucous, surreal comedy about desire, the struggle for freedom and queer love. Dirty Corset (Friday 28 April) is about a company of flea-bitten actors trying and failing to live up to their on-stage personas. Same Circle are a local Hull based camp chaotic collective who love to make fun work with a load of gumption about contemporary issues. Their latest sharing, Contradicktion (Saturday 29 April) is a loud, proud show that mixes popular music and theatre to discuss the toxic cultures that exist within the LGBTQIA+ community. Made in collaboration with LGBTQIA+ people from across Yorkshire, Contradicktion is a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community, questioning how we can create more inclusive spaces. Join a cast of two as Chronic Insanity presents 24, 23, 22 (Friday 5 May). Armed with handheld mics, and an on-stage beat-maker, this gig-theatre show will reverse the flow of time as they encourage you to live in the moment. “There’s something about today. Something’s gonna happen. I don’t know what it is, but everything feels a bit like it’s holding its breath.” This is an Audio Described performance. Jesus, Jane, Mother & Me (Wednesday 10 May) is a twisted coming-of-age story blending pitch black humour and heartache by award winning playwright Philip Stokes (Heroin(e) for Breakfast). Presented by Lawrence Batley Theatre, KETCHUP & Richard Jordan, this is a story that explores family dynamics, who our idols are and just how hard life can be when you’re a little bit different. Armed with a backpack full of Pop-Tarts and a hunger to tackle climate change, SHEWOLVES (Thursday 11 May) introduces Priya and Lou as they embark on a covert expedition onto the wild. An uplifting coming-of-age comedy for teenagers and anyone who ever been a teen, a funny and empowering play about forging friendships when you’re a bit weird, the power of hope and the underestimated smartness of teens. Past Life (Friday 12 May) is a multi-sensory exploration that follows Kiera as she revisits her Past Life, a life she felt ready to feel again, a life she thought she missed. But can you re open a wound without hurting yourself again? Past Life catapults through a dynamic story of Kiera’s life in a punchy, creatively accessible and energetic one person show expressing the coming to terms with loss. A harrowing telling of what trauma looks like in the 21st century. This story is for everybody, made to feel like just another body. Bethany Cooper Productions and Theatre503 present Tapped (Saturday 13 May): A witty and sensitive portrayal of managing mental health within a family, highlighting the barriers we put up, whilst having those all-important lightbulb moments, like realising Aldi really does sell everything. Dawn wants more from life, Jen wants a brand-new life and Gavi just wants Jen in his life; a heartwarming comedy that explores the importance of connection. Fulfilment and (lack of) hope. Combining epic storytelling, razor-sharp impressions and a dose of theatrical magic, Fanboy (Friday 26 May) is touring the UK following critically acclaimed runs at Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre! Fanboy is a love-hate letter to pop culture and nostalgia. Award-winning writer-performer Joe Sellman-Leava (Fringe First, Labels) explores our relationship to our past and future selves and asks why his generation is so obsessed with its childhood. Directed by Yaz Al-Shaater. Moan Loaf present Lucinda Spragg: An Additional Evening With (Saturday 3rd June), an hour of Inside Theatre present 5 Years (Wednesday 7 June), asking audiences…would you exchange five years of your life for the perfect body? Yasmin has decided that she would. She is about to undertake a radical procedure that promises to deliver the perfect body and the happiness that seems just out of reach. But at what cost? 5 Years is a new comedy–drama that asks, ‘what do we lose in the pursuit of perfection? Helen (Thursday 15 – Friday 16 June), shortlisted for the Theatre503 International Playwriting Prize, is play about love, grief, and two women up a hillside with ashes stuck to their trouser leg. Helen who is forty when she loses her husband. Becca is fifteen when her dad dies. Then it’s just the two of them, what do they do next? Joys and traumas, laughs and arguments, Helen will Explore the thread which binds these two characters together and the different ways they damage and save each other. Written by Hull playwright Maureen Lennon and directed by Tom Bellerby, Helen is presented by Terrain & Theatre503. Terrain is a new company dedicated to promoting Northern artists and the stories they tell. The company looks to celebrate the contemporary narrative landscape of the region and ensure brilliant plays get in front of audiences. A Splash of Milk (Thursday 29 June) exposes the harsh realities of being a person of colour within the already marginalised queer community and the racism that lies within. A queer (almost) love story, with just a sprinkle of… racism, sass and humour, A Splash of Milk explores what it means to be part of the global majority as well as being queer and how this affects your relationship with the queer community itself. Presented by Pink Milk Theatre. Kevin Precious: The Reluctant Teacher (Thursday 13 July), provides a funny evening with Hull Truck Theatre favourite, Kevin Precious. Kevin used to be a teacher; he enjoyed the teaching part; it was the stuff that goes with it that was a drag. So, he left. A funny overview of the pitfalls and pratfalls that go with his former profession; with a bit of pedagogical stuff (ooh-er) thrown in for good measure. There will also be a top circuit act doing a preview as well to make it a lovely double bill of Edinburgh-bound shows. Keep an eye on this space. Be Our Guest Sharing (Friday 14 July) is an invitation to audiences to join us for the “First Time Out” of three new performances from local artists and companies who will “Be Our Guests” at Hull Truck Theatre, devising new work, and sharing their creations at the end of their residency. Safer (Friday 28 July), by Sarah Jane Dickenson is inspired by a true story, a hard hitting tender and funny exploration of the toxic side of team sports and how one new team decided to tackle it head on. Sitting alone in a Fiat 500 in the pouring rain - the reasons for Butterfly Boy joining a gay and inclusive rugby union team in a rugby league obsessed city didn’t seem that apparent. But once in the changing room a whole new world opens up. Directed by Luke Fielding. WORKSHOPS Grow Season at Hull Truck Theatre will also include a variety of FREE Workshops (Thursday 27 April – Friday 26 May). These sessions invite audiences to experience something new, connecting to themes and performances from the Grow Season, as well as a chance to engage with local artists and other members of the local creative community. Workshops include Restoration Remixed (Thursday 27 April) by Bang Average Theatre in connection with ‘Dirty Corset’, Access and Creativity (Thursday 11May) by Alice Christina Corrigan in connection with ‘Past Life’, Devising Queer Performance: Modest (Thursday 25 May) by Milk Presents in connect with Modest and How Can Pop-Culture Connect Us and Make Our Work More Joyful? (Friday 26 May) by Work Light Theatre in connection with ‘Fanboy’. All Workshops in connection with Grow are Free and you can either book to join one specific workshop or simply add a free workshop ticket to your order when you purchase a ticket for Dirty Corset, Past Life, Fanboy and Modest when you checkout.
*Tickets must be purchased in a single transaction. Offer will be applied at the checkout. Offer excludes Grow Season Launch Event (Free) and Contradicktion Sharing (Pay What You Can).
for artists and audiences to meet other artists in Hull and enjoy the preview of Hull Truck Theatre’s
Digital Shorts Project, a series of short films created by local talent.
character comedy with "the most awful person at this year's Edinburgh Fringe" - British Comedy
Guide. A hilarious skewering of the alt-right with leader of the Regain Party, freedom fighter/icon, agitator extraordinaire, host of the TripadPfizer podcast, and professional feather ruffler, Lucinda Spragg.
Join us for a brand new, original musical telling of historical LGBTQIA+ icon Julie D’Aubigny, one ofthe first public figures to live as an openly bisexual woman. Julie: The Musical (Friday 30 June), presented by Le Gasp productions, features her adventures where she seduced nuns, duelled multiple men at once, burnt down convents, was bribed by princes, innovated opera – all before she turned 30. Celebrate this extraordinary life, queerness and carving a place for yourself in a world not built for you.
