The Dukes Announces New Season To Treasure

A 30th anniversary celebration of outdoor walkabout theatre and two thought provoking homegrown dramas add sparkle to the new season at The Dukes.

The Lancaster theatre’s reputation for producing the UK’s biggest outdoor walkabout theatre season was recognised this year with a UK Theatre Award for the Best Show for Children and Young People.

In 2017, The Dukes celebrates 30 years of promenading in the park with an adaptation of Treasure Island from July 4-August 12.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale will be given a thrilling new twist by the award-winning team behind last year’s sell-out production of The Hobbit.

From April 27-May 6, The Dukes will be visiting another Island – the one created by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona.

Joining forces once again with The Theatre Chipping Norton, The Dukes presents The Island, a great drama of defiance and determination drawing on stories from Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for 27 years.

And launching The Dukes homegrown season on February 15, after its successful run earlier this year, will be the return of I Was A Wife written and performed by 2015 UK Theatre Awardwinning actor, Polly Lister.

This raw and comic journey through marriage is told with the help of characters Polly has portrayed along the way, including the witch she played in The Dukes 2014 outdoor production of Hansel & Gretel.

I Was A Wife, which was a result of The Dukes commitment to new writing, runs in Lancaster from February 15-22 and on March 3-4 before touring nationally.

Up-and-coming young actors from The Dukes youth theatre will play a significant role in the spring season too with their own promenade performance of their newly devised work Generation Z staged in A-wing at Lancaster Castle, a former prison now open to the public and owned by The Queen as Duke of Lancaster.

The Dukes Young Actors will also present a fresh retelling of Macbeth in The Round, directed by JMK Awardwinnng Liz Stevenson.

To book tickets for any of the new season events, ring The Dukes box office on 01524 598500 or visit www.dukes-lancaster.org