THE DAMNED UNITED Red Ladder Theatre Company and Leeds Playhouse present LUKE DICKSON Jamie lives in Saltburn by the Sea in North Yorkshire. His passion outside of theatre is football. Hull City, but maybe we shouldn’t mention that considering we’re doing a Leeds United play! Jamie Smelt performs as Sam Longston (Derby Chairman), Manny Cussins (Leeds United Chairman) and all other characters (excluding Brian Clough and Peter Taylor). Jamie has performed in a number of Red Ladder shows including The Shed Crew (2017) and Glory (2019). JAMIE SMELT Written by Anders Lustgarten Adapted from the novel by David Peace Directed by Rod Dixon Set & Projection Designs by Nina Dunn Lighting Design by Tim Skelly Sound Design by Ed Heaton Technical Manager Tom Blackband Luke has been a professional actor and theatre maker for over twenty years. He can’t wait to reprise the story of Brian Clough with Red Ladder once again. He was also The Cook and The Recruiting Officer in Red Ladder’s production of Mother Courage And Her Children (2018). For the last eleven years Luke has been an actor, facilitator, writer and Co-Creative Director for Alive and Kicking Theatre Company and during that time has co-produced over twelve productions for the company including the Leeds Kirkgate Market Christmas show. Luke has also worked for the following theatre companies, touring nationally and internationally: Tell Tale Hearts, Plane Performance, Blah Blah Blah and Wright Stuff Theatre of Puppets. THE DAMNED UNITED ON TOUR: JUNE - JULY 2021 In 2016, Red Ladder Theatre Company staged the world premiere of The Damned United in a co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse. The hugely successful show played to full capacity houses during a five-week sell-out run, gaining critical acclaim and attracting a large proportion of first time attendees. The Damned United 2021 tour includes: Leeds Playhouse (10 - 12 June), York Theatre Royal (16 June), Waterside, Sale (5 July), Gala Theatre, Durham (9 July) and Mansfield Palace Theatre (10 July). David Chafer performs as Peter Taylor. David’s theatre credits include: Hard to Swallow, for TiE It Up Theatre; SUS, Unfinished Histories; The Last Seam, Cast, Doncaster; The Get Lost Show, York Maze; Striking Dilemmas, The Melting Shop, tour; All Things Considered, Esk Valley Theatre; The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Theatre Mill, York; September in the Rain, The Booking Office, tour; The Daughter-in-Law, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield; David is producer/actor of TiE It Up Theatre, a touring company which tours plays to secondary schools. DAVID CHAFER THE DAMNED UNITED
Transcript
THE DAMNED UNITED
Red Ladder Theatre Company andLeeds Playhouse present
LUKE DICKSON
Jamie lives in Saltburn by the Sea in North Yorkshire. His passion outside of theatre is football. Hull City, but maybe we shouldn’t mention that considering we’re doing a Leeds United play! Jamie Smelt performs as Sam Longston (Derby Chairman), Manny Cussins (Leeds United Chairman) and all other characters (excluding Brian Clough and Peter Taylor). Jamie has performed in a number of Red Ladder shows including The Shed Crew (2017) and Glory (2019).
JAMIE SMELT
Written by Anders Lustgarten
Adapted from the novel by David Peace
Directed by Rod Dixon
Set & Projection Designs by Nina Dunn
Lighting Design by Tim Skelly
Sound Design by Ed Heaton
Technical Manager Tom Blackband
Luke has been a professional actor and theatre maker for over twenty years. He can’t wait to reprise the story of Brian Clough with Red Ladder once again. He was also The Cook and The Recruiting Officer in Red Ladder’s production of Mother Courage And Her Children (2018). For the last eleven years Luke has been an actor, facilitator, writer and Co-Creative Director for Alive and Kicking Theatre Company and during that time has co-produced over twelve productions for the company including the Leeds Kirkgate Market Christmas show. Luke has also worked for the following theatre companies, touring nationally and internationally: Tell Tale Hearts, Plane Performance, Blah Blah Blah and Wright Stuff Theatre of Puppets.
THE DAMNED UNITED ON TOUR: JUNE - JULY 2021
In 2016, Red Ladder Theatre Company staged the world premiere of The Damned United in a co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse. The hugely successful show played to full capacity houses during a five-week sell-out run, gaining critical acclaim and attracting a large proportion of first time attendees. The Damned United 2021 tour includes: Leeds Playhouse (10 - 12 June),York Theatre Royal (16 June), Waterside, Sale (5 July), Gala Theatre, Durham (9 July) and Mansfield Palace Theatre (10 July).
David Chafer performs as Peter Taylor. David’s theatre credits include: Hard to Swallow, for TiE It Up Theatre; SUS, Unfinished Histories; The Last Seam, Cast, Doncaster; The Get Lost Show, York Maze; Striking Dilemmas, The Melting Shop, tour; All Things Considered, Esk Valley Theatre; The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Theatre Mill, York; September in the Rain, The Booking Office, tour; The Daughter-in-Law, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield; David is producer/actor of TiE It Up Theatre, a touring company which tours plays to secondary schools.
DAVID CHAFER
THE DAMNED UNITED
ROD DIXON Director
Rod Dixon became Artistic Director of Red Ladder Theatre Company in 2006, following his role as associate director at the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth. He also ran The Hub Theatre School in Cornwall and has been an actor with several companies including Kneehigh Theatre. Directing credits for Red Ladder include Glory, The Shed Crew, Mother Courage and Her Children, Where’s Vietnam?, Forgotten Things, Riot, Rebellion & Bloody Insurrection, Ugly, Sex & Docks & Rock ‘N’ Roll, Big Society! and Promised Land.
ANDERS LUSTGARTEN Playwright
Anders Lustgarten has been described in the national newspapers as ‘our most exciting political playwright’ and ‘Britain’s most international dramatist’. He won the inaugural Harold Pinter Playwriting Award for his austerity play If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep at the Royal Court. Black Jesus, about Zimbabwe after Mugabe, went to the Harare International Festival while Mugabe was alive, and Lampedusa, about the migrant crisis, has been performed in over twenty countries.
Anders is currently writing about Israel/Palestine for Chichester Festival, the far right for a tour of the UK and Sweden, and The Great Sheffield Tree Resistance for Sheffield Theatres. He is also show runner and head writer on ‘Countrymen’ for Viaplay/AppleTree Productions and is working on a number of other TV and film projects.
RED LADDER: OUR HISTORY AND VISION
Red Ladder is a radical theatre company with over 50 years history. The company is acknowledged as one of Britain’s leading national touring companies producing new theatre, contributing to social change and global justice. Founded in 1968 in London, the company has a colourful history rooted in the radical socialist theatre movement in Britain known as agitprop. Born into an era of riots, demonstrations and revolts, Red Ladder has grown up, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century, where it continues to fight, to entertain, and to agitate in as equal measures as possible.
We make theatre about how we live now, and how we hope to live. The world has got to change, and the future is not yet written. The shared experience of theatre is about transformation and imagination, where we can collectively invent a better, kinder, fairer way to be. We make theatre that gives a platform to voices that are rarely heard, and stories that are overlooked. Plays that invite you to lean in, identify, punch the air, laugh with the stranger next to you, cry in the dark, and want to take action.
“you don’t need to be any kind of football fan to get fired up by this show. This is a character study, a look at a man inseparable from his mask.” ~The Times ****
“Ingeniously staged by Rod Dixon,” ~Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Beautifully crafted and imaginative…” ~The Yorkshire Post
Press for The Damned United (original co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2016)
LADDERISTASWhen anyone makes a donation to us of any size it’s a big deal. We won’t make grand promises – and we refuse to spend the money you give us on glitzy venues, fancy canapés and champagne – but our small committed team will show our gratitude to allLadderistas in the best way we can.
To sign up – or to make a one-off donation – and to see all the great benefits of being a Ladderista, please visit:redladder.co.uk/support
David Peace is the author of the Red Riding Quartet (Nineteen Seventy-Four, Nineteen Seventy-Seven, Nineteen Eighty, Nineteen Eighty-Three) which was adapted for Channel 4 in 2009; GB84, which was awarded the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction; The Damned Utd., Red or Dead, which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, and Patient X; his latest novel is Tokyo Redux, the final part of his Tokyo Trilogy, following Tokyo Year Zero and Occupied City.
