And Then Come The Nightjars

Theatre503 | Wednesday 2nd – Saturday 26th September 2015

Bea Roberts’ And Then Come The Nightjars opens Theatre503’s autumn season, marking the
theatre’s first co-production with Bristol Old Vic.

This poignant and uncompromising play is one of the two winners of Theatre503’s inaugural
international Playwriting Award and was selected from over 1600 submissions.
And Then Come The Nightjars charts a farm’s struggle to survive the march of history. Fierce
with rage yet achingly tender, this is a story of enduring friendship and a requiem for rural
England. Reflecting on the Foot and Mouth epidemic of 2001, Nightjars sees how, ten years on,
scars are still evident on the landscape and also on the relationships of those the disease
affected.

This heart-wrenching play explores the devastating effects of the pandemic which saw the
slaughter of four million animals, the virtual closure of the countryside and the postponement
of a general election. Against this backdrop Roberts depicts an intimate friendship between two
world-weary men.
Roberts is devoted to making work that challenges both herself as a writer and also her
audience’s attitudes towards the West Country world that she hails from (A Younger Theatre).
And Then Come The Nightjars will be Bea’s first full length production and is directed by
Theatre503’s Artistic Director Paul Robinson, who comments:

I’m so excited to be directing Nightjars. The first time I read it, it made me a) cry in public and b) miss my bus stop by about a mile and a half. It is both hugely personal and nationally significant at the same time. Bea is a hugely talented writer who has already made quite an impression in Bristol. I am lucky to have assembled an incredible cast including RSC veteran David Fielder and a creative team including Olly Fox (National Theatre, Young Vic, Royal Court) who I’m confident will do justice to this fantastic piece.

Bea Roberts is currently on commission with the BBC, has had work on at the Tobacco Factory,
Lyric Hammersmith and Bristol Old Vic and her most recent play was the award-winning Infinity
Pool.

Cast

Royal Shakespeare Company veteran, David Fielder (All’s Well That Ends Well, Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It (RSC)) will be playing Michael. Also starring will be Nigel Hastings (Othello, Henry VI Parts 1 – 3 (Shakespeare’s Globe), Journey’s End (Duke of York’s)) joining him as Jeff.

Creatives

Writer Bea Roberts
Director Paul Robinson
Designer Max Dorey
Composer Olly Fox
Sound Designer Max Perryment