East Midlands touring company New Perspectives has set out its 2026-27 season. Let the Whale Die, a new play by Meg Schadler, opens at Royal & Derngate Northampton in April 2027 before a studio tour that includes Park Theatre in London, and sixTeen returns to community spaces and schools in March.
New Perspectives, the touring company based in the East Midlands, has announced two stage productions for its 2026-27 season, each designed for a different kind of room. Let the Whale Die will play mid-scale and studio theatres from the end of April 2027, while sixTeen will travel to non-traditional venues and schools in March 2027.
The company has been making theatre for 53 years, much of it for rural and underserved audiences as well as for city stages. Its previous co-production with Royal & Derngate Northampton, Jane Upton's (the) Woman, toured nationally in 2025, including a London run, and received three Off West End Award nominations.
Let the Whale Die
Written by Meg Schadler and directed by New Perspectives' artistic director Angharad Jones, the play is the second female-led touring co-production between the company and Royal & Derngate.
Its central figure, known only as Girl, works at an aquarium whose star attraction is an orca. When the whale dies on her watch, the public demands an explanation, and her family and her employer press her to answer for her choices. She, however, experiences the disaster as a release rather than a collapse, and the play follows her attempt to hold on to that outlook as the pressure builds. Schadler's script is billed as darkly funny and provocative.
Jesse Jones, artistic director of Royal & Derngate Northampton, said: "We’re delighted to be co-producing with New Perspectives again, following the success of (the) Woman last year. Our continued partnership reflects our commitment to collaborating with independent companies to develop midscale work and launch new stories that speak powerfully to today, before sharing them with national audiences."
The tour opens in Northampton and reaches London in its second week. The confirmed dates are:
- 29 April - 1 May 2027: Royal & Derngate, Northampton
- 4-15 May 2027: Park Theatre (Park 90), London
- 18-22 May 2027: Bristol Old Vic (Weston Studio), Bristol
- 25-26 May 2027: Birmingham Rep (The Door), Birmingham
- 28-29 May 2027: The Lowry (Studio), Salford
- 10-12 June 2027: Nottingham Playhouse (Neville Studio), Nottingham
- 18-19 June 2027: Belgrade Theatre (B2), Coventry
One further venue is still to be announced, and full performance schedules will follow. The London dates, with press night on 6 May 2027, were first announced as part of Park Theatre's 2027 season.
sixTeen
sixTeen is a coming-of-age story about women and girls in the mining communities of the 1980s, set during the 1984 miners’ strike and performed and made by an all-female, working-class cast and creative team. It was co-written by the working-class academic Dr Lisa McKenzie and New Perspectives' participation director Jayne Williams, who also directs. Both grew up in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire: McKenzie turned 16 during the strike, and Williams turned six.
Each performance pairs the play with a discussion involving the audience. The piece came out of Open Pitch, the company's scheme for first-time writers and artists who want to tell their own stories, and its actors are drawn from New Associates, New Perspectives' artist development programme. After a 2025 tour of the Midlands and the North of England, it goes back on the road in March 2027 to community spaces, schools and other non-traditional venues.
Introducing the season, Angharad Jones said: "We are enormously proud of this season. Its breadth reflects what New Perspectives has always stood for: taking work to people, wherever they are."
