The National Theatre has released Marc Brenner’s production photographs of Bacchae, now in the third week of a tour of school halls across England, with public performances to come at the Lowry in Salford on 20-21 November.
Nima Taleghani’s version of Bacchae first played the National Theatre in 2025, in Indhu Rubasingham’s first season. For the schools tour he has reworked it with director Hannah Hauer-King into a new production made for school halls, telling Euripides’ tragedy through rhythm, movement and music. Rehearsal images were published here last month; these are the first pictures of the finished staging.
The tour lasts eight weeks and runs through ten partner theatres, which take the company into secondary schools and colleges in their areas. It began with schools in Kent and Norwich, is working with Birmingham Hippodrome this week, and by the end will have played to 7,000 young people from more than 60 schools and colleges.
The Hewett Academy in Norwich was one of the first schools to see it. Its principal, Antony Little, said: "To have the National Theatre performing on the opening day of our refurbished theatre was a dream come true for the students, and the school. As a school we place a high value on the arts and the right of our students to engage in live, high-quality cultural experiences. The feedback from the students after the performance was uniformly positive. They were immersed in the performance and have seen a performance that they won't forget. The students were inspired and entertained in equal measure."
Each visit also includes hands-on sessions in which students try out stage design and other parts of making theatre. Former participants in the NT’s Introduction to Stage Management and Young Technicians programmes are on placement with the tour, applying what they learned on those schemes.
The company is Senam Akpokavi, Jessica Alade, Ross Foley, Daniel Forbes, Aminita Francis, Emma Manton, Lily Olufemi-Bywaters, Daniel Regan, Premi Tamang and Benjamin Wilson. Natalie Johnson designs set and costumes, Bethany Gupwell the lighting, and Annie May Fletcher the sound and music. Kendra Horsburgh is movement director, Jeanie O’Hare dramaturg and Callum Berridge associate director, with fight direction by Claire Llewellyn for Rc Annie Ltd and casting by Martin Poile CDG.
The partner theatres still to come, with this week’s included, are:
- 12-14 October: Birmingham Hippodrome
- 15-16 and 19-21 October: Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
- 22-23 October: Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
- 2-6 November: Newcastle Theatre Royal
- 9-11 November: Theatre Royal, Nottingham
- 12-13 November: Leicester Curve
- 16-21 November: Lowry, Salford, including public performances on 20-21 November
- 23-27 November: Sheffield Theatres
Tickets for the two public performances at the Lowry are sold by the venue.
