PRESS RELEASE
NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND
In partnership with
THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS
present
ENQUIRER
A new site-specific theatre production
Based on interviews with leading figures in the newspaper industry in the UK
in London, in association with the Barbican
from 3 October to 21 October 2012
Barbican Offsite: at Mother at The Trampery , 188-192 St John Street, Clerkenwell
with a press performance on Friday 5 October at 8pm
in Belfast, as part of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s
from 26 October to 4 November 2012
Offsite: at a venue to be announced
with a press performance on Friday 26 October at 8pm
Edited and directed by Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany
Co-edited by Andrew O’Hagan
Based on interviews by Paul Flynn, Deborah Orr and Ruth Wishart.
‘We are not facing a momentous crisis in journalism. We are already in a crisis that is putting the central
public service aspect of our role in jeopardy.’ Roy Greenslade, September 2009
The National Theatre of Scotland’s ENQUIRER project is a theatrical investigation into the current crisis in
newspaper journalism in the UK and is a collaboration between National Theatre of Scotland directors John
Tiffany and Vicky Featherstone; Andrew O’Hagan, novelist, playwright, journalist and contributing editor on
the London Review of Books; and three leading UK journalists, Paul Flynn, Deborah Orr and Ruth Wishart.
The creative team includes: Davey Anderson as Associate Director, Lizzie Powell as Lighting Designer, Janice
Borgos as Costume Designer and Lisa Bertellotti as Design Associate.
The cast includes Maureen Beattie, John Bett, James Anthony Pearson, Billy Riddoch and Gabriel Quigley.
Three leading journalists, covering the spectrum of writing for broadsheets and tabloids, are interviewing
approximately 50 people working in the newspaper industry, including other journalists, reporters,
columnists, editors, photographers, printers, web designers, newspaper carriers, retailers and readers.
The project has been put together as a rapid response to the unfolding events of recent months in the
newspaper industry. Leading journalists, past and present, from the following newspapers have given
interviews to date: The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Record, The Daily Star, The
Guardian, The Herald, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, The Observer, The Scottish Daily Express, The
Scottish Sun, The Scotsman, The Sun, The Sunday Mirror, The Sunday Times, The Times and The Telegraph.
These interviews have been transcribed, edited and structured into a piece of site- specific theatre to be
performed in an empty floor of an office block in East London. The promenade production explores the
recent past, present and future of newspaper journalism in the UK and beyond and is woven through with
fact, anecdote, strong opinion, passion and theatricality. ENQUIRER premiered in a media office block, The
Hub, Pacific Quay, Glasgow in April 2012.
Vicky Featherstone is Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland. Recent productions for the
Company include An Appointment with The Wicker Man, 27, The Wheel (Winner of a Fringe First and the
Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award) and Long Gone Lonesome.
John Tiffany is Associate Director with the National Theatre of Scotland. Recent productions for the
Company include Macbeth, The Missing, Peter Pan, The House of Bernarda Alba, The Bacchae and Black
Watch (Winner of 23 major awards). John’s production of Once is currently playing on Broadway and
recently won eight Tony Awards including Best Direction of a Musical and Best Musical.
Andrew O’Hagan is an award-winning novelist and journalist. He recently adapted his first book, The
Missing, for a National Theatre of Scotland production. His first novel, Our Fathers, was published by Faber
in 1999 and won the Winifred Holtby Prize for Fiction. His second novel, Personality, was published in 2003
and won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His third novel, Be Near Me, was published by
Faber in August 2006. It won the Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction and was adapted for the stage by Ian
McDiarmid and produced by the National Theatre of Scotland in 2009. His collection of essays, The Atlantic
Ocean, was published in June 2008. Andrew’s fourth novel, The Life and Opinions of Mag the Dog and of His
Friend Marilyn Monroe, for which he won the Glenfiddich Writer of the Year, was published in 2010.
Andrew has also been awarded the E M Forster Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, one
of the highest distinctions a British author can receive in the United States.
Ruth Wishart is a journalist and broadcaster who has worked extensively for the print and electronic
media. She has been a columnist/women's editor on the Scottish Daily Record, columnist and Assistant
Editor on the Sunday Mail, columnist and Assistant Editor of the Sunday Standard, Scottish columnist of The
Observer, columnist and Senior Assistant Editor of The Scotsman, sports columnist for the Sunday Herald,
and currently writes a column for The Herald. She has won 15 press awards across these titles.
Deborah Orr is a British journalist and broadcaster who currently works for The Guardian newspaper. She
was born and raised in Motherwell, Scotland, and started her career at the independent magazine
publisher, IDEAs, in Edinburgh. She has worked as deputy editor for City Limits magazine and as a
contributor to New Statesman . She was previously a columnist for The Independent and editor of
the Guardian Weekend magazine. She won the What The Papers Say columnist of the year award in 1999.
Paul Flynn is a writer on fashion, music and contemporary culture. In 15 years as a journalist he has written
for leading British style titles (i-D, Love, Pop, Dazed and Confused) and several international titles (Fantastic
Man, The Gentlewoman, V, Out, Paper). He currently holds positions as Senior Contributing Editor at the
Conde Nast title Love, the independent style bible i-D and gay monthly Attitude. He contributes to The
Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Observer, Sunday Express and the Financial Times newspapers. He has
written profile interviews with major stars including: Kate Moss, Beyoncé, Elton John, Mariah Carey, David
and Victoria Beckham, Amy Winehouse, Kylie Minogue, Jay Z and Kanye West and fashion game-changers
Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Miuccia Prada, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Calvin Klein. He writes weekly TV columns
for market-leading women's glossy Grazia and The Sunday Express newspaper, a monthly column for
Attitude and is just completing a role as Features Director on his first issue of the biannual men's fashion
magazine, GQ Style.
LONDON
Venue:
Dates and Times:
Press Performance
Booking:
Mother at The Trampery , 188-192 St John Street, Clerkenwell, EC1V 4J
3 to 21 October 2012 at 8pm (Tuesdays to Sundays)
Friday 5 October 2012 at 8pm
0845 120 7511/ www.barbican.org.uk/theatre
BELFAST
Dates and Times:
Press Performance
Booking:
26 October to 4 November 2012 at 8pm (not Monday)
Friday 26 October 2012 at 8pm
028 9097 1197/ http://www.belfastfestival.com/
Further info:
www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
For further information contact
Emma Schad, Press Manager
Tel: +44 (0)141 227 9016 / +44 (0)7930 308018 E: emma.schad@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Clare McCormack, Press Officer
Tel: +44 (0)141 227 9497/ +44 (0)7989 950871 E: clare.mccormack@nationaltheatrescotland.com
You can follow the National Theatre of Scotland’s press office on Twitter @NTS_press
Press images available for download from www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/press
Please contact the press office for a password.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The National Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government. Since its launch in
February 2006, the National Theatre of Scotland has been involved in creating 181 productions in
156 different locations. With no building of its own, the Company takes theatre all over Scotland
and beyond, working with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of
the highest quality. It takes place in the great buildings of Scotland, but also in site-specific
locations, airports and tower blocks, community halls and drill halls, ferries and forests. The
company has performed to over 770,000 people, across three continents.
2. The London Review of Books is Europe's best-selling literary periodical (ABC: 56,817). 'It has
maintained,' according to contributor Alan Bennett, 'a consistently radical stance on politics and
social affairs.' The paper is independent, and, since its inception in 1979, has followed
developments (and counter-developments) in the British press. In 2004 it supported a concert by
Daniel Barenboim's East-West Divan Orchestra at the Barbican, and for several years has been a
supporter of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
3. Mother at The Trampery
The Trampery, designer of London's most opulent working environments, and Mother, the UK's
leading independent creative agency, have joined forces to create a unique facility for innovation
and creativity in the heart of Clerkenwell. To launch the project the National Theatre of Scotland
and the London Review of Books’ landmark production of Enquirer is taking over the former
warehouse space with its complex of different levels and inter-connections. Following the
production the space will be completely refurbished to provide a beautiful working environment
for 60 people combining innovative start-ups and leading global brands. Alongside desk areas there
will be a cafe, meeting rooms and a seminar room. Get in touch if you'd like to be part of it:
mother@thetrampery.com.