An explosive plane crash is heading for the stage of the Butterworth Hall at Warwick Arts Centre. Following sell‐out performances in London, Regent’s Park Theatre’s critically-acclaimed production of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies flies into the Coventry venue from Tuesday 23 February - Saturday 27 February 2016 as part of a major UK tour.
After a group of schoolboys survive a catastrophic plane crash, a classic desert island adventure quickly descends into a struggle for survival in a darkly sinister world of superstition and immorality.
So far, over 100,000 people have now seen this production, which has travelled over 3,000 miles on tour, using 40 litres of fake blood, 200 bananas and over 4 kilograms of Monster Munch.
Central to the design of the set is a life-size plane fuselage. Jon Bausor, designer, said: “The plane is a physical piece that's like being on a climbing frame. I was intrigued by the idea that the tail of the plane could become the mountain; that the wing could become the hill, that the hut could become part of the wing, while another hut became part of the fuselage. The thing that sells the plane is that there are lots of real bits - real aircraft seats, real overhead lockers and real oxygen masks.
“As a designer you try to push the realms of engineering because you are trying to create an illusion. You come up with an idea but sometimes that might not be the safest way of doing it, and it cannot be dangerous. That's the secret, to make it look to the audience like it is stupidly dangerous when, in fact, it isn't."
First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies was William Golding’s debut novel. His other works including Free Fall, The Spire, Rites of Passage (Booker Prize winner), The Paper Men and Fire Down Below. In 1983 Golding was awarded The Nobel Prize in Literature. Lord of the Flies is directed by Regent’s Park Theatre’s artistic director Timothy Sheader.
The cast of young actors includes Freddie Watkins (Nativity) as Jack, Luke Ward-Wilkinson (Wild at Heart, Beautiful People) as Ralph and Anthony Roberts as Piggy.
