A JERSEY playwright and screenwriter is set to have two productions premiere on major UK stages this summer.
Hannah Patterson, who was born in Leeds and raised in Jersey from the age of two, will see her work staged at the Chichester Festival Theatre and London’s Southbank Centre in the coming weeks.
Her adaptation of 45 Years will debut at Chichester Festival Theatre from 12 June to 11 July.
Based on the critically acclaimed film, the production explores the impact of a long-buried revelation on a marriage.
Speaking about the adaptation, Ms Patterson said: “I was immediately drawn to its themes and the characters that inhabited its world; people who are grappling with their lives in the wake of resurfaced history, and the impact that subsequently has on their relationship now.
“It’s a superb and moving study of the passage of time and the brittleness and vulnerability of our shared realities.”
And just a few days after that, Ms Patterson’s original work Ungone will be presented at London’s Southbank Centre on 18 July as part of Rough Trade’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
The event is described as “a major cultural programme marking five decades of one of the UK’s most influential independent music and publishing brands”.
Adapted from her own novella, Ungone tells the story of a woman who hires a stand-in to visit her mother in a care home, exploring grief, care-giving, guilt and identity.
The production will star acclaimed actress Maxine Peake alongside Ana da Silva – artist and founding member of pioneering post-punk band The Raincoats.
Ms Patterson said: “I’m so excited to be working with Maxine Peake, one of our most intelligent and emotionally complex actors, who is also such a committed voice on social issues.
“I really think the two of them together will be electric.”
Jersey-born Nina Hervé, co-director of Rough Trade Books, praised Ms Patterson’s work and the upcoming production.
She said: “It’s been such a pleasure working with Hannah on her debut novel, Ungone, and now turning it into a play for Rough Trade’s 50th anniversary celebrations at Southbank Centre has just added a whole new layer of excitement on top of the project.”
Reflecting on seeing both projects come to fruition within weeks of each other, Ms Patterson said: “It’s really exciting.
“Working with actors in the rehearsal room and then seeing your plays unfold in front of audiences is, for me, the most satisfying part of the production process.”
Ms Patterson is also developing a new theatre project with ArtHouse Jersey titled The Noise, a one-person show about a woman with misophonia – a condition in which specific, common everyday sounds such as chewing, breathing, or tapping trigger emotional or physiological responses.
Alongside her theatre work, she continues to develop film projects, including Claude & Marcel, a feature inspired by surrealist artist Claude Cahun that previously won the Galway Film Fleadh Pitching Award.
