Following their biggest ever national tour with The Emperor’s Opera, benchtours are back with their second piece of new writing this year. Crowhurst premiered at the Tron Theatre in September and has been substantially reworked for its national tour. The spring tour will open in Edinburgh at North Edinburgh Arts Centre on Thursday 16th March and close at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre on Saturday April 8th.

Set in the South Atlantic, the production dramatises the moving story of the single-handed yachtsman, Donald Crowhurst. It’s 1969 and the end of the first ever Sunday Times Round-the-World Yacht Race. After 243 days alone at sea trying to fix the race, Crowhurst disappears. Meanwhile, the proud British public awaits his victorious return to Teignmouth, prepared for an Ellen MacArthur style welcome…

John Harvey revisits the story through the eyes of a solo performer (Peter Clerke), who in a parallel universe is struggling to make sense of his own reality. But as his own certainties dissolve, his life becomes increasingly entwined with that of his subject.

A personal drama of sailing and solitude, Crowhurst’s story slips between reality and fantasy, bravery and foolishness. Combining video projection with live action, benchtours’ production goes beyond the confines of a small cabin and out into the vast ocean of perceptions, truths and falsehoods that sweep far over the horizon.

With script by John Harvey (Peer Gynt, How Many Miles to Babylon?, The Corridor), Crowhurst also re-establishes the dynamic relationship between benchtours and Co-Director Pete Brooks (Impact Theatre Collective / Insomniac Productions) that produced the award-winning Peepshow, Limbo and CARNiVALi.

“A dreamy sea-going beauty that stays in the mind. A haunting tale of British masculinity that leaves a powerful emotional imprint”
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman

"A great premise for a show ... brilliantly evocative of a pivotal year in the twentieth century" Keith Bruce, The Herald

CROWHURST
Tour dates
March 15th: Byre Theatre, St Andrews 01334 475 000
March 16th-17th: North Edinburgh Arts Centre 0131 315 2151
March 21st: Howden Park Arts Centre, Livingston 01506 433 634
March 22nd: Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh 0131 665 2240
March 24th: Perth Studio Theatre
FREE EVENT FOR SCOTLAND LIVE!
INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASE:
March 29th: Ardross Community Hall 01349 880 591
March 30th: Craigmonie Centre, Drumnadrochit 01456 459 224
March 31st: Birnam Arts Institute, Dunkeld 01350 727 674
April 1st: Fortrose Community Theatre 01381 621 252
April 6th: The Wynd Theatre, Melrose 01896 820 028
April 7th-8th: Unity Theatre, Liverpool 0151 709 4988