South West Creatives lead team behind new play 'DELAY'

South West Creatives lead team behind DELAY - new play by Timothy X Atack - which premieres at Bristol Old Vic this June.

Amanda Fawcett Productions Ltd and Bristol Old Vic announce the team of South West-led creatives bringing Timothy X Atack’s new play, DELAY, directed by Tanuja Amarasuriya, to Bristol Old Vic in June.

Lin, an astronaut, speeds towards a distant planet. He’s on a pioneering mission to create a new home for humankind… but days for the astronaut are decades for the lover left behind.

An epic story of deep love and hope in the face of impossible odds - DELAY follows Lin on his solo-mission to another planet. Lin’s only contact with the world he left behind, is an exchange of voice messages with his lover, Silas. 

Bristol-based writer Timothy X Atack (FOREST 404 - Writers Guild Award for Best Radio Drama; Heartworm - winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting) and director Tanuja Amarasuriya (winner of the 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award; directing credits include: Out of Sorts - Theatre503; Dark Land Light House - Bristol Old Vic; The Paper Man - Improbable/Soho Theatre/Tobacco Factory Theatres; previously Associate Director to Dominic Cooke, and Staff Director for the National Theatre), leads the creative team which includes: 

Set and Costume Designer,Bronia Housman (Sleeping Beauty - Oxford Playhouse, Pinocchio & Mumsy - Hull Truck, The Borrowers & Remarkable Invisible - Theatre by the Lake, Keswick); Lighting Designer, Alex Fernandes (Scenes from a Repatriation - Royal Court, Die Glasmenagerie - Theater Basel, Ghosts of the Near Future - Barbican, The Beginning - Staatstheater Mainz, International Tour, A View from the Bridge – Headlong); Movement Director, Laïla Diallo (The Man Who Planted Trees - Company Six-0, The Snowy Day - Can’t Sit Still/Polka Theatre, The Winter’s Tale, Oliver Twist - Tobacco Factory Theatres, ABBA Voyage live band choreography), Composer and Sound Designer, Timothy X Atack (as a composer, musician and sound designer he has worked with Angel Tech, North Sea Navigator, Neil Bartlett, Selina Thompson, Nik Partridge, Edgar Wright, Bodies In Flight, Nikesh Shukla, Bristol Old Vic, Channel 4, BBC Radio and English Heritage), Casting Director, Amy Ball (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Complicité, Bristol Old Vic/Barbican), Good (Harold Pinter Theatre) and Research and Evaluation Consultant, Dr Hassan Hussain (writer, researcher, and facilitator specialising in queer narratives, histories and futures on stage).

Bristol Old Vic Artistic Director, Nancy Medina said: “We're excited to be co-producing DELAY as part of our commitment to bold new writing, proudly originating in the South West. It is important that Bristol artists get support to work in their home-city and it’s important that the city can be a home for brilliant new work. We can't wait for our audiences to enjoy DELAY, brought to life by this impressive team.”

Producer, Amanda Fawcett said: “I have wanted to start my own company for a long time and I can’t think of a better project or partners to launch the company with. When I read DELAY, I just knew we had to find a way to get it to the stage - I can’t wait for Bristol audiences (and beyond) to connect and yearn and fall in love with this queer, sci-fi epic.” 

DELAY is being made possible by an Arts Council England National Lottery Project grant, and is part of a wider project to upscale independent artists, the project also includes development of Babel’s Cupid (Runner-up, Yale Drama Series 2020) by Timothy X Atack, Directed by Tanuja Amarasuriya and Produced by Amanda Fawcett Productions Ltd - it’s being developed with the support of the National Theatre’s Generate programme.

Arts Council England said: “We are pleased to support Amanda Fawcett Productions and their work to develop opportunities for underrepresented artists in the South West. It’s particularly exciting to see DELAY be co-produced by Bristol Old Vic – part of our current national portfolio – and led by a crop of Bristol-based talent. Thanks to National Lottery players, we can continue to invest in ambitious creativity and culture across the country.”