Frantic Assembly brings The Unreturning to the Everyman

With the centenary of the Armistice of 1918 only weeks away, the Liverpool Everyman is set to play host to a show which explores young men’s homecoming from war.

Acclaimed physical theatre company Frantic Assembly presents The Unreturning at the Hope Street theatre for four nights this month.

And these newly-released images show what audiences can expect from the new play by Bruntwood prize-winner Anna Jordan.

In a British northern coastal town, three young men are coming home.

In 1918 George returns from the Western Front. In 2013 Frankie is back from his final tour of Afghanistan. And some time in the not-too-distant future, Nat returns from an overseas refugee camp to what was his hometown.

But what does coming home really mean? What is home? And when experience has shattered you into a million pieces, will home help to put you together again, or treat you as an ugly truth it does not want to confront?

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Jordan explains: “The idea was born out of lots of exciting discussions with Neil (Bettles, the director) and Scott (Graham – Frantic Assembly’s artistic director) and the team at Frantic.

“We were interested in exploring how it feels to come home after a transformative experience; particularly through the eyes of a young man – as this project was inspired by Frantic’s Ignition scheme, which celebrates its 10th birthday this year.”

Ignition is a free national training programme for young men aged 16 to 20, and seeks out talent in unusual places, from sports groups to youth centres, staging taster and trial workshops which lead to a dozen young men forming the Ignition Company.

All four members of the cast – Joe Layton, Jared Garfield, Jonnie Riordon and Kieton Saunders-Browne - were part of the Ignition programme before they went on to train professionally and forge a career as actors.

Meanwhile previous Frantic Assembly productions seen at the Everyman and Playhouse include Things I Know To Be True and Man to Man.

The Unreturning is at the Liverpool Everyman from October 16-20. Tickets from the website HERE