Brock's Mill

Brock's Mill description

About the Show

Forty years ago, Bluebell Studios was the home workshop where Bernard animated children's television frame by frame, his wife Annie sewed the costumes and their daughter May played outside. Now the workshop is a mausoleum to his career, and Bernard lives there alone among his armatures, scripts and models. Then May, all grown up, comes back with questions.

Brock's Mill is a new family drama from the Royal Shakespeare Company, premiering in The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon before its London premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith, presented in association with the Lyric. A homage to the craft of stop-motion film-making and an exploration of the corrosive power of nostalgia, it features stop-motion animation by award-winning animator Astrid Goldsmith.

Cast and Creatives

The play is written by Stewart Pringle, the RSC's Writer-in-Residence. It is directed by Rufus Norris, artistic director and chief executive of the National Theatre from 2015 to 2025, whose productions include Festen, which won him an Evening Standard Award, London Road and Cabaret; this is his first London production since leaving the National. Set and costume design is by Katrina Lindsay, projection design by Jon Driscoll, and Astrid Goldsmith is stop-motion animation creator and puppetry director.

Why You Should Watch It

A new play about memory and family, told through the handmade world of stop-motion animation. Book your tickets for its London premiere.

Playing at Lyric Hammersmith (venue info)