The Faction Theatre Company


The Faction is a London-based theatre company.

The Faction is beginning to develop a real signature in imaginative, contemporary and visceral versions of the classics. Amid the current debate between the rise of new writing and lack of classical work on London stages, this enterprising and determined company is doing us all a service. – The Stage
It's a bold, brave enterprise – ''The Guardian

Company

After seeing the Schaubühne Berlin at Edinburgh International Festival in 2004, Mark Leipacher created The Faction Theatre Company in 2008. The Faction became a registered charity in 2011. Their first production was Richard III at the Brockley Jack Theatre, London, in October 2008. The Faction is now led by two artistic directors; Mark Leipacher and Rachel Valentine Smith, and is supported by a core ensemble of eleven actors and associate artists.

Ensemble

During The Faction's formative years, they toured across the UK, played studio theatres across London, and established an open-air season in Brockwell Park. They were then invited to be an associate ensemble of the New Diorama Theatre. With the support of their 5-year relationship at The New Diorama, The Faction was able to trial a more permanent model of working in repertory theatre, with a core ensemble.
Since 2012, The Faction have produced five annual sell-out repertory seasons, engaging with over 26,000 audience members and 4,000 students. In 2016, The Faction partnered with Selfridges to create an auditorium in their Oxford Street store for Shakespeare 400 celebrations, where they produced a version of Much Ado About Nothing to critical acclaim. The Faction took their work even further afield later that year, in partnership with the British Council, and the American University of Beirut, producing and co-directing an Arabic premiere production of King Lear.
In addition to Shakespeare, The Faction have produced work by other classic writers such Cervantes, Euripedes, Gorky, Lorca and Schiller. They also bridge the divide between classics and new writing by engaging some of the UK's most exciting and emerging writers. To date, this has included Ranjit Bolt, Gareth Jandrell, Emily Juniper and two unique projects: Reptember and Demetrius.
Reptember is an Off West End award-nominated project, consisting of 12 classic texts adapted for solo performance by some of our most promising playwrights, including Jessica Sian and Will Gore.
Demetrius is an ongoing portmanteau project to complete Schiller's final unfinished work. Established writers such as April de Angelis, Glyn Maxwell and Simon Reade complete a "unit" before passing the baton to up and coming writers like Jon Brittain and Daniel Kanaber.

Productions

The Faction have been awarded the Peter Brook Ensemble Award and won the OffWestEnd award for Best Ensemble. In addition, they have been nominated for OffWestEnd awards in the following categories: Best Director / Best Actor / Best Supporting Actress / Best Supporting Actor / Best Lighting Design and Most Promising New Playwright. The Faction were also nominated for OffWestEnd's TBC Award – for the productions that defy traditional categories. In addition, The Faction were nominated for Best Artistic Director at the London Theatre Awards, and for the Individual Award at the National Stage Management Awards.