Selladoor Worldwide today announce the selection of two Companion Producers Anya Winful and Shivaike Shah who will join their in-house training programme for 6 months as part of a bridging initiative supported by the Government Culture Recovery fund from the DCMS.
Anya Winful is passionate about making theatre that tells the human stories behind big issues. She is an associate producer for Out The Attic Productions and has recently completed a course with the National Theatre and studied Management of Music, Entertainment, Theatre and Events at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Anya says “I’m really excited to be one of Selladoor’s companion producers and can’t wait to work alongside such a talented team and learn all I can for them! An opportunity like this is invaluable and will set me on a great path to develop professionally.”
Shivaike Shah has worked in fashion, theatre, and film. Graduating in English Literature from Oxford. Within three months Shivaike was working as backstage manager and presentation manager at Fashion Scout’s London Fashion Week. He then went on to produce catwalks and catalogues for Seventy7, Marks and Spencer, and Pritch. He was promoted to Show Producer at Fashion Scout’s LFW AW/20. Last year, he co-founded his all-diverse production company Khameleon Productions, and has since been awarded two successful ACE grants, private funding from the UK and US, and a partnership with Digital Theatre. He also recently completed the Amplify scheme and the B3 Media Origins Scheme whilst also working with Theatre Centre as their Schools Outreach Coordinator. Shivaike says “Selladoor’s opportunity to be a companion producer is a unique chance to learn the workings of commercial producing. I am excited to be a part of the company, to gain experience in so many different facets of producing, and to develop my own skills as a producer”
The companion Producer Scheme is designed to provide a rounded insight into all areas of Producing; The companion producers will spend time working within all areas of Selladoor Worldwide including Production, Programming, Development and Marketing teams, whilst being mentored by an in-house Producer.
David Hutchinson CEO at Selladoor Worldwide says “Thanks to this support from the DCMS we’re delighted to welcome both Anya and Shivaike on board with our companion producer scheme, both of whom demonstrate a huge passion for theatre and the ambition to forge a career within arts management and theatre production. We can’t wait to begin working with them to help them to gain more hands-on experience and insight into the full process of producing a theatrical show, from early stages of development to going into rehearsals to opening and running”
SOLT and UK Theatre launch series of affordable mental health and wellbeing webinars
A series of 10 affordable webinars, hosted by SOLT and UK Theatre and presented by expert facilitators, have been programmed between 26 April and 31 May 2021 to support the mental health and wellbeing of offstage theatre workers.
Booking is now open for the first few sessions, and details of all the upcoming sessions can be found on TheatreMeansBusiness.info, SOLT and UK Theatre’s online learning website.
Five webinars will focus on supporting your personal and professional wellbeing – for everyone, with sessions including managing stress, staying resilient in uncertain times, ways to wellness, looking after your body to look after your mind, and secular mindfulness.
Another five webinars will focus on supporting the professional wellbeing of others – for managers and leaders, including nurturing resilient teams, making the business case for wellbeing, mitigating the effects of racism, supporting teams through rapid complex change, and strategies for organisational recovery.
Covering a wide range of topics, these 10 distinct, standalone sessions will be delivered by a diverse group of providers, and have been curated to provide something of relevance to everyone in the theatre sector.
There will be a tiered pricing structure for attendees, with free places available for unemployed or freelancers, £5 tickets for SOLT and UK Theatre members and members of other trade associations, and £10 tickets for those not members of any membership bodies.
Any net profit will be donated to the Theatre Artists Fund, which provides emergency financial aid to struggling theatre freelancers. Webinars will be broadcast live, with recordings publicly available afterwards on theatremeansbusiness.info.
BSL Interpretation and Live Captioning will be provided on request, and SOLT and UK Theatre are committed to fulfilling all access requirements to the best of their ability. Anyone wanting to discuss any specific requests should contact the events team at the time of booking.
Theatre Graduates hit by Covid closures given a chance to shine!
Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre and Opera House, in collaboration with professional performers from London’s West End, have given two 2020 Musical Theatre graduates the opportunity to perform in their first professional show.
In February 2021, the theatre launched ‘Waiting in the Wings’, a live streamed show, which saw six West End stars perform on stage at the Tyne Theatre. Due to the success of the inaugural show, a second performance is scheduled for the 9th April 2021, and this time two newcomers have been given the opportunity to perform in their first professional show since graduating from their training course.
It has been a year since the pandemic brought the closure of all theatres across the country, leaving 100s of men and women coming to the end of their theatre training in despair, wondering what the future would hold in their dream career. The producers of the ‘Waiting in the Wings’ show, including former Resident Director of The Phantom of the Opera, Mark Hedges, felt this could be a fantastic opportunity for those who have missed out on having their debuts since graduating.
Mark says, “The pandemic has devastated our industry and it is so sad that those who have trained so hard for 3 years have not had that opportunity to perform and put their training to work. The cast of our first ‘Waiting in the Wings’ show were so overwhelmed at being back performing on stage once again, that we felt this would be an amazing opportunity to share with some newcomers who haven’t been able to experience that first performance buzz.”
In early March, a ‘Search for a Star’ was launched across social media and the creative team were inundated with self-tapes from hopeful graduates hoping to get their big break. Following days of reviewing all the entries, the producers announced Ainsley Fannen from Sunderland and Katie Ramshaw from Leicester as the successful graduates, who will tread the boards in April, alongside a cast of West End professionals.
Both Ainsley and Katie were preparing for their final showcase, where they would have been given the opportunity to perform for prospective agents, when the pandemic closed their schools, and they had no choice but to leave London and return to their hometowns. Having spent the last year seeking employment wherever possible whilst still trying to secure an agent and future work, this opportunity has given them both a much-needed boost and a great kick start to their dream career.
Ainsley says, “I effectively grew up in the North East’s Theatre’s so to have the opportunity to perform in a concert that helps to support them in these difficult times is not only an honour but something I am extremely proud to be a part of”.
Katie added, “Graduating in 2020 has had its struggles, so I’m absolutely thrilled to be given this opportunity to be back on stage and sing with West End Stars in ‘Waiting in the Wings’!”.
The success of these live streamed shows has been a major boost for the North East venue who has struggled through the constant closures and restrictions imposed this last year. The goal is to raise £30,000 to ensure the theatre doors can open once they are able to do so.
The next ‘Waiting in the Wings’ will take place on Friday 9th April 2021 at 7.30pm and tickets are priced at £20 per household plus £3 booking fee. To book visit www.stream.theatre/season/47.
For further event and performer details visit: www.facebook.com/WITWLive www.twitter.com/WITWLive2021 www.instagram.com/waitinginthewingslive
Morphic Graffiti is delighted to present the UK Spiegel Tent Tour of
THE REVENGE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES!
A Musical Hall Musical of Elementary Magnificence
UK Tour from August 2021
Morphic Graffiti are delighted to present the UK tour of Leslie Bricusse’s The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes! Entering the lavish foot lit interior of the vintage Spiegel tent, audiences will be immediately transported into a world of Victorian Music Hall, as Sherlock Holmes, the ultimate solver of problems, finds himself at the centre of a new conundrum. Led by a gifted troupe of 14 actor musicians, this uniquely immersive production begins its tour in August in Leicester followed by Coventry and Birmingham with further venues and locations to be announced.
Written by renowned Oscar winning British playwright and composer, Leslie Bricusse (Scrooge, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Jekyll and Hyde) The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes! takes you on a rollercoaster ride filled with magic, mayhem and Moriarty; as Sherlock and his sidekick Dr Watson attempt to uncover the truth behind several seemingly unconnected incidents, coinciding with the strange emergence of a dark presence that is savagely intent upon revenge, no matter the cost…
From Billingsgate Market to the Royal Academy, audiences will be taken through the sights and sounds of Holmes’s London in a new musical tale that showcases some of the best examples of Music Hall and Variety tradition including (amongst other things) live music, puppetry, ballet, illusion, audience sing-a-long, opera and comedy.
Pip Minnithorpe directs. The creative team includes designer Stewart J Charlesworth, lighting designer Zoe Spurr, choreographer Sundeep Saini, magic consultant Thomas Moore with orchestrations and musical supervision by Dan De Cruz.
Casting and full list of venues and dates to be announced shortly.
The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes! is unique in finding itself clear of many of the issues currently facing traditional venues, being a large and well-ventilated tented space. This means that the tour can operate where traditional theatre spaces may not be able to. The production will travel around the country in its spacious vintage Spiegel tent, provided and managed by The Theatre Tent Company, bringing an opulent yet intimate immersive theatrical experience.
The Theatre Tent Co. were pioneers of Covid safe tented venue operations with shows operating safely through 2020 with not one single safety infraction or infection recorded. This tour shall have its own dedicated compliance officer to ensure the highest safety standards and best practices observed at all times.
Morphic Graffiti originally presented The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes! in April/May 2013 a production that was nominated for 3 Off West End Awards, including Best Musical Production.
ONLINE VERSION AVAILABLE FROM 15 APRIL TO 31 JULY 2021
Following a highly productive and successful season of online productions, Original Theatre Company is delighted to announce its first live stage production since March 2020. The UK Tour of Ben Brown’s new political drama, A SPLINTER OF ICE, will open on 8 June in Malvern and will tour until 31 July. The production, starring Oliver Ford Davies as Graham Greene and Stephen Boxer as Kim Philby and directed by Alan Strachan with Alastair Whatley, has also been filmed on stage at the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre and will be released online via originaltheatreonline.com from 15 April until 31 July 2021. Whilst Sara Crowe will play Rufa Philby in the online version, she is unavailable for the tour, so the casting for Rufa on tour is to be confirmed.
Moscow 1987 and the cold war begins to thaw. After declining his offer for more than 30 years, novelist Graham Greene travels into the heart of the Soviet Union to meet with his old MI6 boss, Kim Philby. Under the watchful eye of Russian memoirist and Philby’s last wife, Rufa, the two men set about catching up on old times. With a new world order breaking out around them, how much did the writer of The Third Man know about Philby’s secret life as a spy and did Philby betray his friend as well as his country?
From the writer of the award-winning West End play Three Days in May, which inspired the Oscar-winning film Darkest Hour, Ben Brown’s new political drama explores an unlikely friendship; a friendship interwoven with deceit and loyalty. Ben said of this production of A SPLINTER OF ICE, “I’m thrilled to be working again with Alan Strachan and Oliver Ford Davies and to be joining forces with Stephen Boxer, Sara Crowe and Alastair Whatley for the premiere, at last, of my new play, online prior to a national tour.”
Alastair Whatley, Artistic Director of Original Theatre Company, said, “I am thrilled that we are producing Ben’s fantastic new play with such a wonderful cast and creative team. The plan was to open this in front of audiences at the end of March, but alas, once again, plans have changed. Instead of cancelling, we will now film the production at the beautiful Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, releasing the play to our audiences around the world, before then returning to stages across the UK as soon as theatres re-open.”
Oliver Ford Davies is an Olivier Award-winning actor whose recent theatre includes Peter Gynt (National Theatre & Edinburgh International Festival), Troilus and Cressida (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Chalk Garden (Chichester Festival Theatre), Richard II (RSC, Barbican & BAM, New York), Henry IV Part II (RSC, Barbican, China Tour & BAM, New York), Henry V (RSC, Barbican, China Tour & BAM, New York) and Goodnight Mister Tom (Phoenix West End & Tour – Olivier Award ‘Best Entertainment and Family’ 2013). He won Best Actor at the 1990 Olivier Awards for his performance in David Hare’s Racing Demon (National Theatre). Recent film and television credits include Christopher Robin, The Last Witness, Father Brown, Marple and Game of Thrones.
Stephen Boxer’s theatre credits include The Remains of the Day (UK Tour), Titus Andronicus, The Heresy of Love, The Taming Of The Shrew, Bartholomew Fair, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, The Herbal Bed, The White Devil, The Duchess Of Malfi, Richard III (all for the RSC), Macbeth, King Lear, Aristocrats, Volpone (all for the National Theatre), The Hypochondriac and A Chaste Maid InCheapside (for Almeida Theatre). Stephen’s most recent television credits include Denis Thatcher in The Crown, Small Axe, David Elster in Humans and Poldark. He also played Rene Azaire in Original Theatre’s highly acclaimed online production of Birdsong earlier this year.
A SPLINTER OF ICE is directed by Alan Strachan with Alastair Whatley and designed by Michael Pavelka, with original music composed and sound designed by Max Pappenheim, lighting designed by Jason Taylor and casting by Ellie Collyer-Bristow CDG.
A SPLINTER OF ICE is produced by Original Theatre Company.
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS CHARLOTTE BENNETT AND KATIE POSNER ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR 2021
PAINES PLOUGH REPURPOSE THEIR SEASON TO PRESENT A PROMISE TO 2021, A PROMISE TO SUPPORT THEIR COMMUNITIES AND A HOPE TO SHARE THEIR STORIES
THE FIRST EVER WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR PLAYWRITING WINNER – REASONS YOU SHOULD(N’T) LOVEME BY AMY TRIGG, A TRAGICOMEDY ABOUT SELF-LOVE, SPINA BIFIDA, AND HOW SHIT AND WONDERFUL LIFE CAN BE – TO PREMIERE AT THE KILN IN MAY
PART OF BELGRADE THEATRE’S COVENTRY UK CITY OF CULTURE 2021 PROGRAMME, ROUNDABOUT 2021 WILL FEATURE FOUR WORLD PREMIERES
MAY QUEEN WRITTEN BY FRANKIE MEREDITH, DIRECTED BY 2021 CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF BELGRADE THEATRE BALISHA KARRA – A COMING-OF-AGE STORY ABOUT A YOUNG WOMAN FROM COVENTRY ON A QUEST TO FIND HER PLACE IN HER CITY AND IN THE WORLD
HUNGRY WRITTEN BY CHRIS BUSH, DIRECTED BY PAINES PLOUGH’S JOINT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR KATIE POSNER – A PLAY ABOUT FOOD, GRIEF AND CLASS
BLACK LOVE WRITTEN BY CHINONYEREM ODIMBA, WHO WILL BE CO-DIRECTING WITH KATIE POSNER – A BRAND NEW MUSICAL CELEBRATING BLACK LOVE IN ASSOCIATION WITH TIATA FAHODZIREALLY BIG AND REALLY LOUD WRITTEN BY PHOEBE ECLAIR-POWELL, DIRECTED BY KATIE POSNER – A FAMILY SHOW ABOUT RESILIENCE AND FINDING YOUR VOICE
A NEW PLAY FROM IFEYINWA FREDERICK, DIRECTED BY PHILIP MORRIS, ABOUT THE COMPLEXITIES OF MENTAL HEALTH IN YOUNG MEN, SESSIONS, IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH SOHO THEATRE, WILL TOUR THE UK FROM SEPTEMBER
EACH PRODUCTION WILL INCLUDE NEW INTEGRATED INITIATIVES AND CHARITY PARTNERSHIPS IN RESPONSE TO CURRENT EVENTS
VICKIE DONOGHUE WILL DIGITALLY PRESENT A NEW PLAY THE ELECTRIC IN COLLABORATION WITH ROYAL WELSH COLLEGE OF MUSIC AND DRAMA ONLINE FROM 21 MAY
THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR PLAYWRITING WILL RETURN FOR 2021 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ELLIE KEEL PRODUCTIONS AND PRINCIPAL PARTNER45NORTH
PAINES PLOUGH ANNOUNCE NOUVEAU RICHE AND BONNIE AND THE BONNETTES AS COMPANIES ON THEIR RE:BUILD INITIATIVE, SUPPORTING UNDER-REPRESENTED COMPANIES TO BUILD RESILIENCE
THE COMPANY ALSO TRIAL A NEW ‘OPEN SUBMISSIONS’ INITIATIVE FOR WRITERS VIA THEIR NEW WEBSITE.
Artistic Directors Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner today announce plans for Paines Plough 2021. The year’s programme will see the company return with a team of trailblazing writers in theatre including Chris Bush, Vickie Donoghue, Phoebe Eclair-Powell, Ifeyinwa Frederick, Chinonyerem Odimba, Frankie Meredith and Amy Trigg. The work announced today is presented as an intention. The company recognises the instability of the current environment, both within the sector and beyond. In response to this, Paines Plough are integrating new initiatives and partnerships into their programme in accordance with the themes and issues that their work addresses. Throughout the year they will work with projects that focus on platforming under-represented voices in theatre, as well as collaborating with food banks and mental health charities across their programme
Paines Plough’s Joint Artistic Directors Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner:
“This year we want to make a Promise to 2021 because the world has changed and so have we.
If anything, 2020 has taught us there are no definites but that there is always hope. We are artists, we are activists and 2021 is about discovering how best we can reconnect and serve our national communities after the year we have all been through.
Our Promise to 2021 is a promise of hope. A hope to make some plays, a hope to make them with some people and a hope to share them with our national audiences.
In 2021, we promise to share the stories that should have been shared in 2020 as they are powerful, vital and need to be celebrated, along with new voices and a whole heap more.
We recognise that the world in which we will deliver these plays is now radically different. Our commitment to our communities will lay at the heart of what we deliver, with new bespoke spin-off projects that respond to the present moment.
We will always put artists and audience’s safety first. We will only make and share work where it is safe to do so.
And finally, we will make some heart-stopping, feet-stomping, hair-raising, amazing shows. It’s been a while. Let us at it.
Hope to see you there.”This year’s work will showcase ground-breaking voices reacting to the world around them. Some of 2020’s programme will return after being postponed due to the pandemic. Covid-19 has exposed the magnitude of systemic inequality around the world, pushing these issues to the front of our discourse. Paines Plough’s new season and new writers are returning to the stage to remind audiences why theatre is so crucial to continuing these conversations. The Women’s Prize for Playwriting in collaboration with Ellie Keel Productions and principal partner 45North will return after its first year in 2020. Last year’s winner Amy Trigg’s new play REASONS YOU SHOULD(N’T) LOVE ME – a tragicomedy about self-love, spina bifida, and how shit and wonderful life can be, co-produced with the Women’s Prize for Playwriting, 45North and the Kiln, will be the first production of the company’s season playing at the Kiln from 21 May to 12 June. The Women’s Prize for Playwriting submissions for 2021 will open on 7 April when the judging panel will be announced. Roundabout will return as part of Belgrade Theatre’s Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 Programme. Its unseen 2020 line-up includes a musical as one of the company’s lead productions; Chinonyerem Odimba’s new work, BLACK LOVE explores love and relationships with music by Ben and Max Ringham, in association with tiata fahodzi following Odimba’s new role as Artistic Director of the company. This will be playing in rep with Chris Bush’s new play HUNGRY investigating food and our dysfunctional relationships with our bodies and Phoebe Eclair-Powell’s new family show REALLY BIG AND REALLY LOUD about a girl who loses her voice and goes on a madcap adventure to find it again. Paines Plough’s 2019 Playwright Fellow Frankie Meredith joins the line-up this year with her new play directed by 2021 Co-Artistic Director of Belgrade Theatre Balisha Karra, MAY QUEEN – a coming-of-age story about a young woman from Coventry on a quest to find her place in her city and in the world. Originally planned for last season, Ifeyinwa Frederick’s SESSIONS, exploring the complexities of mental health in young men, will tour the UK from September before playing at Soho Theatre. Paines Plough will be partnering with Trybe House Theatre, a newly formed company which seeks to actively build resilience and self well-being, particularly with young black men aged 16-25, using theatre as a supportive outlet. Together, they will deliver a programme of theatre workshops to national audiences alongside the SESSIONS tour. Vickie Donoghue is added to the line up with new play THE ELECTRIC which will be performed by the Richard Burton Company – the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s in-house theatre company. The play is part of NEW ’21, the Richard Burton Company’s new writing festival, and is recorded for digital release on 21 May. Paines Plough has added two theatre companies to its latest initiative Re: Build. Nouveau Riche and Bonnie and The Bonnettes join the programme, which has been created to support companies in building their resilience and strengthening their strategic plans during this challenging period. The company will also be trialling a new Open Submissions programme, whereby during certain windows throughout the year writers can submit their scripts via the Paines Plough website. The scripts will be read by the artistic team and all writers will then have a face to face meeting. The programme is targeted at writers without representation to ensure Paines Plough connect with more writers beyond their existing networks and to hopefully help create a more transparent process. Paines Plough’s season is supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation.
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A Women’s Prize for Playwriting, Paines Plough, 45North and Kiln Theatre production REASONS YOU SHOULD(N’T) LOVE ME by Amy Trigg Kiln Theatre Directed by Charlotte Bennett
For a long time I didn’t know how it’d work. Or what I’d be able to feel. People would ask me if I could have sex and I’d feign shock and act wildly offended whilst secretly wanting to grab them by the shoulders and be like “I don’t know, Janet!”
Juno was born with spina bifida and is now clumsily navigating her twenties amidst street healers, love, loneliness – and the feeling of being an unfinished project.
Winner of The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2020, Amy Trigg’s remarkable debut play REASONS YOU SHOULD(N’T) LOVE ME is a hilarious, heart-warming tale about how shit our wonderful lives can be.
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ROUNDABOUT 2021
The 2021 ROUNDABOUT programme will include World Premieres from Chris Bush (Steel, The Changing Room), Chinonyerem Odimba ((Princess & The Hustler, Medea), Phoebe Eclair-Powell(Fury, Epic Love and Pop Songs) performed in rep, directed by Katie Posner, and a world premiere from Frankie Meredith, also performed in rep and directed by Balisha Karra, 2021 Co-Artistic Director of Belgrade Theatre. Balisha was Paines Plough’s Trainee Director in 2018. The season will be part of Belgrade Theatre’s Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 Programme and BLACK LOVE will be co-directed by Katie Posner and Chinonyerem Odimba and produced in association with tiata fahodzi following Odimba’s new role as Artistic Director of the company.
Roundabout is Paines Plough’s award-winning portable in-the-round auditorium and 2021 will see it return for the seventh consecutive year. This year, in co-production with Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, Roundabout will also host a programme of visiting companies, comedy, music and local community events. Full listings will be announced in due course.
Paines Plough are planning to partner with food banks across the Roundabout tour to support those most affected by the pandemic, and in line with REALLY BIG AND REALLY LOUD by Phoebe Eclair-Powell they plan to work with young people across the country on using their voices after over a year kept away from their friends and peers.
Roundabout is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and has been additionally supported by the Theatre’s Trust.
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A Paines Plough and Belgrade Theatre production HUNGRY by Chris Bush Directed by Katie Posner
“I’d watch you eat. I’d eat you up. You’re not like them, are you? You’re real.”
Lori is a professional chef. Bex waits tables to make ends meet. One night together in a walk-in fridge and the rest is history.
Lori has big plans, but Bex is struggling. If we are what we eat, then Bex is in real trouble. It’s not her fault though – the system is rigged. No-one on minimum wage and zero hours has the headspace to make their own yoghurt.
HUNGRY is a new play about food, love, class and grief in a world where there’s little left to savour.
Chris is an award-winning playwright, lyricist and theatre-maker. Her past work includes Pericles (National Theatre); The Assassination Of Katie Hopkins (Theatr Clwyd); Standing At The Sky’s Edge, Steel (both Sheffield Theatres) and The Changing Room (NT Connections). Upcoming work includes Faustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong/Lyric Hammersmith/Birmingham Rep); The Last Noel (Attic Theatre) and a new musical adaptation of The Caucasian Chalk Circle (National Theatre).
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A Paines Plough and Belgrade Theatre production in Association with tiata fahodzi Part of Belgrade Theatre’s Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 programme BLACK LOVE Book and Lyrics by Chinonyerem Odimba Music byBen and Max Ringham Directed by Katie Posner and Chinonyerem Odimba
Introducing Roundabout’s first ever musical.
Love freely. Love freedom. Love. Meet Aurora and Orion: Sister and Brother. Constellations in time. More than blood. More than just fam. They look after each other in their small London flat, filled with the memories of their parents’ Black Love.
When that love is threatened, they have to find their way back to each other and to what it means to love whilst Black. Using real-life stories, imagined worlds and new songs inspired by an R&B heritage, they begin a journey to confronting their own worst fears.
BLACK LOVE is an explosion of form busting storytelling, an ode to Black music, and those real stories we rarely hear.Chinonyerem is a Nigeria-born, Bristol based playwright, director and poet. Her work for theatre includes The Bird Woman of Lewisham at the Arcola; Rainy Season, and His Name is Ishmael for Bristol Old Vic; Joanne for Clean Break and Amongst The Reeds for Clean Break and The Yard; a modern retelling of Twist (Theatre Centre). More recent work ranges from Medea at Bristol Old Vic, We Too, Are Giants for Kiln Theatre, Unknown Rivers at Hampstead Theatre, Prince and the Pauper at Watermill Theatre, and The Seven Ages of Patience at Kiln Theatre, and Princess & The Hustler’ which toured across the UK for Eclipse Theatre’/Bristol Old Vic/HullTruck. Her work has been shortlisted for several awards including the Adrienne Benham and Alfred Fagon awards. In 2015 her unproduced play Wild is De Wind was shortlisted to the final ten for the Bruntwood Playwriting Award. She is the winner for the 2018 Sonia Friedman Award (Channel 4 Playwright Bursary) for a new play ‘How to Walk on the Moon’.
She is currently working on theatre commissions for Young Vic, RSC, and Paines Plough. She is also Writer-in-Residence at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Chinonyerem is the Artistic Director of tiata fahodzi.
Ben and Max Ringham’s credits include Cyrano De Bergerac (Playhouse Theatre); When the Crows Visit, The Seven Ages of Patience (Kiln Theatre); The Man in the White Suit (Wyndham’s Theatre); Games For Lovers (Vault Theatre); Anna, Tartuffe (National Theatre); Betrayal, Pinter at the Pinter (Harold Pinter Theatre and Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Broadway); Berberian Sound Studio, Belleville (Donmar Warehouse); Dick Whittington (Lyric Hammersmith); The Wolves (Theatre Royal Stratford East); King Lear (Duke of York’s Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre); Quiz (Noel Coward and Chichester Festival Theatre); Strangers on a Train, Gaslight (ATG); Parliament Square, Our Town, The Mighty Walzer (Manchester Royal Exchange); Apologia, Lunch & The Bow of Ulysses, Doctor Faustus, The Maids (Trafalgar Studios); Twilight Song (Park Theatre); Gloria (Hampstead Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatr Clwyd); Pygmalion (Headlong/West Yorkshire Playhouse/Nuffield); The Miser (Garrick Theatre); The Pitchfork Disney (Shoreditch Town Hall); The Dresser, Jeeves and Wooster (Duke of York’s); After Miss Julie (Theatre Royal Bath); Deathtrap (Salisbury Playhouse); The Government Inspector (Birmingham Rep); Raz (Assembly Theatre/Riverside Studios); Queen Anne (RSC/Theatre Royal Haymarket); Ben Hur, A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Multitudes (Tricycle Theatre); La Musica, Ah, Wilderness! (Young Vic); The Mentalists (Wyndham’s Theatre) and many more.
* A Paines Plough and Belgrade Theatre production Part of Belgrade Theatre’s Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 programme REALLY BIG AND REALLY LOUD by Phoebe Eclair-Powell Directed by Katie Posner
This is a story. Charli’s story.
It’s about losing your voice and going on a big adventure to find it again. It features a rageful rhino, a very helpful fly called Stephen and some really good songs about chips.
A show for all the family from award-winning playwright Phoebe Eclair-Powell.
Phoebe is a writer from South East London. Her recent play Shed: Exploded View won the prestigious Bruntwood Award for 2019. Her latest play Harm is due to be produced at the Bush theatre early 2021, and will be filmed by BBC Culture in Quarantine.
Phoebe has written for award winning Channel 4 Continuing Drama Hollyoaks and an episode of Sky comedy Two Weeks To Live with Maisie Williams. Phoebe is currently under commission with Reading Rep, Newcastle Live Theatre and The Bush Theatre. *
A Paines Plough and Belgrade Theatre production Part of Belgrade Theatre’s Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 programme MAY QUEEN By Frankie Meredith Directed by Balisha KarraMay Day in Coventry, 2022. Sixteen-year-old Leigh has been chosen as May Queen. She’s buzzin, as is the rest of the city.The cider is flowing and St George’s flag is flying – but an encounter during the day’s festivities will soon change everything. As the year moves on in the City of Peace and Reconciliation, Leigh must face up to the events of that hot May Day, and dig deep within herself to ask – how did she get here? Frankie is a midlands-based playwright and theatre maker. Having gained a place on the Lyric Hammersmith Young Writers Programme she started writing short plays which were performed at various theatres around London. She wrote her first full-length play Turkey while on the Soho Writers Lab which was produced at The Hope Theatre in 2017 to rave reviews and Off West End nominations. Finding Peter, a play for young audiences, was taken up to Edinburgh and had two subsequent runs in London and her play 17 was produced at Vaults Festival by Wildcard Theatre and is currently being developed for television. Frankie is currently working on a musical-storytelling-ensemble piece about women from her area, along with Warwick Arts Centre, which will tour Coventry and Warwickshire in 2021. Her film Clementines recently won ‘Best Short’ at the British International Film Festival and she has recently written and directed her own web-series Becoming Danish. Frankie was Paines Plough’s Playwright Fellow in 19-20 during which time she had some of her work translated into Catalan and performed in Barcelona.
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A Paines Plough and Soho Theatre production SESSIONS by Ifeyinwa Frederick Directed by Philip Morris
In 2019 Paines Plough co-commissioned a new play by Ifeyinwa Frederick, one of the 2019 Soho Six, in a yearlong attachment programme for artists run by Soho Theatre. As part of their 2021 season Paines Plough, together with Soho Theatre, present the result.
“30 just matters, init. Like there’s no doubt you’re a proper adult then. Like 25 to 29 is just training but 30, it’s real.”
Tunde’s 30th birthday is fast approaching. So, he’s just started therapy because he hasn’t been able to get to the gym for weeks and a recent one night stand ended in tears – his.
Interrogating the challenge of opening up and accepting our own vulnerabilities, SESSIONS by Ifeyinwa Frederick is a raw, funny, bittersweet deep-dive into the complexities of masculinity, depression and therapy.
The production debuts in September 2021 with a national tour before playing at Soho Theatre in November 2021. This will be the third production in a multi-year partnership with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Ifeyinwa is a fervent believer in the power of storytelling and human connection, which fuels her work as a writer and entrepreneur. In need of a creative outlet outside of her business, she began writing and joined Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab. Supported by the programme, she wrote her debut play The Hoes which received a full production at Hampstead Theatre in 2018. The play was shortlisted for the Tony Craze Award and Character 7 Award and longlisted for the Verity Bargate Award. Writing alongside her full-time job as co-founder of Chuku’s – the world’s first Nigerian tapas restaurant – she’s a Young British Foodie award winner and has been featured in Forbes’ list of 100 Female Founders in Europe.
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A Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama production in collaboration with Paines Plough THE ELECTRIC by Vickie Donoghue Directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike
Once again Paines Plough will partner with Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to showcase the world premiere of Vickie Donaghue’s new play. THE ELECTRIC will open in Cardiff on 23 March and be recorded for digital release later in the Spring.
The Electric nightclub is a sanctuary for Sasha. It is where she feels closest to her father. But its reputation is now one of faded glamour.
When everything the club has ever stood for is threatened, Sasha knows she must act. For her Dad’s memory to live on, Sasha must take her revenge – in the most violent and bloody way possible.
THE ELECTRIC is a contemporary re-telling of Electra by Sophocles, set in an Essex night club. It is a story about grief, greed and growing up.
For the first time since theatres closed on 16 March 2020, Kiln Theatre will re-open to share live performance with audiences with a season of work including three world premières – Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me by Amy Trigg, NW Trilogy by Moira Buffini, Suhayla El-Bushra and Roy Williams, and The Wife of Willesden adapted by Zadie Smith from Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath, and a major revival of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Ayad Akhtar’s The Invisible Hand.
Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham, said today, “After a long hard year, it is with great excitement that we can finally announce a return to live performance on the stage at Kiln Theatre. What we are looking forward to most is welcoming audiences back into our building. We cannot wait to join together in the shared experience of powerful story telling – to come out of our isolation and to laugh, debate and cry in company. This year has convinced us, more than ever before, there is nothing like the power of theatre to unite us and enable us to share the experiences and complexities of our varied lived experiences.
“It was important to us to bring new work to our audiences – to challenge and provoke new conversations. We’re opening our building with the world première of Amy Trigg’s Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me – the winner of the inaugural The Women’s Prize for Playwriting, which we will partner with Ellie Keel, Paines Plough and 45North to present.
“I will then return to my collaboration with the brilliant Ayad Akhtar with a major revival of his play The Invisible Hand – very much a play for the moment we have found ourselves inhabiting.
“Later this year we will stage NW Trilogy – three new plays by three essential and heart-felt voices, Moira Buffini, Suhayla El-Bushra and Roy Williams, and directed by our Associates Taio Lawson and Susie McKenna; and completing the season is the world première of Zadie Smith’s The Wife of Willesden. With our partners at Brent 2020: Borough of Culture, we are thrilled to present these two major works which are truly born of our community. We are proud to offer this wealth of new work across this year to allow audiences to discover theatre and its possibilities afresh with new meaning of what we have experienced over the past twelve months.”
The new season will be staged in a Covid safe environment following government advice.
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Directed by Charlotte Bennett; Designed by Jean Chan; Lighting Design by Guy Hoare
Composer and Sound Design by Elena Peña
21 May – 12 June
Captioned Performance, 7 June – 7.30pm
Post Show Discussion, 8 June – 7.30pm
Audio Described Performance, 10 June – 7.30pm
For a long time I didn’t know how it’d work. Or what I’d be able to feel. People would ask me if I could have sex and I’d feign shock and act wildly offended whilst secretly wanting to grab them by the shoulders and be like “I don’t know, Janet!”
Juno was born with spina bifida and is now clumsily navigating her twenties amidst street healers, love, loneliness – and the feeling of being an unfinished project.
Winner of The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2020, Amy Trigg’s remarkable debut play Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me is a hilarious, heart-warming tale about how shit our wonderful lives can be.
Amy Trigg is a writer and actor from Essex. Reason You Should(n’t) Love Me is her first full length play. Trigg’s essay An Ode to Improvisation (and Poehler and Fey) features in the book Feminist’s Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies) curated by Scarlett Curtis. She wrote two short digital plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Midsummer Festival in 2020, and her one-woman sketch The Rebrand won Colchester New Comedian of the Year 2016. Born with Spina bifida, she was the first wheelchair user to graduate from a performance course at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Charlotte Bennett directs. She is Joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough. Previously she was Associate Director at Soho Theatre where she led the new writing department, developing artists and commissions and programming the upstairs studio. For Paines Plough she has directed Run Sister Run by Chloë Moss. For Soho she has directed Whitewash by Gabriel Bisset-Smith, Happy Hour by Jack Rooke, curated a six-month off-site arts festival in Waltham Forest and led playwriting competition the Verity Bargate Award. Prior to this she was Artistic Director of Forward Theatre Project; an artists’ collective she founded. For Forward Theatre Project she made and directed new plays which toured nationally inspired by working in partnership with different communities around the UK and at venues including National Theatre, York Theatre Royal, Northern Stage, Derby Theatre, Live Theatre and The Lowry. As a freelance director she has worked extensively for Open Clasp Theatre Company, creating new plays inspired by marginalised women in the North-East. She also held the role of Creative Producer for theatre company RashDash where she toured experimental new theatre around the UK.
MAJOR REVIVAL
Kiln Theatre and Dasha Theatricals present
THE INVISIBLE HAND
by Ayad Akhtar
Cast: Tony Jayawardena, Scott Karim, Daniel Lapaine, Sid Sagar
Directed by Indhu Rubasingham; Designed by Lizzie Clachan; Lighting Design by Oliver Fenwick
Composer and Sound Design by Alexander Caplen
1 -31 July
Post Show Discussion, 13 July – 7.30pm
Audio Described Performance, 15 July – 7.30pm
Captioned Performance, 26 July – 7.30pm
You see we are prisoners of a corrupt country that is our own making. But don’t pretend you don’t participate. You do. Of course you do.
American banker Nick Bright knows that his freedom comes at a price. Confined to a cell in rural Pakistan, every second counts. Who will decide his fate? His captors, or the whims of the market?
Following a sold out run in 2016, Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham directs the first major revival of Ayad Akhtar’s tense, thrilling and ‘fiendishly clever’ (Financial Times) The Invisible Hand.
Ayad Akhtar (Barack Obama Favourite Book 2020 Homeland Elegies) is a Pulitzer Prize-winner, two-time Tony Award-nominee and winner of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Ayad Akhtar was born in New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the author of American Dervish, published in 25 languages worldwide and a 2012 Best Book of the Year at Kirkus Reviews, Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Shelf-Awareness, and O (Oprah) Magazine. His most recent novel, the critically acclaimed Homeland Elegies, was published in September. As a screenwriter, he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for The War Within. He has received commissions from Lincoln Center and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a graduate of Brown and Columbia Universities with degrees in Theater and Film Directing. The Invisible Hand premièred at the Repertory Theater of St Louis before a run at Kiln Theatre. Other theatre credits include Disgraced (American Theater Company in Chicago; Lincoln Center, New York and Bush Theatre – Pulitzer Prize for Drama) and The Who & The What (La Jolla Playhouse).
Tony Jayawardena returns to the theatre to play Imam Saleem – he previously appeared in White Teeth and The Invisible Hand. His theatre credits include Christmas at the Snow Globe (Shakespeare’s Globe), Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange Theatre), Young Marx (Bridge Theatre), Lions and Tigers, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), Bend It Like Beckham (Phoenix Theatre), The Roaring Girl, The Arden of Faversham, The White Devil, The Empress, Twelfth Night (RSC), Dick Whittington, Love and Stuff (Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Wind In The Willows (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Wah! Wah! Girls (Sadler’s Wells/ Kneehigh), Great Expectations (English Touring Theatre), The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Royal and Derngate, Northampton), London Assurance, All’s Well That Ends Well,England People Very Nice (National Theatre). For television his recent work includes The Duchess, The Crown,Ackley Bridge, The Tunnel, The Windsors, Strike Back, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby; and for film, his work includes Towerblock, Trance and A Cat Named Bob.
Scott Karim plays Bashir. His theatre work includes The Arrival, The Invisible (Bush Theatre), Oklahoma!, The Country Wife (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Young Marx (Bridge Theatre), Food (Finborough Theatre), Imogen (Shakespeare’s Globe), King Lear and Brave New World (Royal & Derngate). For television, his work includes Halo, The Dumping Ground, Dracula, Crazy Diamond and Britannia.
Daniel Lapaine returns to the theatre to play Nick – he previously appeared in Holy Sh*t and The Invisible Hand. His theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe), Other Desert Cities, Hedda Gabler (The Old Vic), The Winter’s Tale (Sheffield Crucible), The Dance of Death (Donmar Trafalgar), All My Sons (Apollo Theatre), Scenes from the Back of Beyond, F***ing Games (Royal Court), Les Parents Terribles, King Lear (Sydney Theatre Company), Island (Belvoir Street Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare Company). For television his work includes Upright, Van der Valk, My Husband’s Double Life, Black Mirror, The Durrells,Versailles, Catastrophe, Critical, Vexed, Lewis, Vera, Black Mirror, Identity, Moonshot, Hotel Babylon; Sex, the City and Me; Jane Hall, Good Housekeeping Guide, Golden Hour, Jericho, Death on the Nile, Redcap, Helen of Troy, I Saw You and Tenth Kingdom. Film credits include Dead in Tombstone, Zero Dark Thirty, Gozo, Jack the Giant Killer, Shanghai, Last Chance Harvey, Collusion, Abduction Club, Ritual, Journeyman, Double Jeopardy, Elephant Juice, Brokedown Palace, 54, Say You’ll Be Mine, 1999, Dangerous Beauty, Polish Wedding and Muriel’s Wedding.
Sid Sagar returns to the Kiln Theatre to play Dar – he previously appeared in White Teeth and The Inivisible Hand. His other theatre credits include The Starry Messenger (Wyndham’s Theatre), hang (Sheffield Crucible), Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre), Queen Anne (RSC/Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Tempest, Cymbeline, The Oresteia, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe), Treasure (Finborough Theatre), The History Boys (UK tour), True Brits (HighTide/ Edinburgh/Bush Theatre),and Eternal Love (Shakespeare’s Globe & English Touring Theatre). His television work includesAnatomy of a Scandal, A Discovery of Witches, Unprecedented: Going Forward, Silent Witness, Wild Bill,Press, Strike: Career of Evil,The Hollow Crown and The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies; and for film, The Batman, Cruella, Belfast, Death on the Nile, Artemis Fowl, Dolittle, Ready Player One, Eaten By Troll, Murder on the Orient Express, Karma Magnet.
Indhu Rubasingham is Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre. Her work for the company includes Pass Over, When the Crows Visit, Wife,White Teeth, HolySh!t,Red Velvet (which transferred to New York and later to the Garrick Theatre as part of the Kenneth Branagh Season) and Handbagged (winner of Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre – also West End, UK tour, Washington DC and New York). Other productions for Kiln Theatre include The Invisible Hand, A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Multitudes, The House That Will Not Stand, Paper Dolls, Women, Power and Politics, Stones in His Pockets, Detaining Justice, The Great Game: Afghanistan, Fabulation and Starstruck. Other theatre credits include The Great Wave, Ugly Lies the Bone, The Motherf**cker with the Hat (Evening Standard Award for Best Play), The Waiting Room (all National Theatre), The Ramayana (National Theatre/ Birmingham Rep), Belong, Disconnect, Free Outgoing, Lift Off, Clubland, The Crutch and Sugar Mummies (Royal Court Theatre), Ruined (Almeida Theatre), Yellowman and Anna in the Tropics (Hampstead Theatre), Secret Rapture and The Misanthrope (Minerva, Chichester Festival Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Chichester Festival Theatre), Pure Gold (Soho Theatre), The No Boys Cricket Club and Party Girls (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Wuthering Heights (Birmingham REP), Heartbreak House (Watford Palace Theatre), Sugar Dollies and Shakuntala (Gate Theatre), A River Sutra (Three Mill Island Studios), Rhinoceros (UC Davis, California) and A Doll’s House (Young Vic).
The season continues…
WORLD PREMIÈRE
Kiln Theatrepresents
NW TRILOGY
by Moira Buffini, Suhayla El-Bushra and Roy Williams
Directed by Taio Lawson and Susie McKenna; Designed by Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey; Lighting Design by Richard Howell;Composer and Sound Design by Ben and Max Ringham;Movement, Fight and Intamacy Director Yarit Dor
Set amongst the vibrant, intense cacophony of North West London, NW Trilogy is a collection of vivid stories that remember and celebrate people who changed the course of history. The personal is political in these soulful explorations of what it means to be part of one of the most dynamic communities in the world.
First, we reel to a dance hall in ‘County Kilburn’ in Moira Buffini’s Dance Floor where the Guinness flows, the music never stops and for homesick Aoife, there’s far more at stake than a dance.
In Roy Williams’ bittersweet Life of Riley, Paulette is on a journey to connect with her estranged father Riley, a reggae musician once part of the influential Trojan Records scene, who can’t seem to let go of the past.
And, Suhayla El-Bushra’s Waking/Walking introduces us to Anjali, a wife, mother and newly arrived migrant following Idi Armin’s expulsion of the Asian minority from Uganda, who is torn between not making a fuss and seizing her moment to take a stand as the Grunwick dispute unfolds.
NW Trilogy is powerful, funny and epic and shows us how we can change the world from our doorstep.
Presented as part of the Brent 2020: London Borough of Culture.
This production is supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts and the London Community Foundation; and the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation.
Moira Buffini‘s plays include Handbagged (Kiln Theatre / West End / US), Gabriel (Soho Theatre / UK Tour), wonder.land (MIF / National Theatre), Welcome to Thebes, A Vampire Story (National Theatre), Dying For It, Marianne Dreams (Almeida Theatre), Dinner (RNT Loft / West End / UK tour), Loveplay (Barbican), The Games Room (Soho Theatre) and Blavatsky’s Tower (Machine Room). For telelvison, her work includes Harlots; and for film, The Dig, Jane Eyre and Tamara Drewe.
Suhayla El-Bushra was writer in residence at the National Theatre Studio from April 2015 to August 2016, during which time her adaptation of Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide was staged in the Lyttelton Theatre. Other stage work includes The Kilburn Passion (Kiln Theatre), Pigeons (Royal Court Theatre / UK tour), Cuckoo (Unicorn Theatre) and Arabian Nights (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh). For screen her credits include 2 series of Channel 4’s Ackley Bridge, and a short film for Film4.
Roy Williams is an award-winning playwright. His recent plays include Death of England (National Theatre), 846 (Theatre Royal Stratford East and GDIF), Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Firm, (Hampstead Theatre, Downstairs), Soul: The Untold Story of Marvin Gaye (Royal and Derngate / Hackney Empire), Antigone (Pilot Theatre / UK tour), Wildfire (Hampstead Theatre) Advice for the Young at Heart (Theatre Centre), an adaptation of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Pilot Theatre/ UK Tour), Sucker Punch (Royal Court Theatre, nominated for Olivier Award for Best Play), Kingston ‘14 (Theatre Royal Stratford East) and Category B (Kiln Theatre).
Kiln Theatre Associate Director Taio Lawson directs. His work includes adaptations and instillation, including Devil for East-15 and HOME at the Young Vic. He was Resident Director at Sheffield Theatres (part of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme), where he directed hang. As Director credits include How To Make Love To A Muslim Without Freaking Out (rehearsed reading, Bush Theatre), What We Are, 90’s Kid (ETC Theatre), Gutted ‘n’ Battered (UK and international tour). For Sheffield Theatres, Assistant Director credits include Love and Information, Frost/Nixon, The Wizard of Oz and Desire Under The Elms. As Assistant Director credits include Life of Galileo(Young Vic), Oil, They Drink It in the Congo (Almeida Theatre).
Kiln Theatre Associate Director Susie McKenna directs and her work for the company includes Blues in the Night (Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre). She was Creative Director of Hackney Empire from 2010 – 2017, her directing credits there include Beau Jest, Sit and Shiver, Man Dem on the Wall Live, Kat & Tameka Show, La Variété, Ha Ha Hackney and writer director of 21 pantomimes. Other credits include writer/director The Silver Sword (Belgrade Theatre/UK tour), Once on This Island (Birmingham Rep/Nottingham Playhouse), Oranges and Elephants (Hoxton Hall), A Midsummer Night’s Madness (National Black Theatre of Harlem/Hackney Empire/Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Macbeth (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), A Christmas Carol (Arts Theatre).
WORLD PREMIERE
Kiln Theatre presents
in association with Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture
THE WIFE OF WILLESDEN
Adapted by Zadie Smith from Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath
Directed by Indhu Rubasingham; Designed by Robert Jones; Lighting Design by Guy Hoare;Composer and Sound Design by Ben and Max Ringham
Married five times. Mother. Lover. Aunt. Friend.
She plays many roles round here. And never
Scared to tell the whole of her truth, whether
Or not anyone wants to hear it. Wife
Of Willesden: pissed enough to tell her life
Story to whoever has ears and eyes…
The world premiere of Zadie Smith’s The Wife of Willesden comes to Kiln Theatre for a strictly limited run. Based on Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath, this irreverent, bawdy and beautiful new comedy celebrates the life and times of one of literature’s most beloved characters.
Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham directs following her 2018 sold out, hit production of Smith’s White Teeth.
This production is supported by Dasha Epstein.
Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as two collections of essays, Changing My Mind and Feel Free and the collection of short stories, Grand Union. Her novels have won multiple literary awards and been translated into many languages. White Teeth was adapted for the stage at the Kiln Theatre in 2018. She is a professor of fiction at New York University and writes regularly for the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. Zadie Smith divides her time between New York and London.
Access, Over 65, Local, Student and Group rates available, for further details, please see the website
Multi-buy – 25% off if tickets for Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me and The Invisible Hand are bought in the same transaction.
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Thick ‘n’ Fast present: General Secretary Who run the world? A satirically comic journey through power and diplomacy as two highly unqualified women are suddenly landed in charge.
Written and performed by Cassie Symes and Georgina Thomas
Streamed from Applecart Arts, 8 – 24 April, 8pm
“Painful and Funny” ★★★★ The Scotsman (on Not Quite)
Named one of the “Best Duos at the Fringe” by the Scotsman, Thick ‘n’ Fast’s 2019 debut show Not Quite transferred for a sold out run at the Soho Theatre. They return in 2021 with a comedy theatre show to explore what would happen if the planet took the unexpected decision to appoint them in charge of everything. What should they tackle first? Climate change? Gender inequality? War? And how will they avoid the pitfalls that have befallen so many leaders before them? After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely, right?
General Secretary tackles the desire for power through a female lens. Cassie and Georgie are just two insignificant individuals until they are landed with the minor responsibility of taking over the world. From taking minutes to taking charge, they must find creative solutions for the biggest global issues. But do they have what it takes to handle this almighty responsibility?
Cassie and Georgina said, “At a time when most of us are struggling to feel in control of anything, we thought it might be funny if we were suddenly in control of everything. We wanted to make an escapist show exploring global relationships and power without ever mentioning the global events that we are all going through. Our previous show was about the two of us desperately trying to get a job, so we thought we would follow this up with a show in which we are suddenly given the most important job in the world – with absolutely no experience.”
Thick ‘n’ Fast are Artist in Residence at Applecart Arts. Their debut show Not Quite sold out the Soho Theatre as part of Soho Rising and saw them named one of the Scotsman’s ‘Best Duos at the Edinburgh Fringe’ in 2019. They trained at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Soho Theatre Young Company and performed in Max and Ivan’s Commitment at the Soho Theatre; Pleasance, Edinburgh; VAULT Festival and Battersea Arts Centre.Cassie was previously a member of the National Youth Theatre, performing at the Olympic and Paralympic Team Welcome Ceremonies. Georgina is an award-nominated comedian who has appeared in NewsRevue, surprised Danny Dyer by appearing as one of his ancestors on the BBC and was once a gimp in Late Night Gimp Fight.
Running Time: 60mins, no interval | Suitable for ages 12 +
SIMON PAINTER, TIM LAWSON & KILBURN LIVE ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR NEW STAGE PRODUCTION OF AWARD-WINNING FRANCHISE
GAME OF THRONES
DUNCAN MACMILLAN TO WRITE AND DOMINIC COOKE TO DIRECT PLAY IN COORDINATION WITH AUTHOR GEORGE R.R. MARTIN
THEATRICAL PRODUCTION NOW IN DEVELOPMENT FOR 2023 DEBUT
Producers Simon Painter and Tim Lawson in partnership with Kilburn Live announced today plans for a stage production around pop culture juggernaut Game of Thrones. Working alongside author George R.R. Martin, the play is being written and adapted by award-winning playwright Duncan MacMillan and helmed by acclaimed UK director Dominic Cooke.
Set at a pivotal moment in the history of the series, the play will for the first time take audiences deeper behind the scenes of a landmark event that previously was shrouded in mystery. Featuring many of the most iconic and well-known characters from the series, the production will boast a story centered around love, vengeance, madness and the dangers of dealing in prophecy, in the process revealing secrets and lies that have only been hinted at until now.
“The seeds of war are often planted in times of peace. Few in Westeros knew the carnage to come when highborn and smallfolk alike gathered at Harrenhal to watch the finest knights of the realm compete in a great tourney, during the Year of the False Spring. It is a tourney oft referred during HBO’s GAME OF THRONES, and in my novels, A SONG OF ICE & FIRE… and now, at last, we can tell the whole story… on the stage.
“An amazing team has been assembled to tell the tale, starting with producers Simon Painter, Tim Lawson and Jonathan Sanford. Their knowledge and love of my world and characters has impressed me from the very first, and their plans for this production blew me away since the first time we met. Dominic Cooke, our director, is a former Artistic Director of London’s Royal Court Theatre, who brought Shakespeare’s dramas of the War of the Roses to television, and our playwright, Duncan Macmillan, has previously adapted George Orwell and Henrik Ibsen, among others. Working with them (back before the pandemic, when we could actually get together) has been a treat, and I am eager for our collaboration to resume. Our dream is to bring Westeros to Broadway, to the West End, to Australia… and eventually, to a stage near you.
It ought to be spectacular.”
-George R.R. Martin
The play will be written by Duncan MacMillan, whose theatrical work includes Lungs; People, Places and Things; Every Brilliant Thing; Rosmersholm (adapt. Henrik Ibsen) and 1984 (adapt. George Orwell, co-written and co-directed with Robert Icke). His work has been performed throughout the world, including the National Theatre, the Old Vic, the Royal Court, St Ann’s Warehouse, Festival d’Avignon, Theatertreffen, in the West End and on Broadway. His work on screen has also appeared on the BBC, HBO, Netflix and at the Berlin and London Film Festivals.
“I have such admiration for George’s world and his characters,” said MacMillan. “His generosity and trust during this process has been incredible. Working on this play during lockdown has felt like a real privilege. I can’t wait until we can be back in a theatre to experience this together.”
Teaming up with MacMillan to bring Game of Thrones to life on stage is Cooke, who previously was the Artistic Director of London’s Royal Court Theatre from 2007 to 2013. His production of Sondheim’s Follies at the National Theatre, where he is an Associate, was nominated for 10 Olivier awards. He has recently successfully transitioned to TV and film with The Hollow Crown: Wars of the Roses starring High Bonneville, Sophie Okonedo and Judi Dench, On Chesil Beach, starring Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle and recently The Courier starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan.
“I am over the moon at being given the opportunity, by the dynamic producing team of Tim Lawson, Simon Painter and Kilburn Live, to bring a new instalment of George RR Martin’s epic story to a life on stage,” said Cooke. “One of George’s inspirations for the original books was Shakespeare’s history plays so the material lends itself naturally to the theatre. Duncan MacMillan and I are having a great time digging into the dynastic power struggles at the heart of George’s extraordinary imaginative world and he has been hugely generous and supportive towards both of us.”
Producer Simon Painter is best known for creating large scale touring shows including TheIllusionists franchise which he launched with Tim Lawson. His productions have played in over 400 cities in 40 countries while breaking numerous records on Broadway. In addition, Lawson has created and produced theatrical shows around the globe such as Fiddler on the Roof, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, A Chorus Line and Jekyll and Hyde.
Working in tandem with the pair to executive this grand vision is Kilburn Live, the global market leader in branded live entertainment with a roster of live events and experiences that include Dr. Seuss, Peanuts, Nerf, Power Rangers, and many more. Mark Manuel is the CEO of Kilburn Media.
In addition to Painter and Lawson, Vince Gerardis and Jonathan Sanford will serve as executive producers.
THE LAWRENCE BATLEY THEATRE, HUDDERSFIELD ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR INITIAL REOPENING
The Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield has today announced its initial plans for reopening
The theatre which is housed in a Grade II* listed building that was once the largest Wesleyan mission in the country will open its Courtyard gates from Friday 16 April in line with the easing of Government restrictions on Monday 12 April.
It has been revealed that the theatre will open the Courtyard most Fridays and Saturdays from 16 April providing a beer garden and street food offer to its community. Summer in the Courtyard will be completely contactless with socially distanced tables and one-way systems in place alongside stringent cleaning.
This will be the theatre’s first tentative steps of returning back to normality after venues across the country were forced to close in October of last year. Opening initially as a beer garden, the Lawrence Batley Theatre plans to programme live local talent from Friday 21 May in line with the next stage of the Government roadmap, before launching a summer season of outdoor performances. More information about their summer season will be announced shortly.
Henry Filloux-Bennett, CEO & Artistic Director of the Lawrence Batley Theatre comments on the reopening; “I am delighted to be able to share the plans for our initial reopening. The return of Summer in the Courtyard sees the Lawrence Batley Theatre build on the success of our last outdoor season which was recognised as one of the top venues in Yorkshire getting social distancing right. This year we are back bigger and better than ever, and we can’t wait to safely welcome our community back through our doors.”
More information and opening hours for Summer in the Courtyard can be found at www.thelbt.org