KING’S HEAD THEATRE ANNOUNCES SUMMER SEASON OF PLAYS
BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!
Bi-boys, bad-boys, biographies and bodies…
https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on
Artistic Director Mark Ravenhill and the whole team at the King’s Head Theatre are pleased to announce details of BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!, the summer season of writer/performer plays running in rep from 2 August to 10 September. Whilst thematically each play centres on male experience, each one is produced or directed by women, and the majority are performed or produced by LGBTQ+ creatives.
Producer Sofi Berenger said, “When we started to talk about putting the Boys! Boys! Boys! Season together, it was important that the shows were reflective of the way King’s Head Theatre works. Womxn in key creative roles are still hugely underrepresented in the work that gets put on and this is certainly true in the producing and directing fields. As well as producing my own play independently, I have an absolute powerhouse of other female producers and creatives presenting work this season who I am extremely privileged to work alongside – on this season and future productions we have planned at Kings Head Theatre.”
BI BI BAILEIGH
“A husband, some kids, a few animals and a quaint little cottage just south of the A35.” That’s all veterinary student Baileigh has ever wanted. Until a one-night stand makes him question the future he’s always had his heart on. Bi Bi Baileigh is a “heart-warming”, comedic Essex story about the navigation of love and how the plans you’ve been stuck on may not be the plans that fit you best.
Following its sold out run at the Harlow Playhouse and Brighton Pride 2022 run, Baileigh is back and making his London Debut. Written by Isaac Verrall and presented by Madison Parker and Jess Smith in association with The 5 O’Clock Club Ltd.
Producers Madison Parker and Jess Smith are Creative Producing MA students at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, with Madison currently on placement at the King’s Head Theatre and Stage One’s Bridge the Gap programme. Madison is managing director of The 5 O’Clock Club, a new production company which has produced Sophie Ben and other problems (Chiswick Playhouse), Everything is grand and I’m completely okay (The Hope Theatre) and F*CKBOYS (Brighton Fringe). Jess production & stage manages and is currently on placement with Jonathan Church Productions Ltd.
Director Izzy Edwards is a director and producer, currently Creative Producing MFA student at Royal Central School of Speech & Drama and producing coordinator at the Kings Head Theatre. She has created work as a director, dramaturg, and producer in venues across the UK and New York including Ashley Everhart; Only Time (The Tank), Stupid F*cking Bird (Shelter Studios), A Dog Dies (NYU Tisch), and F*CKBOYS (Brighton Fringe). She is the Executive Director of Little Match Theatre, a dramaturg collective and new work development programme for emerging artists across the UK.
MEDIOCRE WHITE MALE
They say that as you get older, time sort of… speeds up. Well, it doesn’t feel like that for me…not here…
It’s been years since high school, since everyone left for uni, since starting the summer job that’s never ended… and since you.
These days, you can’t even say hello to the new girl without offending her. Apparently it’s a generational thing. I would say I’m the same generation… I’m in my late 20’s… essentially.
Things change? Yeah, well, some of us are sick of change. Change is a thief.
What about me? What about us? I think people forget about the people that stay.
A searing portrait of male anger, fragility and vulnerability, and about being left behind in a small community. Mediocre White Male unpacks what it means to feel abandoned as the world changes and confused in the face of a progressive agenda you don’t fully understand.
Following a sold-out ★★★★★ (Broadway World, Gonzo Magazine) run at Edinburgh Fringe 2021, Mediocre White Male was scheduled to play VAULT Festival’s largest space The Crescent before the festival was cancelled in 2022. It has subsequently toured and performed as part of Park Theatre’s Come What May festival.
Delivering a ★★★★ “captivating performance” – Scottish Daily Mail, co-writer/performer Will Close (Dave Comedy Award winner) takes to stage to re-live ancient history, the recent past and present lies. It’s time to face up to some uncomfortable truths.
Producer Sofi Berenger is a Stage One alumni and independently produces through her companies Metal Rabbit Productions & Wound Up Theatre. She has produced over 40 shows in her career, including Cuckoo (Soho Theatre), United Queendom (Les Enfants Terribles at Kensington Palace), Bismillah!, and upcoming The Prince (Southwark Playhouse). She is also the producer at Kings Head Theatre and chairwoman of Iris Theatre.
QUENTIN CRISP : NAKED HOPE
Mark Farrelly brings his highly acclaimed solo play to the King’s Head, where Quentin Crisp himself gave his first stage performances in 1975.
From a conventional upbringing to global notoriety via The Naked Civil Servant, Quentin Crisp was one of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century. Openly gay as early as the 1930s, Quentin spent decades being beaten up on London’s streets for refusing to be anything less than himself. His courage, and the philosophy that evolved from those experiences, inspire to the present day.
Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope debuted at the Edinburgh Festival 2014 and has toured constantly ever since, recently reaching its 150th performance.
Director Linda Marlowe is an acting legend of stage and screen. Famed for her long-running collaboration with Steven Berkoff, she is a prolific solo performer, and has appeared in everything from EastEnders to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opposite Gary Oldman.
JARMAN
A mighty spirit is about to reawaken. Yours.
Derek Jarman: film-maker, painter, gardener at Prospect Cottage, activist, writer…his influence remains as strong as it was on the day AIDS killed him in 1994. But his story, one of the most extraordinary lives ever lived, has never been told. Until now.
This vibrant new solo play also from Mark Farrelly brings Derek back into being for a passionate, daring reminder of the courage it takes to truly live while you’re alive. A journey from Dungeness to deepest, brightest Soho and into the heart of one of our most iconoclastic artists.
Jarman is the first dramatic recreation of the life of the iconic painter, gardener, writer, film-maker and activist Derek Jarman (1942 – 1994). First performed in 2021, the show has been touring the UK, keeping Derek’s spirit vividly alive, and raising funds for the Terrence Higgins Trust.
Director Sarah-Louise Young is an immensely prolific theatre maker, having created and performed numerous hit shows, including Cabaret Whore, Julie Madly Deeply and An Evening Without Kate Bush. Her new solo play The Silent Treatment debuts at the Edinburgh Festival this year.
BRAWN
What if the lads at work poke fun at you for your chicken legs? What if the girl of your dreams goes off with popular lad James Robinson? What if you’re sick to death of looking in the mirror and hating what you see?
You get ripped, that’s what.
Locked away in his dad’s garage Ryan puts his body through a gruelling regime – determined to bulk and cut, until he reaches perfection.
Christopher Wollaton’s one man show explores themes of body image and mental health issues in men. The show returns to the King’s Head Theatre after a sell-out run in 2019. Brawn has also successfully performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2018), Brighton Fringe Festival (2017/18) and toured nationally, including the Oxford Playhouse and Harrogate Theatre in 2017.
Producer Zoe Weldon is an independent producer and Stage One alumni. She has worked across the West End and Fringe on productions such as Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon (Southwark Playhouse), Tender Napalm and Jew…ish (King’s Head Theatre), Cassie & the Lights (VAULT & Adelaide Festivals) and CHUTNEY (Bunker Theatre). She is an associate producer at King’s Head Theatre and Rifco Theatre.
Mark Ravenhill said, “This season features some shows which have had many previous runs but with companies excited to perform to new audiences, others are new and coming to London for the first time. Some are celebrating queer icons and exploring LGBTQ+ history, others are looking at toxic masculinity and mental health. But all are exploring the male experience and many different representations of masculinity.”
The King’s Head Theatre was established in 1970. Passionate about great theatre, it is known for its challenging work and support of early career artists. KHT is committed to fighting prejudice through the work it stages, and the artists and staff it works with. The team believes in fair pay for all on the fringe and create accessible routes for early career artists to stage their work – work they are passionate about.