PUNCHDRUNK RELEASES NEW IMAGES OF THE BURNT CITY WHICH PREVIEWS FROM TONIGHT
With previews beginning from tonight, Punchdrunk has released new images of its new show The Burnt City. A limited season is on sale until 28th August 2022. The official opening will be on Thursday 21st April and tickets are now on sale from theburntcity.com with best availability from May/June.
The production is the internationally-acclaimed theatre company’s first time in London since 2014 and their most ambitious show to date. It reunites the creative team behind Sleep No More and features a cast of international performers, including original members of the first Punchdrunk shows.
Preparations are well underway with the vast set under construction in Woolwich Arsenal – taking over two Grade II Listed Buildings. It will be the first time some of the buildings – with over 100,000 square feet of space – have ever been opened to the public. Workshops with the international cast took place in September ahead of full rehearsals beginning in January 2022.
On their own theatrical adventure, audiences are free to explore this dystopian landscape – taking them from the majesty of royal palaces to the pulsating underworld of Troy. Audiences may choose to follow the characters who emerge from the shadows, saturate themselves in the show’s shifting atmosphere, or break free of the crowd and discover mysteries lying in wait at the heart of the labyrinth.
“As the smoke soars on wings to heaven, so sinks our city”
In the smouldering promise of the fall of Troy, a mythical world of Gods and mortals rises from the ashes.
As Greece teeters on the brink of victory, the neon backstreets of Downtown Troy give way to a sprawling labyrinth hiding secrets even the prophecies could not foretell.
In this colossal playground, the furies watch on as mortals play out their fate. And as night falls, the city comes alive. One last time.
Punchdrunk is committed to working with the local community including running community events and partnerships with local arts and community groups in the borough, offering support, learning and resources.
The Burnt City is supported by Porsche as Headline Partner.
The Orange Tree Theatre today announces the full cast for the UK première of Pamela Carter’s The Misfortune of the English. Oscar Toeman directs Hubert Burton (Harrison), Vinnie Heaven (Eaton), Eva Magyar (Tour Guide), and Matthew Tennyson (Lyons). The production opens on 28 April, with previews from 25 April, and runs until 28 May, with a livestreamed performance via OT On Screen on 12 May and available to stream on demand from 31 May – 3 June.
Artistic Director of The Orange Tree Theatre, Paul Miller says today “It’s a real pleasure to welcome such a talented company for The Misfortune of the English, each of them making their OT debuts in Oscar Toeman’s production. Pamela Carter’s highly original new play, based on real events, tackles the nature of memory and storytelling, our relation to Europe and the problems of leadership.”
UK PREMIÈRE
THE MISFORTUNE OF THE ENGLISH
by Pamela Carter
Directed by Oscar Toeman; Sound Design by Dan Balfour; Lighting Design by Elliot Griggs; Movement Direction by Rachel-Leah Hosker; Casting by Christopher Worrall
25 April – 28 May
OT On Screen: Thursday 12 May at 7.30pm
“Guten Tag meine Herren und Frauen von Freiburg, von Deutschland. We have travelled here from London, England. You may have heard of it.”
On the morning of 17 April 1936, a group of 27 schoolboys, led by their teacher and newly arrived in Nazi Germany, set out on the first of a seven-day walking tour of the Black Forest.
By 8pm that evening, local villagers were searching for them in a blizzard.
“You did say you wanted to take the scenic route.”
Inspired by true events: a story of (mis)adventure and blind optimism, nationhood, and courage in
the face of disaster.
Pamela Carter is a playwright and dramaturg. Her work includes Lines (Year Theatre), Fast Ganz Nah/Almost Near (Theater Dresden), Skåne (Hampstead Theatre), What We Know (Traverse Theatre), Wildlife (Magnetic North), Them! (National Theatre of Scotland), The Male Queen (Lyceum Theatre/RSC). Her work for Untitled Projects and long-term collaborator Stewart Laing include The End of Eddy, Slope, Paul Bright’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Arguments About Sex (After Marivaux). As a dramaturg, she has worked with Graeae Theatre, Vanishing Point Theatre, The Pappy Show, DAU Films, Malmö Opera and National Theatre of Scotland.
Hubert Burton plays Harrison. His theatre credits include Into The Night (Original Theatre), Relatively Speaking, Breaking The Code (Salisbury Playhouse), Mancoin (Vault Festival), The Inheritance (Young Vic/Noel Coward Theatre), Deep Blue Sea, Waste (National Theatre), She Stoops to Conquer (Bath Theatre Royal). His television credits include The Last Post, Jekyll and Hyde, 100 Days of UKIP, The Outcast and The Passing Bells; and for film, his credits include Living and Their Finest, The Most Reluctant Convert and Testament of Youth.
Vinnie Heaven plays Eaton. Their recent theatre credits include Cuckoo (Soho Theatre), Half The World Away (UK tour) and Malory Tower (Bristol Old Vic). Their television credits include The Nevers and Power Out.
Eva Magyar plays the Tour Guide. Her theatre credits include Tristan and Yseult, Hedda Gabler, From Morning to Midnight (National Theatre), The Wild Bride, Ramayana (Lyric Hammersmith), Midnight’s Pumpkin (Battersea Arts Centre), The Bacchae (Bristol Old Vic), Romeo and Julist (RSC), Marlene (Tristan Bates Theatre/Katona Jozsef Theatre, Budapest), The Arabian Nights (Tricycle), Breathing Irregular and The Sexual Neuroses of our Parents (Gate Theatre). Her television credits include Father Brown, X Company, Paranoid and Mars; and for film, her credits include Overlord, X-Men:First Class, Let Me Go, Headhunter, Dark Woods 2, Daniel, Monte Carlo, The Death of Pentheus and A Matter of Life.
Matthew Tennyson plays Lyons. His theatre credits include The Lodger (Coronet Theatre), A Monster Calls (The Old Vic), Salome (RSC), Cleansed (National Theatre), The Seagull (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), A Breakfast of Eels (The Print Room), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe), Making Noise Quietly (Donmar Warehouse), Beautiful Thing (Manchester Royal Exchange) and Flare Path (Theatre Royal Haymarket). His television credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Father Brown, Grantchester, Humans, Babylon and The Hollow Crown; and for film, his credits include Benediction and Making Noise Quietly.
Oscar Toeman returns to the Orange Tree to direct, having previously directed The Sugar Syndrome for the company. His other theatre credits include, Actually (Trafalgar Studios), After October and Laburnum Grove (Finborough Theatre). He is an alumnus of the Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab in New York, an MGCfutures Bursary recipient, and an Associate at the National Youth Theatre.
MARIA FRIEDMAN TO DIRECT & PERFORM IN CELEBRATION OF LEGENDARY MUSICAL THEATRE WRITERS AHRENS & FLAHERTY
A JOURNEY TO THE PAST
FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY IN THE WEST END
LYRIC THEATRE – MONDAY 6TH JUNE AT 7:30PM
TICKETS ON SALE MONDAY 21ST MARCH
Bray Productions Ltd have today announced that Olivier Award winner Maria Friedman will direct and perform in A Journey to the Past, a West End celebration of the works of the Tony Award-winning and world-renowned musical theatre writing team Ahrens & Flaherty.
The musical celebration will feature a selection of music from the writing duo’s most beloved works, including Maria Friedman reprising her Olivier Award-winning performance of “Back to Before” from Ragtime.
A Journey to the Past will be performed for one performance only at the Lyric Theatre. Tickets will go on sale on Monday 21st March.
Joining Maria Friedman in the creative team are Simon Lee as Musical Supervisor, Michael Bradley as Musical Director, Leon Kay Casting as Casting Director and Andrew Exeter as Set & Lighting Designer.
Casting will be announced at a later date.
Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty are considered the foremost theatrical writing team of their generation. They won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for the Broadway hit Ragtime and were nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for Twentieth Century Fox’s animated feature film Anastasia, which they also adapted for the Broadway stage.
Their musical Once On This Island won London’s Olivier Award and Broadway’s 2018 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Other theatre credits include Seussical (one of the most produced shows in America); Rocky; My Favourite Year; Chita Rivera – The Dancer’s Life; Dessa Rose; A Man of No Importance; The Glorious Ones; Lucky Stiff and two upcoming shows, Knoxville and Little Dancer.
They serve on Council for the Dramatists Guild of America and co-founded the DGF Fellows Program for Emerging Writers. They are four-time Grammy nominees, recipients of the Oscar Hammerstein Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2015 Ahrens and Flaherty were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.
Lynn Ahrens said, “After two long years of uncertainty, what a wonderful way to celebrate the return to theater. I’m honored to have my work back on the boards in London!”
Stephen Flaherty said, “I can’t wait to have our music and lyrics back on the West End in the historic Lyric Theatre, under the direction of our RAGTIME leading lady and friend, Maria Friedman. What an evening it’s going to be!”
Released today – production shots of Fra Fee (Emcee), Amy Lennox (Sally Bowles), Omar Baroud (Cliff Bradshaw) and Vivien Parry (Fraulein Schneider) in CABARET at the Kit Kat Club ahead of their first performance this evening, Monday 21 March
CABARET at the Kit Kat Club has recently been nominated for 11 Olivier Awards including Best Musical Revival, Best Director, Best Set Design, Best Costume Design, Best Theatre Choreographer, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design.
Fra Fee (Emcee) most recently starred as Kazi in the hit Disney+ series Hawkeye, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He created the role of Michael Carber in the award-winning play The Ferryman at the Royal Court, the Gielgud Theatre in the West End and the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway. His other theatre credits include Owen in Translations and Amiens in As You Like It, both at the National Theatre and the title role in Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory. He played Courfeyac in the film of the musical Les Misérables and also appeared in the stage production at the Queen’s Theatre.
Amy Lennox (Sally Bowles) received an Olivier nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for her portrayal of Lauren in the West End production of Kinky Boots. Her other credits include Ellie in the London premiere of the David Bowie and Enda Walsh musical Lazarus. She was in the original West End cast of the musical Legally Blonde and created the role of Doralee in the original UK production of 9 to 5 The Musical.
Fra and Amy appeared together in the critically acclaimed production of The Last Five Years in Belfast.
Omar Baroud (Cliff Bradshaw) is soon to appear in the series Wedding Season for Disney+. His other TV credits include Baptiste for the BBC and The Innocents for Netflix. His theatre credits include You Bury Me for Paines Plough, As You Like It at the Watermill Theatre, A Song at Twilight at the Theatre Royal Bath and All Places That The Eye of Heaven Visits at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Vivien Parry (Fraulein Schneider) has appeared in many West End productions including Madge Hardwick in the original cast of Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre, Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre, Donna in Mamma Mia! at the Prince of Wales Theatre and Mrs Walshingham in Half A Sixpence at the Noel Coward Theatre. Vivien’s other credits include Twelfth Night and The Shoemaker’s Holiday, both for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Celia in The Girls at Leeds Grand Theatre.
They join the full company including Elliot Levey as ‘Herr Schultz’ (Olivier Award nominee for his role in this production), Stewart Clarke as ‘Ernst Ludwig’ and Anna-Jane Casey as ‘Fraulein Kost’. The cast is completed by Josh Andrews,Emily Benjamin, Sally Frith, Matthew Gent, Emma Louise Jones, Ela Lisondra, Theo Maddix, Chris O’Mara, Daniel Perry, Andre Refig, Christopher Tendai, Bethany Terry, Lillie-Pearl Wildman and Sophie Maria Wojna.
CABARET is directed by Rebecca Frecknall, set and costume design is by Tom Scutt with choreography by Julia Cheng. Musical supervision and direction is by Jennifer Whyte. Lighting design is by Isabella Byrd with sound design by Nick Lidster. The casting director is Stuart Burt and the associate director is Jordan Fein.
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is booking until October 2022.
OPERATION MINCEMEAT ANNOUNCES EXTENSION IN NEW HOME, RIVERSIDE STUDIOS STARTS 28TH APRIL 2022
“a buzz louder than a doodlebug surrounds Operation Mincemeat…a kind of genius declares itself”
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
★★★★★ Financial Times, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Mirror, The Daily Mirror, The Stage, The Sunday Express, Gay Times, WhatsOnStage, The Express, Broadway World
★★★★ The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Telegraph, The i, The Independent
“a little show with a very big future”
David Benedict, Variety
Following three sold-out runs at Southwark Playhouse, Operation Mincemeat is back for an extension in its new home, Riverside Studios, with previews commencing on 28th April and performances running through to 9th July 2022.
The year is 1943 and we’re losing the war. Luckily, we’re about to gamble all our futures on a stolen corpse.
After sold-out runs at the New Diorama Theatre in 2019 and Southwark Playhouse in 2020, 2021 and earlier in 2022, Operation Mincemeat is back. Having spent lockdown rewriting the show, weeping and eating biscuits, SpitLip has extended the run of this newer, bigger and (somehow) even better version.
Singin’ in the Rain meets Strangers on a Train, Noel Coward meets Noel Fielding, Operation Mincemeat is the fast-paced, hilarious and unbelievable true story of the twisted secret mission that won us World War II. The question is, how did a well-dressed corpse wrong-foot Hitler?
Operation Mincemeat the Musical is not to be confused with the film starring Colin Firth set to be released in cinemas from 15th April and on Netflix.
Operation Mincemeat won The Stage Debut award for Best Composer/Lyricist, the Off-West End award for Best Company Ensemble and was listed in the Observer’s Top 10 shows of the year. The show was commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, co-commissioned by The Lowry, and supported by the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat with additional support from Avalon.
Riverside Studios is a multi-arts venue, situated in a beautiful location on the banks of the Thames in Hammersmith, west London. For over 45 years, it has been the home of an extraordinary mix of theatre, film, comedy, art, dance, music and television. It reopened fully in 2020 after a total redevelopment.
Rachel Tackley, Creative Director of Riverside Studios said:
“Operation Mincemeat has been described as audacious, miraculous, dazzling, multitasking with little more than a few strings of telephone wire and with a very big future. I feel like we are made for each other!”
DONMAR WAREHOUSE ANNOUNCES FURTHER PROGRAMMING FOR 2022
Ahead of the UK première in April of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Marys Seacole, directed by Nadia Latif, Artistic Director Michael Longhurst and Executive Director Henny Finch today announce further programming for the Donmar Warehouse’s 2022 season.
The European premières of Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 and David Yazbek and Itamar Moses’ The Band’s Visit
The UK première of Dawn King’s The Trials – a Donmar LOCAL production
A first-time co-production with Tara Theatre with Silence
A free exhibition – WE. BLACK WOMEN. curated by Donmar Associate Artist Joan Iyiola, running alongside Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Marys Seacole
Michael Longhurst, Donmar Artistic Director commented “I am thrilled to be announcing the European premieres of two major Broadway shows, in brand new productions at the Donmar: A Doll’s House, Part 2, an audacious sequel from the dazzling mind of Lucas Hnath starring Noma Dumezweni returning to the London stage; and the deeply moving, awards-sweeping musical The Band’s Visit by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses.
In between, the Donmar breaks new ground platforming the next generation of young performers opposite the current generation’s leading actors in Dawn King’s The Trials, a courtroom drama unlike any other; deepening our investigation into the climate crisis and our sustainability practices. And we are proud to be co-producing with Tara Theatre a vital new commission Silence to mark the 75th anniversary of Partition in India, inspired by extraordinary testimony, acknowledging events that need to be spoken of in Britain.
In a deeply conflicted world, this season celebrates the power of connection to change and heal. Familial, generational, religious, historic – the divisions that sit under these works hold up our need to find and celebrate our shared humanity.
Finally, Donmar Associate artist Joan Iyiola has curated an exhibition WE. BLACK WOMEN., with leading actresses celebrating their unsung heroes, which will run alongside Marys Seacole. It is such a joy to see our theatre full again, with audiences enjoying our recently refurbished spaces. Please do join us for more important stories, thrillingly told.”
10 June – 6 August: James Macdonald directs Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 which sees Noma Dumezweni return to the London stage for the first time since her Olivier Award winning performance in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
12 – 27 August: The UK première of Dawn King’s The Trials – directed by Natalie Abrahami, in a Donmar LOCAL production, a timely piece in response to the climate crisis, and the impact on the next generation. Young performers star alongside leading actors (casting to be announced)
1 – 17 September: In a first-time collaboration with Tara Theatre the Donmar will stage Silence, adapted from Kavita Puri’s Partition Voices: Untold British Stories, marking 75 years since the Partition of India, examining the legacy this brutal moment in history leaves us with today.
Abdul Shayek, Artistic Director Tara Theatre added “As Britain holds up a mirror to its colonial history that has shaped our present day reality, many of us are asking questions of our past and who we are. 2022 provides us with the last big milestone before we lose the survivors and their living memory, giving us the chance to understand the human cost of what occurred in 1947, retelling the stories of those who survived Partition and came to the UK. As a group of storytellers we will try to capture the unbiased documentation of these stories in Kavita’s book and the very real need to recognise that this is a shared history, this is our shared history, a British story regardless of the colour of your skin.”
24 September – 3 December: European premiere of David Yazbek and Itamar Moses’ multi-Tony award-winning The Band’s Visit, directed by Donmar Artistic Director Michael Longhurst, his next musical following his Broadway-transferring smash hit Caroline, or Change.
In addition, Donmar today announces a free exhibition from6 May 2022 in its foyer spaces. WE. BLACK WOMEN. is an exhibition curated by Donmar Associate Artist Joan Iyiola that shifts our perspective on British history by putting the collective experiences of Black women at the centre of the conversation. Featuring Sheila Atim, Joyclen Buffong, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Noma Dumezweni, Dr Christine Ekechi, Decima Francis MBE, Akua Gyamfi, Naomie Harris, Afua Hirsch, Joan Iyiola, Anaya Kamara, Faith Locken, June Nicol-Dundas, Pippa Bennett-Warner and Susan Wokoma.
The Donmar continues to expand its work in the community through Donmar LOCAL, with the launch of LOCAL Residencies, working in partnership with local community organisations to platform the important stories of young people in Camden and Westminster. The first community partners are Element, an organisation which supports care leavers in Westminster, and Holborn Community Association, who were in residence at the Donmar during the pandemic.
The Donmar’s commitment to talent development also widens with CATALYST, the Donmar’s flagship talent development programme, expanding to include a Young Assistants Programme. Industry leading creatives will mentor paid 16-18 year old placements on The Trials, working across set and costume design, sound design, lighting design, directing and stage management. This work is generously supported by The Backstage Trust and marks the beginning of a partnership with Royal Central School of Speech and Drama to support the development of young talent and offer pathways to higher education.
The Donmar is currently engaging with over 1000 young Londoners in a programme of youth activism and performance making, as part of the process to find 12 young actors who will make their stage debut at the theatre in The Trials,alongside leading actors.
As part of the Donmar’s ongoing commitment to accessibility, over 1000 free tickets will be available for audiences aged under 26 as part of the Donmar’s YOUNG+FREE scheme, generously supported by IHS Markit.
Every production will have a BSL performance, alongside its captioned and audio described performance offer.
Season Supporter: Charles Holloway.
The season is presented in partnership with Wessex Grove.
A DONMAR WAREHOUSE PRODUCTION
THE EUROPEAN PREMIÈRE OF
A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2
by Lucas Hnath
Cast includes: Noma Dumezweni
Director: James Macdonald Designer: Rae Smith Lighting Designer: Azusa Ono
10 June – 6 August 2022
(There’s a knock at the door)
Fifteen years after Nora Helmer slammed the door on her stifling marriage, she’s back with an urgent request. But first she must face the family she left behind.
Directed by James Macdonald, with a cast led by double Olivier Award-winner Noma Dumezweni, Lucas Hnath audaciously picks up where Ibsen’s revolutionary masterpiece left off.
And no, you don’t need to have seen Part 1.
Noma Dumezweni plays Nora Helmer. For theatre, her work includes originating the role of Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Lyric Theatre, Broadway and Palace Theatre – Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play), A Human Being Died That Night (BAM, Hampstead Theatre, Fugard and Market Theatres), Carmen Disruption (Almeida Theatre), Linda, New Plays from South Africa, Somalia Seaton Play, The Twits, Big Ideas: Collaboration, Open Court, Belong, Highlife (Royal Court Theatre), ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Shakespeare’s Globe), Henry V (Noel Coward Theatre), Feast (Royal Court at the Young Vic), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Headlong, Gielgud Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre), The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, President of an Empty Room (National Theatre), A Raisin in the Sun – Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play, Skellig (Young Vic), and extensive work for the RSC, including Breakfast with Mugabe. For television, her work includes, The Watcher, Pose, The Undoing, Made for Love, Forgiving Earth, Philip K Dick’s Electric Dream, Capital, Doctor Who and Fallout; and for film, Retribution, The Little Mermaid, The Same Storm, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, The Kid Who Would be King, Mary Poppins Returns, The Incident and Dirty Pretty Things.
Lucas Hnath’s work as a playwright includes Hillary and Clinton, Red Speedo, The Christian, A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac’s Eye and Death Tax. His work has been produced across the US and internationally, including at Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Soho Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville/Humana Festival of New Plays, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Royal Court Theatre, and on Broadway at the John Golden Theater. Hnath is a recipient of an Obie, Guggenheim Fellowship, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Play, Whiting Award, Kesselring Prize, two Steinberg citations from the American Theatre Critics Association, and a 2017 Tony nomination for Best Play.
James Macdonald returns to the Donmar to direct – his previous work for the company includes The Way of the World and Roots. He was an Associate and Deputy Director at the Royal Court for 14 years and was also a NESTA fellow from 2003 to 2006. For the Royal Court his work includes One For Sorrow, The Children (and MTC/Broadway), Escaped Alone (and BAM, NYC), The Wolf From The Door, Circle Mirror Transformation, Love & Information (and NYTW), Cock (and Duke, NYC), Drunk Enough to Say I Love You (and Public, NYC), Dying City (and Lincoln Center, NYC), Fewer Emergencies, Lucky Dog, Blood, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis (and St Anne’s Warehouse, NYC/US & European tours), Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry and Me, Simpatico, Peaches, Thyestes, Hammett’s Apprentice, The Terrible Voice Of Satan, Putting Two and Two Together. Other theatre includes: John, Dido Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Exiles (National Theatre), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Changing Room (West End), The Tempest, Roberto Zucco (RSC), Wild, And No More Shall We Part, #AIWW – The Arrest of Ai Weiwei (Hampstead), The Father (Theatre Royal Bath/Tricycle Theatre/West End), Bakkhai, A Delicate Balance, Judgment Day, The Triumph of Love (Almeida Theatre), The Chinese Room (Williamstown Festival), Cloud Nine (Atlantic, NYC), A Number (NYTW), King Lear, The Book of Grace (Public, NYC), Top Girls (MTC/Broadway) and John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey, Dublin/BAM, NYC). For film, his work includes A Number.
A DONMAR LOCAL PRODUCTION THE UK PREMIÈRE OF
THE TRIALS
By Dawn King Director: Natalie Abrahami
Designer: Georgia Lowe
Lighting Designer: Jai Morjaria
Sound Designer and Composer: Xana Associate Director: Joseph Hancock
Sustainability Consultants: Julie’s Bicycle
12 August – 27 August 2022
It’s easy for you to accuse me now but you don’t understand. Everyone lived like we did! Well maybe not everyone, everyone. But…I wasn’t any worse than anyone else.
The near future.
The climate crisis is unfolding and our generation is being judged.
The jurors? Children. But are they delivering justice, or serving revenge?
In this searing new play by Dawn King, young performers star alongside leading actors, directed by Natalie Abrahami.
A Donmar LOCAL Production: identifying talent of the future and proudly platforming them and the issues that matter.
The Trials received its world première at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in 2021, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The Trials Young Assistants’ Programme is generously supported by the Backstage Trust.
Casting to be announced. Tickets on sale from June 2022
Dawn King is an award-winning writer working in theatre, film, TV, VR and radio. Her work for the stage includes Foxfinder (originally produced by Papatango Theatre Company at The Finborough in 2011 and revived in a West End production at The Ambassadors in 2018 – winner of National Theatre Foundation Playwright Award 2013, Papatango New Writing Competition 2011 and Most Promising Playwright, Off West End awards 2012, and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2012 and the James Tait Black drama prize 2012, Brave New World, Ciphers and Salt. She also co-created immersive dystopian rave DYSTOPIA987 for Manchester International Festival 2019 (a collaboration with Skepta). Her short film The Karman Line won 17 awards including the BIFA for Best Short and was BAFTA nominated in 2014.
Natalie Abrahami is a theatre, opera and film director. Between 2007 and 2012 she was Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill with Carrie Cracknell. During their tenure they were awarded the Paul Hamlyn Breakthrough Fund for Creative Entrepreneurs. She then went on to join the Young Vic as Genesis Fellow and Associate Director 2013-16. She has also been Associate Artist at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and at Hull Truck. Her work for theatre and opera includes Good Grief (online), Swive [Elizabeth] (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe), ANNA (National Theatre), The Meeting (Chichester Festival Theatre), Machinal (Almeida Theatre), Wings, Happy Days, After Miss Julie and Ah, Wilderness! (Young Vic), Queen Anne (Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre Royal Haymarket), How the Whale Became and Other Tales (Linbury, Royal Opera House), The Eleventh Capital (Royal Court Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Headlong), Pericles (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Yerma (Hull Truck), Play and Not I (Battersea Arts Centre), and for the Gate Theatre, Vanya and The Kreutzer Sonata (which later transferred to La MaMa, New York). For film, her work includes Mayday, The Roof and Life’s a Pitch.
The Donmar Warehouse and Tara Theatre co-production of
SILENCE
Adapted from Kavita Puri’s Partition Voices: Untold British Stories
By Sonali Bhattacharyya, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Ishy Din and Alexandra Wood
Directed by Abdul Shayek
1 – 17 September 2022
“It was a great tragedy. We were friends one day and enemies the next. I will take these things to my grave.”
The 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan saw millions uprooted and resulted in unspeakable violence. It would shape modern Britain forever. Witnesses to this brutal moment in history live among us, yet the stories of that time remain shrouded in silence.
75 years later, Silence is anew play focused on communal storytelling – presenting a shared history inspired by the remarkable personal testimonies of people who lived through the last days of the British Raj. Commissioned to mark this major anniversary, Silence is adapted from Kavita Puri’s acclaimed book Partition Voices: Untold British Stories and co-produced with Tara Theatre.
Casting to be announced.
Kavita Puri is an award-winning journalist, executive producer and broadcaster. She devised, wrote and presented the landmark series Partition Voices for BBC Radio 4 which won the Royal Historical Society’s Radio and Podcast Award and its overall Public History Prize. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Partition Voices: Untold British Stories. Kavita is a presenter on The Inquiry, and the creator and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Three Pounds in My Pocket charting the social history of British South Asians from the post-war years. It is on its fifth series. She was the editor of Our World, and worked for many years at Newsnight.
Sonali Bhattacharyya is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter (Sonia Friedman Production Award and Theatre Uncut Political Playwriting Award for Chasing Hares) whose plays include Two Billion Beats (Orange Tree Theatre), Megaball (National Theatre Learning), Slummers (Cardboard Citizens/ Bunker Theatre), The Invisible Boy (Kiln Theatre) and 2066 (Almeida Participation). She is a graduate of the Royal Court Writers’ Group, the Old Vic 12, and Donmar Warehouse’s Future Forms Programme. She is currently under commission to Fifth Word and Kiln Theatre and is developing a drama series for television with Dancing Ledge Productions.
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti is currently writing for Sitting Bull, a ground-breaking docu-drama for Stephen David Entertainment/History Channel, Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio. She has written extensively for stage, screen and radio, and is now developing The Tutor for Moonage Pictures, adapting Black & Blue by Parm Sandhu for Cuba Pictures/ITV, Julie Myerson’s The Stopped Heart for Paul Andrew Williams’ company Corestar/Sky as well as Brando’s Bride by Sarah Broughton as a feature for Martha Stone Productions/Ffilm Cymru Wales. She is also adapting Sathnam Sanghera’s Marriage Material for the Birmingham Rep and writing new plays for Hampstead Theatre and Clean Break. Her first play Behsharam (Shameless) broke box office records at Soho Theatre and Birmingham Rep in 2001. Her highly controversial play Behzti (Dishonour) was sensationally closed in December 2004, after playing to packed houses at the Birmingham Rep, and went on to win the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Other credits include Khandan (Royal Court Theatre/Birmingham Rep), Elephant (Birmingham Rep), Fourteen (Watford Palace Theatre), the feature film Everywhere And Nowhere, DCI Stone (Radio 4), Londonee (Rich Mix), Dead Meat (Channel 4), and An Enemy Of The People (BBC World Service). She was part of the team that conceived and created the notorious ‘Helen and Rob coercive control’ story in the Archers. In December 2019, her play A Kind of People opened at the Royal Court Downstairs to rave reviews.
Ishy Din’s theatre work includes Approaching Empty (Kiln Theatre, Tamasha, Live Theatre and UK tour), Snookered (Tamasha, Oldham Coliseum and Bush Theatre) and Beats North (Edinburgh Fringe). He was the 2012 Pearson Writer in Residence at the Manchester Royal Exchange and in 2013 Snookered won Best New Play at the Manchester Theatre Awards. For television, his work includes Atomic Bazaar, Phoenix Park, Hollyoaks, Shakespeare and Hathaway,Ackley Bridge, Taxi Tales and Doughnuts; for film, Fraud, Perfume and Our Lad; and for radio John Barnes Saved My Life.
Alexandra Wood’s plays include The Tyler Sisters (Hampstead Theatre), Never Vera Blue (Futures Theatre), The Human Ear (Paines Plough), Ages (Old Vic New Voices), a translation of Manfred Karge’s Man to Man (Wales Millennium Centre and Edinburgh Fringe), Merit (Plymouth Drum), The Initiate (Paines Plough, winner of a Scotsman Fringe First), The Empty Quarter (Hampstead Theatre), an adaptation of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans (Young Vic/ART), The Centre (Islington Community Theatre), Unbroken (Gate Theatre), The Lion’s Mouth (Rough Cuts/Royal Court Theatre), The Eleventh Capital (Royal Court), the radio play Twelve Years (BBC Radio 4), and her audio play Descent (Audible). Her short plays include Pope’s Grotto (Paines Plough/Come to Where I’m From), My Name is Tania Head (Decade/Headlong) and work for the Royal Court Theatre, Oxford School of Drama, Rose Bruford College, Dry Write, nabokov and curious directive. She is a past winner of the George Devine Award and was the Big Room Playwright-in-Residence at Paines Plough in 2013.
Abdul Shayek directs. He trained at the National Theatre Directors’ Course, Live and Direct, Old Vic New Voices and ATC Directors Programme; and previously worked as associate or assistant director at Theatre Royal Stratford East, English National Opera and The Belgrade Theatre with directors including Emma Rice, John McGrath and Dawn Reid. For the stage, his credits include Migrations (Welsh National Opera), White Riot (The Space), The Mountaintop (The Other Room and Welsh national tour), Swarm (site-specific Welsh tour), Death and The Maiden (The Other Room), The Island (UK tour), 2020 Monologues series (Tara Theatre), Final Farewell (Tara Theatre and UK outdoor festivals tour), and Dawaat (Tara Theatre and site-specific tour). His screen credits include Rearranged (Welsh National Opera), and the short films, Gizmo and Fiver. Associate or assistant directing credits include Migrations (Welsh National Opera), Orpheus in the Underworld (English National Opera), Superkids: Breaking Away from Care (Channel 4), Mad Blud (Theatre Royal Stratford East), and Hansel and Gretel (Theatre Royal Stratford East). He is a member of British Council’s Arts and Creative Economy Advisory Group, a trustee of The Space, Told By An Idiot and dance company Impelo. He was a Clore Cultural Leadership Fellow (2013-14), during which he spent time at Film4 and M&C Saatchi. He was also named in the Stage 25 list compiled for the special 25-year edition.
A DONMAR WAREHOUSE PRODUCTION THE EUROPEAN PREMIÈRE OF
THE BAND’S VISIT
Music and lyrics by David Yazbek and Book by Itamar Moses
Director: Michael Longhurst
Associate Director: Orr Benezra-Segal
Cultural Consultant: Dr Lina Khatib
24 September – 3 December 2022
“Once, not long ago, a group of musicians came to Israel from Egypt. You probably didn’t hear about it. It wasn’t very important.”
In a quiet desert town way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost. As they wait for the next bus out, these unexpected visitors bring the town to life in surprising ways, proving that even the briefest visit can stay with you forever.
Winner of 10 Tony Awards and a Grammy for best Musical Theatre Album, The Band’s Visit rejoices in the way music makes us laugh, makes us cry, and ultimately, brings us together.
Artistic Director Michael Longhurst directs the European premiere of a brand-new production of The Band’s Visit, his next musical following his Broadway-transferring smash hit Caroline, or Change.
Casting to be announced.
Itamar Moses’ work includes Outrage, Bach At Leipzig, Celebrity Row, The Four of Us, Yellowjackets, Back Back Back, Completeness, and The Whistleblower, the musicals Nobody Loves You (with Gaby Alter), Fortress of Solitude (with Michael Friedman), and the evening of short plays Love/Stories (Or But You Will Get Used To It).
David Yazbek is a Tony Award winning writer, musician, composer and lyricist.Broadway credits include Tootsie, Fish in the Dark, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bombay Dreams and The Full Monty.
Michael Longhurst is Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse. For the company, his work includes Force Majeure, Midnight Your Time, Teenage Dick, Europe, and Belleville. His multicast revival of Nick Payne’s Constellations broke box office records at the Vaudeville this summer whilst the Donmar completed essential building works, and has received four 2022 Olivier nominations including Best Director and Revival. Constellations previously ran on Broadway (Samuel J Friedman Theater, for MTC), West End (Duke of York’s, Evening Standard Award Best Play), UK tour, originating at the Royal Court. His Chichester Festival Theatre production of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s Caroline, or Change recently completed its run at Studio 54 for Roundabout Theater on Broadway with Sharon D Clarke reprising her Olivier Award-winning performance (also West End and Hampstead). Other theatre includes Amadeus (National Theatre/NTatHome), The Son (Kiln Theatre/Duke of York’s Theatre), Gloria (Hampstead Theatre), Bad Jews (Theatre Royal Haymarket/Theatre Royal Bath/UK tour), They Drink It In The Congo and Carmen Disruption (Almeida Theatre), ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe), If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Off-Broadway for Roundabout), Linda, The Art of Dying, Remembrance Day (Royal Court Theatre), A Number (Nuffield Southampton Theatres/Young Vic), Cannibals (Royal Exchange Theatre), The History Boys (Sheffield Theatres), Dealer’s Choice (Royal & Derngate), The World of Extreme Happiness (NT Shed), Stovepipe (site-specific promenade with the National Theatre, HighTide and Bush Theatre), Midnight Your Time (HighTide), On The Beach (Bush Theatre), On The Record, Gaudeamus (Arcola Theatre), dirty butterfly (Young Vic – winner of the Jerwood Directors Award) and Guardians (Pleasance/Theatre503 – Fringe First Award).
WE. BLACK WOMEN.
Who are our heroes?
Leading actresses meet the women who inspire them. WE. BLACK WOMEN. is an exhibition curated by Donmar Associate Artist Joan Iyiola that shifts our perspective on British history by putting the collective experiences of black women at the centre of the conversation.
Featuring Sheila Atim, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Joyclen Buffong, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Noma Dumezweni, Dr Christine Ekechi, Decima Francis MBE, Akua Gyamfi, Naomie Harris, Afua Hirsch, Joan Iyiola, Anaya Kamara, Faith Locken, June Nicol-Dundas, and Susan Wokoma.
In partnership with Apatan Productions, with photography by Myah Jeffers (Portrait of Britain Winner) and Helen Murray (Widening the Lens) and cinematography by Stephen Ofori (Dọlápọ̀ is fine), this free exhibition will be presented in the Donmar’s foyer spaces from 6 May 2022.
Joan Iyiola is an artist, working as an actress, writer and producer. As an actress, Joan’s credits span film, television and theatre, most recently including Changing Destiny (Young Vic), The Duchess of Malfi (RSC), Tree (Young Vic), Too Close (ITV), Enterprice (BBC/Netflix) and Black Earth Rising (BBC/Netflix). Joan is co-founder of The Mono Box, a non-profit arts organisation that supports and nurtures the development of emerging and professional talent with workshops and courses, digital resources and new writing opportunities most notably, RESET THE STAGE and PLAYSTART. Joan is also co-founder of Apatan Productions, under which she co-wrote, produced and acted in Dọlápộ is Fine. The film was longlisted for a BAFTA in 2021, awarded the HBO Short Film Award in 2020 and has been acquired by Netflix and HBO. Apatan Productions currently has a number of commissioned TV projects in development. Joan was recently named as one of Digital Spy’s 30 Black British Stars of Tomorrow, and was selected for BFI Network x BAFTA’s Crew for 2021.
Sheila Atim MBE has garnered a host of accolades and awards that belie the fact she’s a relative newcomer to the industry. In 2018, Sheila won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, for her performance as ‘Marianne Laine’ in Girl From The North Country at the Old Vic Theatre. She received rave reviews as ‘Emilia’, acting alongside Mark Rylance and Andre Holland in Othello at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London and has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, at the Donmar Warehouse and the National Theatre. In 2021 she performed with Ivanno Jeremiah in the Donmar’s revival of Constellations, for which she has been nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress. TV credits include The Underground Railroad, Bruised, The Irregulars, Harlots, The Pale Horse, The Feed and Bounty Hunters.
As well as her Olivier Award, Sheila has won the Critics’ Circle Award, The Clarence Derwent Award and was nominated at the Evening Standard Awards. Sheila’s debut play, Anguis, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019. That same year, Sheila composed the music for Time is Love, Che Walker’s production at the Finborough Theatre.
Pippa Bennett-Warner can be seen in the forthcoming See How They Run and A Bit of Light. Other notable film credits include The Foreigner, Wakefield, Johnny English Strikes Again, and Patient Zero. Her television credits include MotherFatherSon, Harlots, Gangs of London, Maxxx, political thriller from David Hare Roadkill, Sitting in Limbo Chloe,Silent Witness, The Trials of Jimmy Rose, Doctor Who, The Secrets, Law & Order: UK, The Smoke, Vera, Southcliffe, and Case Histories. For theatre, her work includes The Beaux’ Stratagem (Royal National Theatre), The Witness (Royal Court Theatre), Richard II (Donmar Warehouse), The Swan (National Theatre), King Lear (Donmar Warehouse), Ruined (Almeida Theatre), Caroline or Change (National Theatre).
Joyclen Buffong is a youth leader and founder of Rise 365. She has been the Youth Programme Manager for both Concorde and the Stoke Newington Youth Hubs since 2002. She founded Rise 365, whose mission is to support young people and adults to achieve their goals, break down barriers and provide opportunities for them to flourish via mentorship and support programmes.
Sharon Duncan-Brewster’s versatility as an actress is reflected in the diverse range of theatre, television and film credits she has acquired across her career. Most recently, she was seen in the blockbuster film Dune for Warner Bros, playing the role of Dr Liet Kynes. She also joined the cast for Enola Holmes on Netflix, as Tula Quik in Sky’s drama Intergalactic and in Washington Black for Hulu. Her theatre credits include Victory Condition (Royal Court Theatre), Meet Me at Dawn,Swallow (Traverse Theatre), The Almightly Sometimes (Royal Exchange Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Liverpool Everyman) and The Not Black and White Season (Tricycle Theatre). For television, her other work includes Sex Education, Years & Years, The Long Song, Top Boy, The Bible, Cucumber, The Mimic, Bad Girls, Doctor Who, and EastEnders; and for film, The Intent 2: The Come Up, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Three and Out.
Noma Dumezweni – for her biography, please see above.
Dr Christine Ekechi is an entrepreneur and consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist. She graduated from St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London Medical School, holds a master’s degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and currently specialises in early pregnancy and acute gynaecology care. Her previous public health experience includes working with the UN, UNICEF, and national governments in the UK and beyond. Dr Ekechi is a health advocate, championing for the reduction in gender and racial inequalities in healthcare. She is the Co-Chair of the Race Equality Taskforce at the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists and sits on the board as a Trustee for gynaecology cancer charity, The Eve Appeal. Dr Ekechi is equally focussed on maternity safety and serves as a member of the Multi-Professional Advisory Panel for Baby Lifeline.
Decima Francis MBE is an actress, director, campaigner and founder of From Boyhood to Manhood Foundation. Born in St Kitts, Decima was among the first four women to have directed at the Royal National Theatre. She founded SASS Theatre Company, in Southwark in 1984 and then founded the Roxbury Outreach Shakespeare Experience as both a theatre company and a school’s outreach programme in 1988, taking the first production to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1989. She is now an anti-gang campaigner, having founded From Boyhood to Manhood Foundation, in 1996 in the London Borough of Southwark.
Akua Gyamfi is a journalist, entertainment commentator and founder of the multi-award- winning platform British Black list. Akua has a vast career in the entertainment industry spanning fashion, film, television, theatre and online media.
Following her role at the BBC, within the Performing Arts Fund, BBC Writersroom and then BBC R&D, Akua launched The British Blacklist in 2012, a media outlet dedicated to reporting up-to-date news on British black professionals in screen, stage, sound, and literature.
She also produces podcasts Your Aunties Could Never (popular culture, and TBB Talks (interviews with Black creatives from around the globe).
Alongside writer/producer Leon Mayne, Akua is the co-creator/co-exec producer and host of industry Web & Podcast series The Circle. In 2019 Akua joined forces with Soul Film, The New Black Film Collective, and We Are Parable to launch the S.O.U.L. Film Festival, an annual event which showcases the best of Black filmmakers and content creators from the UK and the wider Diaspora.
Naomie Harris is a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated performer. Her screen work includes No Time To Die, Swan Song, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Third Day, Black and Blue (NAACP nomination), Moonlight (Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Academy Award nominations as well as the Best Supporting Actress Award at the London Critics Circle Awards), Skyfall, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom opposite Idris Elba (nominations for two London Critics Circle Awards and an NAACP Image Award), Andy Serkis’ Venom: Let There be Carnage, Mowgli, Rampage, Sam Mendes’ Spectre, Collateral Beauty opposite Will Smith, Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw, Our Kind of Traitor, The First Grader, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Michael Mann’s Miami Vice, After The Sunset, and the highly acclaimed BBC mini-series White Teeth. Her breakthrough role was in Danny Boyle’s 2002 film 28 Days Later, and she later starred in Boyle’s production of Frankenstein, opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, at London’s National Theatre.
Afua Hirsch is an award-winning writer, broadcaster, film-maker and former barrister. Known for her work on black culture, history, identity and culture in the African diaspora and worldwide, Afua has been senior correspondent at the Guardian Newspaper and Sky News, and presented documentaries including ‘African Renaissance’; a three part documentary series for the BBC on African art, ‘Enslaved’; a six part series for Epix about the history of the transatlantic slave trade with Samuel L Jackson, and podcast series; ‘We Need to Talk about the British Empire’, for Audible.
Afua is the author of ‘Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging’ – winner of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize – and the bestselling children’s book ‘Equal To Everything’. She is currently the Wallis Annenberg Chair of Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Afua is the founder of ‘Born in Me Productions’, an independent production company focusing on scripted and non-scripted television, movies and podcasting. Afua is currently based in London.
Anaya Karama is the multi award winning hairdresser & inspirational entrepreneur, founder of Anaya Hair and Beauty London. She survived a gruesome car accident in 2006 that took her dad’s life in Sierra Leone. Born in Chatham, Kent, United Kingdom and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa. Anaya is a graduate of both London Metropolitan University and Newham College, obtaining an MSc in Information Systems Development & Mathematics and Hair & Beauty respectively. She was the 2015 REEBA recipient of the Inspiration Entrepreneur award and has received 23+ accolades for her entrepreneurial work. Alongside her mobile hairdressing and beauty organisation, Anaya mentors and employs 19 independent hair stylist across the UK and continues to empower her local community in Sierra Leone via her foundation in memory of her parents, ASMOK (Alpha Saba & Mariatu Oya Kamara).
Faith Locken is a real estate professional and the Founder of We Rise In. Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, Faith founded We Rise In, a business whose mission is to inspire, elevate, and develop the careers of black professionals across industries. We Rise In does this by offering black professionals the opportunity to develop themselves via programmes (mentorship and leadership) and connect with each other through events and network membership.
June Nicol-Dundas is an ex-deputy head teacher and foster parent. Raised in Freetown Sierra Leone, June moved to the UK in 1988 and enrolled in Goldsmith College as a Fashion Design student. Before completing her degree, she took on a permanent full-time role as a primary school teacher across schools in the London Borough of Southwark, later becoming the deputy headteacher and Religious Education, Music and Assessment lead at St John’s Walworth CofE Primary School. In 2014 she was interim headteacher of two schools at Medway, Kent and was seconded to work in other schools to help raise standards. Following her 43-year teaching career, June became a foster parent in 2019 and continues to devote her love and time to her children, grandchildren and foster children.
Susan Wokoma is an actor, writer and soon to be first time director.
After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), Susan has gone on to appear in films such as: ENOLA HOLMES, THE BEAUTIFUL GAME, HALF OF A YELLOW SUN and THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE 2. Her television credits include: CHEATERS, TOAST OF TINSELTOWN, THE HOUSE, RULES OF THE GAME, YEAR OF THE RABBIT, TRUTH SEEKERS, DARK MONEY, CRAZYHEAD, CRASHING, PORTERS and CHEWING GUM.
Susan has performed in many renowned theatres including National Theatre, The Bush, The Royal Court, Regent’s Open Air Theatre, St Ann’s Warehouse in New York, Sheffield Crucible and most recently TEENAGE DICK at the Donmar Warehouse.
Susan wrote, starred in and produced an award winning short film called Love The Sinner (SKY/Roughcut). She has written on shows such as The Reluctant Landlord (SKY); been in the writers room for Sex Education series 2 (Netflix) and will make her directorial debut with the feature film THREE WEEKS (BBC/BFI/Dorothy Street Pictures) which Susan also wrote and will star in.
Susan is a patron of the charity The Monobox and is also a regular co-host of the hit comedy podcast The Guilty Feminist alongside its creator Deborah Frances-White
DONMAR WAREHOUSE
LISTINGS
41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
Members Priority Booking:
Director’s Forum members can book from Monday 21 March Steel members from 9am (online) and 12pm (phones) on Wednesday 23 March
Copper members from 9am (online) and 12pm (phones) on Friday 25 March
Friends from 9am (online) and 12pm (phones) on Monday 28 March
Public booking:
From 9am (online) and 12pm (phones) on Wednesday 30 March
Preview discounts apply to the first 4 performances only
YOUNG+FREE
YOUNG+FREE tickets for 16-25 year olds released by ballot. Sign up atwww.donmarwarehouse.com.
Generously supported by IHS Markit.
DONMAR DAILY
New tickets on sale every day at the Donmar. Allocations of tickets will be made available every day for performances 7 days later. Tickets will be available across the auditorium at every price band.
ACCESS
The Donmar Warehouse is fully wheelchair accessible. Guide dogs and hearing dogs are welcome in the auditorium. There is a Loop system and a Radio Frequency system fitted in the main auditorium and there are also hearing loops at all the front of house counters.
ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
If you require a companion to attend the Donmar, their ticket will be free. To book call 020 3282 3808 or email [email protected].
For all other access enquiries or bookings call 020 3282 3808.
CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES – 7.30pm (captioned by Stagetext)
A Doll’s House, Part 2 Monday 25 July The Trials Thursday 25 August Silence Friday 16 September The Band’s Visit Monday 28 November
AUDIO DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE (audio-described by VocalEyes) A Doll’s House, Part 2 Saturday 16 July 2.30pm The Trials Friday 26 August 7.30pm Silence Thursday 15 September 2.30pm The Band’s Visit Saturday 26 November 2.30pm
BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETED PERFORMANCES
A Doll’s House, Part 2 Friday 29 July 7.30pm The Trials Saturday 27 August 2.30pm Silence Monday 12 September 7.30pm The Band’s Visit Saturday 19 November 2.30pm
SEASON AT A GLANCE:
HENRY V
Until 9 April 2022
Captioned: 28 March at 7.30pm Audio-Described: 2 April at 2.30pm, touch tour at 1pm British Sign Language Interpreted: 26 March at 2.30pm
MARYS SEACOLE
15 April – 4 June 2022
Captioned: 23 May at 7.30pm Audio-Described: 21 May at 2.30pm, touch tour at 1pm British Sign Language Interpreted: 30 May at 7.30pm
A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2
10 June – 6 August 2022
Captioned: Monday 25 July 7.30pm Audio-Described: Saturday 16 July 2.30pm British Sign Language Interpreted: Friday 29 July 7.30pm
THE TRIALS
12 August – 27 August 2022
Captioned: Thursday 25 August 7.30pm Audio-Described: Friday 26 August 7.30pm British Sign Language Interpreted: Saturday 27 August 2.30pm
SILENCE
1 – 17 September 2022
Captioned: Friday 16 September 7.30pm Audio-Described: Thursday 15 September 2.30pm British Sign Language Interpreted: Monday 12 September 7.30pm
THE BAND’S VISIT 24 September – 3 December 2022 Captioned: Monday 28 November 7.30pm Audio-Described: Saturday 26 November 2.30pm British Sign Language Interpreted: Saturday 19 November 2.30pm
COLLABRO RETURNS TO LONDON WITH A BRAND-NEW CONCERT THIS CHRISTMAS!
· The world’s most popular musical theatre vocal group have risen to international fame since winning Britain’s Got Talent in 2014 announced a new tour for 2022.
· Cuffe & Taylor, Lambert Jackson Productions and Live Nation Present Collabro – Christmas is Here UK Tour
Following a sell-out UK Tour, Collabro, the world’s most popular musical theatre vocal group, will return to London’s glittering West End as part of their up and coming UK Tour. Collabro will bring their new concert to the Adelphi Theatre on Tuesday 13th December 2022.
Tickets for Collabro – Christmas is Here UK Tour at London’s Adelphi Theatre willgo on sale on Friday 25th March 2022 at 10 AM.
Collabro – Christmas is Here UK Tour will open on Tuesday 29th November 2022 at Sheffield City Hall before heading to Carlisle, Plymouth, Newcastle, Manchester, Blackpool, Edinburgh, London, Birmingham, Bath.
Collabro – Christmas is Here UK Tour will close on Friday 16th December 2022 at Portsmouth Guildhall.
Collabro’s international fame has grown since winning Britain’s Got Talent in 2014. With two million record sales, six top-selling albums, five sell-out UK tours, and headline slots at the London Palladium, Wembley Stadium, the O2 Arena, and the Royal Albert Hall, Collabro havegone from strength to strength.
Following the release of their much-loved Christmas album, Christmas is Here; audiences can expect to hear breathtaking renditions of a range of festive classics, from Winter Wonderland to All I Want for Christmas, along with Christmas hymns we all know and love including Silent Night and O Holy Night.
Both the tour and album take their name from Collabro’s original song Christmas is Here, showcasing their pitch-perfect harmonies and providing a poignant reminder of the joy in bringing everyone together again for the Christmas season.
Collabro – Christmas is Here UK Tour will make the perfect gift this Christmas, expect stunning vocals and beautiful arrangements of your best-loved festive classics wrapped up in an intimate evening of stories, fun, laughter, and some very special surprises.
Collabro – Christmas is Here UK is real feel-good treat for theatre lovers and a night not to be missed!
York drag star, Velma Celli (Ian Stroughair) hit the York Theatre Royal stage on Saturday night for an evening of cabaret. Me and My Divas is a celebration of divas, who have influenced her throughout the years.
From the offset, stepping on the stage belting out Marry the Night, you could tell we were going to be in for a great night. She looked glorious and there was certainly nothing fake about her, well apart from her amazing eyelashes, especially loved the hair. What followed was over 2 ½ hours, including interval, longer than Les Mis, as she kept reminding us, of pure entertainment.
Velma is a born entertainer, funny, full of charm and a talented singer with a belting voice. She has a way with the audience that had us all in the palm of her hand. She has a witty sense of humour, putting her own spin on things, producing some great comedic moments. With a four-piece band accompanying her she worked her way through such artists as Witney, Adele, Ella James, Madonna, Lady Gaga and a hilarious exchange between Miley Cyrus and Sinead O’Connor, plus many more.
Throughout the evening she was supported by three guest entertainers, Twinnie, Gina Murray and Jess Steel. With powerful voices, they paid their own homage to the divas of the past, as well as duets with Velma, each bringing that special something to the evening. Twinnie was engaging, playing her new single “Welcome to the Club”. West End leading lady Gina, who may be petite, but she could belt out those numbers and with her wonderful accents, was a fabulous mimic. Jess, with her glorious red hair, was hilarious. Arriving on stage full of easy chatter, the kind that you have with your mates, had us all in stitches. She is a natural, and then she sang, WOW, what a voice. Her duet of Shallow, from a Star is Born, with Velma was stunning.
One of the highlights of the show for me was Velma’s reverence for two divas that you wouldn’t immediately think of as divas, and only because they are male. Those were Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. Her tribute to both artists gave me goosebumps.
The vocal talent on show was just amazing for the whole evening, a perfect cabaret show. Velma and the girls, had us all up and dancing and certainly deserved the standing ovation they received.
This overindulgent diva fest was a night of escapism, over far too quickly. Just what we need to help lift us, especially in the times we are living in.
Keep an eye out for more Velma Celli shows, you won’t be disappointed, we weren’t!
Crucible Studio Theatre, Sheffield – until 19th March 2022
Reviewed by Sophie Dodworth
4****
The Crucible Studio is small and intimate, which is the perfect place to be able to witness the magic that is Dispatches on the Red Dress. The show stops here for one night only but can be seen at many other venues in March and September this year.
A one woman show, although you wouldn’t believe that when you walk into the auditorium and see five instruments on set, waiting to be played (including the fiddle, viola, banjo and electric guitar) The solo show was first seen by audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019 and was a big hit, earning writer (co-written by Liam Hurley), performer and director Rowan Rheingans the prestigious Fringe First Award.
Drawn in by the story told in Rowans sweet, calm and endearing voice, we learn about Rowans grandparents In Germany 1940. You are taken around the village in Germany, where her ‘Oma’ and ‘Opa’ still live. You will be treat to a tale about the red dress worn on a night out for her grandma at the dance hall. It delves a little deeper into political matters and hardships at the time and can be quite thought provoking. The story is emotive, haunting and uplifting, leaving you smiling or feeling empathetic throughout. If you close your eyes during the narrative, you will be able to picture everything so clearly in your mind, with the atmosphere created by Rowan.
The show features songs from her album ‘The Lines We Draw Together’, such a lovely selection of well-written, perfectly performed songs. The folk singer is incredibly gifted, being able to sing beautifully, play multiple instruments flawlessly and remember all her lines while doing everything together. There is a very small amount of movement in the show but still is impactful and really adds to the storyline running through.
This show will leave you spell-bound by the multi-talented Rowan
It’s not just the nice girls who love a sailor, everybody who has the chance to see this show will fall in love with the ridiculously talented crew of HMS Pinafore. Sasha Regan’s All-Male productions of Gilbert and Sullivan classics have the perfect home in Wilton’s, with the sublime voices and piano accompaniment washing over the audience without need for microphones.
The silly plot involves sailor Ralph Rackstraw (Danny Becker) who loves Josephine (Sam Kipling), his captain’s daughter. Josephine also loves Ralph, but her father (Juan Jackson) has set his mind to her marrying the first lord of the admiralty, Sir Joseph Porter (David McKechnie). Sir Joseph shares his strong views about equality until he finds out about Josephine and the lowly sailor. Being Gilbert and Sullivan, of course there is a hidden truth that is revealed at the last minute to ensure a happy ending in this bonkers comedy about class.
Using just two bunkbeds, metal lockboxes and rope, the cast transform themselves from a WW2 era crew lolling around below deck into the camp and silly Victorian characters on board HMS Pinafore. Lizzie Gee’s delightful choreography gives the jolly tars a chance to show off their physical prowess with joyous glee, and Juan Jackson’s first entrance as Captain Corcoran is hilarious as he competes with his crew to prove his machismo. Jackson and Scott Armstrong as a very Scottish Little Buttercup have brilliant comedic chemistry and light up the stage. The romance between Ralph and Josephine is sweet and Sam Kipling is hilarious as Josephine tries to resist her true feelings. Danny Becker is strong in the hero role, and Sam Kipling’s phenomenal soprano vocals are a wonder to behold. David McKechnie is king of the patter songs, and there’s more than a touch of Leonard Rossiter in his very funny portrayal of the pompous character. Richard Russell Edwards steals the show as Cousin Hebe, with every expression and move cleverly calculated to draw howls of laughter, even when he is just sitting in the background. The clever use of minimal props and Lizzie Gee’s inspired choreography bring the crazy world to life with fantastic physical comedy and director Sasha Regan allowing the tender moments to settle without losing impetus.
The show wouldn’t work without a cast with gorgeous voices, and musical director Ashley Jacobs’ arrangements are pristine. The production will put a smile on your face within minutes, and that smile won’t disappear for a long while after the show. The playful creativity of this production and the talent on stage ensure an evening of escapism, wonder and joy.
