WINNER OF THE 2019 PAPATANGO PRIZE – SAMUEL BAILEY’S SHOOK
TRANSFERS TO THE WEST END
“An astonishingly brilliant production… One of the best debut plays I have ever seen”
Saturday Review, Radio 4
“Bailey’s a major talent to be reckoned with” Evening Standard
Papatango Theatre Company and James Quaife Productions
in association with Rupert Henderson and London Limelight
present the West End premiere of
SHOOK
by Samuel Bailey
Trafalgar Studios
8 April – 9 May
Director George Turvey; Set and Costume Designer Jasmine Swan
Lighting Designer Johanna Town; Sound Designer Richard Hammarton
Papatango and James Quaife Productions today announce the West End transfer of Papatango’s original production of Samuel Bailey’s critically acclaimed Shook – 2019’s winner of the annual Papatango New Writing Prize. The production opens at the Trafalgar Studios on 14 April, with previews from 8 April, and runs until 9 May, marking Papatango’s first West End transfer. Artistic Director George Turvey reunites the company from the acclaimed debut run at Southwark Playhouse and on tour in 2019 – Josef Davies (Jonjo), Josh Finan (Cain), Andrea Hall (Grace) and Ivan Oyik (Riyad). The production was nominated for seven Off West End Awards (Best Production, Best New Play, Most Promising Playwright, Best Performance Ensemble, Best Director, Best Set and Best Sound); and is currently a finalist for Best Production and Most Promising Playwright Awards.
George Turvey said today, “We’re thrilled to transfer Shook in Samuel Bailey and Papatango’s West End premières. After a record-breaking run at Southwark Playhouse and a national tour, it’s a joy to revive this very special show and share it with a wider audience.”
James Quaife added, “Having seen Samuel Bailey’s brilliant debut last year, I am delighted to be able to transfer the production with Papatango into the West End for a richly deserved longer run, so even more people can see this extraordinary play.”
“He’ll look different. My little boy. When I get out. Like… to the picture I’ve got in my head. Be like meeting him all over again. Be a whole new start.”
Instead of GCSEs, Cain, Riyad and Jonjo got sentences. Locked up in a young offenders’ institution, they trade sweets, chat shit, kill time – and await fatherhood.
Grace’s job is to turn these teenagers into parents, ready to take charge of their futures. But can they grow up quickly enough to escape the system?
Winner of the 2019 Papatango New Writing Prize from a record 1,406 entries, Samuel Bailey’s debut full production tenderly and honestly examines the young men society shuts away.
Samuel Bailey was born in London and raised in the West Midlands. He began writing plays in Bristol and developed work with Bristol Old Vic, Tobacco Factory Theatres and Theatre West before moving back to London. He is an alumnus of the Old Vic 12 and Orange Tree Writers’ Collective. Shook was originally supported by the MGCfutures bursary programme, and won the 2019 Papatango New Writing Prize, being developed and produced by Papatango in a record-breaking run at Southwark Playhouse followed by a UK tour. It was nominated for seven Off West End Awards.
The Papatango New Writing Prize was the UK’s first – and remains the only annual – opportunity guaranteeing a new writer a full production, publication by Nick Hern Books, a royalty of 10% of the gross box office, and a £6500 commission with full developmental support for a follow-up play.
In addition, every entrant receives feedback on their script – a commitment made by no other company, especially significant as the Prize averages more submissions on a yearly basis than any other playwriting award.
For the past five years, the Prize-winning play has been showcased at Southwark Playhouse including the world premières of the 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 Papatango New Writing Prize winners: Shook by Samuel Bailey, The Funeral Director by Iman Qureshi, Trestle by Stewart Pringle, Orca by Matt Grinter and Tomcat by James Rushbrooke. These productions have received 16 nominations for Off West End Awards including Best New Play and Most Promising Playwright.
Other writers produced under the Prize include Dawn King, Dominic Mitchell, Tom Morton-Smith, Fiona Doyle, Luke Owen and Louise Monaghan. Collectively, writers launched through the Prize have won BAFTAs, Off West End, and RNT Foundation Awards, been nominated for the James Tait Black Drama Prize and twice nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, premièred in over twenty countries worldwide, and gone on to work with the National Theatre, RSC, Hampstead Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Theatre Royal Bath, Royal and Derngate, Bush Theatre, Headlong, English Touring Theatre and The Old Vic, as well as in the West End, and for the BBC and HBO.
Josef Davies plays Jonjo. His previous theatre credits include Hangmen (Royal Court Theatre, Wyndham’s Theatre), The 306 (National Theatre of Scotland), and Junkyard (Headlong). For television, his credits include Chernobyl, World on Fire, Silent Witness, Shakespeare and Hathaway, The Bisexual, Curfew, Call The Midwife, and Uncle. For film, 1917, The King, Dumbo, Undercliffe, and The Limehouse Golem.
Josh Finan plays Cain. His previous theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC), The Nutcracker (Theatr Clwyd), Champ (Tobacco Factory Theatres), E15 (Lung Theatre, Northern Stage), The Barricade (Theatre503), Takeover – Pancake Day (Bunker Theatre), and Dolly Wants to Die (Lung Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Underbelly Theatre). For television, his credits include Doctors and Guerrilla; and for film, Surge, Hellboy, and The Current War.
Andrea Hall plays Grace. Her previous theatre credits include Ares (Vaults Festival), The Wild Duck (Almeida Theatre), The Notebook of Trigorin (Finborough Theatre), Hyacinth Blue (Clean Break), Talkin’ Loud (Theatre503), Abena’s Stupidest Mistake (The Drill Hall), Parting Shots (Bootleg Theatre), Large Tales (Nottingham Playhouse), The Palace of Fear (Leicester Haymarket), and Johnny Dollar (Bloomsbury Theatre). For television, her credits include Unforgotten, The Child in Time, Broadchurch, Flack, Humans, Joe All Alone, Apple Tree House, Trauma and Thirteen.
Ivan Oyik plays Riyad. His previous theatre credits include Blue Orange (Birmingham Rep – for which he was nominated for The Stage Debut Award for Best Actor in a Play) and Red Pitch (Ovalhouse).
George Turvey co-founded Papatango in 2007 and became the sole Artistic Director in January 2013. Credits as director include Shook (Papatango, UK tour), Hanna (Papatango, UK tour), The Annihilation of Jessie Leadbeater (Papatango at ALRA), After Independence (Papatango at Arcola Theatre, 2016 Alfred Fagon Audience Award, and on BBC Radio 4), Leopoldville (Papatango at Tristan Bates Theatre), and Angel (Papatango at Pleasance London and Tristan Bates Theatre).
Turvey trained as an actor at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) and has appeared on stage and screen throughout the UK and internationally, including the lead roles in the world première of Arthur Miller’s No Villain (Old Red Lion Theatre and Trafalgar Studios) and Batman Live World Arena Tour. As a dramaturg, he has led the development of all of Papatango’s productions. He is the co-author of Being A Playwright: A Career Guide For Writers, published by Nick Hern Books.
ABOUT PAPATANGO
Papatango is a charity who discover and champion new playwrights by running free open application schemes and opportunities.
The Papatango New Writing Prize is free to enter and open to any resident of the UK or Ireland. It is assessed anonymously by a reading team which identifies as at least 50% female and is at least 25% BAME. All entrants receive personal feedback on their scripts, an unmatched commitment to supporting aspiring playwrights. The 2019 Prize assessed and gave personal feedback to 1,406 plays from every region of the UK and Ireland. The winner is guaranteed a full production, publication, royalties and commission. The Prize was the first UK award to make such a commitment, changing the landscape for new writing.
Winners have been evenly divided between men and women, aged from their 20s to their 50s, and 70% have been state educated. They have won BAFTAs, Off West End and Royal National Theatre Foundation awards, premiered in over 20 countries, and worked with the RSC, National Theatre, BBC and HBO, among many other leading organisations.
As well as the Prize, Papatango offers a yearly Resident Playwright scheme, taking an emerging playwright through commissioning, development and production of a new play. Previous Residents have won an Alfred Fagon Audience Award, adapted their play for BBC Radio Four, been commissioned by Headlong, the Tricycle Theatre, and the North Wall Arts Centre, and seen their work tour nationwide with Papatango.
Papatango also run GoWrite, an extensive programme of free playwriting workshops, performances and publication for children and adults across the country. Each year it provides free face-to-face training or productions for over 4000 budding writers at state schools, regional venues and community centres, launching plays that have gone on to be staged at Hampstead Theatre, the Vaults Festival, Old Red Lion Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Luton Hat Factory and the Quarry Theatre, Bedford. GoWrite also provides £5000 in bursaries to enable in-need writers nationwide to access opportunities. In 2019 Papatango launched WriteWest, a playwriting programme across south-west England which provides free training, performances and seed funding for grassroots writers and producers.
Papatango’s first book, Being A Playwright: A Career Guide for Writers, was published in autumn 2018 by Nick Hern Books. It topped Amazon’s best-seller list in the playwriting category, and has been described as a “phenomenon for playwriting good…a bible for playwrights” by Steve Waters and “enlightening…an excellent tool for playwrights” by Indhu Rubasingham.
ABOUT JAMES QUAIFE PRODUCTIONS
Formed in 2009, James Quaife Productions (JQP) is an award-winning theatrical and entertainment production company producing theatre in the West End and around the UK.
With a background in both the subsidised and commercial sector, JQP is passionate about nurturing and developing new and innovative work for the stage, as well as offering the highest quality of theatre and live entertainment possible.
As an independent producer and general manager, productions include: Sweat (Gielgud Theatre; Winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Play 2019 and Olivier Nominated for Best New Play), Good People starring Imelda Stanton (Noël Coward Theatre), the world premiere of Barking in Essex starring Lee Evans, Sheila Hancock and Keeley Hawes (Wyndham’s Theatre; Evening Standard and WhatsOnStage Award nominations for Best New Comedy), Next Fall starring Charlie Condou (Southwark Playhouse), Step 9 (of 12) starring Blake Harrison and Precious Little Talent (Trafalgar Studios).
From 2014 – 2019 James was the Producer for English Touring Theatre, productions include: Equus (Trafalgar Studios/Theatre Royal Stratford East/UK tour; Winner of the UK Theatre Awards, Best Revival 2019), Two Trains Running (Royal & Derngate/UK tour), Dealing with Clair (Orange Tree, Richmond), A Streetcar Named Desire (UK tour; UK Theatre Awards nomination – Best Touring Production 2018), Rules for Living (Royal & Derngate/Rose Theatre Kingston/UK tour), Silver Lining (Rose Theatre Kingston/ UK tour), Hamlet (Trafalgar Studios), Brideshead Revisited (York Theatre Royal/UK tour), The Herbal Bed (Royal & Derngate/Rose Theatre Kingston/UK tour; Winner – UK Theatre Awards Best Touring Production 2016), The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead (Liverpool Everyman/ Shakespeare’s Globe/UK tour) and Arcadia (Theatre Royal Brighton/UK tour).
James is a member of The Society of London Theatre and the League of Independent Producers.
www.jamesquaifeproductions.com
LISTINGS: SHOOK
Trafalgar Studios 2
14 Whitehall London SW1A 2DY
Box Office: 0844 871 7632
Tickets: £25, £30, £35 (plus a £3.50 transaction charge)
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