Arcola announces Edinburgh and London runs of Dael Orlandersmith’s UNTIL THE FLOOD

Arcola Theatre today announces the European première of Until The Flood, written and performed by Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith. The production, directed by Neel Keller, will be the first by Arcola Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival. It opens at the Traverse Theatre on 2 August, with previews from 1 August, and runs until 24 August. It then transfers …

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Arcola to mark 50th anniversary of Stonewall riots with RIOT ACT

Arcola Theatre will stage Alexis Gregory‘s critically-acclaimed, verbatim theatre piece Riot Act over three Sundays in June, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The 30 June performance will coincide with the actual anniversary weekend. A breathtaking journey through six decades of queer history, Riot Act was created from playwright and performer Alexis …

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Interview with THE GLASS MENAGERIE director Femi Elufowoju jr

Tennessee Williams is considered one of the foremost playwrights of 20th Century American drama. What is it about his writing that makes him so influential? In rehearsal we constantly marvel at the encyclopedic range of his personal world. His plays touch the many facets of the human condition – love, power, sexuality, loss, internal strife, …

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Meet the cast of THE GLASS MENAGERIE

Arcola Theatre and Watford Palace Theatre are thrilled to announce the full cast for The Glass Menagerie. The cast for Femi Elufowoju jr’s production of The Glass Menagerie is confirmed as Michael Abubakar as Tom Wingfield, Lesley Ewen as Amanda Wingfield, Charlie Maher as Jim O’Connor and, in her debut performance, Naima Swaleh as Laura Wingfield. The …

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Arcola’s Studio 2 Summer Season 2019

Arcola Theatre has announced its Studio 2 Summer Season with three new plays being performed in the theatre’s 100 seat studio. SITTING by Katherine Parkinson, directed by Sarah Bedi HOARD by Bim Adewunmi, directed by Femi Elufowoju jr.   RADIO by Al Smith, directed by Josh Roche Arcola’s Artistic Director, Mehmet Ergen said “Arcola’s Studio 2 …

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Cast announced for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

Arcola Theatre and Selladoor Productions today announce the full cast for Little Miss Sunshine. Mehmet Ergen, Artistic Director of Arcola Theatre, directs Laura Pitt-Pulford (Sheryl), Gary Wilmot (Grandpa), Gabriel Vick (Richard), Paul Keating (Frank) and Sev Keoshgerian (Dwayne). The role of Olive will be shared by Sophie Hartley Booth, Evie Gibson and Lily Mae Denman. Ian Carlyle is Larry/Buddy, Imelda Warren-Green …

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Cast announced for Mrs Dalloway

Arcola Theatre and Forward Arena today announce the full cast for Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, a new adaptation by Hal Coase. Thomas Bailey, co-Artistic Director of Forward Arena, directs Emma D’Arcy (Rezia), Sean Jackson (Peter), Clare Lawrence Moody (Sally), Clare Perkins (Clarissa) and Guy Rhys (Septimus). The production opens at Arcola Theatre on 1 October, …

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Rosabella Gregory on her Mosaic opera

Rosabella Gregory, composer of Where No Bell Tolls, talks about the biographical work she will be presenting with Mosaic as part of this year’s Grimeborn festival. Featuring an extensive programme of events and workshops, the showcase series uniquely champions BAME artists and creatives working in opera. I am the composer of Where No Bell Tolls, and my …

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Julia Burbach on The Rape of Lucretia

Following her acclaimed Grimeborn productions of Madama Butterfly and Tosca, director Julia Burbach now prepares to turn the lens of Benjamin Britten‘s The Rape of Lucretia on the representation of women from ancient myths to the #MeToo movement. Here, she tells us more about what to expect from her latest production and one of the centrepieces of …

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Rabiah Hussain: Why I Wrote Spun

Playwright Rabiah Hussain reflects on the origins of her exhilarating debut play Spun. Telling the story of two British Pakistani friends from East London, she wants to readdress how we look at representation and truthfulness around South Asian narratives. After months of staring at words on the page, rehearsals for Spun have been a welcome break. I’ve been …

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Cast announced for Spun

Introducing the cast for the world premiere of Spun by Rabiah Hussain. The part of best friends Safa and Aisha will be played by Humaira Iqbal and Aasiya Shah. Humaira Iqbal will play Safa. She trained at National Youth Theatre and Central School of Speech and Drama. Theatre work includes: Here Comes the Bride (National Theatre Studios); War and War (Complicite); Cheap Justice …

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Cast announced for The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives

Joining the Arcola’s exciting and empowering production of Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Patrice Naiambana (Barbershop Chronicles, National Theatre; The Caretaker, Bristol Old Vic), Jumoké Fashola (Inspirit, BBC Radio London’s Sunday Breakfast Show; Dirty Little Secrets, London Festival of Cabaret), Christina Oshunniyi (Ife, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Africa Center; One Session, …

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Cast announced for The Daughter-in-Law

Final casting is announced for a rare production of D H Lawrence’s The Daughter-in-Law, a searing and unforgettable drama about heartache, inequality and the ties that bind, set in the heat of the 1912 miners’ strike. This groundbreaking play, not published or performed in Lawrence’s lifetime, premiered in a Peter Gill production at the Royal …

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Women’s stories told for everyone

Sophie McKay is a writer, playwright and performer, and one of the members of Arcola’s new Women’s Company. Here, ahead of their first production Smile, Darling, she writes about putting women’s stories on stage. What constitutes a ‘woman’s story’? Well you’ve got the usual haven’t you: the first sexual experience in all its uncomfortable glory, the dress you …

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