Trailblazing theatre for all
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 …
Defibrillator and Arcola Theatre, today announces cast for world stage première of Mike Bartlett’s, Not Talking. Artistic Director of Defibrillator James Hillier directs David Horovitch (James), Gemma Lawrence (Amanda), Kika Markham (Lucy) and Lawrence Walker (Mark). “If I don’t want to tell anyone, it’s up to me, right?” Lucy knows James has avoided the battle. …
Moe Bar-El (Le Bureau Des Legendes, Canal+; Tyrant, Fox; Snatch, Sony) and Ali Azhar (Algérie en éclats, Alouettes Theatre in Paris; Macbeth, Screen Northants/BBC; Digital Physics, Philadelphia Philms) will join renowned German actress Sarah Alles in Marion Bott’s Moormaid – an explosive new play about two lost individuals’ search for freedom. Set in Berlin, Moormaid …
Will Self reflects on the origins of his novel Great Apes, which first burst onto the page in 1996. The disturbing and hilarious story of a Turner Prize-winning artist, undergoing treatment for a psychotic delusion that he’s human, is being brought to the stage by Patrick Marmion, in its very first stage adaptation. In the early 1990s …
Arcola Theatre has won The Stage‘s 2018 Sustainability Award. The award recognises Arcola’s continuing efforts to adopt greener practices and technologies, reduce carbon emissions and raise awareness about the importance of action to tackle climate change. In particular, it acknowledges the 36% reduction in power usage at this year’s Grimeborn opera festival, made possible by …
Arcola wins The Stage’s 2018 Sustainability Award Read More »
Arcola Theatre has announced a festival of productions celebrating the people and diversity of East London. Creative/Disruption 18, which features twelve productions alongside special events including readings and club nights, will light up Arcola for 7 weeks from 26 February to 14 April 2018. Women’s, LGBTQ, Turkish, youth, 50+ and men’s mental health groups – …
Arcola Theatre announces 2018 Creative/Disruption Festival Read More »
Joanne Ryan based her award-winning show Eggsistentialism on her comical journey to decide if she should have a baby. Here she discusses the show and why, despite all the best-intentioned advice, we should all ultimately listen to our heart. On a cold, January morning in 2015 I sat in a room with 5 other writers and first …
Over the next few weeks, in the build up to the opening of Napoleon Disrobed, we will be sharing Told By An Idiot‘s rehearsal diary. Written by different members of the company that are working on devising this epic production, stay tuned to find out how it’s shaping up ahead of its opening in February! …
Arcola Theatre has been named as one of the three organisations in the shortlist for The Stage‘s 2018 Sustainability Award. The nomination recognises Arcola’s continuing efforts to adopt greener practices and technologies, reduce carbon emissions and raise awareness about the importance of action to tackle climate change. In particular, it acknowledges the 36% reduction in …
Arcola nominated for The Stage’s Sustainability Award Read More »
In 2015, Sam Potter was awarded a place on the Channel 4 Playwright’s Scheme with Papatango. She spent a year as their Resident Playwright and Hanna is the result of that collaboration. Ahead of its London Premiere, she reveals how the idea for the play was conceived. There are two stories about how plays come …
In 2018, the Arcola Queer Collective will present its fourth annual season of theatre and performance. In 2017, we presented forgotten and rediscovered plays from queer theatre history, from Mae West’s effervescent The Drag, and a new re-imagining of Edouard Bourdet‘s La Prisonnière, to a series of plays from the activist queer theatre of the …
Call for Submissions: Global Queer Playwriting/Queer Plays in Translation Read More »
In her new play, The Blue Hour of Natalie Barney, writer Frances Bingham brings to the stage one of history’s most fascinating and pioneering women. She spoke to us about her writing process and the art of turning biography into drama. Natalie Barney’s life seems made for the stage. A Parisian-American who lived through Decadence and Modernism, two …
Following the reports and allegations of the last two weeks, first in America and, more recently, closer to home, we have come together to make clear that there can be no place for sexual harassment or abuse of power in our industry. We salute the bravery of everyone who calls out this abusive behaviour. We support a theatre culture that empowers people to speak up: a …
Arcola Theatre aims to become the world’s first carbon neutral theatre. This year, we took a big step towards that goal by bringing low-energy, high-quality LED stage lighting fixtures to our flagship opera festival, Grimeborn. Arcola estimates that the inclusion of Philips Lighting’s LED technology in the Grimeborn lighting rig delivered a 36% power-saving overall. Philips …
Arcola and Philips partnership delivers a carbon-neutral Grimeborn Read More »
ArcolaLAB is a residency and development programme to support BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee) artists and theatre-makers. Each year Arcola support the equivalent of 26-weeks worth of R&D, readings, rehearsal and development space, ranging from 1 day to 2 weeks. From Monday 4th to Friday 8th September 2017, ArcolaLAB supported the development of …
Jane Upton won the 2016 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright for All The Little Lights. Ahead of its London premiere at Arcola, she reveals where the play came from – and how it grew. In January 2014, Fifth Word commissioned me to write a play. Any play. About anything I wanted. The only …
Arcola and The Orseis Trust to commission and support a new Main Stage play by an emerging to mid-career BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic or Refugee) writer Winning play to premiere in Arcola’s main 2018/19 Season Applications close at 5pm on Tuesday 19th September 2017 Arcola Theatre is partnering with The Orseis Trust to commission …
New commissioning opportunity for BAMER playwrights Read More »
WhatsOnStage Award-winning director Aylin Bozok has returned to Grimeborn with a bold take on Camille Saint-Saëns’ extraordinary biblical epic Samson And Delilah. My vision is to tell the story of Samson and Delilah in a dreamlike, surrealist environment far detached from any form of realism so it can be felt on a psychological level rather than …
Aylin Bozok on her production of SAMSON AND DELILAH Read More »
Director Cecilia Stinton on how she discovered the libretto of Collision and how Spectra Ensemble decided to bring Schwitters’ text to life. Collision if part of Grimeborn 2017, on stage 17-19 August. More info and tickets (£17, £14 concessions) here. One summer afternoon after finishing my Master’s degree, I found myself in the library, aimlessly leafing through …
The Unearthing of a Dada-esque Libretto: Cecilia Stinton on Spectra Ensemble’s COLLISION Read More »
Arcola’s Creative Engagement department – which works with the local community and creates over 11,000 opportunities for participation and talent development – is to present two productions as part of this year’s Grimeborn opera festival. The first, OPERA MOUSE, extends Grimeborn’s inclusive and captivating programme to under 5s. The production follows Tilly Mouse who lives under an …