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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Cast announced for Mike Bartlett’s Not Talking

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. …

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Will Self on Great Apes

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 …

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Arcola wins The Stage’s 2018 Sustainability Award

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 …

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Arcola Theatre announces 2018 Creative/Disruption Festival

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 – …

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Joanne Ryan on Eggsistentialism

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 …

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Arcola nominated for The Stage’s Sustainability Award

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 …

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Playwright Sam Potter on Hanna

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 …

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Call for Submissions: Global Queer Playwriting/Queer Plays in Translation

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 …

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Frances Bingham on Natalie Barney

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 …

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Joint Statement on the Theatre Industry

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 …

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Arcola and Philips partnership delivers a carbon-neutral Grimeborn

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 …

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Inside ArcolaLAB: Invisible Man R&D

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 …

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