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, …
Interview with THE GLASS MENAGERIE director Femi Elufowoju jr Read More »
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 …
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 …
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 »
Heretic Productions today announces Heretic Voices, a new nationwide competition to find the best new writing in monologue form, with the four winners receiving a full production in the main space at the Arcola Theatre in January 2018. In addition the winning monologues will be published as a collection. Applicants can enter any monologue, written …
Our sister company, Arcola Energy, is inviting 100 young programmers and engineers aged 8 to 18 to take part in a week-long ‘Hydrogen Hack‘. Using fuel cells and programming, young inventors will use their creativity and engineering skills to hack hardware: making it move faster, longer or to take its first steps as an animate object. The hack …
Five years ago I was a wandering itinerant folk singer/songwriter/performer/theatrical nut, living on a dime and sleeping on the floor of my best friend’s house. Seven months previously I had taken the somewhat drastic step of quitting my day job to pursue my dream of becoming a full time songwriter. I had saved up some …
As the global Marvel brand sparks controversy online, Martin Thomas reflects on Arcola’s plans for more diverse and representative art. Like hundreds of other arts organisations across England, Arcola was recently involved in reviewing its contribution to excellent and diverse art and work with children and young people. The review was part of its National Portfolio Organisation application to Arts Council …
Hackney Council has announced that it intends to develop several publicly-owned sites around Arcola, creating a new ‘Dalston Quarter’. They are running a public consultation, which closes this Sunday, to determine the principles which should guide the development. This is an unprecedented opportunity to help shape the future of Dalston, and to secure a place …
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” So, apparently, said George Bernard Shaw, the playwright and critic who spent a whole lifetime playing: writing plays and working with players to stage them. His drama Candida – lesser-known than his major hits, Pygmalion, Man and Superman or Saint …
Naylah Ahmed, writer of Kali Theatre’s upcoming production Ready Or Not, talks about the themes of loss, guilt and fear. Playing at Arcola from 11 to 29 April 2017. Sometimes the worst human actions are the result of one moment – a moment we can’t take back, a moment with unimaginable consequences. Ready Or Not, a …
Writer Naylah Ahmed on her new play Ready Or Not Read More »
Kitty Hunter Blair and Jeremy Brooks’ translation of The Lower Depths was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company on 29 June 1972. 100 years after the Russian Revolution, it’s back on stage in our production of The Lower Depths, directed by Helena Kaut-Howson. In this exclusive article, Kitty Hunter Blair talks about the process of translating Russian plays, …
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS: Kitty Hunter Blair on translating The Lower Depths Read More »
New exhibition at the Arcola cafe that aims to raise awareness of children affected by Syrian war ‘MISPLACED CHILD‘: AN ARTIST’S CAMPAIGN TO RAISE AWARENESS OF CHILDREN AFFECTED BY SYRIAN WAR More than a year after the death of Alan Kurdi, the little 3-year-old Syrian boy who was washed up dead on a Turkish beach, …
MISPLACED CHILD: A new photography exhibition at the cafe of Arcola Read More »
We regret to inform you that, due to unforeseen circumstances, the advertised production of Angel (21 November – 17 December) has been postponed. The producers, and Arcola Theatre, would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you have already booked tickets for Angel, the Arcola Box Office will contact you shortly to arrange a …
3 fantastic new plays are transferring from the Edinburgh Fringe to Arcola Theatre next month, as part of our EH to E8 season. Artistic director and performer Emma D’Arcy and director Thomas Bailey tell us more about Callisto: A Queer Epic which opens 18 October. Briefly, what’s Callisto about? ED: It’s four interweaving LGBTQ love stories from …
Arcola is introducing a series of Saturday afternoon post-show discussions, chaired by Jeannie Farr. Jeannie has been an active member of Arcola’s community, including as a volunteer usher, and a passionate supporter of the theatre since it first opened in 2000. Previously she was a drama teacher, a community theatre practitioner, and an advocate for the performing arts with …
We are looking for new members to join, take part and perform as part of our Community Performance Programme. Arcola run groups target specifically at the Turkish and Kurdish Community (Ala-Turka), over 50’s (Arcola 50+), self identifying LGBTQ* individuals (Arcola Queer Collective), and men whose lives have have been affected either directly or indirectly by …
Join one of Arcola’s critically acclaimed Community Performance Companies Read More »
Arcola Creative Engagement are pleased to be involved with the 2016 Dalston Children’s Festival. Launching this coming Saturday 28th May, with a second Saturday of events on 4th June, children will be spoilt for choice for exciting things to see and do for free across Dalston. Bridging the Saturday’s either side of the half-term holidays, …
Arcola to participate in Dalston Children’s Festival Read More »
In 2016, Arcola is participating in an ongoing art project by British artist Ellie Harrison. Early Warning Signs will be on display outside Arcola throughout 2016. Initiated at Two Degrees festival in 2011, the project aims to allow the four rotating ‘climate change’ signs Ellie produced for the festival to continue to promote their cause …