'Private Gigi, One Direction are here - naked - awaiting your command.'
A roadblock. Two young women armed with machine guns and Nutella. Days away from finishing the army.
Gigi has a secret. Dar dreamt she’d be shot today. And there’s a strange vehicle heading their way…
Well, that’s okay. Nothing ever happens here. Right?
The world premiere of Gigi & Dar – a comic tragedy about what we bury to survive – created by Josh Azouz and Kathryn Hunter, two of the country’s most exciting theatre artists.
-
Running time
90 minutes -
Age guidance
16+ -
Content warnings
“Devastatingly effective…Brilliantly directed”
“One of the most exciting playwrights of this age … one not to be missed”
“A triumph…a beautifully staged production…a truly impactful theatrical experience”
“Fantastically engaging and funny with savage undertones…”
“Hits a brutal but balanced note”
“Delightful and devastating... will make your hairs stand on end. This is a must-see for those who believe in theatre's power to challenge, provoke, and illuminate the complexities of our world.”
“Gigi & Dar’ is deep, timely, disturbing and effective”
“Very funny…a bit like Beckett…a bit like Pinter…pretty great”
“Phenomenal…breathtaking…stunning piece of theatre”
The Company
-
Roman Asde
Sim
Roman Asde
Sim
Roman Asde trained at LAMDA. This is his first professional theatre role.
-
Chipo Chung
Zoz
Chipo Chung
Zoz
Chipo Chung’s theatre credits include: Dido, Queen of Carthage (RSC), Julius Caesar (Sheffield Crucible), Boys Will Be Boys (Headlong), The Haunting of Hill House, The Major of Zalamea, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Liverpool Everyman), Fu Manchu Complex (Oval House), Phaedre, The Overwhelming (National Theatre), On
Religion (On Theatre), Turandot (Hampstead), Fallujah (Truman Brewery/ICA), Gaudeamus (Arcola), Talking to Terrorists (Out Of Joint), The Lunatic Queen (Riverside Studios), Tall Phoenix (Belgrade), Hamlet (Nuffield).
Film credits include: Bladerunner 2049, The White Room, 360, In the Loop, Sunshine, Proof. TV credits include: Silo S1-2, Black Cake, Electric Eye, His Dark Materials, Foundation, Chimerica, Into the Badlands, Absentia, Moving On, From Darkness, Thirteen, Fortitude, Black Mirror, The Politician’s Husband, Sherlock, Camelot,
Casualty, Identity, Doctor Who, The Last Enemy, Dalziel & Pascoe, Holby City, Absolute Power. -
Lola Shalam
Dar
Lola Shalam
Dar
Lola Shalam trained at Guildhall. Her credits include Macbeth (Wessex Grove/Underbelly/Shakespeare Theatre Company) and Women, Beware the Devil (Almeida).
-
Tanvi Virmani
Gigi
Tanvi Virmani
Gigi
Tanvi Virmani trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Theatre credits include: Cyrano (Traverse); Minority Report (Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Rep, Lyric Hammersmith); The Crown Jewels (Garrick); Two Billion Beats (Orange Tree), Life of Pi (Wyndhams/tour); and The Tempest (Theatre Royal Bath). TV credits include: Not Going Out.
-
Josh Azouz
Writer
Josh Azouz
Writer
Josh Azouz is an award-winning writer working across stage, screen and radio. His work has been shown in the UK and across the US. Recent plays include: Kiss/Marry/Push Off Cliff (NT Connections), The Get (BBC Radio 3), Once Upon A Time In Nazi Occupied Tunisia (Almeida Theatre), The Mikvah Project (Orange
Tree Theatre, Yard Theatre & BBC Radio 4), Buggy Baby (Yard Theatre). TV includes: The Night After (Headlong/BBC 4) and The Box (MGM/NENT). Josh won a channel 4 playwright award for Buggy Baby. The LA Theatre Works production of Once Upon A Time In Nazi Occupied Tunisia was nominated for best audio drama at The Audies. Josh has been an associate artist at the Yard Theatre and MUJU (A Muslim-Jewish theatre company). -
Kathryn Hunter
Director
Kathryn Hunter
Director
Kathryn Hunter is an Olivier Award-winning Actor and Director. She won Best Supporting Actress at the New York Film Critics Circle Award in 2021 for her role in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth with recent screen highlights also including Poor Things (dir: Yorgos Lanthimos) and upcoming films Megalopolis (dir: Francis Ford Coppola) and The Front Room (dir: Max & Sam Eggers), due for release in September 2024. Directing credits include: Napoleon Disrobed (Told by an Idiot/Arcola/Theatre Royal Plymouth), Out of Blixen (Print Room), Othello (RSC), The Birds (National Theatre), Mr Puntila and his man Matti (Almeida, Albery and Traverse), Wiseguy Scapino (Theatre Clwyd), The Glory of Living (Royal Court), The Comedy of Errors, Pericles (Shakespeare’s Globe) and My Perfect Mind (Told by an Idiot/Young Vic and tour).
-
Michael Vale
Designer
Michael Vale
Designer
Michael Vale has designed the sets and costumes for well over 200 theatre and opera productions both in the UK and abroad including those he has directed.
Companies he has worked with include: The Royal Shakespeare Company; The National Theatre; The Royal Opera House; English National Opera; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Opera North; The Royal Festival Hall, London; De Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp; Los Angeles Opera; New Zealand International Art’s Festival; The Ibero-American Theatre Festival in Bogota; Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts; Galaxy Theatre, Tokyo; Warsaw Globe Theatre Company; Munich Biennalle; The Black Theatre of Harlem and The Royal Court Theatre, London. His work has received an Olivier Award, an LA Stage Scene Award and has been nominated for three further Olivier Awards.
-
Jack Baxter
Sound Designer
Jack Baxter
Sound Designer
Jack is a sound designer and composer working in theatre and digital media. He trained at the Royal Central School for Speech and Drama.
Theatre credits include: Grud at Hampstead Theatre, The Wolf, The Duck and The Mouse and Gulliver’s Travels at Unicorn Theatre, Between the Lines at New Diorama, No Man’s Island and Redemption (nominated for sound design Offie) at Big House, Metamorphoses and The Lies You Tell at the New Wolsey, An Intervention at Riverside Studios, Kitchen Sink and DNA at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Not Now and Yes So I Said Yes at The Finborough, Our Last First at The Space, About 500 at Barbican, The Lodger at the Coronet, Cops at Southwark Playhouse, Sancho at Orange Tree Theatre, The Hunt, About 500, Albion in Flames and Ghosts on a Wire at Union Theatre.
Film and TV credits include: Japan Cultural Expo (Advert), Mint Chocolate Chip (Ind.), The Paddock (Channel 4), Wish You Were Here (Ind.), This is an Emergency (Big House), A Casting Room (Ind.), Left (Ind.), Traces of Suburbia (Ind.), Long Distance Call (Ind.), Perils (RA), Balance Sheet (Ind.).
Audio and Podcast credits include: Hustler’s Republic, I Love Television and Moderation (for Bitter Pill Theatre co.), Adventures in Pojjland, Stuck for Ideas.
-
Ciaran Cunningham
Lighting Designer
Ciaran Cunningham
Lighting Designer
Ciarán Cunningham’s credits included Skeleton Crew; Silence (Donmar Warehouse),
Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith theatre), Tambo & Bones (Theatre Royal Stratford East/ ATC), Mansfield Park (Watermill Theatre/tour), Hey Duggee – Olivier Award Winner (South Bank Centre/UK tour/ Ireland tour), An Unfinished Man (The Yard Theatre), The Sh*Ts (Leeds Playhouse/ Bush Theatre), Freedom
Project (Leeds Playhouse), Me For The World, Sound of Yellow (Young Vic), Amsterdam (ATC/Orange Tree/UK tour), Blood Knot (Orange Tree Theatre), One Night In Miami (Nottingham Playhouse / Bristol Old Vic / Home,
Manchester), Suckerpunch Boom Suite (Barbican Theatre / Nitrobeat), Eden (Hampstead Theatre), Sleeping Beauty (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Shebeen (Nottingham PlayHouse / Theatre Royal Stratford East), Last
Days Of Iscariot (Vanbrugh Theatre), Dublin Carol (Sherman Theatre), Into The Woods; Brink (Royal Exchange Theatre), Wish List (Royal Exchange Theatre/Royal Court), Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (Young Vic / UK tour), Sense Of Sound’s: Migration Music (Liverpool Everyman Theatre), Scrappers (Liverpool Playhouse), In His Hands
Re:Definition (Hackney Empire), Blackout (The Dukes Theatre), The Mountaintop (Welsh National Tour), When Chaplin Met Gandhi (Kingsley Hall), Normal (Rift), Chris Dugdale: 2 Face Deception (Leicester Square Theatre),
and Letter To Larry (Jermyn Street Theatre). -
Adi Gortler
Movement, Fight and Intimacy Director
Adi Gortler
Movement, Fight and Intimacy Director
Adi Gortler (Movement Director) is a movement director, teacher, and director. She graduated with her MFA in Movement Directing and Teaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and a B.Ed in Theatre Directing and Teaching from Seminar Ha’Kibbutzim College (Tel Aviv). At the heart of her practice lies a deep celebration of people and their individuality, leading to an environment where uniqueness and identities are cherished and expressed in creating a story. Her latest work includes:
As Movement Director: Baghdaddy, Jews. In Their Own Words (Royal Court), The EU Killed My Dad, The Anarchist (Jermyn Street Theatre), The Snow Queen (Polka Theatre), Attempts On Her Life (Guildhall), Cyrano De Bergerac, Bad Roads, Swive, How To Hold Your Breath, The Antipodes, Light Falls, Woyzeck, Pomona (LAMDA), Borders הגדר ألسياج (Vault Festival, Drayton Arms, OSO Arts Centre).
As Intimacy Director: The Shape Of Things (Park Theatre), Cyrano De Bergerac, Bad Roads, Swive, How To Hold Your Breath (LAMDA).
As Director: A Trip To Heaven (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), What Moves You? (LAMDA), I See in Colour (International Children’s Theatre Festival, Haifa), As a Matter of Fact – The Post Truth Cabaret (Habima Theatre, The Arab-Hebrew Theatre, Tzavta, Haifa Theatre).
-
Ralph Jeffreys
Assistant Director
Ralph Jeffreys
Assistant Director
Ralph Jeffreys is a young theatre director who has recently graduated from the University of Cambridge. His work as a director includes Bugles at the Gates of Jalalabad & Prairie du Chien (BATS Theatre), Summer and Smoke (ADC Theatre), Phaedra’s Love (Pembroke Players), and the award-winning play LOUD (Corpus Playroom). This is his first professional theatre role.
-
Helena Palmer CDG
Casting Director
Helena Palmer CDG
Casting Director
Helena is a freelance casting director with over 20 years’ experience.
She began her casting career at the Royal Exchange, Manchester and then with
the National Theatre. She was Casting Director at the Royal Shakespeare
Company from 2008 to 2021, casting over 50 classical and contemporary plays.
Recent projects include, An Inspector Calls (PW Productions – 2024 UK tour), The
Glass Menagerie (Rose Theatre, Kingston and tour), Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon
Play (Manchester Royal Exchange/Young Vic) No Pay? No Way!, Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof and Beginning (Manchester Royal Exchange), The Tempest and Cymbeline
(Royal Shakespeare Company), Linck & Mülhahn, Mary and The Fever Syndrome
(Hampstead Theatre), The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, The White Factory and
Dmitry (Marylebone Theatre), Miles, The Fall and Tikkun Olam (Original Theatre
Company) The Wind in the Willows and The Child in the Snow (Wilton’s Music
Hall), Sarah (Coronet Theatre), Blackmail and Antigone (Mercury Theatre,
Colchester) and The Mirror and the Light (Gielgud Theatre).
Helena is a member of the Casting Directors’ Guild. -
Lewis Champney
Production Manager
-
Kayleigh Atkinson
Deputy Stage Manager
-
Amy Moore
Assistant Stage Manager
-
Helin Sahin
Stage Management Placement (with Intermission Youth)
-
Abi Mensah
Lighting Design Placement (with Intermission Youth)
This production is supported by
-
Arts Council England
