Arcola Theatre, Atticist Productions and Ellie Keel Productions present

Anna Bella Eema

by Lisa D'Amour

Directed by Jessica Lazar

Nominated for three Off-West End AwardsBest Performance Ensemble (Gabrielle Brooks, Natasha Cottriall and Beverly Rudd), Best Design (Anna Lewis) and Best Sound Design (Tom Foskett-Barnes).


“It’s all coming to an end, Mother. I can feel it in the back of my throat.”

Ten-year-old Annabella knows that there are scarier things than the monsters her mother sees lurking in their abandoned trailer park. There are red eviction notices through the door. There are social workers at the window. There’s the new highway looming, drawing ever-closer, threatening disaster.

Frustrated, one day she builds a girl out of mud. The girl comes to life. The girl is Anna Bella Eema…

Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D’Amour is one of America’s leading contemporary playwrights. In the London premiere of this dazzling play with music, the forces of gentrification do battle with the untameable power of imagination.

★★★★★ “I implore everyone to go and watch this beautiful and exciting new piece of theatre”AtTheTheatre

★★★★★ “Magnetic performances [...] incredibly moving”TheatreNews

★★★★ “A play like no other”The Hackney Gazette

★★★★ “A heartfelt and compassionate response to a rapidly changing world”A Younger Theatre

★★★★ “A strong cast and innovative direction creates a magical and captivating fairy tale that feels like a solitary beacon on the trailer park of London theatre.”Theatre Weekly

★★★★ “Bizarre and beautifully poetic – a must-see show”Fairy Powered Productions

★★★★ “The virtuosic threesome of Brooks, Rudd & Cottriall [...] keep the audience engaged”Upper Circle

★★★★ “There isn’t anything quite like it around”Hayley Sprout

“What really hit me was the sonic variety of Lazar’s production [...] The actors are also striking.”The Guardian

“D’Amour’s work has got a rich style of its own, full of dense and powerful imagery”Time Out

“A heady, earthy spell [...] roar of Mother-Earth rage”The Evening Standard

“The use of music, of harmonising between the three performers, is strikingly beautiful and a sense of wildness, magic and the turbulence of adolescence permeates the piece”The Stage

“An incredible piece of storytelling that leaves you open-mouthed”Spy In The Stalls

“Jessica Lazar’s production brings real inventiveness [...] and the performances are mightily appealing”Lyn Gardner (Stagedoor)

“Fantastical and surreal”The Artiscape

“D’Amour’s blithely poetic script transforms its literary and pop-culture gothic elements into unexpectedly moving dramatic gold … a stunning act of theatrical alchemy”San Francisco Chronicle

“Its beauty and its depth are almost beyond language other than its own”The Austin Chronicle