Almeida Theatre: New Season announced
The world premiere of Tammy Faye, a new musical from Elton John, Jake Shears and James Graham, directed by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold. Cast includes Katie Brayben, Andrew Rannells and Zubin Varla.
• Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall’s new production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, featuring Paul Mescal, Anjana Vasan and Lydia Wilson.
• The world premiere of Lulu Raczka’s Women, Beware the Devil, directed by Rupert Goold.
• The UK premiere of musical The Secret Life of Bees, written by Lynn Nottage, Duncan Sheik, Susan Birkenhead, based on the best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Directed by Whitney White.
Also announced today:
• A trilogy of community productions from 2023-2025 exploring what it means to live, work, pray, celebrate and mourn in Islington.
• A new annual playwright commission in memory of director Roger Michell.
• The Almeida’s new Young Artist groups including, for the first time, Young Designers and Technicians; and a continued commitment to Almeida For Free performances.
• A Black Out performance and Black Joy scratch event during the upcoming run of Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s The Clinic.
Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold said, “After a wonderful, if challenging, year since reopening we are thrilled to be presenting this exciting season of work that builds on relationships we have with artists new and familiar, our local community, and above all with the audiences that continue to discover and cherish the uniqueness of our building.
“It was inspiring to experience the responses to Spring Awakening last Christmas – it seemed that audience members reacted strongly to a musical that chimed so powerfully with contemporary feeling. So we’re very excited to be producing two new musicals, from two sets of powerhouse writers, that also speak clearly to the present day.
“Our Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall made her name with her extraordinary award-winning production of Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke and now she’s taking on another Williams classic A Streetcar Named Desire with a blindingly good cast.
“Since we re-opened the Almeida after Covid lockdowns, we’ve presented new writing from Lolita Chakrabarti, Yomi Ṣode, Josh Azouz, Beth Steel, Peter Morgan, and Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s play The Clinic goes into previews next week. To that list, add another new voice: Lulu Raczka and her play Women, Beware the Devil, a darkly comic, twisting tale of treachery and trickery.
“Following the success of The Key Workers Cycle earlier this year which featured an 80 strong community cast, we’re also announcing a trilogy of community productions taking place over three years, exploring the real Islington featuring people who live and work here.
“We continue our commitment to offering affordable tickets – our tickets start at £10, with £5 tickets available to 25s and under, in addition to our Almeida For Free performances on all productions.”
World Premiere
TAMMY FAYE
A New Musical
Music by Elton John;Lyrics by Jake Shears;Book by James Graham
Director: Rupert Goold; Choreographer: Lynne Page; Designer: Bunny Christie;CostumeDesigner: Katrina Lindsay; Lighting Designer: Neil Austin; Sound Designer: Bobby Aitken;Musical Supervisor, Co-Orchestrator and Arranger: Tom Deering;Co-Orchestrator: Mark Dickman;Video Designer: Finn Ross;Musical Director: Oli Jackson; Casting Director: Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher
Thursday 13 October – Saturday 3 December 2022
Press night: Wednesday 26 October 7pm
“It’s time to bring America back to God”
From a studio in South Carolina, Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker revolutionised religion.
Preaching to millions 24 hours a day, Tammy just wants to put the fun back into faith.
But a new wave of ministers wants you not to just feel God in your heart, but in your homes, in your schools and in the law too.
Tammy Faye is a new musical from legendary songwriter Elton John, Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears and award-winning writer James Graham (Ink, BBC’s Sherwood) and features Olivier Award-winner Katie Brayben (Beautiful) as Tammy Faye, Tony Award-nominee Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon, Girls) as Jim, and Olivier Award-nominee Zubin Varla (Fun Home) as Jerry Falwell.
This true story, directed by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold (Spring Awakening), is a testament of faith, resilience and the temptations of success.
God bless Tammy Faye!
Full cast: Kelly Agbowu, Amy Booth-Steel, Katie Brayben, Ashley Campbell, Peter Caulfield, Danny Collins, Richard Dempsey, Fred Haig, Georgia Louise, Andrew Rannells, Robyn Rose, Nicholas Rowe, Martin Sarreal, Steve John Shepherd, Gemma Sutton and Zubin Varla.
Presented in association with Rocket Stage and Greene Light Stage.
The production is supported by The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts.
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
by Tennessee Williams
Director: Rebecca Frecknall
Saturday 10 December 2022 – Saturday 4 February 2023
Press night: Tuesday 20 December 7pm
“How pretty the sky is! I ought to go there on a rocket that never comes down.”
On a street in New Orleans, in the blistering summer heat, a sister spirals.
Following her “spellbinding” (Financial Times) production of Summer and Smoke, Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall takes on another Tennessee Williams masterpiece.
When Blanche unexpectedly visits her estranged sister Stella, she brings with her a past that will threaten their future. As Stella’s husband Stanley stalks closer to the truth, Blanche’s fragile world begins to fracture. Reality and illusion collide and a violent conflict changes their lives forever.
Lydia Wilson (The Duchess of Malfi) returns to the Almeida to play Blanche, with the BAFTA-winning Paul Mescal (Normal People) as Stanley, Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts) as Stella and Dwane Walcott (Machinal) as Mitch.
Rebecca Frecknall directs her first production at the Almeida since her multi-Olivier Award-winning production of Cabaret.
World Premiere
WOMEN, BEWARE THE DEVIL
by Lulu Raczka
Director: Rupert Goold
Saturday 11 February – Saturday 25 March 2023
Press night: Wednesday 22 February 2023
“This may be the biggest
But it is far from the first sacrifice I’ve made for this house
And I’m sure it won’t be the last
But don’t fret.
I’m ready.”
England, 1640.
A war is brewing.
Rumours are flying.
A household is in crisis.
…and the Devil’s having some fun.
For Lady Elizabeth nothing is more important than protecting her family’s legacy and their ancestral home. When that comes under threat, she elicits the help of Agnes, a young servant suspected of witchcraft.
But Agnes doesn’t want to be a witch, she wants to be a Lady, and no one will get in her way.
Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold (Spring Awakening, Ink) directs this deadly new play by The Sunday Times Playwriting Award-winner Lulu Raczka (Antigone, Nothing) of treachery and trickery.
The Genesis Foundation Kickstart Fund has supported Lulu Raczka on the development of Women, Beware the Devil.
UK Premiere
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
Book by Lynn Nottage; Music by Duncan Sheik; Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead
Based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd
Director: Whitney White
Tuesday 4 April – Saturday 27 May 2023
“Me and my sisters
We hold this house together
Hurt just one, you hurt us all”
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Sweat, the Tony Award-winning composer of Spring Awakening, and Tony Award-nominated lyricist of Jelly’s Last Jam, comes a captivating new musical about a group of women ignited by rebellion and longing for acceptance.
1964, South Carolina. Rosaleen is fighting for her right to vote, and Lily is escaping her violent father. When this unlikely pair flee their small town, they seek salvation at a remote honey bee farm run by the remarkable Boatwright sisters. But will their past catch up with them?
Written by playwright Lynn Nottage, composer Duncan Sheik and lyricist Susan Birkenhead, The Secret Life of Bees is directed by Whitney White (What to Send Up When It Goes Down) and based on the best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd.
The Secret Life of Bees is presented in association with Sonia Friedman Productions, Lauren Shuler Donner, Marianne Mills and Robert Cohen.
World Premiere presented by Atlantic Theatre Company, New York City, 2019. Development of The Secret Life of Bees was supported in part by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s National Fund for New Musicals – www.namt.org
COMMUNITY PRODUCTION TRILOGY
Journey to the heart of Islington through a day, a lifetime, and countless millennia.
Following The Key Workers Cycle in March 2022, the Almeida Theatre announces an ambitious trilogy of productions over the next three years that will bring together professional creatives, local artists and community performers to explore what it means to live, work, love, pray, celebrate and mourn in Islington through a day, a lifetime, and countless millennia.
The projectwill be told in three productions 24 (Day), 81 (Life) and 1000 (Millennia), from Summer 2023 to Summer 2025.
24 (Day) will invite the audience on a riotous road-trip to explore the hidden life of Islington from dawn to dusk. From Arsenal football stands to Rowans bowling alley, join seventy-year-old carer Liz as she runs, bowls, dances, crowd surfs around Islington and away from the conversation she needs to have with her grandson.
81 (Life) will celebrate Islington’s global diaspora communities through the rituals that mark the rites of passage in a human lifetime, capturing the infinite identities and experiences of people who are born, live, work, love, build families, die, and are remembered in our borough.
1000 (Millennia) will journey deep into our borough’s history and reach far into our future to construct an imaginative, mythic Islington – an origin story for how we got here and a vision for our future.
The first production in the trilogy 24 (Day) will take place in Summer 2023, written by Annie Jenkins and directed by Jack Nurse, who collaborated on The Delivery Drivers’ Play as part of The Key Workers Cycle. The Almeida will partner with All Change on this production. This will be followed by 81 (Life) in 2024 and 1000 (Millennia) in 2025.
THE ROGER MICHELL COMMISSIONING FUND
After the sad passing of director Roger Michell in 2021, many of his friends and family asked if they could make a charitable donation in his name. Roger’s family felt that, given his love for championing new writers, it would be suitable for the donations to be put towards a Roger Michell Commissioning Fund at the Almeida. The fund will support an annual commission for a playwright with a fresh and unique perspective on the world to develop a play alongside the Almeida. The first artist supported by the Roger Michell Commissioning Fund will be announced in the next few months.
On behalf of Roger’s family, Roger’s son Harry Michell said, “We are incredibly touched by the sheer number of people who have contributed to the fund, a testament to the relationships Roger forged throughout his career, and are pleased his name will continue to be associated with new work and new writers at the Almeida.”
ALMEIDA YOUNG ARTISTS
Almeida Youth Board
The Almeida Youth Board exists to provoke, inspire and create positive change at the Almeida. The board consists of 12 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 who are interested in arts leadership, 10 of whom have been newly recruited this year joining continuing board members Azan Ahmed and Rohan Gotobed. They meet regularly as a group and work closely with the Almeida Board and the senior management team to advise on all elements of the company, including programming and strategy. Previous Youth Board members include Dipo Baruwa-Etti whose new play The Clinic opens in September and Sarisha Kumar who now sits on the Almeida Board.
The Youth Board for 2022/23 are: Azan Ahmed, Beth Bowden, Casper Davidson, Edward Drew, Alice Eve, Rohan Gotobed, Madi Mahoney, Zahra Jassi, Tara Okeke, Elina Oliva Romo, Kieton Saunders-Browne, Luke Zavrou-Blackstock
Almeida Young Company
Recruitment is underway for the 2022/23 Almeida Young Company groups. This year, for the first time, the 14-18 age group will also include a Young Designers and Technicians programme for those interested in exploring the design, technical and stage management roles that make theatre happen. The Young Company aims to create the theatre artists of the future. Each year it brings together young theatre makers to create vibrant work inspired by big ideas.
Almeida Young Producers
Recruitment is also underway for the Almeida Young Producers, a group of 16–25 year olds who want to learn about producing and planning creative projects for young people. The group collaborates with the Participation team to create festivals, events and workshops. They meet staff from across the Almeida team and learn what goes into putting on productions and running the building. A particular focus for this group are the Almeida For Free events that we run alongside productions at the theatre.
ALMEIDA FOR FREE
The Almeida continues its commitment to Almeida For Free – a performance of every production exclusively free for anyone aged 25 and under, with an accompanying free programme of workshops and panel discussions.
In the last 12 months, over 2000 young people have seen an Almeida show for free.
Upcoming Almeida For Free performance:
The Clinic – Thursday 22 September 2022(on sale: Thursday 15 September 2022)
THE CLINIC
Black Out performance
Following the Black Out performance during the run of Jeremy O. Harris’s “Daddy” in April, a Black Out performance will take place for the upcoming production of Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s The Clinic on Monday 19 September, curated by Baruwa-Etti and director Monique Touko.
Black Out is an idea originated by Jeremy O. Harris during the Broadway run of his play Slave Play in 2019. It is a performance for which all the tickets are reserved for Black audience members. Jeremy conceived Black Out because he felt it was important for Black theatregoers to experience sitting in a theatre space where the whole audience looks like them. You can read more about the initiative here.
While this performance has been programmed to create a space for as many Black-identifying audience members as possible, no one is excluded from attending.
There will also be a post-show panel discussion titled Looking Back and Forward at Black Lives Matter chaired by writer Gary Younge.
Black Joy
Programmed alongside The Clinic, Black Joy is a scratch event taking place on Sunday 18 September giving an opportunity for early career and emerging artists, such as poets, musicians or spoken word performers, to share work that responds to the theme of Black Joy.
