Park Theatre - Rehearsed Readings Sept

You wait months for another reading at Park Theatre and then 3 come along at once...

That's right, after a bit of a dry spell we're back this September with a flurry of rehearsed readings for new work. If you would like to join us, please RSVP to the email address below and include which show you'd like to attend in the email. You're welcome to attend more than one and we'll send reminder emails in the run up.

Park
Who’s Killing Our Daughters?

by Sophie Huggins
Date: Tuesday 10th September
Time: 3pm
Running time: 90 mins approx.
Venue: Park90, Park Theatre

A poetic collision of infinite stories about femicide.

She was an angel, she always looked like a beautiful angel when the sun came out, it illuminated her skin.
She was always going on about mean girls
She was in the middle of a story
She was on her shift
She was so nice
She was-
She was.

A series of poetic vignettes are staggered, interrupted and mirrored over the course of a play that brutally questions the origins, patterns and perpetrators of femicide. A multitude of stories are woven together, unearthed and collide in one timeline. Through nameless characters and experimental form, this play encapsulates infinite women, infinite stories and infinite lives half-lived.


CREATIVE TEAM
Writer - Sophie Huggins (Royal Court Writers Group alumni, shortlisted for Women in Theatre lab)
Director - Chani Merrell
Produced by Jonny Khan & Sophie Huggins with support from The Park Theatre


If you would like to attend this reading, please email rsvp@parktheatre.co.uk to confirm.

Park
TAKE IT ON THE CHIN

by David Ireland
Date: Wednesday 11th September
Time: 3:30pm
Running time: 2 hours approx.
Venue: Park200, Park Theatre

19th Street Productions invites you to a rehearsed reading of a new play
TAKE IT ON THE CHIN by David Ireland
Directed by Max Elton


After Kenneth discovers his wife Jo in bed with a woman, their marriage is on the brink of collapse.

For the sake of their daughter, they decide to meet with a therapist, Dr Trusco.

As they are in the midst of a global pandemic, adequate facial protection is required at all times during the session - but there is a problem. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that it prevents the virus spreading, Jo refuses to wear a dildo on her chin.


Cast:
Katherine Parkinson - Jo Hanson
TV: The IT Crowd (Channel 4), Doc Martin (ITV), Humans (Channel 4/AMC) Theatre: The Seagull (Royal Court), Home, I’m Darling (National Theatre - Olivier Award nomination)

Rufus Jones - Kenneth Hanson
TV: Hunderby (Sky), W1A (BBC 2), Bob Servant (BBC 4) Theatre: Dead Funny (Vaudeville Theatre), Conspiracy (Lyric Theatre - Perrier Award nomination)

Conleth Hill - Dr Trusco
TV: Game of Thrones (HBO), The Lovers (Sky), Magpie Murders (BBC 1) Theatre: The Seafarer (National Theatre - Olivier Award winner & Tony Award nomination), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Harold Pinter Theatre)


19th Street Productions has produced Yes So I Said Yes and Not Now (included in The Observer’s Top 10 Shows of 2022) by David Ireland, both directed by Max Elton.

★★★★ “Ireland’s dialogue is nonstop sparkle… beautifully judged in Max Elton’s production”
The Observer

★★★★ “Ireland’s imagination… dramatised convincingly, uproariously and daringly.”
The Telegraph


David Ireland was Playwright-in-Residence at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in 2011-2012. Cyprus Avenue premiered at the Royal Court Theatre before transferring to the Public Theater, New York City, The Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and the Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, winning The Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Drama. In 2018, Ireland's Ulster American was performed by the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, and was awarded the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, Best New Play and Best Production at the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland. Ulster American had its London Premiere at the Riverside Studios starring Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis and Louisa Harland.

Max Elton is an Associate Director of the Soho Theatre. He directed the critically acclaimed production of David Ireland’s The End of Hope in Soho Theatre’s main space in a co-production between Soho Theatre and Orange Tree Theatre. He wrote and directed Big Brother Blitzkrieg (King’s Head Theatre), and other direction includes The Melting Pot (Finborough Theatre), Stripped (King’s Head Theatre) and Leftovers (Tristan Bates Theatre). He also directed David Ireland’s Yes So I Said Yes and Not Now at the Finborough Theatre.

If you would like to attend this reading, please email rsvp@parktheatre.co.uk to confirm.

Park
Holy Fool

by Rosalind Adler and Lea Sellers
Directed by Kate Fahy
Date: Wednesday 25th September
Time: 3pm
Running time: 2 hours approx.
Venue: Park200, Park Theatre
How does a cancel culture deal with sublime art made by imperfect artists? The great composer Dmitri Shostakovich walks a tightrope between integrity and Stalin's reign of terror. By turns awkward and neurotic, witty and irreverent yet needing to protect his family and friends, he plays a risky game. And sometimes his vanity induces him to believe he will be safe as Stalin's Sheherazade, his holy fool.

"Very, very impressive" Jez Bond, Artistic Director, Park Theatre

“You wrote inappropriate music and a ballet which did not give an accurate picture of peasant life on a collective farm…To whom does Art belong?”

“For f***’s sake! Art 'belongs’ to no-one! Not to me, not to the People, not to the State! And absolutely not to you low-life lackeys listening in!”

If you would like to attend this reading, please email rsvp@parktheatre.co.uk to confirm.