Kenny Emson’s Rust, a new play about modern relationships opens at the Bush Theatre on 26 June (press night 1 July) prior to a run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, and at the HighTide Festival Aldeburgh in September.
‘Rule number eleven: We don’t talk about them. Not here. They don’t exist here.’
Nadia and Daniel have a secret. In fact, they have quite a few. They’ve just signed on the dotted line for a studio flat. Under a pseudonym, naturally – Mr and Mrs White.
After years of school pick-ups, TV takeaways, and the day to day drudgery of married life, this is their chance to wipe the slate clean. But as much as they try and re-define the rules, and themselves, the outside world is closing in. Ultra-contemporary, sexy and funny, Rust pushes the boundaries of trust, love, and lust to the limit.
Jon Foster plays Daniel. His theatre appearances include: Dear Elizabeth; The Unknown Island; Idomeneus; Trojan Women; Dream Story; Mud (Gate Theatre); Every Day I Make Greatness Happen (Hampstead Theatre); Othello (The Globe); F*ck The Polar Bears (Bush Theatre); Buckets (Orange Tree); All I Want (UK Tour); Cheese (fanSHEN); A Beginning, A Middle and an End; Tenet (Greyscale); Invisible (Transport Theatre); The Alchemist (Firehouse Creative); A New Way To Please You; His Fall; Speaking Like Magpies; Thomas More (RSC); How To Tell The Monsters From The Misfits (Birmingham REP); Long Time Dead (Paines Plough); After Haggerty (Finborough Theatre); Food (Traverse Theatre); Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Babayaga Theatre Company); Free From Sorrow (Living Pictures); Romeo and Juliet (Creation Theatre Company); Oliver Twist (Instant Classics); The Melancholy Hussar (Etcetera Theatre); Two Gentlemen of Verona (Pentameters Theatre); Treasure Island (Palace Theatre); The Bear (The Bear).
His television appearances include: Sanditon (Red Planet Ltd); Prime Suspect 1973 (Noho for ITC); Fortitude (Tiger Aspect); Da Vinci’s Demons (BBC Worldwide and Starz); The Great Fire (Ecosse Films); New Tricks (Wall to Wall Television for the BBC); Rev (Big Talk Productions); Mrs Biggs; Come Rain Come Shine (ITV); Abroad (Abroad Films); Eastenders; Silent Witness; The Last Enemy (BBC); Law and Order (Kudos); The Bill (Thames Television); Clone (Roughcut); The IT Crowd (Talkback); Instinct (Granada).
On film, he has appeared in The Rabbi and The Tooth (Zoe Griesdale-Sherry Productions); Alba (Rabblewise Films); Tides (Elation Pictures); Nice Guy (Red Bike Films); Love’s Kitchen (Eyeline Entertainment). Radio includes The Duchess of Malfi (BBC World Service).
Claire Lams plays Nadia, her theatre appearances include: Paradise (Hampstead Theatre); Kiss Me (Hampstead Theatre and Trafalgar Studios); The Lottery of Love (Orange Tree Theatre); The Kings Speech (Chichester and Birmingham Rep); The Little Mermaid (Bristol Old Vic); Routes; Harvest (Royal Court); One Man, Two Guvnors(Broadway, West End and National Theatre); The Spies in Room 502 (Latitude Festival); W11 (Gate Theatre); While You Lie (Traverse Theatre); Educating Rita (Watermill Theatre); Absent Friends (Watford Palace Theatre); The Miracle; DNA; Baby Girl (National Theatre); Faustus (Headlong); Fabulation (The Tricycle Theatre); Presence (Theatre Royal Plymouth); Chimps (Liverpool Everyman); Citizenship (National Theatre Studio); Fields of Gold; Soap (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Coming Around Again; Huddersfield (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Happiest Days of Your Life (Royal Exchange Theatre); The Dice House (Birmingham Stage Company).
Claire’s television appearances include Casualty; Call The Midwife; The Wrong Mans; Silent Witness; Doctors; Holby City; Eastenders (BBC); Humans (Kudos); Obsessed (October Films); Random (Hillbilly Television); The Bill (Thames Television); The Brief (Granada Television). On film she has appeared in Beyond the Blade (The Guardian); Pumpkin Head 4 (Clubdeal PH Film Company); Southwalk The Movie (T-Max Media); Danielle (Independent Film).
Writer Kenny Emson is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His plays include Quadrophenia (Mercury Theatre), Parkway Dreams (Sir John Mills Theatre) Terrorism (Bush Theatre), This Must be the Place (Vault Festival – co-written with Brad Birch) and Plastic (Old Red Lion). He was co-creator, co-writer and associate producer on the BAFTA Craft, SXSW and Prix Italia nominated The Last Hours of Laura K and adapted Agatha Christie’s The Coming of Mister Quin which was nominated for a BAFTA CYMRU games award. He has written for EastEnders, Doctors, BBC Radio 3 and 4 and has been shortlisted for the Bruntwood, Red Planet and Papatango Prizes as well as winning the Adrienne Benham, Off West End Adopt a Playwright and Mercury/Weinberger Playwriting awards.
Director Eleanor Rhode is an Associate Artist for HighTide, for whom she directed the musical Thor and Loki for the Edinburgh and HighTide Festivals with Vicky Graham Productions. Her most recent work includes the world premiere of Boudica by Tristan Bernays for the Globe Theatre, Blue Door for Theatre Royal Bath, and Wendy and Peter Pan for The Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh.
In 2009 she co-founded Snapdragon Productions to bring neglected and unknown works to new audiences. Work for Snapdragon includes the critically acclaimed production of Toast by Richard Bean (UK Tour and New York), which was nominated for Best Touring Production at the 2016 UK Theatre Awards; and the award-winning world premiere of musical Teddy by Tristan Bernays and Dougal Irvine, which she revived last year for a national tour and London run at the Vaults.
Other recent work includes: Frankenstein (Watermill Theatre and Wilton’s Music Hall); Terrorism (Bush Theatre); Beauty and the Beast (Watford Palace Theatre); When We Were Women (Orange Tree Theatre); Toast and Thark (both Park Theatre); Generous; The Drawer Boy and A Life (all Finborough Theatre) and the world premiere of the musical For All That for Centerstage Theater, Seattle.
Forthcoming productions include King John for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Following the Bush Theatre run, Rust will transfer to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, appearing at the Assembly Roxy from 31 July – 25 August, and then to HighTide Festival Aldeburgh, appearing at the Pumphouse from 10 – 15 September.
Performances
25 June – 27 July 2019 at 7.45pm (1 July at 7 pm)
Sat matinee 6, 13, 20, & 27 July at 2.45pm
Wed matinee 3. 10. 17. 24 July at 2.45pm
Captioned performance 25 July at 7.45pm
Audio Described performance 27 July at 2.45pm
Tickets priced from £10 (concessions available) can be booked at bushtheatre.co.uk or at the Box Office on 020 8743 5050
Written by Kenny Emson
Directed by Eleanor Rhode
Designed by Max Johns
Lighting Design by Jess Bernberg
Sound Design by David Gregory
Associate Director – Natalie Denton
Lighting Associate – Kieron Johnson
Casting by Sophie Parrott CDG
Cast – Jon Foster and Claire Lams
26 June – 27 July at the Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, London, W12 8LJ
Press Night – 1 July at 7pm
