With her critically acclaimed production of Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over now running until 4 April, Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham today announces further programming for 2020 - Heart by Jade Anouka, and more information about The Wife of Willesden adapted by Zadie Smith from Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath and NW Trilogy three short plays by Moira Buffini, Suhayla El-Bushra and Roy Williams.
The Wife of Willesden and NW Trilogy are presented in association with Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture.
Indhu Rubasingham said today, “2020 is the year of Brent, and it’s an enormous privilege to play a part in Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture to celebrate together what makes this community as diverse, unique and inspiring as the people and businesses that comprise it.
“We open our new season with Jade Anouka’s debut play Heart - an exploration of how to truly be yourself in a complex world. Jade also performs, with an extraordinarily talented creative team, led by director Nancy Medina.
“With our partners at Brent 2020, we are thrilled to present two major works and two community outreach projects. Renewing the company’s relationship with Zadie Smith following the recent success of White Teeth, we stage her The Wife of Willesden inspired by Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath. Completing the season is NW Trilogy, a celebration of music, migration and movement across Brent by Moira Buffini, Suhayla El-Bushra and Roy Williams - our associate directors Taio Lawson and Susie McKenna direct.
“This autumn marks 40 years since our theatre opened on Kilburn High Road, and we’re proud of its history and the future we are building on those achievements. The stories we present this autumn are Brent’s, and we are honoured to share them on an international stage.”
As part of Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture, Kiln Theatre is delivering The Agency project, which supports young entrepreneurs aged between 15-25 to develop ideas for social change in their area. On 28 March, the participants from St Raphael’s Estate and Stonebridge will pitch their ideas to a panel. On the same day, Kiln Youth Theatres (7-15 years) will be sharing their work in the James Baldwin Studio, and in the summer Kiln Theatre Young Companies (18-25 years) will present their devised work on the main stage. Alongside the NW Trilogy, Kiln Theatre hosts the NW Stories Academy which will give members of the local community a vital platform to tell their Brent stories.
Kiln Town Hall Talks series continues on 2 April with Prevention or Punishment, which tackles the complex issues surrounding knife crime. Continuing the recent successes of the In Conversation with… series hosted by Jim Carter, he returns to talk to actor and comedian Rob Brydon on 17 May; and Peter Capaldi and Dominic West on 21 June.
BOOKING DATES:
For Heart, The Wife of Willesden, NW Trilogy, Jim Carter in Conversation with Rob Brydon and Jim Carter in Conversation with Peter Capaldi and Dominic West:
Kiln Card priority booking: Tuesday 10 March at 11am
Public booking: Monday 16 March at 11am
Kiln Theatre and Openhearted Productions present
HEART
Written and performed by Jade Anouka
Directed by Nancy Medina; Designer Rajha Shakiry
16 July – 8 August
Press night: 20 July at 7pm
This is a story for all the misfits, all those who have ever felt ‘other’.
Critically acclaimed actor, writer and poet Jade Anouka comes to Kiln Theatre in her pulsating debut play which explores the epic stories that make us the people we are today.
Based on her real journey, Heart is a beating silence; it is being brave yet vulnerable, playful yet profound, your best self and your worst. It’s a blazing journey of words and rhythms that lay bare our shared want to fit in whilst being our authentic self.
Jade Anouka is a Screen International Star of Tomorrow (2017), recipient of The Stage Award for Acting Excellence and Ian Charleson Award Commendations. Recent theatre credits include The Phlebotomist (Hampstead Theatre), Queen Margaret (Royal Exchange Theatre), , The Greatest Wealth, Cover My Tracks (The Old Vic), Moon On A Rainbow Shawl (National Theatre), Omeros, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet (Globe Theatre) and the Donmar Warehouse all-female Shakespeare Trilogy, playing the roles of Ariel in The Tempest, Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Hotspur in Henry IV, all directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Television credits include Cleaning Up, Trauma (ITV), and Turn Up Charlie (Netflix). For film, her credits include Last Christmas and Fisherman’s Friends. As a poet she has performed regularly around London including featured spots at The Southbank Centre, Richmix and The Roundhouse, and has had poems commissioned by Audible UK and Stylist Magazine. She also recently did a Ted Talk on the subject of Being Black, being a Woman, being 'Other'.
Nancy Medina directs. Medina is the winner of 2018 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award and the Genesis Future Director Award. Credits Include The Half God Of Rainfall (Fuel / Birmingham Rep / Kiln Theatre) The Laramie Project (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School), Two Trains Running (Royal & Derngate / ETT / RTST), Strange Fruit (Bush Theatre), Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), When They Go Low (NT Connections / Sherman Theatre), Yellowman (Young Vic), Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It (GB Theatre), Curried Goat And Fish Fingers (Bristol Old Vic), Dogtag (Theatre West), Strawberry & Chocolate, Dutchman (Tobacco Factory Theatres) and Persistence Of Memory (Rondo Theatre). She is an acting tutor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Course Leader for a post 16 Professional Acting Diploma at Boomsatsuma.
Kiln Theatre presents
In association with Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture
THE WIFE OF WILLESDEN
Adapted by Zadie Smith from Chaucer’s THE WIFE OF BATH
Directed by Indhu Rubasingham; Designer Robert Jones
10 September – 24 October
Press night: 16 September at 7pm
‘Married five times. Mother. Lover. Aunt. Friend.
She plays many roles round here. And never
Scared to tell the whole of her truth, whether
Or not anyone wants to hear it. Wife
Of Willesden: pissed enough to tell her life
Story to whoever has ears and eyes…’
The world première of Zadie Smith’s The Wife of Willesden comes to Kiln Theatre for a strictly limited run. Based on Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath, this irreverent, bawdy and beautiful new comedy celebrates the life and times of one of literature’s most beloved characters.
Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as two collections of essays, Changing My Mind and Feel Free and the collection of short stories, Grand Union. Her novels have won multiple literary awards and been translated into many languages. White Teeth was adapted for the stage at the Kiln Theatre in 2018. She is a professor of fiction at New York University and writes regularly for the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. Zadie Smith divides her time between New York and London.
Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre Indhu Rubasingham directs. Her work for the company includes Pass Over, When the Crows Visit, Wife, White Teeth, Holy Sh!t, Red Velvet (also West End/New York), Handbagged (winner of Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre – also West End / UK tour / Washington DC / New York), The Invisible Hand, A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Multitudes, The House That Will Not Stand and Paper Dolls. She has also directed The Great Wave, Ugly Lies the Bone and The Motherf**ker with the Hat (National Theatre) and at many other theatres. She will be directing Kerry Jackson by April de Angelis for the National Theatre this autumn.
Kiln Theatre presents
NW TRILOGY
by Moira Buffini, Suhayla El-Bushra and Roy Williams
Directed by Taio Lawson and Susie McKenna
20 November – 19 December
Press night: 26 November at 7pm
In the tradition of The Great Game: Afghanistan and Women, Power and Politics, Kiln Theatre presents a unique evening of three independent stories with common roots in Brent. Together, these kaleidoscopic stories re-investigate the different neighbourhoods of our local area and celebrate the important local events and people that went on to change this country.
Presented as part of the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture, Brent 2020 with support from the Airbnb Community Tourism Programme.
Alongside the NW Trilogy Kiln Theatre will host the NW Stories Academy, supported by Airbnb as part of the Community Tourism Programme. The NW Stories Academy will give members of the local community a vital platform to tell their Brent stories.
Moira Buffini's plays include Handbagged (Kiln Theatre / West End / US), Gabriel (Soho Theatre / UK Tour), wonder.land (MIF / National Theatre), Welcome to Thebes, A Vampire Story (National Theatre), Dying For It, Marianne Dreams (Almeida Theatre), Dinner (RNT Loft / West End / UK tour), Loveplay (Barbican), The Games Room (Soho Theatre) and Blavatsky's Tower (Machine Room).
Suhayla El-Bushra was writer in residence at the National Theatre Studio from April 2015 to August 2016, during which time her adaptation of Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide was staged in the Lyttelton Theatre. Other stage work includes The Kilburn Passion (Kiln Theatre), Pigeons (Royal Court Theatre / UK tour), Cuckoo (Unicorn Theatre) and Arabian Nights (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh). For screen her credits include 2 series of Channel 4’s Ackley Bridge, and a short film for Film4.
Roy Williams is an award-winning playwright. His recent plays include Death of England (National Theatre) Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Firm, (Hampstead Theatre, Downstairs), Soul: The Untold Story of Marvin Gaye (Royal and Derngate / Hackney Empire), Antigone (Pilot Theatre / UK tour), Wildfire (Hampstead Theatre) Advice for the Young at Heart (Theatre Centre), an adaptation of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Pilot Theatre/ UK Tour), Sucker Punch (Royal Court Theatre, nominated for Olivier Award for Best Play), Kingston ‘14 (Theatre Royal Stratford East) and Category B (Kiln Theatre).
Kiln Theatre Associate Director Taio Lawson directs. Kiln Theatre Associate Director Taio Lawson directs. His work includes adaptations and instillation, including Devil for East-15 and HOME at the Young Vic. He was Resident Director at Sheffield Theatres (part of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme), where he directed hang. As Director credits include How To Make Love To A Muslim Without Freaking Out (rehearsed reading, Bush Theatre), What We Are, 90's Kid (ETC Theatre), Gutted 'n' Battered (UK and international tour). For Sheffield Theatres, Assistant Director credits include Love and Information, Frost/Nixon, The Wizard of Oz and Desire Under The Elms. As Assistant Director credits include Life of Galileo(Young Vic), Oil, They Drink It in the Congo (Almeida Theatre).
Kiln Theatre Associate Director Susie McKenna’s work for the company includes Blues in the Night (Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre). She was Creative Director of Hackney Empire from 2010 - 2017, her directing credits there include Beau Jest, Sit and Shiver, Man Dem on the Wall Live, Kat & Tameka Show, La Variété, Ha Ha Hackney and writer director of 21 pantomimes. Other credits include writer/director The Silver Sword (Belgrade Theatre/UK tour), Once on This Island (Birmingham Rep/Nottingham Playhouse), Oranges and Elephants (Hoxton Hall), A Midsummer Night's Madness (National Black Theatre of Harlem/Hackney Empire/Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Macbeth (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), A Christmas Carol (Arts Theatre).
