The Almeida Theatre announces two new productions for summer 2023.
• Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall’s new production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with Isis Hainsworth and Toheeb Jimoh in the title roles.
• 24 (Day) the first in a trilogy of plays exploring what it means to live, work, love, pray, celebrate and mourn in Islington, written by Annie Jenkins and starring a cast of local community participants alongside professional actors.
Also announced today:
• The film of Yaël Farber’s Olivier Award-nominated production of The Tragedy of Macbeth, featuring James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan, will be available to stream on-demand worldwide for one week only from Wednesday 22 – Tuesday 28 March.
• Waleed Akhtar is the first recipient of The Roger Michell Commissioning Fund.
ROMEO AND JULIET
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Rebecca Frecknall
Tuesday 6 June – Saturday 29 July 2023
Press night: Wednesday 14 June 7pm
"These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
Your family teaches you to hate.
You meet someone forbidden.
You act without thinking.
Verona is a powder keg of blood-lust and rage, with death threats proudly shouted in the streets.
As two families wage war, will a young couple become the next sacrifice of this brutal feud?
Following her “electrifying and revelatory” (New York Times) production of A Streetcar Named Desire, Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall (Cabaret) directs Isis Hainsworth (Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Emmy Award-nominee Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso, Nine Lessons and Carols: stories for a long winter) in this reimagining of Shakespeare’s ferocious and bloody tragedy.
Further casting to be announced.
The Almeida Theatre, in partnership with All Change, Arsenal in the Community and Cardboard Citizens, presents
24 (Day)
by Annie Jenkins
Directed by Jack Nurse
Thursday 3 – Saturday 5 August 2023
“North London forever, whatever the weather, these streets are our own...”
Louis Dunford
Raucous, rude and always so unflinchingly herself, Liz summons her best friend (and grandson) Mark for a spontaneous whirlwind trip around North London.
From Jackie’s wake to the Emirates Stadium on match day, Rowans bowling to Highbury Fields at sunrise, Liz and Mark escape into the comfort and nostalgia of their shared past.
Celebrating the understated joys of living, 24 (Day) stands up to the stereotypes of ageing, and shows how mobilising the past can fuel us through the most daunting changes.
Following the success of The Key Workers Cycle, Annie Jenkins’ 24 (Day) is the first in a trilogy of plays bringing together local artists, community performers and professional creatives to explore what it means to live, work, love, pray, celebrate and mourn in Islington. It will be followed by 81 (Life) and 1000 (Millennia) in the next two years.
Praise for The Key Workers Cycle:
“A life-affirming, entertaining and affecting one-day wonder”
The Telegraph
The Almeida wants people who live and work in Islington who may not have been to the Almeida before, or may not have considered taking part in one of our projects before, to get involved with this production. For information about how to get involved, email community@almeida.co.uk or call 0207 288 4916.
Supported by the Sandra Charitable Trust and The Woodward Charitable Trust.
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH ON-DEMAND
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Yaël Farber; Set: Soutra Gilmour; Costume: Joanna Scotcher; Light: Tim Lutkin
Sound: Peter Rice; Composer: Tom Lane; Movement: Emily Terndrup; Casting: Julia Horan CDG; Children’s Casting: Verity Naughton
Video On-Demand
(Available worldwide via almeida.co.uk)
Wednesday 22 March – Tuesday 28 March
“Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.”
A little later than now, in the ruins of a theatre, three witches make a prophecy.
A warrior and his wife enter the darkness. A war begins.
Yaël Farber directs James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan, in the Olivier Award-nominated production about a world in transformation, the shadows in all of us, and one couple’s spine-chilling quest for power.
Cast: Michael Abubakar, Ross Anderson, Aoife Burke, Emun Elliott, Diane Fletcher, William Gaunt, Akiya Henry, Maureen Hibbert, Reuben Joseph, Gareth Kennerley, Valerie Lilley, James McArdle, Adam McNamara, Richard Rankin and Saoirse Ronan, with the children played by Myles Grant and Dereke Oladele in the recording.
The Almeida Theatre is a proud participant of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Digital Accelerator Programme, support from which has made this on-demand stream possible.
THE ROGER MICHELL COMMISSIONING FUND
Waleed Akhtar is the first recipient of The Roger Michell Commissioning Fund. The annual fund, set up after the passing of director Roger Michell in 2021 with donations from his family and friends, will support an annual commission for a playwright with a fresh and unique perspective on the world to develop a play alongside the Almeida.
Akhtar’s previous plays include The P Word (Bush Theatre – recently nominated for an Olivier Award); The Art of Illusion (Hampstead Theatre); and Kabul Goes Pop: Music Television Afghanistan (Brixton House). He is the current recipient of the 2023 Peggy Ramsay/Film 4 bursary and will spend a year at Hampstead Theatre as playwright in residence. He won Most Promising Playwright at the Off West End Awards 2023 and was nominated for the equivalent award at The Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2022.
