Following the cancellation of performances due to COVID isolation requirements, the critically acclaimed production Lava by Benedict Lombe has been extended at the Bush Theatre due to public demand. Live performances of Lava will now end on 13 August. The production can also be seen online from 16 – 21 August.
Lava started life in 2020 as part of the Bush Theatre's Protest Series a digital artistic response, which remains online, to the murder of George Floyd. It has now been re-imagined as a full-length play for the stage. Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo is ‘sensational in Benedict Lombe’s red-hot eruption of a monologue’ (Time Out) which ‘could become our era’s equivalent of Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi Is Dead’ (Independent), and ‘feels shamingly timely’ (Evening Standard).
This is nice, init? I like it. Good little set-up to tell you the story of my name. The story of my true name.
When a woman receives an unexpected letter from the British Passport Office, she is forced to confront an old mystery: why does her South African passport not carry her first name? Armed with the wisdom of favourite 90s TV shows, she sets out on a journey that will take her back to the turmoil of Mobutu’s Congo, growing up in post-Apartheid South Africa, moving to Ireland, and finding love in a hostile England.
As her journey becomes inextricably linked with the tides of global history, how far will she go to unravel the truth? By turns wickedly funny and strikingly lyrical, Benedict Lombe’s Lava is an explosive debut that will turn the way you see the world on its axis.
Lava will be streamed worldwide online from 16 – 21 August. Performances will begin promptly at 2.30 pm & 7.30 pm (GMT) and will be available to watch for 48 hours afterwards. The running time is 1 hour 15 mins. Each online performance is a filmed live show, streamed to audiences. It can be watched on a web browser via Google Chromecast, or Apple TV, Android TV, or Amazon Fire TV.
All performances are Captioned and there are Audio Described performances at 7.30 pm on 19 August and 2.30 pm on 21 August.
Tickets are priced from £10 and are available from bushtheatre.co.uk
Lava is performed by Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo, whose performance has been nominated for ‘Best Performance Piece’ in the Offies Awards. Her previous theatre work includes Three Sisters (National Theatre, for which she won 3rd prize Ian Charleson Award), Cyprus Avenue (Royal Court, Abbey, Dublin and Public, New York), Hole and Bad Roads (Royal Court), The Mountaintop (Young Vic), Twelfth Night (Filter and on USA and India tour), The Oresteia (HOME Manchester), Pride and Prejudice (Sheffield Crucible), The House That Will Not Stand and The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania (Kiln), Anon (Theatre Royal Plymouth) and Random (Crooked Path). Ronkẹ plays the series regular of Jack Starbright in Alex Rider (Amazon Prime). She also appeared in Cuckoo, Doctor Who, NW, Cold Feet, Sick Note, Josh, Chewing Gum, Suspects and, The Forgiving Earth. Her film credits include Ear for Eye, Christopher Robin, Been So Long, Ready Player One, One Crazy Thing, Lascivious Grace, The forgotten C, Broken and, The Big Other.
Benedict Lombe is a Congolese-British writer and theatre-maker based in London. She has been on attachment at The Bush Theatre and has been on a residency at Theatre503 as one of their five writers for 2019/2020. She has produced digital work for the Bush as part of The Protest season, Papatango Theatre Company as part of their Isolated But Open series, and a site-specific piece as part of Damsel Productions’ Outdoors season. She has been part of the BBC Writersroom cohort, has been shortlisted for the Papatango Playwriting Award and the Royal Court & Kudos TV Fellowship, amongst others. Lava will be her London theatre debut. She is currently working on developing original TV projects, with a focus on boldly reclaiming diasporic stories that were never allowed to be told, with the full shades of nuance and truth they always deserved.
Anthony Simpson-Pike is a director, dramaturg, and writer whose work has been staged in theatres including The Gate, The Young Vic, and The Royal Court. He is currently Associate Director at The Yard Theatre, was previously the resident director at Theatre Peckham, and associate director at The Gate Theatre. Anthony is also a facilitator, working with young people and communities, having worked at The Gate, The Royal Court, The Young Vic and The Globe, and National Theatre in this capacity.
In addition to theatre, Anthony has worked with Tamasha Theatre company to make audio dramas including collaborations with the National Archives on projects such as Loyalty & Dissent and Once British, Always British and enjoys working across different media including film, having worked on ear for eye by debbie tucker green for BBC Films and BFI. He is passionate about international work having received a British Council bursary to visit the Informal European Theatre Meeting in Brussels, as well as being selected by the British Council to attend DirectorsLab North in Toronto. In 2019, he was invited to be a visiting guest artist for the Banff Playwrights Lab. He is also working on the international project for the Royal Court in Jamaica and Barbados.
Anthony’s recent directorial work includes The Ridiculous Darkness by Wolfram Lotz at The Gate, which received 5-star reviews, ‘stunning and subversive’ (The Stage), ‘you’d be sorely pressed to find anything more riveting or stupendous’ (WhatsOnStage).
Lava is made possible thanks to the support of the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund, which enables the venue to produce work from April to June 2021.
