“They won’t even know we won this game. Only you and I will know that we Topped Their Love.”
Production images have been released for Naomi Wallace’s absorbing, coming-of-age drama, The Breach ahead of its UK premiere on Thursday 12 May. Directed by Sarah Frankcom, The Breach will run until 4 June 2022. Images are available to download here.
Hindsight proves devastating in this new play which puts trust and loyalty on the line amongst a group of teenage friends. Featuring a wealth of emerging talent, the cast includes Charlie Beck (Masters Of The Air, Apple TV); Jasmine Blackborow (Shadow and Bone, Netflix); Alfie Jones (Teenage Dick, Donmar Warehouse; Richard III, RSC); Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack, BBC); Douggie McMeekin (Bach & Sons, Bridge Theatre; Chernobyl, Sky); Stanley Morgan (The Sandman, Netflix) and Shannon Tarbet (Yous Two, Hampstead Theatre; Killing Eve, BBC).
Frankcom is joined by designer, Naomi Dawson; lighting director, Rick Fisher; sound designer, Tingying Dong; voice director, Michaela Kennen; movement director, Jennifer Jackson; casting director, Nadine Rennie CDG and assistant director, Tramaine Reindorf.
Love has no limits for the Diggs siblings: there’s nothing that 17-year-old Jude won’t do to keep her younger brother Acton safe. Growing up in the turbulence of 1970s America, Jude works nights and weekends to pay the bills, just so that they can stay together and with their mother. But when Acton’s troublesome pals form a club in their basement, a foolish game threatens to upend Jude's plans, and derail their lives forever. How far will Jude go to protect her brother? And who will pay the eventual price of her doing so?
Naomi Wallace makes her Hampstead debut. A MacArthur Fellowship recipient and Obie Award winner, Wallace’s previous credits include One Flea Spare (Bush Theatre), Slaughter City (Royal Shakespeare Company), Things of Dry Hours (Young Vic) and And I And Silence (Finborough Theatre). The Breach is Wallace’s first in a trilogy of plays about different communities in Kentucky.
Sarah Frankcom directs her first Hampstead production. As Artistic Director of Manchester Royal Exchange, her work included West Side Story, Light Falls and Our Town, and, in collaboration with Maxine Peake for Manchester International Festival, The Nico Project and The Skriker.
Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London, NW3 3EU
Box Office: 020 7722 9301 (Mon – Sat 10.30am - 7pm) | hampsteadtheatre.com
UK PREMIERE
THE BREACH
Playwright Naomi Wallace
Director Sarah Frankcom
Designer Naomi Dawson
Lighting Designer Rick Fisher
Sound Designer Tingying Dong
Voice Director Michaela Kennen
Movement Director Jennifer Jackson
Casting Director Nadine Rennie CDG
Assistant Director Tramaine Reindorf
Cast Charlie Beck, Jasmine Blackborow, Alfie Jones, Tom Lewis, Douggie McMeekin, Stanley Morgan and Shannon Tarbet
Dates: until Saturday 4 June 2022
Press Night: Thursday 12 May at 7pm
Socially Distanced Performances: Wednesday 25 May at 7.30pm & Thursday 26 May at 2.30pm
Audio Described Performance: Saturday 4 June at 2.30pm (socially distanced)
Captioned Performance: Tuesday 31 May at 7.30pm (socially distanced)
#HTBreach
TIMINGS
Monday – Saturday: 7.30pm
Thursday & Saturday Matinees: 2.30pm
TICKETS
TICKET PRICING FOR PREVIEWS, MONDAYS AND MATINEES:
Full Price: £10/£18/£27/£30
Under 30s/Students: £10/£15*
Seniors: (matinees only): £20/£25
Access: £16
TICKET PRICING FOR TUESDAY – SATURDAY EVENINGS:
Full price: £12/£25/£32/£37
Under 30s/Students: £10/£15*
Access: £16
*Under 30s and Student concession seats are available in Row A (£15) & Band C (£10)
FULL LENGTH BIOS
THE BREACH CREATIVE TEAM
NAOMI WALLACE - WRITER
Naomi Wallace’s plays have been produced in the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe and the Middle East and include One Flea Spare; The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek; In the Heart of America; Slaughter City; Things of Dry Hours; The Fever Chart: Three Vision of the Middle East; And I and Silence; The Liquid Plain; Night is a Room; an adaptation of Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani and The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon (both adaptations co-written with Ismail Khalidi).
She has received numerous awards including the MacArthur Award, Obie, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, Horton Foote Award, Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and the inaugural Windham Campbell prize for drama.
Naomi is currently under commission by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and is writing the book for the new John Mellencamp musical Small Town.
SARAH FRANKCOM - DIRECTOR
Sarah has worked extensively as a Director and Dramaturg making theatre in a range of participatory, training and professional settings. After joining the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester as Literary Manager she created the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and became Artistic Director between 2014 - 2019.
Her directing work includes a collaboration with Maxine Peake on Hamlet; A Streetcar Named Desire and Happy Days (all Manchester Royal Exchange); Miss Julie (Theatre Royal Haymarket) and The Skriker (Manchester International Festival).
She has also collaborated with the playwright Simon Stephens at the Royal Exchange on On the Shore of the Wide World (Olivier Award Best Play); Punk Rock (MEN Best Production); Blindsided and Light Falls and Light Falls.
Other recent work includes West Side Story; Death of a Salesman; The Skirker (all Manchester Royal Exchange); Our Town (Manchester Royal Exchange - winner UK Theatre Award Best Director 2018); The Masque of Anarchy and The Nico Project (both Manchester International Festival) and The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca (Hull City of Culture).
NAOMI DAWSON - DESIGNER
Naomi trained at Wimbledon School of Art and Kunstacademie, Maastricht.
Recent theatre work includes The Animal Kingdom (Hampstead Downstairs); Wildefire and Belonging and The Gods Weep (all Hampstead Theatre); Fair Play (Bush); Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It (both Regent’s Park); Whole (Arcola/UK tour); Twelfth Night (Guthrie Theater, US); Scenes with Girls and The Woods (both Royal Court); Light Falls and Happy Days (both Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Convert and The Container (both Young Vic); The Duchess of Malfi; Doctor Faustus; The White Devil and The Roaring Girl; As You Like It and King John (all RSC); The Tin Drum (Kneehigh/Liverpool Everyman); Gaslight and Care (both Watford Palace); The Winter’s Tale (Romateatern, Sweden); Beryl (West Yorkshire Playhouse/UK tour); Kasimir and Karoline and Fanny and Alexander (both Malmo Stadsteater, Sweden); Every One (Battersea Arts Centre); Weaklings (Warwick Arts/UK tour); Brave New World (Royal & Derngate, Northampton/UK tour); Hotel and Three More Sleepless Nights (both National Theatre).
Opera work includes Die Frau Ohne Schatten (Dutch National Opera – covid postponed); Madama Butterfly (Grimeborn/Arcola); The Lottery and The Fairy Queen (both Bury Court).
RICK FISHER - LIGHTING DESIGNER
Previous work at Hampstead Theatre includes Night, Mother; The Haystack; Cell Mates; Filthy Business; Rabbit Hole; Sunny Afternoon (also West End); Drawing the Line; Raving; Old Money; 55 Days; The Judas Kiss and Chariots of Fire (both also West End); Farewell to the Theatre; No Naughty Bits; Tiger Country; The Fastest Clock in the Universe and Anna in the Tropics.
Other theatre work includes Middle (National Theatre); Red Riding Hood (Stratford East); Edmund de Bergerac (Birmingham Rep); Consent (National Theatre/Pinter); Mood Music (Old Vic); Waste (National Theatre); Peter Pan and Porgy and Bess (both Regent’s Park); Forbidden City and Othello (both Singapore); The Audience (Gielgud/Broadway); The Merchant of Venice (RSC/Almeida); The King and I (Paris/Chicago); Sweeney Todd (Paris/San Francisco/Houston); Tribes (Royal Court); Billy Elliot, the Musical (West End/Australia/Broadway/Japan/South Korea and US tours) and An Inspector Calls (West End/UK tour).
Recent opera work includes Eugene Onegin and The Pearl Fishers (both Santa Fe Opera); Don Carlo (Los Angeles) and Man of La Mancha (ENO).
Born in Philadelphia, Rick Fisher is winner of two Olivier Awards for Best Lighting Design and two Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Billy Elliot and An Inspector Calls (Broadway).
TINGYING DONG - SOUND DESIGNER
Ting trained at LAMDA and is a sound designer, composer, and theatre maker. She co-founded Out of the Blue Theatre in 2020 with the aim of making bold, playful and accessible work.
Recent theatre work includes After the End (Theatre Royal, Stratford East); The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars (Theatre Royal, Stratford East - Off West End Awards nomination); Peggy For You (Hampstead Theatre); Folk (Hampstead Downstairs); Two Billion Beats (Orange Tree); A Christmas Carol (Nottingham Playhouse/Alexandra Palace - Composer); Antigone (Storyhouse, Chester); Klippies (Young Vic); A Whole New World and Breathe (both Donmar online); My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do) (Turbine Theatre); ENG-ER-LAND (Jermyn Street); Bin Juice; Kraken and The First (all Vaults Festival); We Like To Move It, Move It (Ice and Fire); Blood Orange (Old Red Lion); Jerker (King’s Head Theatre – Off West End Awards nomination); Chamber 404 (Camden People’s Theatre); Imaginarium (Online World tour); Mr Kolpert; Yen; The Arsonists; Julius Caesar and Hamlet (all LAMDA).
JENNIFER JACKSON - MOVEMENT DIRECTOR
Jennifer is a British-Bolivian theatre-maker and movement director. She received a Jerwood Live Work Award for TAKE SPACE.
Theatre work includes KES (Bolton Octagon); The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe); Five Children and It (Theatre Royal, Bath); Endurance (Home Manchester/BAC); The Mountaintop; Cuttin’ it; Wuthering Heights; Death of a Salesman; Queens of the Coal Age and Our Town (All Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre); Baby Reindeer (Francesca Moody Productions/Bush - Olivier Award 2020); Midnight Movie; Invisible Summer and Living Newspaper (all Royal Court); Perspective (New Views - National Theatre); Amsterdam (ATC/Orange Tree/Theatre Royal, Plymouth); Pops (Jake Orr Productions/HighTide/Live Theatre); I Wanna Be Yours (Paines Plough/Bush); Parliament Square (Bush/Manchester Royal Exchange); The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (New Vic); Be My Baby and Around The World in 80 Days (both Leeds Playhouse); The Trick (High Tide/Bush); Philoxenia (Bush); Mountaintop (Young Vic/UK tour); Mayfly and Out of Water (both Orange Tree); Brighton Rock (Pilot Theatre/The Lowry); Island Town; Sticks and Stones and How to Spot an Alien (all Paines Plough Roundabout); Black Mountain; How to be a Kid and Out of Love (all Paines Plough & Orange Tree) and The Ugly One (Park Theatre).
Events include Coventry Moves (City of Culture 2021).
THE BREACH CAST
CHARLIE BECK
Theatre work includes Frost Hollow Hall (East Riding Theatre) and Boy and A Midsummer Night's Dream (both Guildhall School of Music & Drama).
Film work includes The Den (short film).
Television work includes Masters of the Air.
JASMINE BLACKBOROW
Theatre work includes A Winning Hazard (Finborough); Othello and Much Ado About Nothing (both Pop-up Globe); After October (Finborough); Grey Man (RIFT/Theatre503); Robin Hood (New Perspectives – Theatre Royal, Nottingham); Now This Is Not the End (Arcola Theatre) and Dracula (New Vic).
Film work includes School’s Out Forever; The Art of Love; Daemon Mind; The Protector and Aamir (Bafta Award nominated).
Television work includes Marie Antoinette (season 1) and Shadow and Bone (season 1).
ALFIE JONES
Theatre work includes Teenage Dick (Donmar Theatre); The Winter's Tale and Richard III (both RSC); King Richard II; Punk Rock and Red Velvet (all LAMDA).
TOM LEWIS
Tom trained at RADA.
Recent film work includes Redeeming Love.
Television work includes Gentleman Jack; A Discovery of Witches.
Video Game work includes Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
DOUGGIE MCMEEKIN
Douggie trained at LAMDA.
Theatre work includes Anna Karenina (Sheffield Crucible); Bach & Sons (Bridge Theatre); Dirty Crusty (Yard Theatre); The Night Before Christmas (Southwark Playhouse); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Young Vic) and Wendy & Peter (RSC).
Film work includes Catherine Called Birdy; The Hustle and The Call Up.
Television work includes Ragdoll; The Beast Must Die; Chernobyl; Harlots; Traitors; The Crown and Midsomer Murders.
STANLEY MORGAN
Stanley trained at LAMDA and this is his professional stage debut.
Theatre work during training includes So Here We Are and Three Days in the Country.
Film work includes I Used to be Famous and Argylle (both upcoming releases).
Television work includes The Sandman.
SHANNON TARBET
Theatre work includes Yous Two; Rapture, Blister, Burn and Skane (all Hampstead Theatre); Hotel (National Theatre); Circle Mirror Transformation and Spur of the Moment (both Royal Court); To Kill a Mockingbird (Manchester Royal Exchange); Mogadishu (Manchester Royal Exchange/Lyric Hammersmith); The Iphigenia Quartet and The Edge of Our Bodies (both Gate Theatre); Mary Shelley (Shared Experience); A View from the Bridge (Liverpool Playhouse); 66 Books and The Flooded Grave (both Bush Theatre).
Film work includes Love Sarah; Colette; Beast; Love Is Blind and A Promise.
Television work includes Killing Eve II; Rellik; Genius: Einstein; Virtuoso; Inspector George Gently; Lewis; Monroe and Silk.
