Cast Announced For CUTTING THE TIGHTROPE: THE DIVORCE OF POLITICS FROM ART

The cast has been announced for a series of rapid political responses; Cutting the Tightrope: the divorce of Politics from Art brings together award-winning playwrights with radically different voices to form an urgent response to the creeping threat to freedom of expression in the UK arts scene at a time when brutality abroad in Palestine and the Global South are being justified or ignored by our own government. 

Each of the cast will take on multiple parts as they perform this collection of 10 short plays. The cast will include Salman Akhtar (Blue Mist, Royal Court Theatre; Man Like Mobeen, BBC), Sara Masry (Sanctuary: Secrets of the Gunter Mansion, Abergavenny; Umm Kulthum: the Golden Era, Tour), Ruth Lass (12:37, Finborough Theatre; Bach & Sons, Bridge Theatre) and Jessica Murrain (As You Like It, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre; The Wife of Willesden, West End). 

These plays are an urgent and immediate reaction to widespread political unrest and a news agenda that brings with it uncertainty as well as horror. These impressive performers will be joined by Waleed Elgadi (The Jungle, St Anns Warehouse; Julius Caesar, Anthony & Cleopatra, Dido Queen of Carthage, Royal Shakespeare Company) and Joel Samuels (Remythed, VAULT festival; Ghost Busters: The Gates of Gozar, Secret Cinema).  Issam Al Ghussain (Gentleman, Arcola Theatre; Word Play, Royal Court), and Mark Oosterveen (The Last King of Scotland, Sheffield Crucible; I Need an Adult, Lyric Hammersmith) will complete the cast. 

With the Arts Council England's guidance that political statements made by individuals linked to an organisation can cause reputational risks, Cutting The Tightrope: The divorce of Politics from Art is a timely and necessary rebuttal to recent attempts to censor and silence certain political voices in the arts.

The collection of short plays brings together UK-based writers from activists to comedians, Russian to Iraqi heritage, Jewish to Muslim background with a guttural reaction to the politics of today.  Although the playwrights' names are advertised, who wrote which play will remain unknown so the artists feel there can be freedom of expression without fear.  

Following the ACE policy update, which was eventually reversed under industry pressure, there have been real-world consequences and increasing evidence of the arts being under threat of censorship. The words “reputational risk” were used by the Communities Secretary, Michael Gove, who promptly denied funding to an inter-faith organization, owing to their partnership with the Muslim Council of Britain; the withdrawal of pieces from Unravel at the Barbican Centre; and HOME mcr cancelled an event on the basis of political neutrality. This collection of vital and confronting short plays is written within the context of this incendiary moment in the arts. 

This rapid response event is created by the creative team behind Walking the Tightrope: the tension between Art and Politics, a collection of plays by playwrights including Caryl Churchill, Hannah Khalil, Gbolahan Obisesan, Mark Ravenhill, Timberlake Wertenbaker; which featured on Radio 4's Today Programme and Front Row, and was New York Times and The Scotsman's Pick of the Fringe before transferring to the Houses of Parliament.

There will be post-show panel discussions with guest speakers from activism, journalism, politics, and the arts who will dissect related topics after each performance. These panels will include the likes of Ben Jamal (Palestine Solidarity Campaign), David Lan (former Artistic Director of the Young Vic), Zena Agha (author of Objects of April and May), Amber Massie Bloomfield (exec dir of Complicte) and Andrew Feinstein (former member of the National Assembly of South Africa).

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Cutting the Tightrope: the divorce of Politics and Art

Dates Friday 10th May – Saturday 18th May 2024

Press Night Monday 13th May 2024

Running Time 2 hours 

Location Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, London E8 3DL

Playwrights

Hassan Abdulrazzak

Mojisola Adebayo

Phillip Arditti

Sonali Bhattacharyya

Nina Bowers

Roxy Cook

Ed Edwards

Afsaneh Gray

Dawn King

Ahmed Masoud

Nina Segal

Sami Abu Wardeh

Cast

Salman Akhtar

Sara Masry 

Ruth Lass 

Jessica Murrain 

Waleed Elgadi

Joel Samuels

Issam Al Ghussain 

Mark Oosterveen

Tickets are available for concessions at £16 and full price at £20 from https://www.arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/cutting-the-tightrope-the-divorce-of-politics-from-art/. Age Guidance 16 +, contains adult themes and language.

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