Full Cast Announced for THE RISE AND SHINE OF COMRADE FIASCO

Full casting is announced today for the first production in the Gate Theatre's Freedom Burning season, Andrew Whaley's award-winning play The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco - a witty and energised allegory of life in post-colonial Zimbabwe. The production is directed by Elayce Ismail, the recipient of this year's JP Morgan Award for Emerging Directors. She directs Gary Beadle (Jungle), Kurt Egyiawan (Chidhina), Joan Iyiola (Febi) and Abdul Salis (Fiasco).

Fiasco! Freedom Fighter. Fiction, fake or fact. Comrade Fiasco. The man who came out of a cave, seven years after the fact of independence, the memories of war still clinging to his skull like spoils.

Zimbabwe, 1986. Chidhina, Febi and Jungle are being held in prison after a brawl.

A mysterious figure, Fiasco, appears in their cell claiming to be a freedom fighter that has spent many years hiding in a mountain cave, unaware Zimbabwe is finally free from British colonial rule.

As Chidhina, Febi and Jungle attempt to piece together Fiasco's confused experience of the war and journey through his extraordinary story, they must discover if he is really who he claims to be and confront their own memories of the struggle to ask: what is the true value of liberation?

The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco was first performed in Harare in March 1990. The play won an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First that year. It was published by Anvil Books, and then Methuen in its first anthology of contemporary African theatre.

Andrew Whaley was in the forefront of post-independent Zimbabwean dramatists, with plays including The Nyoka Tree, Platform 5 and The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco, as well as multi-media performances including Human Tales, Meteoric Trails; and screenplays, Yellow Card, More Time, and Everyone's Child. After moving to South Africa in 2001 he developed radio and television drama across Africa including the hugely popular Swahili series, Siri ya Mtungi, and co-produced an African football documentary, Black Stars: An African Odyssey for Channel 4. The BBC broadcast his plays, Great Escape and Banished: Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He also directed There Is No Canaan On Earth for BBC Spice Taxi. He wrote a book on South African pop diva, Brenda Fassie, and co-authored The Vuvuzela Revolution: Anatomy of South Africa's 2010 World Cup. Also an actor, his work includes Cry Freedom, White Hunter Black and A Dry White Season.

Gary Beadle plays Jungle. His theatre work includes Banksy: The Room in the Elephant (Tobacco Factory, Edinburgh Festival and tour), You Know Who You Are (Talawa Theatre), Blue Remembered Hills (Chichester Festival Theatre), Sucker Punch, God's Second in Command (Royal Court), Family Man, Alterations (Stratford East), Top Dog Under Dog (Sheffield Crucible), The Memory of Water (Watford Palace Theatre), Welcome Home Jacko (BTC New York), Moby Dick (Royal Exchange Manchester), and Black Poppies (National Studio). For television, his credits include The Interceptor, Doctors (series regular), Common Ground, Hustle, Kerrching, Little Britain, EastEnders (as series regular Paul Trueman), Absolutely Fabulous, Born to Run, Glam Metal Detectives, Shall I Be Mother, Murphy's Mob, Lenny Henry Show,Crying Game, and The Detectives; and for film, In the Heart of the Sea, Cockneys Vs Zombies, Til Death Do Us Part, Wit, The Imitators, Driven, Memoirs of a Survivor, Fords on Water, Absolute Beginners, Playing Away, Cresta Run and White Mischief.

Kurt Egyiawan plays Chidhina. His theatre work include Richard III / Twelfth Night (The Belasco Theatre, New York), A Season in the Congo (Young Vic), Berenice (Donmar Warehouse), Henry V, King Lear, The Frontline (Shakespeare's Globe), and Earthquakes in London (Headlong). He won the Spotlight Prize in 2010 and was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award. For film, his credits include Pan, Beasts of No Nation, Kill Your Friends and Skyfall.

Joan Iyiola plays Febi. Her theatre credits include The White Devil, The Arden of Faversham, The Roaring Girl, The Life of Galileo, Boris Godunov, The Orphan of Zhao (RSC), A Season in the Congo (Young Vic), Holiday (Bush Theatre), 24 Hour Plays (Old Vic), His Spirits Hear Me (Kevin Spacey Foundation, New York), and Toilet (Southwark Playhouse).

Abdul Salis plays Fiasco. His theatre credits include Paines Plough's Roundabout Season 2014 (Edinburgh Festival, national tour), War Horse (National Theatre/West End), Joe Guy (New Wolsey/Soho Theatre), Don Juan in Soho (Donmar Warehouse), and The Exonerated (Riverside Studios/Dublin Festival). For television, his work includes Hacks, Strike Back, Outnumbered, Victoria Wood Christmas Special, M.I. High, Doctor Who, Gifted, Roger Roger, and The Hidden City; and for film, Fly Boys, Animal, Welcome Home, and Love, Actually.

Elayce Ismail is currently Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio, having won the JP Morgan Award for Emerging Directors. Her other directing credits include The Sound Of Yellow (Creative Associate, Young Vic Taking Part), Someone Is Going To Come (R&D, Young Vic), Simpatico ('5 Directors, 5 Plays, 5 Days' project, Young Vic), Bed and Breakfast (Brighton Fringe & national tour). As an Assistant Director, her work includes A Season in The Congo (Jerwood Assistant Director, Young Vic, dir. Joe Wright), and Coming Home (Arcola Theatre, dir. Cordelia Monsey).

Paul Jellis is an independent producer mostly working in new writing. He is Executive Producer for multi award-winning and internationally acclaimed new writing company nabokov, a founder of the interactive, immersive and site specific company Bad Physics and Artistic Associate of HighTide Festival Theatre. His recent producing credits include Melissa Bubnic's Beached, Symphony by Ella Hickson, Nick Payne and Tom Wells (Musical Theatre Network awards winner, Assembly, Birmingham REP, Traverse, Soho Theatre), Incognito by Nick Payne (HighTide, Live Theatre, The Bush) and Blink by Phil Porter (Traverse, Soho Theatre, UK tour, 59E59 New York).

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