Edinburgh Fringe Hit LADY DEALER Transfers To Bush Theatre

The 2023 Edinburgh Fringe hit Lady Dealer, written by Martha Watson Allpress, directed by Emily Aboud and performed by Alexa Davies, will makes its London debut at the Bush Theatre on 15 May.

For Charly, every day is the same: neck some coffee, answer the phone, sell some drugs. The flat she once shared with her ex, Clo, is now the base of her growing business. And she's fine with that. She's fine! Charly is fine.

But when a power cut hits her estate and the burner phone stops buzzing she is forced to question exactly how fine she is. Desperate to escape the swell of feeling bubbling beneath the surface, Charly charges head first into a world of knockoff Morrissey's, disapproving mothers, and the ghosts of girlfriends past.

Martha Watson Allpress is an award winning, working-class writer from the East Midlands. Her debut play, Patricia Gets Ready (for a date with the man that used to hit her), received 5 star reviews (The Guardian, The Stage, Broadway World) and her second, Kick, won the Bill Cashmore Award and was staged for a limited run at the Lyric Hammersmith. In 2023 her newest piece, Lady Dealer, premiered to critical acclaim in Paines Plough's Roundabout. Also in 2023 Martha was announced as the winner for Ambassador Theatre Groups Playwrights Prize for her script, Ask Her If She Still Keeps All Her Kings in the Back Row. She is currently under commission to Nottingham Playhouse. She has been shortlisted, and longlisted, for a number of awards and programmes, including the Verity Bargate Award, the Women's Prize for Playwrighting, Blacklight's 4Stories and the BBC Script Academy. She was also a supported writer under HighTide's Lighthouse scheme and Hampstead Theatre's INSPIRE programme. As a screenwriter Martha is currently adapting Patricia with Various Artists Ltd and developing an original series, Off Centre, with Red Planet Pictures.

Martha Watson Allpress said, ‘I am beyond excited to have Lady Dealer find its London home at the Bush. Lynette, Daniel and the whole building's unwavering commitment to new writing is a beacon of hope and dignity in a really scary time for new writers. Lady Dealer is a piece that centres a working-class, queer woman and theatre doesn't always feel like a space entirely ready to welcome those identities, but the Bush stands apart as they've welcomed Charly, and me, with open arms. To be back with this team, in this venue, it's a dream come true.'

Emily Aboud is a Trinidadian theatre director. She was shortlisted for the JMK Award in 2022, and 2021. She is a recipient of the Evening Standard Future Theatre Award. Recent credits include SPLINTERED (Soho Theatre Main House, also writer), Close Quarters (LAMDA), Salt Slow (RCSSD), BOGEYMAN (Edinburgh Fringe 2022, also writer), Pink Lemonade (Bush Theatre), Dolly (Park Theatre) and Chatham House Rules (Pleasance Theatre). As a Caribbean theatre maker, her work draws inspiration from the political community theatre she grew up making in Trinidad - a combination of music, movement, direct audience address and theatricality.

Alexa Davies' breakthrough role was in the 2012 British comedy film Vinyl, written and directed by Sara Sugarman. Alexa went on to play Aretha in 2 series of Channel 4's Raised by Wolves and joined the cast of the BAFTA-winning comedy The Detectorists, written, directed by, and starring Mackenzie Crook. She could also be seen as Betsey Fletcher in Hulu's Harlots and in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again as Young Rosie. Alexa has played a leading role in two series of Dead Pixels for E4, and also starred in Misbehaviour, a British comedy-drama film directed by Philippa Lowthorpe. She could also be seen in White House Farm for ITV and The Long Shadow for Vera Pictures. She was recently seen as series regular Audrey in the third series of COBRA for Sky and has just reprised her role as Marjorie in the second series of comedy drama Funny Woman, based on the novel Funny Girl by Nick Hornby, also for Sky.

Alexa's stage work includes Lady Dealer at Roundabout (Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe) and No Quarter at The Royal Court Theatre.

Alexa Davies said, ‘'I am absolutely thrilled to be returning to Lady Dealer. Debuting Martha's brilliant play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last summer was such a joy - I can't wait to jump straight back in and bring Charly back to the London stage.”

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