SAMSKARA Announces Extension and School's Programme

Due to high demand for tickets, the world premiere of SAMSKARA at The Yard Theatre today announces a five-day extension of its initial run, with new dates from Monday, 22 November - Friday, 26 November.

Due to phenomenal demand for the initial Schools Performance for SAMSKARA, there will now also be an additional Schools Performance, on Thursday, 25 November. This is a special performance for local schools with £5 tickets per student along with a pre-show workshop on the themes of the show.

Commissioned by The Yard Theatre, the world premiere of SAMSKARA, written, directed & choreographed by Lanre Malaolu, examines four generations of black men as they try to understand themselves in a world which tells them they have to be strong.

Inspired by real-life testimony and told through an explosive fusion of physical theatre, hip-hop dance and text, SAMSKARA explores vulnerability, emotional trauma and how cycles of fathering affect masculinity. This soul-bearing odyssey by award-winning artist Lanre Malaolu untangles what it means to be a black man in 21st Century Britain. What will be passed on and what will be left behind?

SAMSKARA will star Paaliba Abugre (Heartbeat Of Home, Europe & Asia tour); Oliver Alvin-Wilson (All's Well That Ends Well, National Theatre; Nine Night, National Theatre and Trafalgar Studios; for TV Wonder Woman 1984; The Huntsman; Lovesick (Netflix) and Misfits); Ntonga Mwanza (Hotel, National Theatre); Valentine Olukoga (The Fishermen, Trafalgar Studios; Liberian Girl, Royal Court); and Razak Osman (Katya Kabanova, Royal Opera House, Wolf of Wall Street, The immersive play).

The Creative Team includes: composer Jan Baranowski, a pioneer at the forefront of electronic music; interdisciplinary artist and choreographer Rochea Dyer; associate designer Natalie Pryce (Is God Is at the Royal Court); spoken-word poet, playwright and theatre director Kirk-Ann Roberts (Breakin' Convention); director, dramaturg, writer and associate director at The Yard Anthony Simpson-Pike; and lighting designer Ali Hunter.

Whilst performances of SAMSKARA will play to full capacity houses, The Yard Theatre will also present two socially distanced performances, to be able to welcome audiences who may be clinically vulnerable, or not yet ready or able to return to a full auditorium.

SAMSKARA is commissioned by The Yard Theatre, with support from Arts Council England, Jerwood Arts New Work Fund, Battersea Arts Centre and The Society for Theatre Research. Supporting partner East London Dance.