UNDERGROUND by Isla van Tricht to Open VAULT Festival 2016

Following the success of Edinburgh Festival hit The Remnants: As Thyself and Threadbare, and the London transfer of Deadpan Theatre's Get Your Sh*t Together, Shrapnel Theatre will open the VAULT Festival 2016 with Isla van Tricht's brand new site-responsive comedy-drama UNDERGROUND.

People, people everywhere; every one alone. Claire and James take the same Tube to work, at the same time, every morning. Claire and James drink at the same pub with their same friends, every night. Claire and James have never met. But all that is about to change when, after matching on a familiar dating app, they meet for an awkward first date. On their way home together, the brand new Night Tube breaks down.

Forced to get to know each other a little better, things start to get weird. Featuring an interfering tannoy system, a wise -- if drunk -- pub landlord, and a big swipe right, UNDERGROUND looks at the phenomenon of loneliness in a crowd, and what happens when the daily grind gets disrupted. Claire and James might never be the same again, but then again they also might be.

Directed by Kate Tiernan, who recently co-curated BMW Tate Live 2015 and Staging Situations: Art and Theatre at the Tate Modern.

Shrapnel Theatre is a London-based producer, launching in 2015 with the 25th London anniversary of Jim Cartwright's Two, also opening the Arts Theatre's studio space. In 2015, well as Two and The Remnants, Shrapnel co-produced the London transfer of Get Your Sh*t Together at the Landor and ran a series of one-night events in Above the Arts.

IF YOU GO:

Shrapnel Theatre presents
UNDERGROUND
by Isla van Tricht · directed by Kate Tiernan
starring Michael Jinks, Bebe Sanders and Adrian Wheeler
produced by Paul Virides for Shrapnel Theatre ltd

At The Cavern, VAULT Festival 2016
Leake Street London SE1 7NN

Performances: 27th - 31st January 2016
Wednesday - Sunday, 18.00, + Saturday matinee, 14.30

Tickets: £12
For full programme and ticket information, visit vaultfestival.com.

VAULT Festival 2016 runs from 27th January until 6th March at The Vaults, Waterloo.

For more on Shrapnel Theatre, visit shrapneltheatre.com or follow on Twitter @ShrapnelTheatre.

About Shrapnel Theatre - Shrapnel was formed in 2015 by artistic director Isla van Tricht and executive producer Paul Virides. It is a brand new London-based company, making reckless, eviscerating theatre. After presenting its first production in April '15 - Jim Cartwright's Two, starring Emmerdale's Jamie Shelton and Chelsea Halfpenny - Shrapnel made its debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with The Remnants: As Thyself and Threadbare - nominated for two NSDF awards - and general management of Vampire Cabaret. In September, they transferred Deadpan Theatre's wildly successful Get Your Sh*t Together from Edinburgh to the Landor Theatre, and produced a series of one-night events including the New Musicals Night in Above the Arts, which showcased brand new musical theatre writing from the UK in the heart of Theatreland. Shrapnel will return to Edinburgh this summer with a wider portfolio of productions, including two world premieres.

About Isla van Tricht - Isla is a playwright and theatre director, recently completing the MA in Text and Performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her first two plays, As Thyself and Threadbare, were performed in the summer of 2015 as double-bill The Remnants, at Above the Arts in London and C venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is interested in creating and devising new and thought-provoking theatre, and is especially interested in post-dramatic, immersive and experimental theatre forms, writing about raw topics which explore human identity, relationships, despair and hope. She enjoys multimedia theatre, incorporating film, the internet and interactivity into performance in a variety of ways. Isla's aim is to create plays that leave the audience buzzing with debate and discussion of the ideas explored in performance - she wants audiences to feel challenged and to search themselves, and believes the best way to do that is to put something raw and open on stage for the audience to open up to. She operates from the belief that if you tell an audience what to think they will refuse to think at all and will disconnect from the ideas of the play.

About Kate Tiernan, director - Tiernan is a London based artist, writer, and actor. She studied at Goldsmiths in Fine Art and Critical Theory and at RADA for an MA in Text and Performance. Her performance-practice-based research explores spatial relationships and philosophical conundrums through public/private encounters with various objects and built environments. Over the last ten years she has worked with Arnolfini, Tate, V&A, The British Museum, BFI, University West England and Goldsmiths. Kate lectures at Sotheby's Institute and contributes to arts publications including Studio International and Zoo; recently writing a play titled Freight, previewing in 2016. Her piece Considering This, a verbatim performance about cognitive empathy and catharsis was performed at RADA, Above the Arts and Hornsey Town Hall.

About Paul Virides, producer - Virides is executive producer of Shrapnel Theatre and assistant producer for Hartshorn - Hook Productions. Freelance work includes The Mikvah Project (workshop, Chickenshed/The Yard), Songs For a New World (C venues) and As You Like It and Scarberia for TakeOver Festival 2012 (York Theatre Royal), which he also produced. Recent credits for Hartshorn - Hook Productions include: The Blues Brothers: Xmas Special (Arts), A Christmas Carol (Above the Arts); the West End debut production of American Idiot starring Aaron Sidwell and Amelia Lily (associate producers, Arts); the world premiere of Rotterdam by Jon Brittain (Theatre503); I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change starring Julie Atherton and Gina Beck (Above the Arts); Lesere by Ashley G Holloway (world premiere, Jermyn Street); Kingmaker (Above the Arts and Marlborough Theatre, Brighton Festival); Rachel's Garden, Beulah (Above the Arts), Treasure Island, The Rat Pack - Live Gala (Arts), Away From Home (Jermyn Street and national and international tour), A Tribute to the Blues Brothers - Live, The Rat Pack Live (C venues) and Eugénie Grandet (Assembly).