ViSiBLE Announces The World Première Of FIVE CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP

ViSiBLE today announces the world première of Five Characters in Search of a Good Night's Sleep devised by Mike Alfreds and Sonja Linden with the Company, the latter who also directs. Inspired by the wealth of talent among Britain's older actors, ViSiBLE is a theatre company dedicated to creating work that throws fresh perspectives on later life and living longer. The production opens at Southwark Playhouse on 29 April and runs until 23 May.

Five Characters in Search of a Good Night's Sleep follows the journeys of five individuals over one night, each struggling in different ways with an inability to sleep. As the play moves from dusk to dawn, we observe their sometimes bizarre nocturnal activities and failed attempts at regaining their sleep.

Humour alternates with pathos as the five, all in their 60s and 70s, gradually reveal the reasons for their sleeplessness. The journey through the night delves into their inner lives, and the pursuit of not only a good night's sleep but of answers to much bigger existential questions.

Devised by a company of older actors aged 60+ and led by the acclaimed veteran director and renowned master of ensemble, Mike Alfreds, this play is conceived in response to the current public health crisis of insomnia, now characterised by sleep scientists as 'a silent epidemic', with 30% of the UK population now suffering from some form of sleep disturbance.

Sonja Linden said today, "Sleep is something everybody does, it's universal, yet more and more of us are finding sleep elusive, particularly some of our older population. As a company dedicated to telling stories about later life, we went on a journey of exploration, consulting with sleep experts but also tapping into our own experiences and imagination and crucially the creativity of our actors to dream up - Five Characters in Search of a Good Night's Sleep."

Mike Alfreds is an award-winning theatre director, adapter, translator, teacher and previous Artistic Director and founder of theatre companies Shared Experience and Method and Madness. His previous credits as a director include Year of Wonders, The Tin Ring (The Lowry), Cymbeline (Shakespeare's Globe), The Wandering Jew, The Black Dahlia, The Cherry Orchard - Winner of Critics' Circle Theatre Award (National Theatre), A Handful of Dust, Jude The Obscure (Lyric Hammersmith), La Ronde, The Miser, Arabian Nights (UK tour) and Bleak House (Royal Court Theatre). His credits as an author include Different Every Night: Freeing The Actor (2007) and Then What Happens? Storytelling and Adapting for the Theatre (2013).

Sonja Linden is a writer. Her credits include Roundelay, Who Do We Think We Are? (Southwark Playhouse), Welcome to Ramallah (Arcola Theatre/York Theatre Royal), Crocodile Seeking Refuge (Lyric Hammersmith/UK tour), I Have Before me a Remarkable Document Given to me By a Young Lady from Rwanda (Finborough Theatre/UK tour), On A Clear Day You Can See Dover (Wilton's Music Hall/UK tour), Asylum Monologues, Palestine Monologues (UK tour), Asylum Dialogues (Tricycle Theatre/UK tour), The Strange Passenger (Battersea Arts Centre/UK tour), The Jewish Daughter (New End Theatre) and Call Me Judas (Finborough Theatre).

Box Office: 020 7407 0234 or southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

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