Almeida Theatre Announces Casting and New Almeida Young Company Productions

The Almeida Theatre has announced initial casting and two new Almeida Young Company productions.

• Nathan Armarkwei-Laryea, Leo Bill, Carly-Sophia Davies, Lydia Leonard and Alison Oliver cast in the world premiere of Lulu Raczka's Women, Beware the Devil, directed by Rupert Goold.

• Ava Brennan, Tarinn Callender, Danielle Fiamanya, Rachel John, Mark Meadows and Abiona Omonua cast in the UK premiere of musical The Secret Life of Bees written by Lynn Nottage, Duncan Sheik, Susan Birkenhead, based on the best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Directed by Whitney White.

• A double bill of two new Almeida Young Company productions, The Village and Rush, both devised in response to the Almeida's upcoming production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

• Tickets to the productions go on sale to Almeida Patrons and Gold, Silver and Bronze Friends at midday today; Almeida Friends at midday on Thursday 8 December; and on general sale at midday on Tuesday 13 December.

World Premiere

WOMEN, BEWARE THE DEVIL

by Lulu Raczka

Director: Rupert Goold; Set Designer: Miriam Buether; Costume Designer: Evie Gurney; Lighting Designer: Tim Lutkin; Sound Designer and Composer: Adam Cork; Casting Director: Amy Ball

Saturday 11 February - Saturday 25 March 2023

Press night: Wednesday 22 February 2023

"This may be the biggest

But it is far from the first sacrifice I've made for this house

And I'm sure it won't be the last

But don't fret.

I'm ready."

England, 1640.

A war is brewing.

Rumours are flying.

A household is in crisis.

...and the Devil's having some fun.

For Lady Elizabeth nothing is more important than protecting her family's legacy and their ancestral home. When that comes under threat, she elicits the help of Agnes, a young servant suspected of witchcraft.

But Agnes has dark dreams of her own for this house.

Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold (Tammy Faye, Patriots) directs this deadly new play by The Sunday Times Playwriting Award-winner Lulu Raczka (Antigone, Nothing) of treachery and trickery.

Cast includes Nathan Armarkwei-Laryea, Leo Bill, Carly-Sophia Davies, Lydia Leonard and Alison Oliver, with further casting to be announced.

The Genesis Foundation Kickstart Fund has supported Lulu Raczka on the development of Women, Beware the Devil.

UK Premiere

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES

Book by Lynn Nottage; Music by Duncan Sheik; Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead

Based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd

Director: Whitney White; Choreographer: Shelley Maxwell; Set Designer: Soutra Gilmour; Costume Designer: Qween Jean; Lighting Designer: Neil Austin; Sound Designer: Simon Baker; Music Supervisor and Musical Director: Nigel Lilley; Casting Director: Charlotte Sutton

Saturday 8 April - Saturday 27 May 2023

Press night: Wednesday 19 April 2023

"Me and my sisters

We hold this house together

Hurt just one, you hurt us all"

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Sweat, the Tony Award-winning composer of Spring Awakening, and Tony Award-nominated lyricist of Jelly's Last Jam, comes a captivating new musical about a group of women ignited by rebellion and longing for acceptance.

1964, South Carolina. Rosaleen is fighting for her right to vote, and Lily is escaping her violent father. When this unlikely pair flee their small town, they seek salvation at a remote honey bee farm run by the remarkable Boatwright sisters. But will their past catch up with them?

Written by playwright Lynn Nottage, composer Duncan Sheik and lyricist Susan Birkenhead, The Secret Life of Bees is directed by Whitney White (What to Send Up When It Goes Down) and based on the best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd.

Cast includes Ava Brennan, Tarinn Callender, Danielle Fiamanya, Rachel John, Mark Meadows and Abiona Omonua, with further casting to be announced

The Secret Life of Bees is presented in association with Sonia Friedman Productions, Lauren Shuler Donner, Marianne Mills and Robert Cohen.

World Premiere presented by Atlantic Theatre Company, New York City, 2019. Development of The Secret Life of Bees was supported in part by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's National Fund for New Musicals - www.namt.org

THE VILLAGE

Devised by the Almeida Young Company (14-18)

With Abi Falase and Tatenda Shamiso

Lighting Designer: Fraser Craig

Sunday 15 January 7pm / Sunday 22 January 2pm (captioned) & 7pm

"The people in charge can't be arsed with it anymore clearly. We need change, we need action"

Pushed to the edge, a generation of young people decide to create a future for themselves, carving out a utopia they can build away from the failings of those who came before. But if you rebuild a society from the ground up, how do you avoid repeating those same mistakes?

Performed by the Almeida Young Company (14-18) and fuelled by their hunger for change, this new play imagines a better way to exist and seeks to tests the limits of how much we can really change.

RUSH

Devised by the Almeida Young Company (18-25)

With Abi Falase and Rafaella Marcus

Lighting Designer: Fraser Craig; Costume Designer: Phoebe Shu-Ching Chan; Sound Designer: Pia Rose Scattergood

Sunday 15 January 7pm / Sunday 22 January 2pm (captioned) & 7pm

"Too much dopamine and love turns to obsession real quick"

Under the garish glow of the funfair, friends try to navigate a carnival of dodgems, drinks and broken connections. But soon they find themselves contending with their own impulses and dependencies on fitness, sleep, money and work.

Performed by the Almeida Young Company (18-25), this daring new play examines the consequences of always chasing that next high.

The Almeida Young Company is supported by The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust, The Worshipful Company of Grocers, The Jack Petchey Foundation, and The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation.