Arsema Thomas and Freddy Carter Will Lead Chiara Atik's POOR CLARE at Orange Tree Theatre
Blanche McIntyre’s production opens on 16 July, with previews from 12 July.
By: Stephi Wild May. 15, 2025
Orange Tree Theatre has announced that Arsema Thomas, who will make her stage debut, and Freddy Carter will star in Chiara Atik’s Poor Clare. Blanche McIntyre’s production opens on 16 July, with previews from 12 July, and runs until 9 August. Full cast will be announced shortly.
Blanche McIntyre said today, “Chiara Atik’s Poor Clare is a sharp, funny, and moving play that speaks powerfully to the world we live in today. I’m thrilled with the ensemble we’re bringing together, and especially excited to welcome Arsema Thomas as she makes her stage debut, alongside the superb Freddy Carter. I can’t wait to see how this cast brings such a vibrant and thought-provoking text to life on stage.”
Priority booking opens from Wednesday 14 May, with general sale Friday 23 May.
Clare has it all. She's a super-rich noblewoman living her best life in medieval Assisi, trying out hairstyles, and sharing the latest gossip with her sister and maids.
Everything is on track for her to marry some super-rich nobleman and live super-richly ever after. But on the streets of Assisi, she meets Francis, who’s sharing some of the wildest ideas Clare has ever heard. And when she listens to what he has to say, her eyes are opened to a whole new way of living.
Chiara Atik’s Poor Clare won the 2022 American Theatre Critics Association's New Play Award, the LA Drama Critics Circle winner for Best New Play, and a Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist. Her other plays includeFive Times in One Night, Bump, and the comedy Women, a modern re-telling of Little Women, which won the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Screenplays include Fairy Godmother (Blacklist), and is currently adapting of Maggie O'Farrell's best-seller, Hamnet, for Amblin. She is also a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre.
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