Kacey Ainsworth And Liam Tobin Star In JAB At Finborough Theatre

Kacey Ainsworth (Little Mo, Eastenders / Cathy Keating, Grantchester) and Liam Tobin (Sean, Then and Now / Mickey Willis, Heartbeat) star as Anne and Don in the world premiere of JAB, the stunning new British play, written by James McDermott and directed by Scott Le Crass. 

Running at the Finborough Theatre from Tuesday 20 February until Saturday 16 March, this look at life during lockdown is set in the living room of Anne and Don's family home during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. With the children now grown up and living their own lives, Anne works from home but is still forced to spend more time with Don than ever before. They watch TV together. They eat together. They drink together. As weeks turn into months and with their 30th anniversary looming, Anne and Don soon start to question many things… 

They still love each other, but do they even like each other anymore

Anne is tired. Tired of her menopause. Tired of working for a dying NHS. And she's tired of her lazy, sexist and  opinionated Daily Mail reading husband Don. With weeks trapped indoors together, it looks like their marriage might not last much longer.

As the world falls apart outside, Anne and Don are forced to stay at home, but it's safe at home, isn't it? The lockdown can't go on much longer, can it? There'll be a solution soon, won't there? 

Inspired by true events, Jab is a coruscating new black comedy, exploring power, gender, domestic violence, conspiracy theories, ignorance and the limits of love. 

CAST AND CREATIVES

 

Kacey Ainsworth | Anne

Theatre includes Leaves of Glass (Park Theatre), Lava (Soho Theatre), Mam I'm Ere (Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), Sweeney Todd (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), Holes (Nottingham Playhouse), Feed the Beast (Birmingham Rep, New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), Calendar Girls (UK Tour), Steel Magnolias (UK Tour), Carrie's War (Apollo Theatre), Sleep With Me (National Theatre), Serving It Up (Bush Theatre) ,Pale Horse and Attempts on Her Life (Royal Court Theatre).

Film includes Lynne and Lucy, Mother, We the Kings, Hip Hip Hooray, Girl From Rio and Topsy Turvy.

Television includes Grantchester, Sliced, Moving On, The Worst Witch, Call the Midwife, Casualty, Midsomer Murders, The Moonstone, Rock Chips, Holby Blue, Hotel Babylon, EastEnders, The Beggar Bride and The Accused.

Radio includes Torchwood and Doctor Who.

Liam Tobin | Don

Theatre includes Sweeney Todd (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), Lights On Lights Off (Shakespeare North Playhouse), The Scousetrap, Mam I'm ‘Ere! (Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), HomeBaked (Red Ladder and Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), Miracle On 34th Street (Liverpool Playhouse), Paint Your Wagon, A Clockwork Orange, The Big I Am, Fiddler On The Roof, Conquest of the South Pole, The Sum, Romeo and Juliet (Liverpool Everyman Rep Company), Benny (Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe), The Hobbit (Dukes Theatre, Lancaster), Hamlet (Theatr Clwyd), Clybourne Park, When the Rain Stops Falling (Unity Theatre, Liverpool and Said & Done), A View From The Bridge (Liverpool Playhouse), One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Brief Encounter, Neville's Island, Dead Funny (Torch Theatre, Milford Haven), A Midsummer Night's Dream and She Stoops To Conquer (Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, and Mappa Mundi), Cider With Rosie and The Merchant of Venice (Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds), Hoof! (Hothouse Theatre, Los Angeles), Gods Official (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Pygmalion (European Tour for the American Drama Group).
Film includes Al's Lads. Television includes Then and Now, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Royal, Heartbeat, The Cops, Seeing Red and The Second Coming.

James McDermott's previous productions include Time and Tide, nominated for an OffWestEnd Award for Best New Play and long-listed for the Bruntwood Prize (Park Theatre and East of England Tour) and Rubber Ring (Pleasance London and UK Tour). Both plays are published by Samuel French. Their other plays include Acid's Reign (Vault Festival) and The Birds and The Bees (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, and East of England Tour). James's poetry collections include Wild Life (Nine Arches Press), Erased (Polari Press) and Manatomy which was long-listed for Polari's First Book Prize (Burning Eye Books). As well as writing plays for BBC Radio 4 and being one of the writers on EastEnders, James teaches scriptwriting for The National Theatre and Arvon, and also lectures in creative writing at the University of East Anglia.

Scott Le Crass recently directed the revival of Martin Sherman's Rose, starring Maureen Lipman, which was streamed online in 2020 and screened on Sky Arts in 2021. In 2022 it was presented onstage at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester and Park Theatre, London where it won an OffWestEnd Award for Best Solo Performance. In 2023, Rose transferred to the West End, and Scott has been shortlisted for Best Creative West End Debut at The Stage Awards. He was nominated for both OffWestEnd and Broadway World Awards for Best Director for Rose. Scott is just about to direct Toxic by Nathaniel Hall at HOME, Manchester. 

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