Knife Crime In London Analysed In New Verbatim Drama At The Courtyard Theatre

Fox Hunting, a thought-provoking piece of verbatim theatre about knife crime, comes to the Courtyard Theatre for three weeks in May 2018. Based off transcripts of interviews with South Londoners directly affected by knife crime, which is still on the rise in London and accounts for more than a third of all knife crime offences UK-wide, this new play by 21-year-old David Alade blasts open how it affects the lives of those who perpetrate these crimes as well as the victims, and how it has become a sad normality for teenagers growing up in the capital.

5 boys - T, Lawrence, Jake, Joshua and Darral - explain and share their experiences with knife crime and how it has affected their way of living. They compare their innocence to that of foxes that fell victim to fox hunting. With nearly 40,000 recorded knife crime offences and 80 fatalities in 2017, knife crime is still one of the UK's worst criminal issues, nowhere more prevalently than in London.

Fox Hunting came about when David Alade, the writer, decided that the stories of many youths in South London needed to be heard. Collecting transcripts from real people, who chose to remain anonymous, Alade has combined their stories into this stark piece that catches the real stories of knife crime, as well as the laughter and remorse of real people, both the victims and the perpetrators.

This new play is brought to the Courtyard by Elah Productions; a new theatrical company that supports new talent who are looking to tell stories in a refreshing and artistic way. The show features performers Chris J. Gordon, Devante Mavour, Joshua Lewis and Quinton Arigi, alongside Alade himself.

David Alade was born in South-East London and raised in Peckham. David has a BA(Hons) in Drama and Theatre Studies from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. In his final year, he won the Major Prize for Best Dissertation. Whilst studying at Anglia Ruskin, he joined the Identity School of Acting - well known for developing talents like John Boyega (Star Wars) and Letitia Wright (Black Panther). Whilst training at Identity, he was offered a read with the Identity Agency Group and gained representation by them. He featured in BRIT Award winning Stormzy's Gang Signs and Prayer short film/music video directed by Rollo Jackson, in which he played the lead role, Thomas.

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