New Almeida Young Company Shows Announced

The Almeida Theatre today announces two new Almeida Young Company shows.

Following two sell-out productions on the Almeida stage in 2018, the Young Company returns in July to present two world premieres, (This Isn't) A True Story by Nina Segal, performed by the 18-25 Company, and, following the success of her 2018 Young Company play Cacophony (transferred to the Yard Theatre), Molly Taylor returns with The Wave, featuring the 14-18 Company.

The two productions run from Monday 22 - Wednesday 24 July at the Rose Lipman Building in Hackney. Tickets go on sale at 5pm on Tuesday 18 June.

THE WAVE

by Molly Taylor

Direction: Roberta Zuric; Design: Amelia Jane Hankin; Lighting Design: Philip Burke; Movement: Erion Kruja; Assistant Direction: Valerie Sadoh

Monday 22 - Wednesday 24 July, 7:00pm

The Rose Lipman Building

1939. 143 million people live under fascism in Italy and Germany. Their leaders are Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.

1963. Milgram's psychological experiment finds that 65% of participants will follow an authority's order and administer a lethal electric shock to an innocent stranger.

2019. 17 pupils at a London comprehensive participate in a project on collective identity. What lies around the corner, no one predicts.

Written by Molly Taylor (Extinguished Things, Cacophony) and developed with the 14 -18 Almeida Young Company, The Wave asks what happens when everything you thought you knew and trusted about yourself is challenged.

Molly Taylor is a playwright and theatre-maker. She previously wrote Cacophony for the Almeida Young Company which transferred to the Yard Theatre. Her other recent projects include Extinguished Things (Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Shell and Davey at the Start and the End (VAULT Festival); See Me Now (Young Vic); And Yet It Moves (Young Vic Taking Part) and The Neighbourhood Project (Bush Theatre). Her one-woman show Love Letters to the Public Transport System was produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and won the Adelaide Critics Circle Award 2018.

Roberta Zuric's previous productions include Tobacco Road (Edinburgh Fringe, Vault Festival, ArtisTree Festival Hong Kong); Alice in the Cuckoo's Nest (Librarian Theatre/UK tour); Zero for the Young Dudes! (Orange Tree Theatre/National Theatre); What We Leave Behind (Roundhouse); Thisbe (Door Ajar/UK tour) and All Quiet on the Western Front (Pleasance, SoHo Playhouse NYC). She has assisted at the RSC and is an associate artist of Incognito Theatre and National Youth Theatre.

Performed by members of the Almeida Young Company (14-18): Rawaed Asde, Rwaan Asde, Eleanor Butcher, Kate Butler, Jasmine Elcock, Alessandro Gill, Khadijah Hamden, Pollyanna Knight, Cassius Konneh, Tyreke Leslie, Coralena Lloyd-Prieto, Agathe Makumbi, Hannah Rose Yarwood, Jake Turner, Monique Walker and Max Wilson.

(THIS ISN'T) A TRUE STORY

by Nina Segal

Direction: Joseph Hancock; Design: Amelia Jane Hankin; Lighting Design: Philip Burke; Movement: Rebecca Steel; Assistant Direction: Valerie Sadoh

Monday 22 - Wednesday 24 July, 8:45pm

The Rose Lipman Building

February, 1979. The government killed JFK.

July, 2019. Measles outbreaks are up 300%.

A nondescript small town in the heart of the American Midwest.

An empty room with no windows, somewhere in the north or east or north-east of London.

On the edge of town, a stranger appears.

On the makeshift stage, a person stands.

A detective. An actor. It's the morning. The evening.

Set between the 1970s and today, (This Isn't) A True Story explores conspiracy, community and why we believe what we choose to believe.

The stranger smiles, lifts his hand to wave.

The lights go down. Opens his mouth to speak.

The fictional performance is beginning.

Nina Segal's previous productions include Dismantle This Room (Royal Court; Bush Theatre); In the Night Time (Before the Sun Rises) (Gate Theatre; Orange Tree Theatre; Teatro Belli, Rome; Atlantic Amplified Series, NYC), Big Guns (Yard Theatre) and Danger Signals (New Ohio, NYC). Upcoming productions include Welcome to Radio Elusia (Boundless Theatre); In the Night Time (Before the Sun Rises) (Staatstheater Mainz) and Big Guns (Theater Ingolstadt).

Joseph Hancock trained at the Young Vic through the Jerwood Assistant Director programme. He previously worked at the Almeida on Re-Imagining Machinal. His recent projects includes Great British Mysteries: 1599?, Great British Mysteries? (Soho Theatre / Pleasance); Emily Brown and The Thing, A Squash and a Squeeze (Discover), Donmar on Design, Take the Stage (Donmar Warehouse); Shell and Davey at the Start and the End (VAULT festival); And Yet It Moves (Young Vic). His Assistant/Associate credits include If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Young Vic); The Hairy Ape, Rise (The Old Vic); It Felt like a Kiss (Punchdrunk / Manchester International Festival). He won a JMK Regional Bursary in 2017 to assist Roxana Silbert on Amédée at the Birmingham Rep.

Performed by members of the Almeida Young Company (18-25): Maymuna Abdi, Azan Ahmed, Renee Bailey, Sylvie Briggs, James Bullen, Caroline Elms, Adam Hasyim Cranfield, Rees Jenkins, Sarah Kenny, Dom Luck, Anshula Mauree Bain, Iona McTaggart, Kent Okwesa, Bridget Rudder, Sasha Venmore-Rowland and Jerry Woolley.