represent. Will Host a Series of Talks as Part of TRUEMAN AND THE ARSONISTS at The Roundhouse

represent. Theatre, a company that exists to tackle a lack of socio-economic diversity within the arts, has announced a series of post show talks with speakers including Gary Lineker, Zack Polanski, Just Stop Oil and Tom Rasmussen. This is part of the run of Simon Stephens' adaptation of Max Frisch's Biedermann und die Brandstifter - Trueman and the Arsonists. Previews of the full run begin on the 18 October running until the 8 November with press night on the 24 October at The Roundhouse, Camden. 

 

The talks are included in the price of the performance of Trueman and the Arsonists for that evening. They will be recorded and ultimately released on their Youtube channel free of charge. 

 

Two of the headline talks feature the Financial Times' lead critic Sarah Hemming leading a conversation with Gary Lineker and Simon Stephens discussing football, art and class taking place on 25 October; plus a discussion about future actions to protect the planet between the Green Party's Zack Polanski and a representative from Just Stop Oil, hosted by April De Angelis on the 31st October. 

 

The run is bookended by a conversation with Simon Stephens, Chris Thorpe and Abigail Graham about the making of the piece hosted by CocoSarel on the 18 October. Finally, the performance artist Jessica Murrain, the American Vogue Columnist and singer Tom Rasmussen and Dr Dave O'Brien, professor of creative and cultural histories at the University of Manchester explore the barriers for the working class to the arts and possible solutions to increasing accessibility on the 7 November. 

 

Guy Woolf, the artistic director of represent. Theatre said: “Our work is never created in a vacuum: it necessarily responds to and is shaped by the times in which we live. As a company with a political mission to redress class disparity within the arts, we consider it crucial that our work sparks conversation long after the curtain call. As such, we are delighted to announce a series of post-show talkbacks for our audiences. We could not be more excited to reveal these incredible people who will be joining us to highlight and dissect the urgent and contemporary themes of the play.” 

 

This is part of represent. Theatres' Talkback series which are talks filmed and put on their YouTube channel for free for use for educational outreach, and has previously featured Marcus Davey OBE, Rabbi Laura Janner Klausner, April De Angelis and Annabel Arden. 

TRUEMAN AND THE ARSONISTS 

Written by Max Frisch 
In a new version by Simon Stephens, with songs by Chris Thorpe 

18 October – 8 November 2023 
Press night: Tuesday 24 October at 7:30pm 

 

Cast: Adam Owers (Trueman), Nadine Ivy Barr (Bobsy), Thara Schöön (Anna), Tommy Oldroyd (Smith), Angela Jones (Hadid), Charlotte O'Leary (Police Officer/Professor/Mrs Waits), and Aaron Douglas and Lucy Yates (Chorus) 

 

Director: Abigail Graham; Designer: Lizzy Leech; Lighting Designer: Rajiv Pattani; Sound Designer: Zac Gvi; Costume Supervisor: Katie Kelson; Casting Director: Sarah Leung 

 

Fires keep starting. All across the city, arsonists worm their way into respectable people's homes only to burn them all down. It's a plague. And we don't know why. 

 

But Trueman is no fool. He can spot an arsonist from a mile away. These two strangers with troubled pasts who turn up on his doorstep asking for a spare room can't be arsonists. They're too polite. Like him. Everybody is far too respectable to act on their suspicions. Even when they fill his attic with barrels of petrol and ask him to help measure the fuse. 

 

In a new version by Simon Stephens, with songs by Chris Thorpe, Max Frisch's Trueman and the Arsonists explores how moral lethargy can invite evil in – even encouraging you to give it a warm blanket and a nice dinner. 

 

Thisis an amoral morality play. It's also got songs in it. 

 

TALKBACK series: 

All talks take place after the show and are included in the price of the ticket, with a running time of up to one hour. 

 

Wednesday 18th October - The Making of the Arsonists  

With Simon Stephens, Abigail Graham and Chris Thorpe 

Hosted by CocoSarel 

In this talkback, the curtain will be lifted on the creative process behind turning a cult, 1950s German absurdist play into a 21st century punk play with songs. 

 

Wednesday 25th October - Football, Art and Class 

With Gary Lineker and Simon Stephens 

Hosted by Sarah Hemming  

In this post-show discussion, Lineker and Stephens will discuss football, class and the arts, allowing time for questions from the audience.

Tuesday 31st October - Climate Change: The Fire We're Failing to Fight  

With Zack Polanski, (Deputy Leader of the Green Party) and a representative from Just Stop Oil 

Hosted by April De Angelis 

As the world literally burns, Max Frisch's metaphorical fire is tragically being rendered literal. The climate crisis is real and it is being actively ignored by reckless people in power. Join Polanski and Just Stop Oil in discussing how it is we have got here and, more importantly, what it is we can do to protect our planet. 

 

Tuesday 7th November - Working-Class Representation in theArts  

With Dr Dave O'Brien Tom Rasmussen  and Jessica Murrain  

Hosted by Nemide May  

In this talkback, we discuss the systemic barriers for people from lower income backgrounds in accessing the entertainment industry and the negative effect this has on our cultural output. 

 

Simon Stephens' plays include Cornelia Street, Morning Sun, Fortune, Light Falls, Maria, Fatherland, Rage, Heisenberg, Nuclear War, Song from Far Away; Birdland, Carmen Disruption, Blindsided, Morning, Three Kingdoms, Wastwater, Punk Rock, The Trial of Ubu, Marine Parade,  Sea Wall, Harper Regan, Pornography, Motortown, On the Shore of the Wide World, One Minute, Country Music, Christmas, Port, Herons, and Bluebird. He has adapted Anton Chekov's VANYA, Jose Saramago's Blindness for the stage and also Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. He has written English language versions of Jon Fosse's I Am the Wind; Odon von Horvath's Kasimir and Karoline (titled The Funfair); Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House; Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull and Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera. He has presented four series of the Royal Court Playwright's Podcast. His book “A Working Diary” is published by Methuen. Stephens has been an Associate at the Royal Court, London and Steep, Chicago and a board member of Paines Plough. He has been an Associate Artist at the Lyric, Hammersmith, a Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University and an Associate Professor at the Danish National School of the Performing Arts, Copenhagen. 

 

Chris Thorpe is an Associate Artist at the Royal Exchange Theatre. He has written There Has Possibly Been an Incident and The Mysteries for the theatre. Other written credits include Victory Condition (Royal Court Theatre), Hannah (Unicorn Theatre), Dark Woods, Deep Snow. A Grimm Tale, The Moon The Moon (Northern Stage), I Wish I Was Lonely (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Dead End, House/Garden, Overdrama (mala vaodora), Mission to Mars (Polka Theatre), Oh F**K Moment, Come to Where I'm From, Presumption, The Ethics of Progress, Tangle (UK tours), What I Heard About the World, Parts for Machines That Do Things (Sheffield Theatres), High Speed Impact. Test Number One (Contact Theatre), Here I Am, Huddersfield (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Down the Wires (Lowry Theatre), and A Clockwork Orange (National Theatre – in collaboration with Benji Reid). 

 

Abigail Graham directs. Her previous directing credits for theatre include Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare's Globe), Aladdin (Lyric Hammersmith), MUM (Plymouth Drum, Soho Theatre), The Tyler Sisters (Hampstead Theatre), 31 Hours (The Bunker), Death of a Salesman (Royal and Derngate, UK tour), And Now: The World! (UK tour), Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (Assembly Rooms), Debris (Southwark Playhouse), and Molly Sweeney (The Coronet Theatre, Lyric Theatre Belfast). She was the founding Artistic Director of OpenWorks Theatre 2013-2017, the Lead Artist of the Bush Neighbourhood Company 2021, and was the Director of the Lyric Hammersmith Young Ensemble 2019-2020.  

 

Sarel Madziya AKA CocoSarel is a presenter, podcaster, actor - and comedy star of TikTok, with over 1 million combined followers and over 50 million likes. Her uplifting, topical commentary skewers everything from celeb culture to politics. As a presenter, Madziya has hosted numerous events and “red carpets” for Tiktok - including the TikTok red carpet coverage of the UK première of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; the TikTok red carpet coverage for the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards; and the Legends' Stage for TikTok's Eurovision 2023 coverage. As a podcaster, she is one-half of the critically acclaimed CLOSET CONFESSIONS with Candice Brathwaite - which has, to date, amassed over 1 million downloads since launching in December 2022. Her theatre credits include Funeral Flowers (Nottingham Playhouse, Liverpool Everyman). 

 

Gary Lineker OBE is an English sports broadcaster and former professional footballer. Lineker is the only player to have been the top goalscorer in England with three clubs: Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. He also played for Barcelona in Spain, and won 80 caps for England. He finished his career as England's second top international goalscorer. He has presented the BBC's flagship football show, Match of the Day, since 1999. He also operates Goalhanger Podcasts including The Rest Is Football with Micah Richards and Alan Shearer. 

 

Sarah Hemming writes and broadcasts about theatre and is theatre critic for the Financial Times. She wrote the official guide to The National Theatre and has presented and contributed to BBC Radio 4 programmes. Hemming has written for a wide range of UK newspapers, including The Times, Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times, Scotsman and Glasgow Herald and a founding editor of The List magazine in Scotland.  

 

Just Stop Oil is a nonviolent civil resistance group demanding the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects. 

 

Zack Polanski is Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. He is also an elected member of the London Assembly and has chaired the Environment Committee for the last couple of years. Polanski'ss work often centres on making the case for a Universal Basic Income, working with trade unions to stand up for migrant workers' rights and urging action on the climate crisis.  

 

Dr Dave O'Brien is Professor of cultural and creative industries at the University of Manchester. Since completing his PhD on urban cultural policy in the Department of Sociology at the University of Liverpool, he has written extensively on key issues in the cultural and creative economy. These include the use of culture in urban regeneration, how policymakers use evidence, the stratification of cultural consumption, and inequalities in cultural work. He is the co-author of Culture is bad for you, the Panic! report, and the Creative Majority report. He has twice been an advisor to the House of Commons' Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiries, and has recently worked with the House of Lords' Communications and Digital Committee on their At Risk: Our creative future report. 

 

Tom Rasmussen spent a decade in the world of underground drag, performing everywhere from the Royal Opera House, to Soho Theatre, Glastonbury to all the best basements in East London. There they formed punk-pop duo Thigh High with Hatty Carman, together they spent five years hosting ‘ACM Presents' across London's underground music spaces. 2023 has seen the release of their debut solo album Body Building (Globe Town Records). After touring with Rina Sawayama and Self Esteem in the UK, they are about to embark on their own headline tour. Their first two books — Diary of a Drag Queen, and First Comes Love — are currently being adapted for screen. They are a columnist at American Vogue, where they write about sex and relationships. 

 

Jessica Murrain is a Performance-maker, actor,film-maker,poet. Theatre credits include: As You Like It (The Globe), The Wife of Willesden (Kiln Theatre/US Tour); The Secretaries (Young Vic); The Last Dinosaur (The Herd Theatre); When the Daffodils (Orange Tree Theatre), Macbeth (Shakespeare's Globe), A Christmas Carol (Royal Shakespeare Company); Peter Pan (Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre/National Theatre), King Lear (West End), DIGS (Theatre with Legs), Skate Hard, Turn Left (Battersea Arts Centre), The Long Trick (Wardrobe Theatre/Southwest Tour), Messiah (Bristol Old Vic). Television and film credits include: The Baby (Sky/HBO), Soulmates (Amazon Prime), I Used to Be Famous, The Sandman (Netflix), Blonde.Purple (Amazon Prime). 

 

 

Nemide May is an actor and associate board member of represent. Theatre. Their theatre credits include Albatross, Interruptions (represent. Theatre), Foxes (Seven Dials Playhouse), War and Culture (New Diorama Theatre).  Her screen credits include Brothers with No Game (as series regular Vanessa), and Refuge. 

 

April De Angelis is an acclaimed writer whose extensive theatre work includes Infamous (Jermyn Street Theatre), Kerry Jackson (National Theatre), Saving Grace (Riverside Studios), Gin Craze! (Royal & Derngate Theatre), My Brilliant Friend (Rose Theatre Kingston, National Theatre);, The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Frankenstein (Royal Exchange Manchester) Gastronauts (Royal Court Upstairs, 2013); Jumpy (Royal Court, Duke of York's Theatre, Melbourne and Sydney), Wild East (Royal Court, Young Vic), A Laughing Matter (Out of Joint at National Theatre), A Warwickshire Testimony (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Positive Hour (Out of Joint at Hampstead Theatre), Playhouse Creatures (Old Vic Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre). Adaptions include Wuthering Heights (Birmingham Rep), The Life and Times of Fanny Hill (The Old Fire Station Oxford, Bristol Old Vic) and Flight (Glyndebourne Opera). 

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