The Old Vic today announces casting for Queers, a series of eight monologues curated by Mark Gatiss. Staged on 28 and 31 July at The Old Vic, they mark 50 years since the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 began the decriminalisation process for homosexuality between men. Queers celebrates some of the most poignant, funny, tragic and riotous moments of British gay male history over the last century.
Mark Bonnar, Sara Crowe, Jack Derges, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan, Russell Tovey, Gemma Whelan and Fionn Whitehead will perform monologues written by Matthew Baldwin, Jon Bradfield, Jackie Clune, Michael Dennis, Brian Fillis, Mark Gatiss, Keith Jarrett and Gareth McLean. The monologues will be directed by Mark Gatiss and by Old Vic Associate Director Max Webster and Baylis Director Joe Murphy.
Queers is produced in partnership with BBC Studios, Pacific Quay Productions. The monologues were filmed earlier in the year, directed by Mark Gatiss and featuring many of the cast who will be appearing on stage at The Old Vic. These films will be screened on BBC Four this summer.
Queers is part of The Old Vic’s One Voice series, funded by the TS Eliot Estate, which celebrates the rawest of theatre forms – a single voice on a stage without scenery and with nothing to rely on but words.
The full line up is as follows:
Fri 28 Jul
The Man on the Platform by Mark Gatiss, performed by Jack Derges The Perfect Gentleman by Jackie Clune, performed by Gemma Whelan I Miss the War by Matthew Baldwin, performed by Ian Gelder Something Borrowed by Gareth McLean, performed by Mark Bonnar
Mon 31 Jul
Missing Alice by Jon Bradfield, performed by Sara Crowe Safest Spot in Town by Keith Jarrett, performed by Kadiff Kirwan A Grand Day Out by Michael Dennis, performed by Fionn Whitehead More Anger by Brian Fillis, performed by Russell Tovey
Boundless Theatre Artistic Director Rob Drummer today announces the full company for the UK première of Natives, a new play by Glenn Waldron. Previously Company of Angels, Boundless Theatreproduces exhilarating new theatre in the UK in conversation with Europe. Drummer directs Ella Purnell (A), Fionn Whitehead (B), and Manish Gandhi (C) in the production which opens at the Southwark Playhouse on 31 March, with previews from 29 March, and runs until 22 April.
“Where are the grown-ups to do something, where are the grown-ups in this story?”
Three countries. Three teenagers. One average, life-altering day. A young man battles with feelings of love and violence. Another is stuck with the image of someone being pushed from a rooftop. And a girl must choose between her friends and her conscience.
Natives is a rallying cry to a generation of unlikely heroes and celebrates coming of age online in a chaotic world.
Glenn Waldron is a London-based playwright and writer. A former magazine editor and journalist, Glenn was Editor of i-D magazine and his feature writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Independent, Vogue, W magazine, and other publications. His first play Forever House premiered at the Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth and his work has since been performed in Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and the USA. Upcoming productions include The Here And This And Now at TRP and End of the Pier at Hackney Showroom. Glenn also lectures in journalism and pop culture at the University of the Arts London.
Ella Purnell plays A. She is making her professional stage debut. She was one of Screen International Stars of Tomorrow 2010. For film, she will appear in the forthcoming Churchill, her credits include Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Never Let me Go, Maleficent, Intruders and Kick Ass 2.
Fionn Whitehead plays B. He is making his professional stage debut. He was one of Screen Internationals Stars of Tomorrow 2016. For television his credits include Him; and for film, he will appear in the forthcoming Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and The Children Act.
Manish Gandhi plays C. He was included in the British Council’s 2016 global list of 33 cultural influencers from around the world promoting freedom and equality. For theatre his credits include Now We Are Here (Young Vic), Brown Shakespeare (Efua Theodora Sutherland Drama Studio, Legon-Accra), Rizwan (FTII, Pune), Limbo and Cock (National Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai). For television, Rides upon the Storm, Judwa Raja and Na Bole Tum; and for film, That Transient Interval, Chai Shai Biscuits and Rizwaan.
Director – Rob Drummer
Designer – Amelia Jane Hankin
Movement – John Ross
Video Design – Cate Blanchard
Lighting – Zoe Spurr
Sound Design – Father
Boundless Theatre (formerly Company of Angels) produces exhilarating new theatre in the UK in conversation with Europe. For fifteen years, they have produced and toured new plays, nationally and internationally and created projects and experiences that young adult audiences share in. They nurture and empower the next generation of visionary artists, brings plays, diverse perspectives and ideas from Europe and engage with a range of artistic forms beyond theatre-making.
Listing
Natives
29 March – 22 April
8pm Monday – Sunday
Matinee 3.30pm Saturdays and Tuesday 4th April only
