The Royal Shakespeare Company has revealed details of Making Mischief, the first festival of new work in the newly opened Studio at The Other Place, Stratford.
The month-long festival features new commissions by some of today’s “most exciting playwrights who are challenging and questioning our society with bold new work”.
Led by the RSC’s deputy artistic director Erica Whyman, the festival will include:
- two new plays, Always Orange by Fraser Grace and Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier by Somalia Seaton
- the return of Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by Alice Birch before it transfers to Edinburgh and Shoreditch Town Hall
- Clean Break’s one-woman show Joanne performed by Tanya Moodie
Fraser Grace and Somalia Seaton were invited to respond to the provocation “What is unsayable in the 21st century?”
Grace’s Breakfast with Mugabe won the John Whiting best play award in 2006. After its run at the RSC in Stratford, it transferred to the West End and New York.
In Always Orange, Grace presents a tragicomic exploration of how to be human in a world always on the edge. Set in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in central London, a survivor of the first attack, Joe, is convinced he has found the key to turning the tide of destruction and restoring tolerance and understanding. But the city is in no mood to listen.
Somalia Seaton makes her RSC debut with Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier. She is currently under commission to companies including Clean Break, Talawa and The Bush. Her new play “peels away the privileged ignorance of middle-class tolerance to expose the deep wound of cultural tension cutting through modern England”.
The two plays run from Wednesday 27 July until Saturday 27 August.
Alice Birch’s Revolt. She said. Revolt again. returns to Stratford after its debut in the 2014 Midsummer Mischief Festival. It examines the language, behaviour and forces that shape women in the 21st century and asks what is stopping us from doing something truly radical to change them. It runs from Tuesday 2 August until Saturday 13 August.
Joanne joins the festival after its debut at Latitude Festival. Performed by Tanya Moodie, who is playing Gertrude in the RSC’s current production of Hamlet, Joanne explores the pressures on public services as a young woman buckles under pressures.
It is written by Deborah Bruce, Theresa Ikoko, Laura Lomas, Chino Odimba and Ursula Rani Sarma. It is directed by Róisín McBrinn and runs on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 August.