The Customs House has announced the cast for Isolation, the play by young writer Elijah Young, which forms part of the annual Takeover Festival in which the venue’s programming is taken over for a week by an advisory body of under-25s decide on what the theatre will host in terms of theatre, music and culture in general.
Isolation is his first full-length play. His first piece ever to be performed, Fag Break, which explored the struggles of LGBT+ youth, was featured in the last 10 minutes to… night at Live Theatre and recently he finished the Write Something course at Alphabetti, where his short play Dandelion & Burdock was featured.
Two of the cast of last year’s Takeover play Wormtown, Abigail Lawson and Daniel Watson, return to the venue. She also returned at Christmas as part of the Santa’s Naughty Elf cast, and has recently completed a regional tour with Blowin’ A Hooley’s WANT.
Watson has appeared in Christmas Crackers and The Terminal Velocity of Snowflakes (both Live Theatre), Is This Your Story? (regional tour), Cheer Up Slug (The North Wall, Oxford) and Byker Grove (CBBC).
Also in the company are Jake Jarratt and Cameron Sharp (playing Stephen and Dale), both Northumbria University MA alumni who recently wrote and starred in Wank Buddies at Live Theatre as part of its Elevator Festival of new writing. Sharp is also co-founder, performer, and producer of theatre company and drag trio Bonnie and The Bonnettes who will also be making an appearance during Takeover 19.
Playing Poppy is County Durham’s Jude Nelson, a Project A graduate who has worked across the region with Dodgy Clutch, The Worriers, Coracle and Alphabetti.
Miss Russell will be played by Daneka Etchells who trained at ALRA North. Her credits include Christine in Miss Julie (CAST, Doncaster), Lacey in Code Blue (Oldham Library Theatre), Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Speakeasy), Clare Short / Various in Acting Leader (Northern Stage), Phoebe in Moth To The Flame (Theatre by the Lake), Ensemble in Under The Market Roof (Junction 8 Theatre), Effie in Monologue Wars (Liverpool Everyman).
Jack Lloyd and Kiera Falcus will both be making their Customs House debuts as Mr Bates and Zara. He was nominated as one of the top 20 graduates to graduate from a drama school in the 2017 Spotlight Showcase. His credits include Wilfred (Alphabetti Theatre), The War of the Worlds (Northern Stage), The Conditioning (Edinburgh Fringe), Luna (Theatre Hullabaloo) and County Lines (Brewery Arts Centre).
Since graduating from Project A in 2018, Falcus has worked with Michael Corbidge (Royal Shakespeare Company) on his short Elemental Shakespeare course as further training, and has recently filmed for Rianne Pictures’ upcoming short film, Coming Out For Christmas.
The play will be directed by Jake Smith who directed Wormtown last year.
Isolation will be performed at the Customs House on the evening of 31 May.