Saturday 23 April 2022

THE HOPE THEATRE ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF ITS SUMMER 2022 SEASON


 

TICKETS ON SALE NOW HERE

Phil Bartlett, the Artistic Director of The Hope Theatre, today announces details of the theatre’s summer 2022 season, including five main productions running from June to September, the continuation of the theatre’s Sunday and Monday two-night programme, and a selection of shows encompassing new writing, drama, comedy and performance art as part of the CAMDEN FRINGE during August.

The season kicks off with the world-premiere of HEN, a surreal comedy about two flatmates who must keep a chicken alive for a year in order to inherit a vast fortune. Hen is written by Josh Husselbee and has been shortlisted for the New Diorama & Underbelly Untapped Award 2022.

Also premiering at the Hope this summer,
HAND OF GOD is raucous garage-music gig-theatre about men’s mental health and the worst five-a-side football team in Birmingham. The debut production from TECTUM Theatre, Hand of God was originally programmed for this year’s cancelled Vault Festival.

OH! SUBURBIA! is a one-man avant-garde theatrical revue from award-winning performer, musician and raconteur Bob Karper. Packed full of songs, stories and film, this unique interrogation of suburban life features an audio cast of UK seniors and is equal parts tongue-in-cheek and profound.

2022 marks 35 years since Princess Diana opened the first HIV/AIDS unit in the United Kingdom, and Bren Gosling’s play MOMENT OF GRACE tells the story of her visit to the unit and how it affected some of the people she met that day. The production, which is supported by the National HIV Story Trust, will see the return of matinee performances to the Hope Theatre, and the run overlaps with this year’s London Pride celebrations in July.

Closing the summer season is ANGEL, Torch Theatre’s internationally-acclaimed production of Henry Naylor’s play about a Kurdish woman who defended her town against Isis fighters, allegedly killing hundreds, and subsequently became an internet sensation.

The theatre also continues its popular Sunday-Monday programme of two-night runs, including
ROAD TO NOWHERE, a dazzling comedy about a queer film-making collective on a misjudged road-trip, which comes to the Hope following sold-out performances at the Bread and Roses. Also in the Sunday-Monday programme are LETTERS TO MY DEAD MOTHER
and PERIOD DRAMAS.

Phil Bartlett said: ‘I’m delighted by the range and ambition of the productions in our summer season, which is a testament to the boldness and brilliance of the many theatre-makers involved. The Hope remains the little theatre with big ideas, and I can’t wait to experience these productions with audiences over the coming months.’

Tickets are now on-sale via the Hope Theatre website.

 

HEN

Written by Josh Husselbee, directed by Sarah Fox

World premiere

Shortlisted for the New Diorama & Underbelly Untapped Award 2022

7 – 15 June @ 7:45pm

Press Night: 9 June @ 7:45pm

Two privileged, East London-dwelling flatmates have to keep a chicken alive for a year in order to inherit a large fortune. Hen is a percussive, surreal examination of intergenerational trauma, addiction and the madness of grief. Crucially, it is also a comedy about an invisible chicken. As the challenges of living with a barn animal become more and more unbearable, Alister and Andrew have to ask themselves what they are willing to forgo of their sanity for the sake of money.

 

OH! SUBURBIA!

Directed by Gary Winters from Lone Twin and performed and written by Bob Karper (Herald Angel, Live Theatre New Writing and Anti-Fest Best of the Best Award winner)

17 – 25 June @ 7:45pm

Press Night: 17 June @ 7:45pm

Oh! Suburbia! is a One-Man Avant-Garde Theatrical Revue from multi-award-winning performer/raconteur/musician Bob Karper. Bob’s sheltered, hum-drum suburb in the American Midwest transforms into a rollicking number-packed show full of surprising, funny, intriguing stories, songs and film. Part tongue-in-cheek, part profound, and all true, with an audio cast of UK seniors considering the lofty questions of life: Where are the suburbs of our consciousness? The suburbs of ourselves? and Is there any greater injustice than getting blamed for something your sisters did?

 

MOMENT OF GRACE

Written by Bren Gosling, directed by Su Gilroy

Coincides with London Pride 2022 on 2 July

28 June – 16 July

Tues – Sat @ 7:45pm, Sat 9 & Sat 16 @ 4pm

Press Night: 30 June @ 7:45pm

Based on personal testimonies, Moment Of Grace by Bren Gosling (Arcola, Pleasance, New Wimbledon Studio, Bloomsbury Studio, RADA Studio and King’s Head Theatre) tells the story of the famous visit by Diana Princess of Wales to Britain’s first AIDS Unit and its impact on three people: Andrew, a patient, Jude, a nurse, and Donnie, a fireman estranged from his son. AIDS was taboo. Even being seen to work on this ward could cost you everything. Worldwide interest, news crews and a televised interview followed. To change public misconceptions, would you have risked it? This one act play showcased to acclaim at Bloomsbury Festival 2018 and in 2020 won the NO: INTERMISSION International One Act Play Competition. A filmed version was streamed from The Actors Centre, and this was awarded an ONCOM Commendation by The Offies.

HAND OF GOD

Written by Sam Butters, Lyrics and Direction by Charlie Derrar and Joseph Siddle, Music by Charlie O’Connor. The debut play from TECTUM Theatre

World premiere – originally programmed for Vault Festival 2022

19 – 30 July @ 7:45pm

Press Night: 21 July @ 7:45pm

TECTUM Theatre & Brutal Snake Productions are proud to present the raucous, electric world-premiere of Hand of God, a piece of gig-theatre about the worst five-aside football team in Birmingham. With music inspired by old-school garage, Hand of God follows the passionate footballing wonder-kid Kieron who, devoted on winning, winds up captaining the local drug dealers’ five-a-side team.

ANGEL

The Torch Theatre production. Directed by Peter Doran, designed by Sean Crowley, performed by Yasemin Ă–zdemir.

30 August – 17 September @ 7:45pm

Press Night: 1 September @ 7:45pm

Angel is the legendary story of Rehana; In 2014 Kurdish families were fleeing Kobane to avoid the inevitable ISIS onslaught; Rehana stayed to fight and defend her town; as a sniper, she allegedly killed more than 100 ISIS fighters. When her story came out, she became an internet sensation and a symbol of resistance against Islamic State and dubbed the ‘Angel of Kobane’. Now, this legendary story comes to the stage in Henry Naylor's award-winning play Angel. Angel, a one-woman show, is the third story in Henry Naylor’s Arabian Nightmares trilogy and was first staged to great acclaim at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016. Since then it has been seen around the world to great critical acclaim, winning awards at many international festivals. The Torch Theatre bring you their own production, directed by Peter Doran, designed by Sean Crowley and featuring Yasemin Özdemir as the eponymous Angel. This is a hard-hitting exploration of Angels story, during a time when the themes are very much still relevant and present in modern society.

LETTERS TO MY DEAD MOTHER

12 & 13 June @ 7:45pm

“People don’t feel comfortable talking about death. People don’t know what to say. But that’s the only time it feels real.” After losing her mum to cancer in March 2019, Ana started writing her letters as a coping mechanism. The subject of these letters would vary from random things that happened on her day, things that were going through her head, to deep raw feelings she was experiencing after her mum’s departure. Reading back these letters, she realized they told a story. Letters To My Dead Mother is a one-woman, auto-fictional show about grief – its stages and the radically contrasting ways it manifests itself.

ROAD TO NOWHERE

19 & 20 June @ 7:45pm

‘Do you want to fuck me or be me?' 'Is there a difference?' As London goes into lockdown 1, a queer filmmaking collective are on the verge of being evicted from their London home. The only thing to do is clearly going on a misjudged road trip to Paris to find the one successful movie-star they once knew to convince him to help them, willing or not. Road To Nowhere is a dazzling new comedy that questions what it means to create art without hope of success. Told with a diverse group of characters and short films, Road To Nowhere presents the difficult time of artists struggling through the pandemic with wicked humour and multimedia flair. Road To Nowhere is Little Creatures Theatre’s first production, and comes to the Hope Theatre after a sold-out run at the Bread & Roses Theatre in February 2022.

PERIOD DRAMAS

3 & 4 July @ 7:45pm

Have you ever wondered how people in the past dealt with their periods? If Queen Victoria coasted* through her cramps? And what if period dramas really were about... periods? Comedy, cabaret and tap collide in this hilarious one-woman show, teaching the history you never learnt at school. Armed with glitter, blood, some history books and an arsenal of embarrassing stories, Heather is on a mission to push through the menstrual taboo and change the way we think about bleeding. Audiences are invited to embrace themselves fully, let loose and have a BLOODY good time! *Obviously she didn't. It was 1837.

The Hope Theatre is also hosting a series of shows encompassing new writing, drama, comedy and performance art as part of the CAMDEN FRINGE during August, including  THE LAST WORD from 1 – 7 August, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING MARTHA from 8 – 12 August, WHAT MAKES A BODY TERRIFYING? from 15 – 18 August, THESE CRATERS OF OURS from 19 – 21 August, CRONE from 19 – 21 August and BLUE BALLOONS PINK from 22 – 27 August. More Camden Fringe programming will be announced soon.

 

Opening in 2013, The Hope Theatre was originally a sister theatre of Islington’s King’s Head Theatre, renovated from a function room above the famous Hope & Anchor pub and music venue into a black box studio theatre. The Hope Theatre has transferred two productions to the West End (Ushers to the Charing Cross Theatre and the Snoo Wilson's Lovesong Of The Electric Bear to The Arts) and has been home to many world premieres. It also housed the professional world premiere of Joe Orton’s Fred And Madge.


Although The Hope Theatre has received no regular public subsidy since its 2013 opening, it was the first Off West End venue to open with a house agreement with Equity. This ensures a legal wage for all actors, stage managers and box office staff working at the theatre.

 

Phil Bartlett was appointed Artistic Director in September 2021, and his first in-house production will be announced later this year.

 

Artistic Director: Phil Bartlett 

Associate Director: Toby Hampton 

Technical Manager: Laurel Marks 

Patron: Paul Clayton 

 

To find out more about the Hope Theatre, visit www.thehopetheatre.com.

 

The Hope Theatre

207 Upper Street, London, N1 1RL

www.thehopetheatre.com

Twitter:  @thehopetheatre

Facebook: /thehopetheatre

Instagram: /thehopetheatre