Take a look at the rehearsals of Beneatha’s Place, a satire written and directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah that will have its UK premiere at the Young Vic.
Inspired by the groundbreaking civil rights drama A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha’s Place is about the power of knowing your history and the cost of letting it go.
1959. The first wave of independence is sweeping across Africa and Beneatha has left the prejudice of 1950s America for a brighter future with her Nigerian husband in Lagos. But on the day they move into their new house in the white suburbs, it doesn’t take long for cracks to appear, changing the course of the rest of their lives.
Present day. Now a renowned Dean whose colleagues are questioning the role of African American studies for future generations, Beneatha returns to the same house in search of answers.
Cherrelle Skeete (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) stars in the title role as Beneatha Younger, with Zackary Momoh (Seven Seconds) as Joseph Asagai/Wale Oguns, Sebastian Armesto (Leopoldstadt) as Daniel Barnes/Prof Mark Bond, Jumoké Fashola (The High Table) as Prof Shirley Jones/Aunty Fola, Tom Godwin (Best of Enemies) as Mr Nelson/Prof Gary Jacobs and Nia Gwynne (Tolkien) as Mrs Nelson/Dr Harriet Banks.
Set and costume design is by Debbie Duru, lighting design by Mark Henderson, sound design by Tony Gayle, voice and dialect coach Esi Acquaah-Harrison, casting director Heather Basten, Jerwood assistant director Ellis and Jerwood trainee assistant director Tia-zakura Camilleri.
Written and directed by Kwei-Armah, the Young Vic Theatre Artistic Director, it plays in the Young Vic Main House from June 27-August 5.
Cherrell Skeete, Zachary Momoh and Sebastian Armesto will head the cast of Beneatha’s Place, Kwame Kwei-Armah’s satire at The Young Vic.
Running from June 27 to August 5, Skeete will star as Beneatha Younger, Momoh as Joseph Asagai/Wale Oguns, Armesto as Daniel Barnes/Prof Mark Bond, with Jumoké Fashola as Prof Shirley Jones/Aunty Fola, Tom Godwin as Mr Nelson/Prof Gary Jacobs, and Nia Gwynne as Mrs. Nelson/Dr Harriet Banks.
1959. The first wave of independence is sweeping across Africa and Beneatha has left the prejudice of 1950s America for a brighter future with her Nigerian husband in Lagos. But on the day they move into their new house in the white suburbs, it doesn’t take long for cracks to appear, changing the course of the rest of their lives.
Present day. Now a renowned Dean whose colleagues are questioning the role of African American studies for future generations, Beneatha returns to the same house in search of answers.
Inspired by the groundbreaking civil rights drama, A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha’s Place challenges today’s culture wars about colonial history and reckoning with the past.
The creative team is completed by set and costume designer Debbie Duru, lighting designer Mark Henderson, sound designer Tony Gayle, voice and dialect coach Esi Acquaah-Harrison, casting director Heather Basten, Jerwood assistant director Ellis and Jerwood trainee assistant director Tia-zakura Camilleri.
My Neighbour Totoro was the the big winner at the 2023 Olivier Awards.
The RSC production, an adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s 1989 coming-of-age anime film, won six of the nine categories it was nominated in, including the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director awarded to Phelim McDermott, and the Noël Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play.
The productions other wins included Tony Gayle for Best Sound Design, Jessica Hun Hang Yun for the Best Lighting Design, Kimie Nakano for Best Costume Design and Tom Pye for Best Set Design.
Kimie Nakano and Tom Pye
The Almeida Theatre was the most victorious venue on the night, with six awards across three productions.
Will Keen won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Patriots, and Tammy Faye landed two awards in acting categories – Katie Brayben for Best Actress in a Musical and Zubin Varla for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
The final multi-winning show at the Almeida Theatre was Rebecca Frecknall’s revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Paul Mescal won Best Actor for his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski and Best Actress in a Supporting Role was awarded to Anjana Vasan for playing Stella. The play also won the esteemed Cunard Best Revival award.
Best Actress went to Jodie Comer, for her performance in solo drama Prima Facie, which won the Best New Play award. The filmed production was seen by hundreds of thousands of people, making it the highest-grossing Event Cinema ever released in the UK and Ireland.
PAUL MESCALJODIE COMER
The recipients of both the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, Mescal and Comer, were nominated for their West End debuts, and 16 of the 18 named winners were receiving their first ever Olivier Award.
Best New Musical was awarded to Standing At The Sky’s Edge. Set in a council estate in Sheffield, where it debuted in 2019, the musical transferred to the National Theatre this year. Richard Hawley & Tom Deering also took home the award for Best Original Score or New Orchestrations for this production.
Beverley Knight picked up the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for her performance as Emmeline Pankhurst in the musical retelling of her daughter Sylvia’s lesser-known story.
Beverly Knight
Dickson Mbi won Outstanding Achievement in Dance for his choreography of Enowate, and Traplord by Ivan Michael Blackstock won Best New Dance Production.
In the opera categories, Will Kentridge won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, for his conception and direction of Sibyl and the TAIT Award for Best New Opera Production went to Alcina. Both productions were staged at the Royal Opera House.
For the second year in a row, the Bush Theatre was home to the winner of Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre (representing smaller London venues). The winning show was The P Word, the tale of two very different gay Pakistani men navigating modern Britain.
Hey Duggee The Live Theatre Show, which sees beloved animated character Duggee brought to life, won Best Family Show.
The ceremony, hosted by Hannah Waddingham at the Royal Albert Hall, celebrated Sir Derek Jacobi, who was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to theatre throughout his career.
Sir Derek Jacobi
Choreographer Matt Cole won the Gillian Lynne Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for Disney’s Newsies.
The show culminated in a tribute to Special Award recipient Dame Arlene Phillips, with a performance from Grease The Musical – a production she famously choreographed.
As rehearsals get underway for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s upcoming 2022 season, the full cast of its production of Legally Blonde has been unveiled.
Joining Courtney Bowman, who will take the lead role as Elle, are Gabriela Benedetti, Lucca Chadwick-Patel, Jasmin Colangelo, Allie Daniel, Joe Foster, Dominic Lamb, Esme Laudat, Liam McEvoy, Billy Nevers, Ashley Rowe, Shakira Simpson, Biancha Szynal and Paulo Teixeira (also Dance Captain).
Other cast previously announced are Michael Ahomka-Lindsay (Emmett), Lauren Drew (Brooke), Vanessa Fisher (Vivienne), Isaac Hesketh (Margot), Nadine Higgin (Paulette), Alžbeta Matyšáková (Enid), Eugene McCoy (Callahan), Grace Mouat (Pilar), Alistair Toovey (Warner) and Hannah Yun Chamberlain (Serena).
When she is dumped by her Harvard Law School boyfriend, fashion merchandising major Elle Woods embarks on a drastic plan to win him back, only to discover that there is more to love – and definitely Elle Woods – than meets the eye.
Based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the MGM feature film starring Reese Witherspoon, the show is directed by Lucy Moss (Six). It is written by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin (music and lyrics) and Heather Hach (book).
Other creatives include Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong (dramaturg), Cat Beveridge (musical supervisor), Jean Chan (costume designer), Shanaé Chisholm (casting assistant), Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion Casting (casting director), Tony Gayle (sound designer), Phillip Gladwell (lighting designer), Ainsley Hall Ricketts (assistant choreographer), Laura Hopkins (set designer), Barbara Houseman (voice & text and season associate director), Majella Hurley (dialect coach), Ellen Kane (choreographer), Ingrid Mackinnon (season associate: intimacy support), Priya Patel Appleby (associate director), Chris Poon (associate musical director), Alexzandra Sarmiento (assistant choreographer), Amber Sinclair-Case (associate director) and Katharine Woolley (musical director).
Legally Blonde, which opens on May 13, marks the start of the Open Air Theatre’s 90th anniversary season. The line-up also includes 101 Dalmatians and Antigone.
