Arcola Theatre season to 23 Dec 2011

The Arcola Theatre, in east London, productions to 23 Dec 2011, include...

20 Jul to 13 Aug 2011 - Studio 1
On the Record, by Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen. produced by iceandfire. Directed by Michael Longhurst. Cast Nathalie Armin, Paul Bhattacharjee, Michelle Bonnard, Kika Markham, Selva Rasalingam, Trevor White. Combining searing verbatim testimony with dramatic reconstruction, On the Record circumnavigates the globe to bring you true stories of six independent journalists, all linked by their determination to shed light on the truth. Sri Lankan brothers Lal and Lasantha dare to publish stories that others wont touch, but at what cost? Meanwhile, in Mexico Lydia uncovers a child pornography ring involving senior politicians, Elena has a run in with the Moscow mafia, Amira reports direct from the Israeli-occupied territories and Zoriah comes up against the US Military over his Iraq war images.

2 to 13 Aug 2011 - Studio 2
African Gothic, by Reza de Wet. Produced by Barebones Project . Directed by Naomi Wirthner. The black night of apartheid South African. An isolated farmhouse descends into ruin. The rain will never come. Compulsively, Sussie and Frikkie play out the punishment rituals of the past. Nothing is prohibited. There are no taboos. What will happen when an unwelcome outsider tries to re-order their world?

1 to 24 Sep 2011 - Studio 1
The Golden Dragon, By Roland Schimmelpfennig. Translated by David Tushingham. Produced by Actors Touring Company (ATC) and Drum Theatre Plymouth. Directed by Ramin Gray. Cast David Beames, Adam Best, Ann Firbank, Kathryn O'Reilly, Jack Tartlon . A tragicomic tale of globalisation set in your local takeaway. Five actors play a huge cast of characters - a Chinese migrant with toothache, a woman in a red dress, the man from the shop next door, two air-stewardesses plus a cricket and some ants - in a deconstructed soap opera that moves everywhere and nowhere. Charting a journey from far-off China to just around the corner and back again, The Golden Dragon reveals what really goes into that bowl of hot and sour soup.

6 Sep to 8 Oct 2011 - Studio 2
Tell Them I Am Young and Beautiful, by Gilles Aufray. Produced by KP Productions. Directed by Marcello Magni. Cast Kathryn Hunter, Marcello Magni. Greed. Hospitality. Sacrifice. Knowledge. Truth. Freedom. Friendship .Seven words, seven stories, seven moments of theatre played in an empty space like a game, magical and dangerous. Three actors and a musician step onto the stage, bringing with them only what has shocked and touched them, to tell and play angry stories that need to be told now...

28 Sep to 22 Oct 2011 - Studio 1
Phaedra's Love, By Sarah Kane. Produced by Reduced Circumstances. Directed by Bronwen Carr. News. Another rape. Child murdered. War somewhere. Few thousand jobs gone. But none of this matters cause its a royal birthday.

12 Oct to 12 Nov 2011 - Studio 2
The Queen Of Spades, by Alexander Pushkin. A New Adaptation by Raymond Blankenhorn and Max Hoehn. Produced by Fusebox Productions. Directed by Max Hoehn. A mental patient is confined to his cell, refusing to answer any questions. He keeps muttering Three Seven, Ace! Three, Seven, Queen! His past life is revealed to us in a series of dreams that take us from the bedroom of an old, dying Countess to the gambling tables of St. Petersburg.

26 Oct to 19 Nov 2011 - Studio 1
Speechless, by Linda Brogan & Polly Teale. Based on The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace. Produced by Shared Experience and Sherman Cymru. Directed by Polly Teale. The story of identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons. Refusing to speak to adults, the twins communicate in their own private language, their only relationship being an intense and turbulent bond with each other. Speechless is a powerful portrayal of the twins secret world and their struggle to find a voice against all odds.

15 Nov 2011 to 10 Dec 2011 Studio 2
How the World Began, by Catherine Trieschmann. Priduced by Tom Atkins. Directed by Des Kennedy. Susan, a science teacher from Manhattan, starts work in a small rural Kansas town thats been ripped apart by a tornado. When one of her pupils - the damaged, articulate Micah - takes offence at an off-the-cuff remark about how life on earth began, Susan is thrown into an ethical storm about science and faith that leads to her fearing for her safety.

24 Nov 2011 to 23 Dec 2011 Studio 1
Goodbye Barcelona, book by Judith Johnson. Music and Lyrics by KS Lewkowicz. Produced by Goodbar Productions in association with Arcola Theatre. Directed by Karen Rabinowitz. Tells the story of Sam, who joins the Brigades and goes to Spain to help fight the fascists in 1936, and Rebecca, his mother, how follows him there. We follow their journey as they fight for freedom alongside the people of Spain.