The HopeFull Season announced at Hope Theatre

So and So Arts Club presents 'The HopeFull Rep Season' at the Hope Theatre, a 50 seat studio space above the Hope & Anchor pub in Islington, north London, from 01 to 30 Aug 2014. The Hope Theatre is a venue dedicated exclusively to New Writing. The season will feature four plays by four new writers with four different directors and a company of fifteen actors.

Sarah Berger, the season's producer, commented: "This season represents the culmination of the all the collaborative work that has been developed through the club over the past two years. It's thrilling to see a group of artists of all ages and backgrounds coming together to create something new and a bit bold. The whole ethos of the So and So Arts Club is artists doing it for themselves."

The HopeFull Rep Season will include the following productions in repetoire:

The Long Road South
Written by Paul Minx and directed by Jake Murray
Cast: Michael Brandon (Jake Price), Kay Bridgeman (Grace), Felicity Dean (Carol Anne Price), Vanessa Mayfield (Ivy Price), and Victor Power (Andre)
Synopsis: 'On a back patio in Indiana USA while Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement are in full swing, Andre and Grace, domestic workers for Jake's Midwestern family, want to head South from Indianapolis to join their brothers and sisters in the cause. Jake's daughter, Ivy, is discovering her sexuality while her mother Carol-Anne battles with the loss of her youth. Jake himself will do anything to stay in control, including refusing to let Grace and Andre go. As the long hot summer rolls on, a battle of wills begins: it's never too late to stand up for yourself.'

Madame Bovary
Written by Rosanna Lowe and directed by Holly Maples
Cast: Rob Castell (Leon), Kevin James (Charles Bovary), Sarah Lawrie (Emma Bovary) and Andrew P. Stephen (Rodolphe)
Synopsis: 'A new adaptation of Flaubert's tale of sex and adultery. Messy, complex and profoundly modern, Madame Bovary places a nuanced, ambiguous and realistic woman at its heart of whom Flaubert famously wrote 'c'est moi'. In this adaptation by Rosanna Lowe we see her kick against the constraints of marriage and motherhood in her riding boots: the multiplicity of perspectives and slippery morality constantly challenging us to shift and question our own empathies. Tragic and comic, full of pathos and bathos of lofty flights and sudden bumps back down to earth.'

The Flood
Written by D.H.W. Mildon and directed by Simon Evans
Cast: Ian Chaplain (Arthur), Lucinda Curtis (Grace), and Garnon Davies (Hugh)
Synopsis: 'In this account of love and old age, Arthur and Grace have been in love for half a century, but now the flood waters are rising around their home. As Alzheimer's strips away Grace's memory, Arthur tries to juggle a voice from the past with the increasingly pressing concerns of the present. A thought-provoking script which explores how much we owe those we love.'

Dirty Promises
Written by Lilly Driscoll and directed by Tom Latter
Cast: Jed O'Hagan (Drew), Kirsty J Curtis (Lucy), and Michael Lyle (Crabby)
Synopsis: 'Drew and Lucy are young and in love. Drew thinks Lucy is beautiful. So why has he put a paper bag over her head? Crabby is Drew's best mate. Crabby can get you a gun. Crabby doesn't dare say how he feels but he's not going to ignore that bag. Dirty Promises is an urban love story; a messy love story with the bruises to prove it. Using punchy dialogue, poetry and a touch of the surreal we explore what happens when you want so badly to fit in to a society that doesn't understand you.'