Tricycle to be renamed Kiln Theatre as Indhu Rubasingham announces first season

The Tricycle Theatre is to be renamed the Kiln Theatre following a major refurbishment, and artistic director Indhu Rubasingham has announced its first season including six premieres and a major musical revival. 

Announcing the season and the theatre's name change, Rubasingham said: "We are hugely proud of our heritage, and the part we play in the community here in Kilburn - Kiln Theatre embraces that spirit, and everything that has come before in our history has brought us to this point, building a theatre and programme for the future."

The theatre will reopen this September with a production of Alexis Zegerman's Holy Sh!t, which will be directed by Rubasingham. It is about a couple, Simone and Sam, who will go to any lengths to get their child into the local Church of England school, and are shown the ropes by another couple. It will run from 5th September to 10th October, with an official opening night on 10th September. 

Zadie Smith's White Teeth will be adapted by Stephen Sharkey in October. Also directed by Rubasingham, the piece is set in Kilburn and takes us through the many characters of Kilburn High Street. It will star Ayesha Antione, Michelle Austin, Ayesha Dharker, Tony Jayawardena, Richard Lumsden and Charlotte Lucas, and run from 26th October to 22nd December. 

Ishy Din's Approaching Empty will run from 9th January to 2nd February 2019. Pooja Ghai directs the piece which is set in the north east of England in the aftermath of Margaret Thatcher's death, and follows Mansha who offers to buy a business from his lifelong friend. 

Michael Longhurst will then direct Florian Zeller's play The Son, which will be translated by Christopher Hampton. Zeller's previous plays include The Father, The Truth and The Lie, and his play The Height of the Storm will get its premiere in the West End later this year. The Son, which is about a teenager slowly losing hope, will run from 20th February to 19th April. 

Samuel Adamson's Wife will be directed by Rubasingham from 5th June to 13th July. It maps four 'queer stories' in four generations of one family, set from 1959 up to 2042 and will explore identity, gender and unrequited love. 

In July, Sharon D Clarke and Clive Rowe will star in a revival of the musical Blues in the Night which is about one man and three women and the music that gets them through the night in Chicago in 1939. It will be directed by Susie McKenna, and runs from 22nd July to 17th September 2019. 

The season will close with the world premiere of Anupama Chandrasekhar's When the Crows Visit. The play is about a mother who finds herself having to confront her demons when her son returns home at the centre of a scandal. It runs from 9th October to 16th November 2019. 

Rubasingham said: "The opening season will see Kiln Theatre host the world's leading writing talent, staging six premières and a musical revival over the coming year. We can't wait to share the work and our new theatre with audiences across London and beyond."

Photo credit Mark Douet