Theatre Royal Stratford East today announces the cast for Maryland, Lucy Kirkwood’s new play written in response to the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, originally performed at the Royal Court in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in October 2021.
“This play was for many years a private conversation with myself. The horrific murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa this year have galvanised me into making it public. I hesitate to even call it a play when it is simply a howl, a way of expressing what I feel about a culture of violence against women, but I am sharing it because I wonder if it might express a little of what other people feel about it too.” Playwright Lucy Kirkwood
Anya Chalotra will play Mary 2, Alex Jarrett will play Mary, Tamzin Outhwaite will play DC Eddowes and Michael Shaeffer will play DC Moody.
Playing the Furies will be members of the Theatre Royal Stratford East Front of House staff and Young Company members who will include: Melody Adeniran, Elsie Frangou, Thalia Gambe, Jade Leanne, Ella McCallum and Maya Bartley O’Dea.
After a sell-out run at the Royal Court in October, the Maryland performance script has been offered for free to any theatre company or drama training organisation in the UK interested in staging their own script-in-hand reading.
This production of Maryland is being directed by Eva Sampson.
Nadia Fall, Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East Said: “I saw Maryland a couple of weeks ago as an audience member at the Royal Court, and I found it surprisingly funny, thought provoking and ultimately utterly devastating. It is such a compelling piece of creative activism – raising the alarm to the heinous culture of violence against women. The brilliant spirit of Kirkwood’s and The Court’s endeavour encourages the piece to be mounted as far and wide as possible and I really felt that it had to be brought to our audiences here in East London”.
Tickets are on sale, with performances taking place at Stratford Youth Zone, Theatre Square, London, E15 1BX (formerly Stratford Circus). Audiences are encouraged make a donation to Rape Crisis England & Wales when they book their tickets. For more information please visit www.stratfordeast.com
