Arcola Theatre and Forward Arena today announce Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, a new adaptation by Hal Coase. Directed by Thomas Bailey, co-Artistic Director of Forward Arena, the production opens at Arcola Theatre on 1 October, with previews from 25 September and runs until 20 October.
On a single day in London, 1923, Clarissa Dalloway prepares to throw a party for her high-society friends.
On the same day, in the same city, First World War veteran Septimus Warren Smith seeks help from the ruling class that Clarissa entertains.
Forward Arena present a fast-paced, dynamic staging of Hal Coase’s bold new version of Mrs Dalloway renewing the collaboration between the company and Hal Coase following their previous production of Callisto: a queer epic at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Arcola Theatre.
Co-Artistic Director of Forward Arena, Thomas Bailey said today, “We couldn’t be happier to be working with Hal Coase again, this time on his brilliant version of Mrs Dalloway – and in a co-production with Arcola Theatre, which is fast becoming the home of contemporary adaptations. Our production will be a faithful adaptation that celebrates Virginia Woolf’s genius, finding new ways of telling stories just as Woolf did nearly 100 years ago.”
Hal Coase adapts. His playwriting credits include Callisto: a queer epic which was presented at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Arcola Theatre in a previous collaboration with Forward Arena. His other work has been performed at Camden People’s Theatre, Pleasance Theatre, Ashmolean and North Wall Arts Centre.
Co-Artistic Director of Forward Arena Thomas Bailey directs. For the company, his credits include The Games We Played (Theatre503) and Callisto: a queer epic (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Arcola Theatre) and Rehearsing for Planet B (North Wall Arts Centre). He was awarded the Bryan Forbes Directing Bursary in 2017.
