Having celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of their annual opera festival Grimeborn this summer, Arcola Theatre, led by Artistic Director, Mehmet Ergen, and Executive Producer, Leyla Nazli, today announce new programming for their forthcoming Autumn season with returning Arcola collaborators: New Earth Theatre Company, Philip Ridley, b*spoke theatre company and Frank McGuinness.
The season opens with the previously announced world première of Kyo Choi’s The Apology in association with New Earth Theatre and The North Wall, which opens on 19 September with previews from 15 September, and runs until 8 October. The production, based on true accounts from survivors of the ‘comfort women’ of the Second World War, is directed by Artistic Director of Oxford’s The North Wall Ria Parry, who directs Ross Armstrong, Jessie Baek, Sarah Lam, Kwong Loke, Sharan Phull and Minhee Yeo.
Philip Ridley’s award-winning darkly comic play The Poltergeist is next in the line-up, following a critically acclaimed digital run at Southwark Playhouse thanks to streamed performances during the pandemic. This production, presented by Arcola and Flying Colours Productions, reunites the original company with Wiebke Green directing Joseph Potter, opening on 17 October with previews from 12 October, and running until 5 November.
The season culminates with the London première of b*spoke theatre company’s Dinner With Groucho, a new play from Tony Award-winning Irish writer Frank McGuinness. The production will make its world première at The Civic, Tallaght, as part of this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival, touring to The Mac as part of Belfast International Arts Festival, Oxford Playhouse and then Arcola Theatre. Loveday Ingram directs Ian Bartholomew as Groucho Marx, Ingrid Craigie as Proprietor and Greg Hicks as T.S. Eliot. Dinner With Groucho opens at Arcola Theatre on 21 November, with previews from 17 November, running until 10 December.
Mehmet Ergen, Artistic Director of Arcola Theatre, says today, “We are so pleased to announce our Autumn season, welcoming back New Earth Theatre with their powerful and relevant play, Arcola favourite Philip Ridley, and b*spoke theatre company with long-time Arcola collaborator Frank McGuinness. There is something for everyone at Arcola this Autumn and we are immensely proud to be working with such an extraordinary team of creatives.”
