Landmark Productions and The Everyman’s sensational adaptation of Louise O’Neill’s devastating novel about sexual consent makes its UK premiere at Birmingham Repertory Theatre following huge acclaim, including a sold-out season at Ireland’s National Theatre, The Abbey.
The production will run 29th January to 15th February 2020.
Asking For It was also a landslide winner of the Audience Choice Award at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for 2018.
Lauren Coe returns to the play after receiving phenomenal reviews for her portrayal of the lead role, Emma.
One night in a small town in County Cork, where everyone knows everyone, things spiral terrifyingly and violently out of control and a young woman’s life is changed forever. What will happen to Emma now? – her reputation in tatters, and her attackers believed.
Louise O’Neill is a multi-award-winning writer. Her second novel Asking for It won Book of Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2015 and spent 52 weeks in the Irish top 10 bestseller lists. Last year her first novel for adults, Almost Love, and The Surface Breaks, a feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid were both published.
Lauren Coe is from Dublin, Ireland, and graduated from The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art in 2014. Most recently she starred as Laurie in feature film Nocturnal, directed by Nathalie Biancheri, which was selected for the BFI London Film Festival’s official 2019 programme. She originated the role of Emma in the world premiere of Asking For It at The Everyman Theatre, Cork in summer 2018 and is thrilled to have the opportunity to present Asking For It at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Annabelle Comyn is an award-winning Irish theatre director who has worked with The Abbey, Druid, The Gate, and Dublin Theatre Festival among others. She is the Artistic Director of Hatch Theatre Company and Director in Residence at The Lir, the National Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Meadhbh McHugh is an Irish playwright and writer living in New York. Meadhbh’s debut play, Helen and I, was staged by Druid Theatre Company in 2016 and was nominated for the Stewart Parker Trust Award. Meadhbh’s debut radio play, April Showers, won a PJ O’Connor award for new writing and was broadcast on RTE Radio One. She currently teaches writing at Columbia University in New York where she holds a M.Phil in Theatre.
Asking For It is co-commissioned by the Abbey Theatre with support from the Arts Council, who funded the production through an Open Call funding round.
Asking For It is directed by Annabelle Comyn, with set design by Paul O’Mahony, lighting design by Sinéad Mckenna, music and sound design by Philip Stewart, video design by Jack Phelan, costume design by Niamh Lunny and movement direction by Sue Mythen.
More information can be found at www.askingforit.ie
