Burnt Toast by Susie Wang is set to make its UK premiere at Battersea Arts Centre’s Grand Hall on April 22nd and 23rd. This experimental Norwegian theatre collective blends reality and surreal horror in an 85-minute-long production.
In Burnt Toast, Susie Wang creates an “uncanny gap between the real and the unreal, the original and the fake.” The garish and intricate staging by set designer Bo Krister Wallström transports audiences to somewhere in the Deep South, in an all-red hotel lobby with a front desk and two elevators — one going up and one going down. Betty, the receptionist, dutifully minds her desk as Danny arrives, chained to a mysterious silver briefcase. His attention soon turns to Violet—a woman sipping an eggnog cocktail while cradling her daughter. Could her child be his? As their conversation deepens, questions spiral and danger unfolds, blending love and horror in a bloody descent into the unknown.
Originally presented in 2020 at the Black Box Teatr, Oslo, Burnt Toast is the final installment of the company’s ‘horror trilogy based on human nature,’ preceded by productions The Hum in 2017 and Mummy Brown in 2018. Having previously toured Burnt Toast in multiple venues in Norway, including the National Theatre Oslo, the company has made a name for themselves across Europe, having performed the work most recently at the International Summer Festival, Kampnagel Hamburg, and previously at Berlin Festival, Basel Switzerland, teatre lliure Barcelona, and BALTOSCANDAL Festival, Estonia.
Susie Wang was founded in 2017 by director and writer Trine Falch, sound designer Martin Langlie, actor Mona Solhaug, and set designer Bo Krister Wallström. In their own words: “Susie Wang is brought up with a shattered world view, tired of reflecting the world in fragments, we have started to pick up the pieces and put them together as dramatic storylines.”
The production features Betty played by Julie Solberg, Danny played by Kim Atle Hansen, and Violet played by Mona Solhaug. The creative team includes script and direction by Trine Falch, scenography by Bo Krister Wallström, music and sound design by Martin Langlie, lighting design by Phillip Isaksen, SFX by Fanney Antonsdottir, stagecraft design by Antti Bjørn and Jon Løvøen, stagecraft live by Simen Ulvestad, Oscar Solløs, and Viola Hamre, and dialect coaching by Sarah Valentine.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
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