The full casting has been announced for BOLD Theatre’s world premiere production of Shani Erez’ political comedy with songs The Foreigners’ Panto.
A cast of first and second generation immigrants will be led by Vikash Bhai (Limbo Film 4 Productions, Crossfire BBC and McMafia BBC/AMC) who will play Lord Villain. He is joined by Suzy Kohane (Hexenhammer Vault Festival, The Secret Life of Humans English Theatre of Frankfurt) will play Benedict Bumbercatch, Fabrizio Matteini (Medici – Masters of Florence Netflix, La Strada West End) will play Dame Foreign, Gabriel Paul (Windfall Southwark Playhouse, Macbeth Leeds Playhouse, The Play That Goes Wrong West End & UK Tours) will play John Constable, Aliya Roberts (Singapore Lyric Opera, Oak3Films and Mediacorp) will play Zara Foreign, and Amanda Vilanova (Fox Old Red Lion, Closer Vienna English Theatre) will play Visa the Cow.
The production will open in preview on 3 October and run until 28 October, with a press night on 5 October. Tickets are on sale now from www.boldtheatre.com
Love pantos? With original songs & music, comedy routine and your classic/mandatory audience participation, this show is just for you!
Hate them? That’s great, because The Foreigners’ Panto is not a panto. Alongside the joy and silliness, the play offers sharp insights and questions into Britishness and immigrant experience in this country.
Have no idea what pantos are? Wonderful! Because neither does the company. In fact, they can’t even get the dates right..
The Foreigners’ Panto is a political musical comedy about a group of immigrants trying to put on their own version of a traditional British pantomime; both a heartwarming madcap comedy-of-errors and a sharp satire on lives of immigrants in the UK – told through their eyes.
Written by Middle Eastern theatre maker Shani Erez and based on her personal experience of facing deportation from the UK, The Foreigners’ Panto has original songs with music composed by Tomer Run & Shani Erez.
Set in a 1950s office block at the heart of Elephant & Castle that was originally a brewery, BOLD Theatre is a daring theatre space. Founded by Sarah Davey-Hull who sadly died last year, the company is now run by her friends, the BOLD associates, who are determined to continue Sarah’s mission. Through renting out rehearsal space the company is able to use 100% of its profits to fund some of the work it does: offering cheaper rehearsal space for freelancers and independent theatre companies; partnering on ACE applications; mentorship; providing workshops to professionals in the industry; writer rooms; self-tape rooms and supporting migrant companies. BOLD also uses the money to produce its own shows – the immersive show production What They Forgot to Tell Us and the BOLD Beginnings film series. The company also runs programmes like the BOLD Makers Scheme (which celebrates devising & collaborative ways of creating theatre – providing space, mentors, access training, money and filming to three companies creating new work); and BOLD Playwrights Scheme – nurturing the development of two award-winning playwrights over 6 months, with dramaturgy, actor workshops and an industry reading.
