The full cast is announced for Theo Chester’s potent new work, Stray Dogs, a haunting and resonant debut play where death and healing collide in the strange world of Jacob, a troubled yet compassionate executioner who longs for a better future and a different life, directed by Tommo Fowler.
It’s been a harsh winter. Outside the city walls, people are starving. Inside, the rich townspeople hoard their grain and gold. Like his father before him, Jacob must serve the elite and keep those who steal in order. He fixes their broken bones, sews up their wounds, and then chops off their heads.
Jacob believes he will keep the peace better through solely healing, but he desperately needs the town’s blessing. Little does he know that others close to him have far more radical plans for change.
Stray Dogs is a visceral epic play, that is rooted in the past and entangled in nature and superstition.
Theo Chester’s bold, inventive play examines hope, fear and our instinctive need to do better in a challenging and difficult world.
The cast includes Graham Butler (Jacob), Abbey Gillett (Hilde), Graeme McKnight (Franz/Pig), Coral Wylie (Wilf) and Ruxandra Porojnicu (Ana).
Theo Chester is a playwright from London. He has been a member of Soho Theatre’s Writers’ Lab and Writers’ Alumni Group. Alongside writing, he has worked in film, assistant directing the feature documentary Summer in the Forest (2017). He also works as an English Teacher.
Stray Dogs is at Theatre503 Tuesday 14 March to Saturday 1st April. The running time is approx. 2 hours 15 including interval.
