45North and Ellie Keel Productions announce full casts for Amanda Wilkin and Rachael Nanyonjo’s recognition, available from 17 February; and Jaclyn Backhaus’ The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School, the penultimate piece in the audio play series, Written on the Waves, which will be released 8 April. The final play in the series will be announced shortly.
Rachael Nanyonjo directs Obioma Ugoala (Samuel) and Shiloh Coke (Song) in recognition, based on the life and music of Afro-English composer and conductor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; and Jessica Rose McVay, CEO and Creative Director of 45North, directs Adjoa Andoh (Emma), Sam Crerar (Ilya), Andrew Gower (Guy), Amita Suman (Priya) and Manjinder Virk (Seema) in Jaclyn Backhaus’ The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School.
Jessica Rose McVay today said “I’m so proud of the exceptional and varied writing displayed through Written on the Waves so far, and am so excited to be adding these two fantastic pieces to the series, and to be sharing our first family friendly piece (and trans-Atlantic collaboration!) with The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School. We hope audiences enjoy and look forward to sharing the final piece in the series soon.”
Written on the Waves comprises eight world premières – Loss and Hope, a trilogy of short audio pieces including Luke Barnes’ This is a Man starring Liam Jeavons; Rafaella Marcus’ The Gift starring Olivia Marcus; and Tife Kusoro’s We Have Sinned starring Seraphina Beh, Rafaella Marcus’ debut play for audio, The You Play: small acts with Rebecca Banatvala, Jonathan Case, Amber James, Daisy Lewis, Ken Nwosu, Katherine Parkinson and Boadicea Ricketts, Lem ‘N’ Ginge: The Princess of Kakos written and directed by Ell Potter and Mary Higgins and starring Olivier Award-winning Sharon D. Clarke; A Passion Play by Margaret Perry with Hannah Bristow and Nicola Coughlan; and Rafaella Marcus’ second play in the series, The You Play Volume Two: The Haunted Woman with Olivia Williams and directed by Jessica Lazar. These can be accessed via www.forty-fivenorth.com/writtenonthewaves
