Spy for Spy – the world premiere of Kieron Barry’s innovative new play – will open at Riverside Studios this summer, playing the Hammersmith venue’s Studio 3 from Thursday 15 June to Sunday 2 July, with a press night on Tuesday 20 June.
Spy for Spy is a romantic comedy with a difference; a drama performed like a playlist. The inner workings of a modern relationship are recounted in a random order so no two performances of this brand-new play by Kieron Barry will be the same.
Sarah and Molly are two Californians who love each other – and that’s all they have in common. As the uptight lawyer and the free-spirited dreamer strive to make their improbable relationship work, we see them break up, meet the parents, move in together and fall in love – all in a completely random sequence.
Spy for Spy asks if our lives make more sense in the wrong order, and if there is any logic to love as it zigzags from moving drama to laugh-out-loud comedy.
Can we have love without grief? Is honesty nothing more than cruelty? Is intimacy just spying?
Audiences will have the opportunity to affect the show they’re about to watch – they will be given the chance to meet the team before the show, and six will be asked to pick a song title from a bowl. Each song title relates to a scene, and the order in which the song titles are picked will be the order in which the scenes are performed.
Director Lucy Jane Atkinson said, “I’m delighted to be working on this new play by Kieron Barry. Spy For Spy is not only a beautiful piece of writing but an exciting experiment in form, where the narrative structure of the piece changes nightly. It allows us to explore the same relationship from many different orders, and potentially draw different emotional conclusions as a result. Do we view the relationship differently if we see them break up before they get together? Do we root for their love in the same way if we see them fight before we see them kiss? A memory play, a love story, a comedy, a drama, a tragedy, the possibilities are endless (well, actually there are only 720 different potential orders, but still…). I’m certain it will be just as exciting to watch as it will be to work on.”
The all-female creative team consists of director Lucy Jane Atkinson and designer Bethia Jane Green with lighting design by Holly Ellis and sound design by Anna Short.
Spy for Spy is a co-production between Feather Productions, led by Anna Murphy, and TeamAkers – the TV production company led by Laurence Akers and Suranne Jones, making their first foray into theatre.
Anna Murphy said, “Feather Productions are really excited to be co-presenting this whip-smart, funny, and touching new play. Kieron Barry’s brilliant, connective writing breathes life into a love story perfect for our times: a couple subsumed by a flood of random memories as they recount their disordered relationship, a theatrical USP ensuring that no two performances can ever be alike.”
Laurence Akers and Suranne Jones said, “TeamAkers are delighted to be involved in the production of Kieron’s excellent play.
Spy for Spy beautifully illustrates the complexities of love and relationships and confirms the notion that the memory has no respect for order or continuity in matters of the heart. This is our inaugural step into theatre, and we couldn’t be prouder of the people who’ve come together to make this a reality.”
Writer Kieron Barry said, “I was intrigued by the disparity between how we experience events and how we remember them. In contrast to our society’s endless promoting of the now, I have often found the present moment to be insubstantial compared to the reckless zeal of the past, which seems forever vivid and urgent as it crowds about us. Of course, here and there a huge event comes along and one suddenly feels alive and present again, yet the fate of such a moment is to become just another memory and so it continues. I wanted to write a play which would recreate the zigzagging, chaotic sensations of recollection, and in particular the act of summoning memory to examine the sharpest question of all: were we loved?”
Full casting will be announced shortly.
