The Lyric Ensemble, a group of aspiring young actors aged between 18-25 years old, present their newly devised play The Mob Reformers between Wednesday 19 and Saturday 29 June at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. This performance marks the culmination of nine months of industry training at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, preparing these young actors for a career in theatre.
On the morning of 14 June 1381, the rebels pushed west along the Thames, burning the houses of the officials around Westminster and opening the Westminster jail. The Mob Reformers is a radical reimagining of a play about an infamous 1381 London stabbing that would go on to change the course of British history. In a new version by Omar El-Khairy and devised with the Lyric Ensemble, this production will be directed by Holly Race Roughan.
Holly Race Roughan said: “The artistic team at the Lyric said to me on taking this job ‘make something you wouldn’t dare make anywhere else’. I am doing that, consequently I am thrilled and a little bit terrified. The Lyric Ensemble have had an unconventional process, we have been on radical tours of London, learnt about activism and direct action (and practicing it) and we even took over the district line one night. That anything is possible, will underpin the show.”
The Lyric Ensemble are a group of 15 emerging performers that make their home at the Lyric for nine months. In that time they work with some of the most exciting theatre professionals in the UK – taking masterclasses in performance, movement, text, design and personal development – including with Holly Race Roughan, the Lyric’s Director of Young People Nicholai La Barrie and the Lyric’s Artistic Associates.
Over 90% of past Ensemble members have gone on to secure places at drama school and universities, agents, or to produce their own work, proving the success of the scheme as a way for young people from different backgrounds to take their first steps into a career that was previously closed to them.
The cast includes: Bashiie Baptiste, Wesley Bozonga, Kane Feagan, Niamh Granville, Savas Hutchison-Fuat, Gavin Joseph, Ele McKenzie, Roseanne Musgrove, Priyanka Patel, Danielle Tama, Kamran Vahabi and Joseph Vaiana.
For more details or to book The Mob Reformers tickets click here.
