Starting mid-November and running for four weeks, Park Theatre have programmed a new strand of work, Make Mine a Double, to give emerging artists and companies a chance to present their work in short run double bills.
The four shows are partnered up for a two-week run: a one-woman show about being a young Jewish woman is paired with a hook-up gone wrong, and a Cold War tale is paired with a confession of tabloid journalist.
Make Mine a Double aims to give theatre makers a lower-cost and lower-risk way of producing new work in the Finsbury Park venue, as well as offering multi-buy tickets to encourage local audiences to see compelling new work.
From 14 – 26 Nov, the first double bill sees the return of Pickle after a sold out run as part of Come What May earlier in the year, alongside Anything With A Pulse. Pickle is a darkly comic one-woman show about being Jewish and secular in the UK today. Written and performed by Deli Segal and produced by Tanya Truman, it follows Ari who’s caught between two worlds. Still living at home in North-West London, she has her Jewish life, dominated by overbearing parents, traditions, and expectations. Then there’s her day-to-day life – the job, the pub, the foreskins.
Anything with a Pulse from Wonky Donkey is a story of modern-day dating: spotting each other from across the dance floor, a man and a woman hit it off. In a world where we hide behind games, their story doesn’t play out like it should.
The second pairing of Tunnels and Press (28 Nov – 10 Dec) explores darker themes. Tunnels, set at the height of the Cold War, introduces cousins Paul and Freddie who are trying to escape East Berlin. Told with live music and based on real-life stories of men and women who made it, Tunnels tells of their struggle to burrow under the Berlin Wall. Written by Oliver Yellop and brought to the stage by Further Theatre, it’s a show about love, loyalty, family, nationhood and of course … digging.
The final of the four shows is Press, the confessional story of an ex-tabloid hack. It’s time to bring his skeletons out of the closet, but how can so much have been done with so few consequences? And how can the telling of truth be so much more dangerous than the telling of lies? This new play, written by Sam Hoare and directed by Romola Garai, takes a look at the freedoms afforded to the press in the UK compared to some other countries.
Artistic Director Jez Bond said, “Our inaugural Make Mine a Double season celebrates fresh talent on the new writing scene, providing a launch pad for these playwrights – handpicked by us. Supporting writers at the dawn of their careers, and seeing them develop makes me immensely proud – and is at the heart of Park Theatre’s ethos. I am delighted to welcome back Pickle following its sold-out spring run, paired together with another returning hit play, Anything With a Pulse from 2019, for an uplifting evening of entertainment. Both productions have been created by two young female writers – Deli Segal and Eliana Ostoro. The second half of the season features two historically and politically-themed plays by Oliver Jessop and Sam Hoare. Four names to watch for in the future.”
Full listings and ticket information can be found here
