Rose Theatre’s Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon, has announced initial casting for Leopards and The Seven Pomegranate Seeds, the first two Rose Original productions in his inaugural season.
In Leopards, by rising playwright Alys Metcalf, Niala will be played by Saffron Coomber. Niamh Cusack will be reuniting with director Melly Still in the world premiere of Colin Teevan’s The Seven Pomegranate Seeds.
Leopards will premiere at Rose Theatre from 2 to 25 September, with a national press night on 7 September. It is produced by Rose Theatre and the Olivier Award-winning Francesca Moody Productions (Fleabag, Baby Reindeer, Shedinburgh) in association with Emmy Award winner Kater Gordon. Christopher Haydon makes his Rose directorial debut.
Sex, power and consent – can we ever atone for the sins of our distant past? When Niala arranges to meet celebrated charity leader Ben in the bar of a London hotel for career advice, their evening unfolds into something far less professional. As the weather closes in and secrets start to surface, the consequences of their choices leave them nowhere to hide. Leopards is a new play about the image we construct of ourselves and explores what it truly means to be good.
Leopards is directed by Christopher Haydon, designed by Lily Arnold, with sound design by Gareth Fry and lighting design by Colin Grenfell. Asha Jennings-Grant is the intimacy director and Amber Sinclair-Case the assistant director.
The Seven Pomegranate Seeds runs at Rose Theatre from 4 to 20 November, with a national press night on 10 November. Colin Teevan’s world premiere is directed and designed by Rose Associate Artist Melly Still (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, My Brilliant Friend).
The Seven Pomegranate Seeds takes seven contemporary stories grounded in prominent, mythical origins. Persephone, Hypsipyle, Medea, Alcestis, Phaedra, Creusa and Demeter, the women of Euripides’ plays, are reimagined as people of today in an unexpected fusion of celebrity, inappropriate desires, historical police investigations and missing children. A severed maternal bond threads each story together, charting a journey through rage and redemption, towards a compelling conclusion.
The Seven Pomegranate Seeds is directed and designed by Melly Still. Original music and sound design is by Jon Nicholls and lighting design by Malcolm Rippeth while Amanda Ramasawmy is associate designer. Layla Madanat is assistant director. This is Madanat’s first placement as Rose Theatre’s 2021/2022 Peter Hall Emerging Artists Fellow.
Full listings and ticket information can be found here
